 With the southern campaign checked, Cornwallis received dispatches in Wilmington, North Carolina informing him that another British army under Generals William Phillips and Benedict Arnold had been sent to Virginia.Believing that North Carolina could not be subdued unless its supply lines from Virginia were cut, he decided to join forces with Phillips and since his army was still strong enough to strike directly into Virginia's tidewater and the heart of the Patriot resistance.In March 1781, in response to the threat posed by Arnold and Phillips, General Washington had dispatched Marquis de Lafayette to defend Virginia.