Breaking the Stalemate

Cromwell’s Strategy

The capture of Blackness was part of Cromwell’s plan to control the River Forth. He had previously tried twice to probe ways into Fife, once at Burntisland – Fife’s well-defended main port – and later at Rosyth Castle. Each time his forces were repelled.

General Deane, or Admiral Deane, had demonstrated the effectiveness of combined navy / army operations throughout the war.

The navy was key to maintaining Cromwell’s forces in Scotland. As Cromwell’s troops advanced, the navy provided a supply train, first to Newcastle, then Dunbar and eventually to Leith. On average a troop of cavalry – seventy officers and men – would consume about 1.5 tons of bread and 0.75 tons of cheese a month. Their horses would require over 13.5 tons of hay, 4 tons of oats, and 0.1 ton of peas each month. Cromwell’s army was about 16,000 strong, so Deane’s navy was kept busy carrying supplies.

In March 1651 Deane sailed from Scotland to Newcastle, returning on 29th of March with his fleet of sailing ships carrying much-needed supplies and munitions and his own regiments of foot. They also brought a specially-built fleet of 27 ‘double shallops’ or sloops, as we would call them, flat-bottomed boats which could each carry two pieces of ordnance or 60 men.

A shallop

When this fleet arrived in Leith, some of Deane’s warships sailed up the Forth, passed the batteries at North Queensferry and Inchgarvie, captured a guard-ship, and went on to assist Cromwell’s land forces under General Monck, by bombarding Blackness Castle and forcing it to surrender.

Having secured the south bank of the river Forth, Cromwell looked to the north, and contemplated taking the batteries at North Queensferry, and the port of Burntisland.

The Scots had been receiving supplies and armaments from The Netherlands and Sweden, and part of the reason for Deane bringing his fleet north was to block traffic into the firths of Forth and Tay. Cutting off the Scots’ supplies from Perth and Fife was perhaps the only way to dislodge Leslie’s army from the stronghold at Stirling.

The strategic importance of Fife, as a supply base for the Scots army, and then Cromwell’s forces as they advanced north, had been recognized from the time of the Battle of Dunbar. Capturing Burntisland would block supplies to the Scots through Fife, and then maintain Cromwell’s supply train if he headed north.

On 16th April, Cromwell launched a naval attack on Burntisland, while marching his army towards Glasgow. This may have been an attempt to cut off supplies from Fife or cause a diversion in Fife, while he marched round Stirling to ford the Forth upstream of the Scots army. Or the march west may have been in response to a Scots uprising around Hamilton, or even because he was short of fodder for his horses, and sought to replenish supplies in Clydeside.

In any event, the attack on Burntisland went ahead, lasting two days with at least two attempts to land there after bombarding the town’s defences, but ultimately was unsuccessful.

Cromwell’s illness continued to run its course, delaying any major offensive actions. Another factor was a shortage of supplies for men and forage for horses. The scorched earth policy adopted by the Scots as Cromwell pushed into the Lothians was still taking its toll; Deane’s fleet was kept busy bringing supplies from England.

In mid-May, Cromwell reorganized his general staff – promoting Deane to Major General of the Army, with General Lambert as acting Lieutenant General. The weather was improving, major campaigns were now possible, but Cromwell was still too ill to lead his troops in battle.

Temptation

From Edinburgh, Cromwell repeatedly set out across the country below Stirling, to try to entice Leslie’s army out from Stirling.

After the failed attempt to take Burntisland, another foray across the Forth, this time against Rosyth, set out from the captured port at Blackness. This also failed, because the landing point was too difficult, and the Scots had positioned ten regiments of horse along the Fife coast to guard against sea-borne attacks.

The improving weather was advantageous to both sides. In the South-West, Col Montgomery had raised an army from his base in Dumbarton. From here he headed south through Kilmarnock and Dumfries. Augustine’s moss-troopers resumed raids on the border near Carlisle. The net result was that Cromwell pulled his men from Hamilton, Carnwath and Dumfries to strengthen his forces at Edinburgh, and the existing garrison under Colonel Harrison at Carlisle.

Cromwell’s army fell back on Linlithgow and he sent for reinforcements from England. Colonel Harrison set out from Carlisle taking the east coast route, leaving the route south open to Charles and Leslie.

Cromwell no longer controlled the way from Stirling down the west coast to the English border. Would Charles attempt to break out from his stronghold?

The Scots Position

All through this period Charles had been campaigning to build up Leslie’s forces. From 10,000 in the middle of March, he was now believed to have 24,000 of which 16,000 were infantry. There were rumours that a further 6,000 reinforcement would arrive from Sweden, but these were either rumours, or were they kept at bay along with many blockade-running supply ships by Deane’s fleet.

Leslie’s forces had to be dispersed from Stirling across Fife as far as Dundee to keep them supplied with food from Perth, and simply off the land. Cromwell could keep his forces concentrated near Edinburgh, because he had supply routes through Leith.

Seeing the possibility of a breakout to the south Leslie ordered all his regiments to muster at Stirling. Once there, they had supplies for only a few days. Leslie had to take action and break out immediately or disperse again.

On June 28th, Leslie’s main force moved six miles south of Stirling to a previously-scouted defensive position, just south of the Forth at Torwood. From there a party headed to Falkirk, and recaptured Callendar House from Cromwell’s forward garrison force.
They then sent raiding parties east to Linlithgow, and Kineill on the coast.

Cromwell responded by bringing Harrison’s force in Carlisle to full alert – in the event of a dash for the border – and took the bulk of his own forces out to Linlithgow – leaving Col Overton with perhaps 6,000 men at Edinburgh. But Leslie was not ready for open warfare; he withdrew to Torwood, and Cromwell fell back to Linlithgow.

Once again, Cromwell looked for way to draw out Charles or to outflank him. He headed south from Linlithgow and marched across country to Glasgow. If Charles headed for the border he could be attacked in open country. Meantime, to reinforce Overton at his base at Edinburgh, he ordered Col Harrison to head there from Carlisle with his regiments of cavalry.

Lambert was dispatched from Glasgow with three cavalry regiments to reconnoitre the River Forth upstream of Stirling. He reported back to say that the way was passable – except to carriages – and was undefended.

Still the Scot’s army did not move; so on July 12th, Cromwell marched his army from Glasgow back to Linlithgow, passing directly in front of Charles’s forces. The only reaction was a pot-shot from Callendar House, which he bombarded and recaptured on Tuesday 15th July.