From the Yadkin, Greene proceeded to Guildford Court-house, having effected a junction with his main army, which, under General Huger, had advanced up the left bank of the river, and continued his flight, still vigorously pursued by Cornwallis, who was anxious to prevent his entering Virginia, whence alone supplies and recruits could be expected. It was now for the third time a trial of speed between the two armies, and for the third time also the British reached the banks of the river Dan, an upper branch of the Roanoke, just as the American rear were safely across. Here Cornwallis, mortified at such repeated disappointments after the extraordinary efforts which he had made, gave up the pursuit and turned slowly towards the South. It was well that he did so, for the American army needed repose; the march of the last day had been forty miles; the shoes were worn from the soldiers’ feet, many were quite barefoot, and this long and hasty flight was tracked with their blood.[40] The American army thus driven out of North Carolina, Lord Cornwallis, after giving his troops a day’s rest, led them slowly back to Hillsborough, the seat of the state government, where he erected the royal standard, and issued a proclamation inviting all loyal subjects to repair to him and aid in restoring the constitutional government to the colony. We have mentioned the sufferings of the American army—those of the British were not much less. “The wants and distresses of the English troops,” says the British chronicler of these events, “were only equalled by their toils and fatigues. They traversed a country which was alternately a wild and inhospitable forest, or inhabited by a people who were, at least, highly adverse, however they might venture or not to be hostile. When to these are added all the possible incommodities incident to bad roads, heavy rains, want of cover, and the continual wading through numberless deep creeks and rivers in the depth of winter, some idea may be formed of their sufferings.” While these events were going forward, and the state authorities having fled from Hillsborough to Newbern, a British detachment from Wilmington marched to that place, entered it without impediment, burned the shipping, and having destroyed all the salt, sugar, rum, and stores of every kind, returned to Wilmington.