But the hazard of delay was omnipotent to force instant action. Colonel Lee was ordered to hasten and join Greene. The report of the landing of British forces at Wilmington, just in the rear of the small army he had left at Hicks’ Creek, was a new source of anxious concern. The time of service of the Virginia militia was about to expire, and according to precedent, they would be prompt in their departure. With quick sagacity, Greene placed General Stephens in command, anticipating the exact term of their expiring enlistment, and sent them home, via Hillsborough, in charge of the prisoners of Tarleton’s command. He thus relieved Morgan of this encumbrance, and saved the detail of efficient troops for that escort duty. At this period, Cornwallis had abandoned Charleston as his base of supply, and was confident of a successful invasion of North Carolina. He certainly knew that Phillips, Arnold, and Simcoe could spare no troops from Virginia; and through the disaster which befell Tarleton, one of the best soldiers of that period, at Cowpens, he began to appreciate Clinton’s disappointing experiences about New York. He unburdened his thoughts to Clinton, in this melancholy vein: “Our hopes of success were principally founded upon positive assurances, given by apparently credible deputies and emissaries, that, upon the approach of a British army in North Carolina, a great body of the inhabitants were ready to join it, and coöperate with it in restoring his Majesty’s Government. All inducements in my power were made use of without material effects.” On the tenth of February, Greene had a force of only two thousand and thirty-six men; of which, but fourteen hundred and six were regular troops. A light corps of seven hundred men was organized under Colonels Williams, Carrington, Howard, Washington, and Lee, to operate in separate detachments so far as practicable, and thus keep the army of Cornwallis constantly under exposure to attack, and compelled to make many exhaustive marches. Kosciusko planned light earthworks, to cover fords as the army crossed and recrossed the same; and Greene was thus employing wise strategic methods for future action, when of his own choice he might confront Cornwallis in battle. Many vicissitudes of thrilling interest attended these desultory operations; and when sudden floods, and as sudden abatement of swollen streams, had been successfully utilized by the patriotic leaders, just at the right moment, it is not strange that the American people, as well as Washington, saw in these deliverances the hand of favoring Providence.