Willing assembled a small militia and began raiding British outposts. Willing and his militia occupied Natchez on February 19, 1778, and announced that a 5,000 strong militia under George Rogers Clark was following him down the river. He received tacit cooperation from Bernardo de Gálvez, the Governor of Spanish Luisiana and Commander of the troops of his Catholic Majesty. Galvez cooperated because he believed that if West Florida were captured, it would then be handed over to Spain. The militia reached Fort Bute and captured a British vessel there. Willing then advanced southward, but many of the local settlers crossed the river and took shelter on the Spanish side. He forced a committee of local landowners to pledge they would not take up arms against the army of the United States.
