About the middle of August Hamilton marched slowly southward, his army covering many miles of country. The Earl of Callander, his Lieutenant-General in command of the cavalry, was far in advance of the main body of the Scottish infantry under Hamilton himself, while Monro with the Ulster Scots was far in the rear. Langdale with the English royalists marched on the west of the main body. By this time Cromwell was hotly in pursuit, and as usual his rate of march was very different from the leisurely progress of the Scots. He had reached Leicester when Hamilton was at Kendal, and Nottingham on August 5th. Advancing northwards he waited for three days at Doncaster for his ammunition to come from Hull; and on August 13th he was joined near Wetherby by Lambert, who had quartered there with 5,000 men to cover the siege of Pontefract. Next day the combined armies marched to Otley, sending on their guns to Knaresborough in order to march more swiftly. Advancing along the Ribble Valley, Cromwell reached Skipton on August 14th, and on the 15th quartered his men round Gisburn; next day they advanced to the Bridge over the Ribble, at Clitheroe.[200] Here a council of war was held to decide whether to cross the bridge, there being no other between that place and Preston, and so march along the north bank of the Ribble, or to turn south-westwards through Whalley in order to intercept Hamilton's march further on. Cromwell, however, was determined to fight as soon as possible, though he had less than 9,000 men to 24,000 of the Scots; and believing that Hamilton would make a stand at Preston his army crossed the Ribble and marched swiftly along the northern bank. The 10,000 men with whom Hamilton had entered England had been increased by reinforcement; Langdale's detachment numbered about 4,000 and Munro's not quite 3,000 men. But their superiority in numbers was entirely discounted by the disordered condition of their line of march, which stretched from Wigan to Kirkby Lonsdale, a distance of nearly 50 miles. Moreover they were evidently quite ignorant of Cromwell's approach until the very day before he burst upon them.[201]
On the night of August 16th Cromwell had quartered his army in Stonyhurst Park, nine miles from Preston, the General staying at the Hall. Next day he sent forward an advance party of 200 horse and 400 foot under Major Smithson and Major Pownall, who encountered Langdale's royalists who were some miles to the north-east of Preston about Ribbleton and Fulwood. The main body of the Scotch foot were then marching through Preston, and the undecided Hamilton was persuaded to countermand his order for them to return; they therefore hurried on their retreat, leaving Langdale to his fate. "It was reported that when word came to the Duke that General Cromwell was in the rear of Sir Marmaduke Langdale's army fighting and killing them, his answer was—'let them alone—the English dogs are but killing one another.' So little care had he of them."[202] Langdale was thus left with his 4,000 men to resist the whole attack of Cromwell's army; and his men fought with the utmost bravery for four hours against overwhelming numbers. The royalist position was very well chosen at the end of a deep lane leading towards the town, his men being sheltered behind hedges. Two regiments of cavalry, Cromwell's and Harrison's, were set to charge along the lane supported on either flank by infantry, by the regiments of Colonel Read, Colonel Dean and Colonel Pride on the right, and Colonel Bright's and Fairfax's regiments on the left. Assheton and the Lancashire foot were in reserve, and there was a reserve of horse at each point. The royalists fought desperately and the ground was very heavy owing to the recent rains. "Such a wet time this time of the year hath not been seen in the memory of man," wrote one of the Lancashire Captains who took part in this campaign. The Parliamentarian foot on the right wing outflanked the enemy, but there was a very severe struggle in the lane and on Cromwell's left wing. The Lancashire men came into action here. At length, after four hours fighting, the royalists broke and fled towards Preston, pursued by Cromwell's horse. Four troops of his own regiment entered the town first, and being seconded by Colonel Harrison, they charged along the streets and cleared the town of the royalists. Colonel Assheton's regiment was specially praised by Cromwell for its bravery in the action, and the Committee of Both Houses directed a special letter of thanks to him.[203]
Most of Hamilton's foot were by this time marched across Ribble Bridge, three-quarters of a mile south of Preston; this they barricaded, and another fierce engagement took place between them and Fairfax's and Assheton's foot regiments, whom Cromwell sent forward in pursuit. After severe hand-to-hand fighting the Scots were dislodged from Ribble Bridge and chased across the bridge over the river Darwen, and up the hill to Walton, when night put an end to the engagement. The Parliamentarians guarded both the bridges, and Cromwell himself returned to Preston for the night. He places Hamilton's losses at 1,000 killed and 4,000 prisoners; and 4,000 or 5,000 arms had been captured.
There is no reason to suppose that Cromwell had any decided plan of campaign, but he had been very fortunate in taking the Scotch army on the flank, and his bold attack had been completely successful. The invaders' forces was now completely cut in two; moreover the English royalists who had been defeated and almost annihilated were probably Hamilton's best troops, and Monro's men, who were also veterans, were now too far north to be engaged. The cavalry which should have returned to his assistance had also taken no part in the action; and Hamilton's foot were largely newly raised men, the old soldiers of the Covenanting army having refused to follow him. Thus though he still largely outnumbered the Parliamentarian army his forces were more disorganised than ever, and his men were dispirited. Cromwell lost no time in following up his victory. The same night (Aug. 17th) he sent off a letter to the Committee at Manchester describing his victory and directing them to oppose Hamilton's further advance; while next morning he himself hastened after the Scots, leaving the Lancashire troops in Preston to guard the prisoners. During the night Hamilton had marched three miles on the road to Wigan. Colonel Thornhaugh was sent in advance with three regiments of horse in order to bring them to bay, while his foot followed as fast as possible. Thornhaugh came up with the Scots at Chorley, and he himself was killed in the engagement. Hamilton had still 7,000 or 8,000 foot and 4,000 horse to the 3,000 foot and 2,500 horse with which Cromwell was pursuing him; but the Scots attempted to make no stand, except so much as was necessary to protect their retreat. On Standish Moor, near Wigan, they drew up as if for resistance, but on the advance of the Parliamentarians, they retreated into the town. The pursuers were too weary to go further after their forced marches and two days' hard fighting. The weather was still against them, "having marched 12 miles of ground as I never rode in all my life, the day being very wet," writes Cromwell of this day's pursuit. That night the Parliamentarians encamped in the open country close to the Scots; but during the night there was skirmishing at intervals, and about 100 of Hamilton's men were taken prisoners, including some officers of note.
After the capture of Preston some of the royalist horse who had escaped rode northwards toward Lancaster. Cromwell sent a regiment of horse in pursuit, which followed the flight for some 10 miles, killing some and taking 500 prisoners. There was therefore no longer any danger to be feared from this part of the army. The remaining fugitives scattered into the Fylde district and dispersed.
On Saturday, August 19th, the Scots continued their retreat southwards toward Warrington, still hotly pursued by Cromwell. The most determined stand they made was at Winwick, three miles from Warrington, in a narrow lane on the road from Newton. Here for some hours they beat off all the attacks of the pursuers, until some country people showed the Parliamentarians a way round through the fields, and the Scots then retreated towards Warrington. They stood at bay for some little time on the green on the south side of Winwick Church; but at length their resistance was broken, 1,000 being killed and the remainder driven into the church and made prisoners.[204] The remnant of the army reached Warrington, and marching through the town attempted to hold the bridge over the Mersey. But the Scots were now thoroughly beaten. They were almost without ammunition, and many of them had thrown away their muskets in the pursuit; Baillie, who was in command, sent to Cromwell for terms of surrender. Considering the difficulty of crossing the Mersey elsewhere, and the strength of the bridge, Cromwell agreed to give quarter if they would surrender as prisoners of war. About 4,000 of the Scots capitulated at Warrington, their whole losses during the three days fighting being 2,000 killed and between 8,000 and 9,000 being taken prisoners.
After the first engagement at Preston Sir Thomas Tyldesley, who was still in command of some horse, laid siege to Lancaster, and was on the point of taking it when news of further defeats arrived. Thereupon he joined Monro, and attempted to persuade him to advance and attack Cromwell's rear, as they had still an equal number of troops. The proposal was an illustration of Tyldesley's bravery, but it was too rash for Monro to accept, and if carried out would probably have effected little.
Weariness alone prevented the victors from completing the ruin of the Scots in Lancashire. Cromwell's men were too exhausted to follow up the main body of the cavalry under Hamilton himself, which had crossed the Mersey into Cheshire. "If I had 1,000 horse that could trot 30 miles," Cromwell wrote on August 20th, "I should not doubt but to give a very good account of them; but truly we are so harassed and hagled out in this business, that we are not able to do more than walk an easy pace after them." As it was Cromwell himself did not follow the Scots into Cheshire, but left Colonel Lambert to continue the pursuit, and wrote to Lord Grey, Sir Henry Cholmondeley, and Sir Edward Rhodes to intercept Hamilton. Indeed the Scotch army might now almost be left to melt away of itself. They marched to Malpas and from there to Drayton, and then to Stone and Uttoxeter, where the Parliamentarian forces fell upon their rear and captured many prisoners, including Lieutenant-General Middleton. But Hamilton himself was too ill to continue his flight any further and surrendered with most of his men. A remnant of the force under the Earl of Callander and Sir Marmaduke Langdale endeavoured to escape northwards to return to Scotland, and reached Ashbourne in Derbyshire; but here Callander's men mutinied, and Langdale, escaping with three other officers was discovered, though they had tried to pass themselves off as Parliamentarians. They were all seized and lodged in Nottingham Castle. The Duke of Hamilton was executed in March, 1649.