round. Then came the early floods.
For days the Americans marched in water up to their waists. At night
they sought some little hill where they could sleep on dry ground. Then
on again through the flood. They surprised the British garrison at
Vincennes and forced it to surrender. That was the end of the contest
for the Northwest.

[Illustration: WEST POINT IN 1790.]

[Sidenote: Benedict Arnold.]

[Sidenote: His treason, 1780 _Higginson_, 209-211; _McMaster_, 144]

156. Arnold and Andre, 1780.--Of all the leaders under Washington
none was abler in battle than Benedict Arnold. Unhappily he was always
in trouble about money. He was distrusted by Congress and was not
promoted. At Saratoga he quarrelled with Gates and was dismissed from
his command. Later he became military governor of Philadelphia and was
censured by Washington for his doings there. He then secured the command
of West Point and offered to surrender the post to the British. Major
Andre, of Clinton's staff, met Arnold to arrange the final details. On
his return journey to New York Andre was arrested and taken before
Washington. The American commander asked his generals if Andre was a
spy. They replied that Andre was a spy, and he was hanged. Arnold
escaped to New York and became a general in the British army.

CHAPTER 16

INDEPENDENCE

[Sidenote: Invasion of the South.]

[Sidenote: Capture of Charleston, 1780.]

157. Fall of Charleston, 1780.--It seemed quite certain that
Clinton could not conquer the Northern states with the forces given him.
In the South there were many loyalists. Resistance might not be so stiff
there. At all events Clinton decided to attempt the conquest of the
South. Savannah was easily seized (1778), and the French and Americans
could not retake it (1779). In the spring of 1780, Clinton, with a large
army, landed on the coast between Savannah and Charleston. He marched
overland to Charleston and besieged it from the land side. The Americans
held out for a long time. But they were finally forced to surrender.
Clinton then sailed back to New York, and left to Lord Cornwallis the
further conquest of the Carolinas.

[Sidenote: Battle of Camden, 1780.]

158. Gates's Defeat at Camden, 1780.--Cornwallis had little trouble
in occupying the greater part of South Carolina. There was no one to
oppose him, for the American army had been captured with Charleston.
Another small army was got together in North Carolina and the comma