pursuing Scots. The road was left littered with abandoned equipment and the men arrived, according to one of their officers, Captain John Hodgson, as a "poor, shattered, hungry, discouraged army". The Scottish army outflanked the English, blocking the road to Berwick and England at the easily defended Cockburnspath Defile. Their main force encamped on the Doon Hill, south of Dunbar, where it overlooked the town and the coastal road running south west from the town. The hill was all but invulnerable to direct assault. The English army had lost its freedom of manoeuvre, although they could supply themselves by sea and, if needs be, evacuate the army the same way. On 2 September Cromwell surveyed the situation and wrote to the governor of Newcastle warning him to prepare for a possible Scottish invasion: Opposing forces Infantry Infantry formations, equipment and tactics were similar in both armies, although the basic formation of the regiment varied greatly in size. An infantry regiment was composed of both musketeers and pikemen. The musketeers were armed with muskets possessing barrels and, mostly, matchlock firing mechanisms. These relied on the glowing end of a length of slow match, thin cord soaked in saltpetre, igniting the weapon's priming powder when the trigger was pulled. These were reliable and robust weapons, but their effectiveness was severely reduced in poor weather. In addition, keeping the slow match burning at all times resulted in the consumption of a vast amount, while dowsing it rendered the musket useless. Balancing combat readiness against logistical capability called for fine judgement from a regiment's officers. A small number of musketeers on each side were equipped with the more reliable flintlock muskets, known at the time as firelocks. In 1650 musketeer tactics were in the middle of a transition from firing one rank at a time so as to maintain a steady fire, to the entire unit discharging a volley simultaneously for shock effect. Pikemen were equipped with pikes: long wooden shafts tipped with steel points. Pikes as issued in both armies were , but on the march they were commonly cut down to a more wieldy or so. The pikemen carried basic swords and typically wore steel helmets but no other armour. Military manuals of the time suggested a ratio of two musketeers for each pikeman, but in practice commanders usually attempted to maximise the number of musketeers and a higher ratio was the