[Sidenote: The Scots completely defeated,]
The battle did not begin till about six in the evening, by which time the sun was well in the eyes of the Scots. The wind was also against them, and there were clouds of dust and smoke. Monro's guns were placed on high ground, but they did little damage, the round shot going over the heads of O'Neill's men as they descended into the plain, which was full of bushes and scrubby timber. Monro's front was too narrow, and there were no proper intervals for his rear divisions to come out in front. So learned a general might have remembered something about the Roman maniples. Overcrowding resulted in confusion, and this was increased by a squadron of his own cavalry, 'consisting,' as he says, 'for the most part of Irish riders, although under the English command, who did not charge, but retreated disorderly through our foot, making the enemies' horse for to follow them at least one squadron.' He thought they were at least half traitors. The foot fought on bravely till sunset, when they broke and fled. The majority sought the neighbouring ford of the Blackwater, where Battleford Bridge now is, and the slaughter there was frightful. Sir Phelim O'Neill, who commanded the horse, specially charged his men to take no prisoners and to give no quarter. Others fled towards Caledon, and many of them were drowned in Knocknacloy Lake. Of those who crossed the river a large number were killed in passing through the county of Armagh. Most of the horse escaped with Monro, who acknowledges a loss of 500 or 600 men; but the Irish accounts say that from 3000 to 4000 bodies were counted. A long train of carts followed the army, so that many camp-followers were probably killed, and the truth is likely to be somewhere between the two extremes. The Irish slain were under forty, and the wounded under 250. George Monro got back to Coleraine without the loss of a man. Monro's wig, cloak, sword, and cap fell into the victor's hands with thirty-two colours and the standard of the cavalry. Even those who escaped for the most part threw away their arms, which enabled O'Neill to enrol fresh men. Lord Blayney, who commanded the artillery, was killed, all his guns being taken. Lord Montgomery of Ardes, who led the cavalry during the battle, was taken prisoner with about twenty other officers. Monro's army was not annihilated, but it was to a great extent disarmed, and ceased to be an aggressive force. Over-confidence was certainly one main cause of his defeat. 'The Lord of Hosts,' he says himself, 'had a controversy with us to rub shame on our faces, as on other armies, till once we shall be humbled; for a greater confidence did I never see.' The 'British Officer' agrees that this was the chief cause of disaster; also mentioning the sun and wind and the long march, and that the soldiers, who had had little rest or refreshment since leaving Lisburn, stood to their arms for at least five hours. Another reason, he adds, is 'that the Irish pikes were longer by a foot or two than the Scottish pikes, and far better to pierce, being four square and small, and the other pikes broad-headed, which are the worst in the world. Withal to my knowledge, the soldiers, I mean some that were not strong in the British army for his pike on a windy day, would cut off a foot, and some two, of their pikes--which is a damned thing to be suffered.'[91]