In the first week of September. the English army under the command of Earl Surrey, of Berwick with Sir Hugh Cressingham as his second, had reached Stirling. William Wallace and Andrew Murray had assembled the rebellious Scottish army in a strong position perhaps a mile north-cast of the wooden bridge on Abbey Criag's lower slope facing south. The army's left was protected by the River Forth which looped at the place. and the covered the causeway that ran to Stirling bridge. The causeway was flanked on either side by wet but passible meadows. The Scots numbered between 6-9,000 established by their battle frontage. The English Army outnumbered the Scots. (perhaps by 5,000 men). that during the several day parley for terms to end the rebellion, Surrey was so unimpressed by the number of Scots he' faced, that he followed Sir Hugh's advice and sent one contingent home to save money. The fact that he reduced his army's strength, would come back later to haunt him. By September 11, 1297. it was evident that no solution could be reached by words, so the English prepared to advance to cross the bridge and on the Scottish position. The bridge was so narrow, we are told, that only 2 knights could ride abreast. However, Sir Richard Lund, scouting two miles upstream, found a ford at where the Forth meets the Tieth River, a crossing where up to 60 men could move abreast. When he returned to in form his leaders of his strategic discovery, he found that Surrey was asleep, and Cressingham dismissed him and his plan saying a flanking move would be waste of time. History certainly would have been different if the English could have flanked the Scots out of their position As noon approached. the English started to cross Stirling Bridge. History does not record Wallace and Murray's impressions of this supreme folly, but it became apparent that they were unaware of the ford, and had a force appeared to turn their flank, a much different battle would have resulted. But the English did not turn the Scots' flank, and the force, waiting until 1/2th of the English army was separated by the Forth, charged. In the resulting melee, Sir Hugh, leading the vanguard was cut down, and the English were unable to reinforce the trapped division. The bridge was destroyed, history does not relate by who, and out of the pinned mass, only the lightly armored Welsh bowmen could swim back across the river. The English lost possibly 1/2th their army, 5,000 men, the Scots maybe. 2.000, However, Scots also lost one their greatest leaders, Andrew Murry, who was killed or died shortly afterward from his wounds leaving William "Braveheart" Wallace to be knighted and become the sole guardian of the Scottish Kingdom. Back to Table of Contents The Messenger April 1996 Back to The Messenger List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1996 by HMGS/PSW. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com