the left, he ordered the baggage to be moved to the east
of Cockenzie.
The westerly movement of the Highland reserve -was short-lived,
for the unfortunate O'Sullivan had barely returned from posting
the troops when they were ordered back to their former position
on the ridge above Bankton. Here an advanced-post was set
up at a quarry some 250 yards from Bankton House, which during
the afternoon had been occupied by a party of the royal troops.
As a further precaution against infiltration from that quarter
Cope had ordered breaches to be made in the Preston park walls,
which had he but known it, were to be put to a very different
use.
Cope has been almost universally condemned for having kept
his army on the defensive, and if Gardiner's biographer. Dr.
Doddridge, is to be believed, the Colonel was among his earliest
critics. On the royal army's forming line of battle he had
ridden through the ranks of his regiment, calling upon the
men 'in the most respectful and animating Manner, both as
Soldiers, and as Christians, to ... engage themselves couragiously
in the Service of their Country, and to neglect nothing that
might have a Tendency to prepare them for whatever Event might
happen'. Despite its slightly sinister tone the troopers were
'much affected' by the Colonel's address, 'and ex- pressed
a very ardent Desire of attacking the Enemy immediately; a
Desire in which he and another very gallant Officer of distinguished
Rank, Dignity, and Character both for Bravery and Conduct,
would gladly have gratified them, if it had been in the Power
of either'.
Doddridge's statement suggests that he is trying to raise
his hero's credit at the expense of the unfortunate Cope,
for, if true, it does little to enhance Gardiner's military
reputation. Cope had already decided against occupying the
enemy's position while he had had the opportunity of doing
so, and had he attacked the Highlanders now that they were
in possession of it, he would merely have exposed his army
to all the disadvantages he had previously foreseen. None
of his troops had been in action before, and having had the
good fortune to find ground suited for the movement of cavalry,
an arm which was virtually absent from the enemy's ranks,
and where his infantry could be kept in hand. Cope would rightly
have been open to censure had he abandoned it. What seems
to have escaped his critics is the fact that he succeeded
in making the enemy attack him |
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