A small force of Virginia militiamen, led by George Rogers Clark, seized control of several British posts in the Illinois Country of the then Province of Quebec. Clark and his men crossed the Ohio River from Kentucky and took control without firing a shot because most of the inhabitants were unwilling to take up arms on behalf of the British Empire. To counter Clark’s advance, Henry Hamilton, the British lieutenant governor at Fort Detroit, reoccupied the town of Vincennes with a small force. In February 1779, Clark returned to Vincennes in a surprise winter expedition and retook the town, capturing Hamilton in the process. For his actions, Clark was nicknamed the “Conqueror of the Northwest.”