Arnold had left New York with sixteen hundred men, on the nineteenth of the preceding December, for Virginia. His command consisted of the eighteenth British (Scotch) regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Dundas, and the Queen’s Rangers, Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe; the latter being a skilful officer, shrewd and cool, but noted, in the heat of battle, for characteristic ferocity in shortening fights, and thus reducing the number of wounded prisoners to be cared for. Clinton seems not to have fully relied upon the discretion of Arnold, since he reports, having “detailed two officers of tried ability and experience, and possessing the entire confidence of their commander.” As with so many naval expeditions of that period, a gale overtook Arnold on the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh of December, scattering his transports, so that without waiting for those still at sea, he landed with twelve hundred men and moved up the James River on the fourth of January. He landed at Westover, twenty-five miles below Richmond, and immediately marched upon the city. On the afternoon of the fifth, he entered Richmond. The militia, under Col. John Nichols, only two hundred in number, assembled upon Richmond Hill, but had to retire before Simcoe’s advance. A few men stationed on Shreve Hill, also retired. At Westham, seven miles above Richmond, a foundry, a laboratory, and some shops were destroyed, as well as the Auditor’s Records, which had been removed from Richmond for safety. Arnold sent a proposition to Governor Jefferson, offering to spare the city if no opposition were made to his vessels ascending the river to remove tobacco and other legitimate plunder of war. Upon rejection of this proposition, he burned so much of the city as time allowed, and returned to Westover, without loss. He carried off seven brass cannon, three hundred stands of arms found in the loft of the Capitol, and a few quartermasters’ stores, as his sole trophies of war. Upon information, however, that Baron Steuben was at Petersburg with some militia, Arnold hastened to Portsmouth to put its defences in better condition. CHAPTER XXXI. THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN, 1781, OUTLINED.—COWPENS.—GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE.—EUTAW SPRINGS. Before developing Washington’s plan for the capture of Benedict Arnold, it is advisable to glance at the military condition of the Southern Department in which Arnold was then serving in command of British troops. Lafayette had been intrusted with execution of the plan. He knew perfectly well that Arnold would not venture far from his fortified position at Portsmouth, and thus incur risk of capture and an inevitable death upon the gibbet.