The British Parliament adopted an official Disqualifying Act that required their own troops to protect surrendered Whigs who honored their parole pledges, and Cornwallis reluctantly complied with the decision. The general soon learned that Thomas Brown was demanding active cooperation by surrendered Whigs, not just passive neutrality, but decided not to interfere. Many of the parolees left in Georgia considered Brown’s policy to be a violation of their surrender terms, and Clarke tried, through persuasion and intimidation, to recruit them to join his forces. Ethan Pratt, all the commanders, and a core group of American militiamen under Clarke’s command had never surrendered, and now they were even more tightly organized, constantly alert, and almost always aware of what the Tories were planning.

This was a strange fighting force, operating on its own and having little if any relationship with George Washington’s Continentals. As a rule, the regular American commanders knew nothing of their actions until after they were over, and with few exceptions Congress never supplied the militia leaders with any weapons, horses, uniforms, or other supplies. These southerners met their own needs from the territory where they happened to be operating. Most of the time they comprised small groups and were able to come forward to fight or to disband and reassemble in the hidden and well-protected recesses of the Hornet’s Nest. Their greatest asset and most precious possessions were superb horses, from which they were seldom distant more than a hundred yards.

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Believing the war in Georgia to be over, Cornwallis ordered Brown to relinquish his military duties and concentrate on being Indian superintendent. Brown was distressed, and sent the general a letter exaggerating the Georgia militia’s continuing threat and embellishing his past exploits in combat and in securing intelligence. He claimed to have raised more Indian fighters in his brief tenure than had John Stuart over many years, and pointed out that his good relationship with the natives was largely predicated on his military command. Cornwallis replied that he needed no justification for his previous order, but he finally relented and decided that Brown could retain his military duties and help eliminate the remaining American militia.