The 80 or so cavalry and dragoons raced ahead of the infantry and upon arrival at the base of the hill, charged the rebel gathering. The rebels however, quickly entrenched themselves on three sides by using a ditch and the walls of the ruined church to protect their flanks. The cavalry were driven back by the long pikes of the rebels, losing over thirty of their number and many of their horses in the fighting. Two of their captains lay dead on the field, one of whom, a Captain Erskine, reportedly met his death after the battle, as he lay disabled with a broken leg from a horse fall, when he was discovered by an old woman scavenging the battlefield who stabbed him to death with a rusty knife. The rebels threatened to take advantage of the disarray of the cavalry with their own attack but th