 Cornwallis received dispatches in Wilmington informing him that another British army under Generals Phillips and Arnold had been sent to Virginia . He finally came to the conclusion that , in spite of orders that limited him to the Carolinas , he would best serve the British cause by going to Virginia to join his army with that of Phillips and Arnold . Writing after the campaign , he explained that he did not feel he could effectively support Lord Rawdon , who he had left in command in South Carolina , and that he would be unable to gain control of North Carolina until Virginia had been pacified . Since he had not received instructions from Clinton in some time , he wrote the general a letter specifically requesting direction : " I am very anxious to receive your Excellency 's commands , being as yet totally in the dark as to the intended operations of the summer . I cannot help expressing my wishes that the <unk> may become the seat of war [ ... ] North Carolina [ ... ] is the most difficult of provinces to attack . " He also wrote to Lord Germain arguing the case for operations in Virginia . 
