Clan Wallace · 1297
Stirling Bridge
In September 1297, Wallace and Andrew de Moray let half the English army cross a narrow bridge — then closed.
The army of John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, lay on the south bank of the Forth at Stirling. The Scottish patriot army under William Wallace and Andrew de Moray held the high ground to the north. The river between was crossed by a wooden bridge two horsemen wide.
On the morning of 11 September 1297 the English began crossing. Wallace and Moray waited until perhaps half the army was over and committed, the column tangled in the marshy loop of river beyond the bridgehead. Then they came down the slope.
The English vanguard was cut off and cut down. The bulk of the army on the south bank could not reach the fight; many tried to swim the Forth and drowned. Surrey burnt the bridge himself and rode for Berwick. Some five thousand foot and a hundred knights were lost — and the legend that English knights could not be beaten by Scottish spearmen lost with them.
Andrew de Moray died of wounds taken at the bridge before the year was out. Wallace was made Guardian of Scotland. It was the first major patriot field victory of the Wars of Independence.