After taking Kaskaskia on July 5, 1778, George Roges Clark, Acting under Virginia authority, sent Father Pierre Gibault, as his envoy, to Vincennes. Gibault convinced the villagers there to take an oath of loyalty to the Americans. In early August, Captain Leonard Helm arrived to take command of Fort Sackville. On December 17, British Forces under Colonel Henry Hamilton recaptured the Fort. Clark with some 160 men reached Vincennes on February 23, 1779, after an eighteen-day March through flooded country. The move caught Hamilton by surprise. Two days later he surrendered. The Fort, Renamed Patrick Henry, remained in American hands.