=214. Northward Movement of the British.=—The American standards, however, were kept flying by the heroic deeds of the partisan generals, Marion and Sumter. The British advanced northward, hoping to find very little opposition before reaching Virginia. Washington recommended the appointment of Greene to the command of the Southern army; but the intriguers were successful, and Congress recalled Gates from his retirement, in the hope that the experience of Burgoyne would be repeated by Cornwallis.[98] But in North Carolina there had been no Schuyler to plan the campaign in advance, and there was no Arnold or Morgan to assist in carrying it out. Gates revealed his inefficiency at every step; and when the two armies finally came together, on the 16th of August, 1780, his troops suffered at Camden the most disastrous defeat ever inflicted on an American army. Though the American force was superior to the British, it was routed, driven in utter confusion from the field, and dispersed. Gates himself, after committing a succession of gross blunders, crowned his ignominy by joining in the panic and finally leaving the army to its fate. In four days he reached Hillsborough, some two hundred miles away. Thus the worst fears of Washington were fully realized, and the whole South was practically in the grasp of the British. Clinton might well suppose the end to be near at hand. THE TREASON OF BENEDICT ARNOLD. =215. Growth of Arnold’s Disaffection.=—As if to complete a year of disasters, the country received a terrible shock in the treason of one of its foremost officers. Benedict Arnold, who had been one of the most skillful, as well as one of the most energetic of commanders, had been slighted in various ways. Washington had repeatedly recommended that he be advanced from brigadier to major general, but Congress promoted five officers of inferior rank over him. These facts not unnaturally soured his temper, so that he was inclined to find fault with everything. While he was in this mood Washington assigned him to the command in Philadelphia, after the withdrawal of Clinton, where he was noted for luxurious tastes and extravagant methods of life. Meanwhile he became engaged to Margaret Shippen, a beautiful daughter of one of the most prominent Tory families in Philadelphia. Before many months, his views had drifted completely over to those of the moderate Tory party. After the surrender of Burgoyne, the British government had offered the colonies all the constitutional guarantees they had asked for before the Declaration of Independence, and Arnold, as well as the Tories generally, believed that these terms should have been accepted.