In the north of England, Sir Marmaduke Langdale seized Berwick for the King on 28 April 1648; the next day Sir Philip Musgrave captured Carlisle. The northern Royalists intended to secure the road into England for the Duke of Hamilton's Engager army and then to link up with the uprisings against Parliament in other parts of the country. Unfortunately for the Royalists, the plan was badly co-ordinated. The Engager army that finally marched into Cumberland on 8 July was undermanned and very poorly equipped. Hamilton's 6,000 foot and 3,000 horse were reinforced by another 3,000 foot and a few hundred horse raised by Langdale. The Duke of Hamilton then spent another month in the north of England waiting for more recruits from Scotland, eventually bringing his total strength up to around 18,000 troops. This included a contingent of 3,000 veteran Scottish troops from Ulster commanded by Major-General George Monro. However, Monro's experienced troops were left behind in reserve when the Engagers finally marched south because Monro quarrelled with Hamilton's second-in-command the Earl of Callendar and refused to take orders from him. The Engagers quickly became notorious for violent plundering and lawlessness.
Parliamentarian forces in the north were commanded by Major-General Lambert. From May through to August 1648, contingents of the New Model Army under Cromwell and Fairfax were tied down at the sieges of Pembroke and Colchester. With only about 4,000 troops at his disposal, Lambert stood on the defensive. Hamilton quartered his troops around Penrith and Appleby and made only sporadic skirmishes against Lambert, who coolly withdrew and regrouped whenever he was threatened. As the strength of the Scottish army increased, however, Lambert fell back across the Pennines and consolidated his forces at Barnard Castle to block the route into Yorkshire and to prevent the possiblility of the Engagers joining forces with Colonel John Morris and the Royalists at Pontefract Castle, who declared for the King early in June.
Although the Engagers were expected to try to force their way into Yorkshire, Hamilton eventually decided to march south through Lancashire, intending to join up with Lord Byron who was attempting to incite a Royalist uprising in north Wales. But by the time the Engagers finally marched south from Cumberland and Westmorland, Lieutenant-General Cromwell was on his way up to Yorkshire from Pembroke. He joined forces with Lambert at Wetherby on 12 August to bring the strength of the Parliamentarian army in the north up to around 9,000 — about half the strength of the Engagers.
Under terrible weather conditions, the Engager army made slow progress southwards. Hamilton was unaware that Cromwell was on his way and allowed his forces to become badly strung out. Monro's veterans were left far behind in reserve in north Lancashire then, as Hamilton's main force approached Preston, Lieutenant-General Middleton rode ahead towards Wigan with most of the cavalry on a foraging expedition. Meanwhile Cromwell marched rapidly across the Pennines. He decided on a bold manoeuvre to intercept the Engagers north of the River Ribble, cutting them off from the road back to Scotland and Monro's reserves.
Sir Marmaduke Langdale, who was guarding the road into Preston from the north-east, first became aware of the danger on 16 August. Despite Langdale's warning, Hamilton decided to continue marching his infantry across the Ribble south of Preston, leaving Langdale to fend off what was thought to be a harassing attack by the Parliamentarians. On the morning of 17 August, Cromwell attacked Langdale's troops, strongly deployed in hedged and ditched enclosures on Ribbleton Moor to guard the road into Preston. The Royalists held off the Parliamentarians for several hours but were finally routed and driven back into Preston where most of the infantry were taken prisoner while the cavalry fled north to join Monro. Hamilton realised too late that his troops were under attack by the whole Parliamentarian army. At the insistence of the Earl of Callandar he continued to move his troops across the River Ribble, leaving Langdale unsupported except for a small troop of lancers which Hamilton himself led. Lieutenant-General Baillie, commander of the Scottish infantry, deployed musketeers to hold the Ribble bridge and drew up his main force on a strong position at Walton Hall, south of Preston. An urgent order was sent to recall Middleton's cavalry, who were 16 miles away at Wigan.
Having secured Preston, Cromwell's troops were faced with a battle for the bridge over the Ribble and then a second bridge over the River Darwen before they could reach the main Scottish position on the hill at Walton Hall. The Ribble bridge was defended grimly for two hours but finally the Scots were driven from it by a fierce charge of pikemen led by Colonel Pride and Colonel Deane. The bridge over the Darwen was carried soon after. As night began to fall, Cromwell's advance troops were pushing towards the lower slopes of the main Scottish position at Walton Hall. The Scottish supply wagons were captured by the Parliamentarians as both sides prepared to spend an uncomfortable night in the field. Despite the wind and driving rain, however, Callendar persuaded Hamilton to withdraw his infantry under cover of darkness. He planned to meet up with Middleton's cavalry who were on their way up from Wigan and then to regroup the whole army, which still greatly outnumbered the Parliamentarians. The Scots got away without alerting the Parliamentarians to their departure but they took a different road to Wigan from the one Middleton was on, so Hamilton's cavalry and infantry completely missed one another on the way. Middleton blundered into the Parliamentarian advance troops at the Darwen bridge. He promptly turned south again to catch up with the Scottish foot but Cromwell sent Colonel Thornhaugh with three regiments of cavalry in hot pursuit. Middleton's horse fought a gallant fighting retreat all the way back down the Wigan road. Colonel Thornhaugh was killed in the pursuit.
On 18 August, Cromwell advanced south with his main force in pursuit of the disordered Scots. Having left a strong force at Preston to guard the prisoners and to garrison the town against a possible attack by Monro, Cromwell had only 3,000 foot and 2,500 horse and dragoons against 10,000 Scots. However, Hamilton's troops were exhausted and thoroughly demoralised. With discipline breaking down, the hungry Scots thoroughly plundered the town of Wigan. Middleton's cavalry formed a rearguard as Hamilton withdrew from Wigan and fell back towards Warrington, desperately hoping to make contact with Lord Byron. On 19 August, the Scots made a last stand in a strong defensive position at Winwick near Warrington. For several hours the Scots held Cromwell's forces at bay, driving back several determined attacks. Eventually Cromwell found local guides who led Parliamentarian infantry units around to attack the flanks of the Scottish position. Colonel Pride's regiment drove the Scots back on to the village green near Winwick Church, where their resistance was finally broken.
Hamilton, Callendar, Langdale and Middleton fled with most of the cavalry, leaving Baillie to surrender what was left of the Scottish infantry at Warrington. Within a few days Hamilton, Langdale and Middleton were taken prisoner; the Earl of Callendar escaped to the Netherlands. Major-General Monro retreated to Scotland.
With the destruction of the Engager army, the Second Civil War was effectively over. Colchester surrendered to Fairfax on 28 August, other Royalist outposts in the south soon followed suit. Lord Byron fled from north Wales to the Isle of Man. Sir Philip Musgrave and the northern Royalists surrendered Carlisle in October. Only Pontefract Castle held out for the King in a stubborn and futile resistance that lasted until March 1649. The Engagers in Edinburgh were overthrown as a result of the Whiggamore Raid and Cromwell marched into Scotland on 21 September. He struck a wary accord with the Marquis of Argyll and obtained the removal from office of everyone who had supported the Engagement.
References:
S.R. Gardiner, History of the Great Civil War vol. iv, 1894
Peter Gaunt, The Cromwellian Gazetteer, 1987
P.R. Newman, Atlas of the English Civil War,1985
Austin Woolrych, Battles of the English Civil War, 1961