The Battle Of Sterling Bridge: The Scottish Wars Of Independence

The Battle of Stirling Bridge took place on 11 September 1297 and was a massive part of the Scottish Wars of Independence. This battle was a symbolic but short-lived victory for William Wallace and the Scots against the large English army and their king, Edward I. The two Scottish leaders, William Wallace and Andrew de Moray, arrived at Stirling in early September 1297. They immediately organised into positions on the north side of the river close to the heights of Abbey Craig, an ideal view point overlooking the river Forth and Stirling Bridge. This battle was to go down in the medieval history books as one of the most significant events.

The English army marched on towards Dundee with the Stirling Bridge being the main entry point to the north of Scotland. They marched on until the army reached the narrow wooden bridge over the river

forth, in close vicinity to the Stirling castle.

The British Earl (Earl of surrey) decided it would be a tactical disadvantage if he were to send his troupes over the skinny bridge and thus decided to delay the crossing a couple of days to allow for an observation of the area. In this observation time an ex-Scottish soldier gave the idea of outflanking the opposition by leading the cavalry over a for two miles upstream. But Hugh Cressingham, King Edwards treasurer in Scotland persuaded the earl against that idea and advised to order a direct attack across the bridge. On the 10 of September Warrene gave orders to cross the bridge the next day. The Scottish had already arrived and were camped on Abbey Craig which dominated the flat soft ground north of the river. This is where they camped in preparation for their ambush. The next morning the English army, which consisted of English, Welsh and Scottish knights, Foot soldiers and bowmen, made their slow crossing. With the bridge being so narrow the English were only able

to travel two horsemen abreast meaning that the crossing would have taken several hours. The Scottish, who were camped ready to ambush, let about half the army cross to make sure the amount was manageable and a win was possible. Once their desired amount had crossed the Scottish spearmen ran down from the high ground quickly, fending of a charge from the English cavalry. They then fought off the English foot soldiers to gain control of the east side of the bridge and blocked off the entrance to the bridge, meaning that most of the soldiers on the east side were killed except for the few who managed to swim back to the other side of the river.

Surrey, the earl of England, was left with a sad group of bowmen who were yet to cross the bridge and one knight who had managed to swim back over the River Forth. The English still had the bulk of their army and remained outnumbering the Scottish, but the confidence of Surrey was low thus decided to have the bridge destructed and for his army to retreat to Berwick. Leaving the castle of Stirling Bridge isolated and the scots heading east. Seeing the carnage to the north of the bridge, three scots lords decided to withdraw. To then later on destroy the English’s supply train at the Pow’s which is a woody marshy area killing many of the soldiers who tried to flee.

This battle had left the English army shattered and showed them that infantry can still beat the horseback riders in the cavalry