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nold. He likewife had directed lord Cornwal- CHAP. XX. lis to form a junction with general Phillips, as foon as the affairs of Carolina would admit of his transferring his command there, and leaving that state. By fome expreffions in the order, it feemed to be left difcretionary with his lordship, to move when and where he thought proper yet in confequence of this call, and the reafons annexed thereto, he thought himself obligated to haften his march to meet general Phillips, according to the directions of fir Henry Clinton.

Lord Cornwallis, notwithstanding all the dif couraging circumftances which he had encountered, and which at times ftill feemed to increafe before him, did not lofe fight of the objects of conqueft, victory, and glory, to be acquired in Virginia. So prone is man to anticipate the completion of his own wifhes, that he continues to cherish them, even after probabilities ceafe to exift. Thus the confidence his lordship had in the military abilities of lord Rawdon, the repeated defeat of general Greene, and the broken ftate of his army, from the frequent inftances of flight and desertion, still flattered him with ideas, that the Carolinas might yet be fubdued.

Thefe confiderations induced him to haften his march toward the flate of Virginia. His

CHAP. XX.

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troops were indeed in a miferable condition for a march of three hundred miles, in a hostile country, where they could not avail themselves of its produce, however neceffary for their fubfiftence, without being impeded by skirmishing parties. Both the cavalry and infantry were in a very destitute fituation, with regard to forage, provisions, and clothing; but these were not impediments fufficient to stop the progress of veteran troops, with an able commander at their head. They began their march on the twenty-fifth of April, and arrived at Peterfburgh on the twentieth of May.

The route from Guilford to Wilmington, and from Wilmington to Petersburgh, was attended with unusual fatigue and difficulty; yet lord Cornwallis moved with cheerfulness and alacrity, fupported by the fanguine expectation and pleafing idea of triumph in the reduction of Virginia, in addition to the conqueft of the Carolinas. Groundless as were thefe expectations, his lordship at that time flattered himself, that the work of fubduing the Carolinas was nearly finished, and that they should foon only have to take measures, for retaining in obedience those turbulent and refractory states. But when he had completed his march, and arrived at the destined spot, that opened to his imagination new scenes of glory and victory, he found on every fide, embarraffments that he had not contemplated, and disappointments that

wounded both his perfonal feelings as a friend, CHAP. XX. and his military pride as an officer.

He met at Petersburgh the melancholy ti dings of the death of general Phillips, from whofe acknowledged military talents and experience, he had reason to expect advice and affiftance in every exigence. This brave and judicious officer, who had fo often staked his life in the field of battle, fell a victim to sickness. Lord Cornwallis had no opinion of Arnold; he despised him as a man, or an officer, and hated him as a traitor. He wrote fir Henry Clinton, that experience had made him less fanguine; and that more arrangements were necessary for fo important an expedition as the prefent, than had ever occurred to general Arnold. To this his lordship added many other expreffions of contempt and difguft, for this new favorite of the British commander in chief.

It It is not ftrange, that many officers among the gallant troops of Great Britain, men of name and diftinction, fhould be much chagrined at the rank given to, and the confidence placed in, this unprincipled minion.

Before his death it had appeared, that major general Phillips, who had formerly suffered by: the bravery of Arnold and his affociates, was manifeftly piqued at the attention paid to his advice, and the anxiety fhewn by fir Henry

1781.

CHAP. XX.

1781.

Clinton for his fafety. Phillips had but recently obtained his liberty, after the convention of Saratoga: exchanged for general Lincoln, this expedition to Virginia was his first command, of any magnitude, after his releafe. He found in the orders received from general Clinton, fome mortifying expreflions, and a letter that accompanied them contained still more. Clinton had indifcreetly intimated therein to general Phillips, that "the fecurity of Arnold and "his troops, at Elizabeth River, was the principal object of Phillips's expedition to Virginia." For this expreffion, general Clinton found himself afterwards obliged to apologize. It was deemed grofsly affrontive to an highspirited officer, of the rank, merits, and military abilities, poffeffed by general Phillips.

From the circumftances already related, it appears clearly, that lord Cornwallis's route from Charleston to Virginia, was long, hazardous, and fatiguing. He had not traverfed lefs than eleven or twelve hundred miles, when he reached Cobham on James River, including the necessary circuitous marches he was obliged to make, to avoid rivers, rapids, mountains, and other impediments to eafe or expedition in travelling.

From this place he wrote fome of his moft defponding and difcontented letters to general Clinton. He found the British troops fcattered

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in fmall detachments, and pofted at a diftance CHAP. XX. from each other in various parts of the country. He observed to fir Henry Clinton :"One maxim appears to me to be absolutely neceffary, for the fafe and honorable conduct "of this war-which is, that we fhould have "as few posts as poffible; and that wherever "the king's troops are, they should be in refpectable force. By the vigorous exertions "of the prefent governors of America, large "bodies of men are foon collected: and I have "too often obferved, that when a storm threat"ens, our friends disappear."

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Before lord Cornwallis left Cobham, he obferved in a letter to general Clinton, that "he "wished to call his attention to the inutility of "a ftand at an offenfive poft, that could have cc no influence on the war that ftill exifted in "Carolina, and that only gave them a few "acres of unhealthy fwamp in Virginia, liable "at any time to become a prey to the enemy, without any fuperiority of force."*

From his first arrival in Virginia, he had declined acting with general Arnold; but he was not long mortified with the fight or the fociety of a man he fo much detefted. He did not reach Petersburgh till the twentieth of May,

*Lord Cornwallis's letter from Cobham, James River.