SCOTTISH PRIDE

On September 11, 1297 the Battle of Stirling Bridge, wherein Wallace and his forces carried the day, is engraved on the hearts of the Scottish people.  The Scots were not fighting for glory, but were fighting for their freedom.  Whatever they lacked in discipline, in horse, in arms, they made up for in conviction.

This was a day of pay back – payback for years of Edward’s cruel rule of the Scottish people.  It had only been recently that Edward had put Berwick to the sword, not only the garrison, but the populace as well.  Devastation like this, thought to be an act to end rebellion by the perpetrators, only served to bind the people together and to make them fight with desperation and conviction.

Edward had appointed three officials to administer his country while he was in France, de Wareene, Cressingham and Ormsby.  John de Wareene, the Earl of Surrey, was a good soldier who had recently won the Battle of Dunbar, but he underestimated Wallace and the Scottish forces; Hugh Cressingham, Edward’s chief tax collector, whom the Scots particularly hated as it was his task to obtain the maximum amount of taxes from the Scots as he could; and Ormsby who felt that the future of the Scots dictated that they be placed under an English system of justice. Edward appears to have been short-sighted or maybe just high-handed by placing men in positions of control over the Scots who had no desire for anything other than the subduing and control of the populace.

Wareene at this point was an ill man.  If he had not been and had been able to direct the battle in a more able fashion, the disciplined English troops may have won the battle.   However, the Scots were at a point where it was do or die and they were willing to put it on the line to gain their freedom.

When Wallace heard that the English were marching on Stirling, he left Dundee Castle which he was besieging, and hastened to Stirling with Andrew Moray.  It was rumored that the English were 40,000 strong.  This may have been an exaggeration. Wallace took position on the high ground west of the Forth.  The only entry to Stirling was a narrow wooden bridge, only wide enough for two people to walk abreast. Wareene felt he could use the same tactics he had used so successfully at Dunbar, that is, fording the stream and using the bridge to cross. However, the Forth was a fast-flowing river 250 feet across.  Wallace’s forces watched the English begin the crossing and deploy on the far side.  It took discipline to stand and watch this and not attack too soon. They were hunkered down waiting for the signal from Wallace, which seemed to them slow in coming.

There were several Scots barons with the English.  Although their resolution towards their countrymen was not as strong as the English, it was in their interest to see that the "rebel army" was destroyed.  One Scot, Sir Richard Lunday, pointed out that downstream the water was shallow enough that a crossing could be made at a much faster rate of speed.  Although an army feels vulnerable in fording a river and equipment and weapons can be damaged, Wareene decided to go ahead with the crossing.  Wallace watched from the other side.

By 11:00 half of the English were over and forming ranks on the other side. Cressingham was at its head.  Suddenly, the Scots army, which had been under cover, rose on command and began rushing down the hill they occupied.  Sir Marmaduke Twenge gave the order for the English to charge.  The cavalry began its rush up the hill.  Hard going in heavy armor, the English met Scottish pikes and arrows.  The center of Wallace’s army, with Wallace, Grahame of Dundaff and Ramsay of Dalhousie, rushed straight through the middle of the English army towards the bridge.  At the same time Wallace launched a flanking movement along the north bank with speed and surprise.   The English had prepared themselves for an offensive and now they were on the defensive.  There was much confusion which the Scots took advantage of. Sizing up the situation, Wareene took his foot soldiers off the bridge and sent his horsed knights across.  Maybe if they had made it, it might have changed the battle.  However, the weight of the knights, their armor and chargers was too much for the bridge and it began to crack and fall.  Some say that Wallace beforehand had sawed partially through the bridge struts.  There was no retreat now for the English on the far side and it was now a matter of kill or be killed.  They were driven down to the banks of the river.  Those who fell in were nearly all drowned.  The English army was effectively cut in two.  The Welsh foot dropped their weapons and went into the water. A few of the knights hacked their way to safety but more than made it were unhorsed and hacked to bits.  Those who made it to the other side were cut down by the Scots who had forded at a shallower spot in the river.  It is uncertain how many English were felled.  Perhaps as many as 100 knights and over 1000 men lost their lives.   Cressingham himself did not make it.  The tax collector that the men hated was stripped of his skin after death.  Lennox and Stewart held back until they could see that the day was won by the Scots and then they joined in to plunder the English.

Although the estimate of Scottish casualties were few, unfortunately, Murray died from wounds received in the battle.  With this victory, Wallace’s fame soared.  He was made sole Guardian of the realm.  It had been proven that England was not invincible after all, that ordinary men with determination and grit could go up against armored knights and win.  National pride had been restored.