Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

field, now waiting for the signal to join battle. The
sun had sunk low -- it was seven of the evening,
but the day was a midsummer one -- ere the signal
was given, and the two armies closed. A bloody
struggle of two hours ended in the total rout of the
king's forces. Upwards of 4,000 corpses covered
the field: the wounded were in proportion. Besides
the slaughter of the battle, great numbers of the
Royalists were cut down in the flight. The allies
captured many thousand stand of arms, and some
hundred colors. One eye-witness writes that they
took colors enough, had they only been white, to
make surplices for all the cathedrals in England.[3]
From this day the king's fortunes steadily
declined. He was worsted on every battle-field; and
in the spring of 1646, his affairs having come to
extremity, Charles I threw himself into the arms of
the Scots. In the Parliament of England the
Independent party, with Cromwell at its head, had
attained the supremacy over the Presbyterian, and
the king's choice having to be made between the
two, turned in favor of the Presbyterians, whose
loyalty was far in excess of the deserts of the man
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