The British then set their house on fire and leave. Benjamin runs inside with the house on fire. He grabs some guns, ammunition, and his old tomahawk he then goes to his family. Benjamin then tells the girls to run and hide in the field he says if we are not back by sundown go to your aunt's plantation. He then takes his youngest two sons and they run through the woods to meet up with the British soldiers who have just taken Gabriel. Benjamin tells his two sons, aim for the officers first then work your way down. The three of them proceed to kill all of these men and rescue Gabriel. Cornwallis and his men learn about this and start to call Benjamin "the ghost." After this Benjamin sends all of his children to live with their aunt Charlotte. Benjamin signs up for the militia to work for the cause; but Benjamin also secretly wants revenge on his son's death. Benjamin is appointed as a lieutenant. Benjamin and his men get in several battles, they win some and lose some. One of the times Benjamin and his men won a battle against some British soldiers marching with carts. This was a very valuable win because they got Cornwallis's diary, officers clothing, and Cornwallis's two dogs. Cornwallis learns about Benjamin and his men but does not know that he is "the ghost." The diary, clothing, and even the dogs come in handy at different points in the movie. .
The diary of Cornwallis tells Benjamin many things about Cornwallis; it shows Benjamin that Cornwallis thinks that militiamen are stupid and that he is very arrogant. The battle that defeats Cornwallis before he goes to Yorktown is the last battle in the movie. The militia knows Cornwallis's weakness because Benjamin read his diary. They tell the regulars or the trained army this and they play on Cornwallis's weakness in the last battle. When the British approach the "rebels" they only see the militia and Cornwallis thinks this is wonderful and it will be easy to beat them.