had perswaded him yt he should meet wth no
ememyes. And needs he would retreat to New-
castle, till great Barwise set himself first into the
water; and the rest, following him, so frighted ye
fresh water countrie whiggs, yt all of them an-
swered the Motto, veni, vidi, fugi; some of the
cheif of the Country, whom I will not name,
gave occasion to this shamefull flight.Leslie became one of the most important of the Par-
liamentarian commanders. With the capture of King
Charles in 1645, the “first phase” of the English Civil
War came to an end.
Following Charles’s capture, the duke of Hamilton
tried to mediate between the king and the Scots and
offered Leslie the command of a small force to rescue
the king if he accepted the Scottish demands. Leslie
refused, and Charles was tried and executed in 1649,
leaving supporters and even many Parliamentarians out-
raged at the king’s murder. A number of Scottish offi-
cers formed an army to fight the English Parliament and
named Leslie’s uncle, the earl of Leven, as commander,
with David Leslie as his second in command. This army
marched into England in support of Charles’s son (later
Charles II). With Lord Leven’s resignation, David Leslie
took command in the fight against his former ally Oliver
Cromwell. The most important battle of this war was
on 3 September 1650 at Dunbar, where the Scots under
Leslie’s command—with his uncle, Lord Leven, pres-
ent—were routed by Cromwell’s Parliamentary force.
A pamphlet on the battle by a Parliamentary supporter,
entitled A Brief Narrative of the Great Victorie... Near
Dunbar, explains what happened in this clash:
Our Armie, having long faced the Scot’s Armie to
the West of Edinburgh, and finding they could
not draw them to fight, thought fit to draw off
to Dunbar, to refresh themselvs. And being com
[come] to their old Quarters at Massleborough,
and beginning their march on Saturday night
they were pressed upon by the Scot’s Armie
close after them, so, as they were somtimes
within a mile, and somtimes half a mile of their
Armie...
Our Armie quartered that night at Had-
dington: Sunday morning our Armie marched
to Dunbar, whither wee came on Sunday night.
And their whole Armie followed, consisting ofeighteen Regiments of Foot, which, together with
their Hors [horses], and Dragoons (as themselvs
say) were 27000, our Armie about 12000. They
there drew up their Armie upon a verie high
hill, within a mile of the Town; and ours stood
in battalie in the Corn-fields, between them and
the Town, readie to engage....
That night our Armie, by command,
marched as close to the sald ditch as possible
as they could, and placed their Field Pieces in
everie Regiment. Tuesday morning at four of
the clock wee drew down a Brigade consisting
of three Regiments of Hors, viz. Major General
Lambert’s, Commissarie Generall Whalley’s, and
Colonel Lilborn’s; and two Regiments of Foot
towards a Pass, that is upon the Road-waie, be-
tween Dunbar and Barwick, by which wee might
with more eas [easily] pass over to their Armies.
And there gave the Enemie an hot Alarm, firing
hard at one at another; the dispute lasted there
above an hour; the issue was, our men gained the
Ground, and possessed the Pass. Then the Ene-
mies Hors charged strongly, beeing most Lancers,
and coming down the Hill, our Hors gave waie a
little; but presently Rallying, and our Foot of that
Brigade advancing and charging the Enemie, put
them suddainly to the Rout, it being now about
six of the Clock in the Morning....
Prisoners of qualitie, brought in before the
Messenger came awale, were, S[ir] James Luns-
dain, heretofore Governor of New-Castle; and
now the Lieutenant General of their Armie;
General David Leslie’s Lieutenant Colonel; which
Lieutenant Colonel saith, that hee supposeth
David Leslie himself is slain.But Leslie was not slain; instead, with approximately
3,000 dead Scottish left on the field at Dunbar, he and
what was left of his army fled to Stirling to regroup.
Leslie marched with his army into England again, and
at Worcester on 3 September 1651, Cromwell’s forces
again routed the Scots. Leslie, fleeing to Yorkshire, fell
into enemy hands, and he was taken in chains to Lon-
don and imprisoned in the Tower of London for nine
years.
In 1660, following Charles II’s ascension to the
English throne, Leslie was released. For his service to the
Crown, he was created Baron Newark, with a pension of00 leSlie, SiR DAviD, FiRSt bARon newARk