American military officer and planter (1742–1786)
Major-General Nathanael Greene (August 7, 1742 – June 19, 1786) was an American military officer and planter who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He emerged from the war with a reputation as one of George Washington's most talented and dependable officers and is known for his successful command in the Southern theater of the conflict.
Born into a prosperous Quaker family in Warwick, Rhode Island, Greene became active in the colonial opposition to British revenue policies in the early 1770s and helped establish the Kentish Guards, a state militia unit. After the April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord, the legislature of Rhode Island established an army and appointed Greene to command it. Later in the year, Greene became a general in the newly established Continental Army. Greene served under George Washington in the Boston campaign, the New York and New Jersey campaign, and the Philadelphia campaign before being appointed quartermaster general of the Continental Army in 1778.
In October 1780, Washington appointed Greene as the commander of the Continental Army in the southern theater, where he was involved in several engagements, primarily in Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina. After taking command, Greene engaged in a successful campaign of guerrilla warfare against a numerically superior British force led by Charles Cornwallis. He gained several strategic victories at Guilford Court House, Hobkirk's Hill, and Eutaw Springs, eroding British control over the American South.
Major fighting on land came to an end following the surrender of Cornwallis at the siege of Yorktown in October 1781, but Greene continued to serve in the Continental Army until late 1783. After the war, he settled down to a career as a plantation owner in Georgia, but his rice crops were mostly a failure. He died in 1786 at the Mulberry Grove Plantation in Chatham County, Georgia. Numerous locations in the United States are named for him.
Early life and education.
Greene was born on Forge Farm at Potowomut in the township of Warwick, Rhode Island, which was then part of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in British America. He was the second son of Mary Mott and Nathanael Greene Sr., a prosperous Quaker merchant and farmer. Greene was descended from John Greene and Samuel Gorton, both of whom were founding settlers of Warwick. Greene had two older half-brothers from his father's first marriage and was one of six children born to Nathanael and Mary. Due to religious beliefs, Greene's father discouraged book learning, as well as dancing and other activities. Nonetheless, Greene convinced his father to hire a tutor, and he studied mathematics, the classics, law, and various works of the Age of Enlightenment. At some point during his childhood, Greene gained a slight limp that would remain with him for the rest of his life.
In 1770, Greene moved to Coventry, Rhode Island, to take charge of the family-owned foundry, and he built a house in Coventry called Spell Hall. Later in the year, Greene and his brothers inherited the family business after their father's death. Greene began to assemble a large library that included military histories by authors like Julius Caesar, Frederick the Great, and Maurice de Saxe.
Family.
In July 1774, Greene married the nineteen-year-old Catharine Littlefield, a niece by marriage of his distant cousin, William Greene, an influential political leader in Rhode Island. The same year, one of Greene's younger brothers married a daughter of Samuel Ward, a prominent Rhode Island politician who became an important political ally until his death in 1776. Greene and Catherine's first child was born in 1776, and they had six more children between 1777 and 1786.
American Revolutionary War.
Prelude to war.
After the French and Indian War (1754–1763), the British parliament began imposing new policies designed to raise revenue from British America for a war which colonists had played a pivotal role in instigating. After British official William Dudington seized a vessel owned by Greene and his brothers, Greene filed an ultimately successful lawsuit against Dudington for damages. While the lawsuit was pending, Dudington's vessel was torched by a Rhode Island mob in what became known as the Gaspee Affair. In the aftermath of the Gaspee Affair, Greene became increasingly alienated from the British. At the same time, Greene drifted away from his father's Quaker faith, and he was suspended from Quaker meetings in July 1773. In 1774, after the passage of measures that colonials derided as the "Intolerable Acts," Greene helped organize a state militia unit known as the Kentish Guards. Because of his limp, Greene was not selected as an officer in the militia.
Commander under Washington.
Boston campaign.
The American Revolutionary War broke out with the April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord. In early May, the legislature of Rhode Island established the Rhode Island Army of Observation and appointed Greene to command it. Greene's army marched to Boston, where other colonial forces were laying siege to a British garrison. He missed the June 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill because he was visiting Rhode Island at the time, but he returned almost immediately after the battle and was impressed by the performance of colonial forces. That same month, the Second Continental Congress established the Continental Army and appointed George Washington to command all colonial forces. In addition to Washington, Congress appointed sixteen generals, and Greene was appointed as a brigadier general in the Continental Army. Washington took command of the Siege of Boston in July 1775, bringing with him generals such as Charles Lee, Horatio Gates, and Thomas Mifflin. Washington organized the Continental Army into three divisions, each consisting of regiments from different colonies, and Greene was given command of a brigade consisting of seven regiments. The Siege of Boston continued until March 1776, when British forces evacuated from the city. After the end of the siege, Greene briefly served as the commander of military forces in Boston, but he rejoined Washington's army in April 1776.
New York and New Jersey Campaign.
Washington established his headquarters in Manhattan, and Greene was tasked with preparing for the invasion of nearby Long Island. While he focused on building up fortifications in Brooklyn, Greene befriended General Henry Knox and struck up a correspondence with John Adams. He was also, along with several other individuals, promoted to major general by an act of Congress. Because of a severe fever, he did not take part in the Battle of Long Island, which ended with an American retreat from Long Island. After the battle, Greene urged Washington to raze Manhattan so that it would not fall into the hands of the British, but Congress forbade Washington from doing so. Unable to raze Manhattan, Washington initially wanted to fortify the city, but Greene joined with several officers in convincing Washington that the city was indefensible. During the withdrawal from Manhattan, Greene saw combat for the first time in the Battle of Harlem Heights, a minor British defeat that nonetheless represented one of the first American victories in the war.
After the Battle of Harlem Heights, Washington placed Greene in command of both Fort Constitution (later known as Fort Lee), which was on New Jersey side of the Hudson River, and Fort Washington, which was across the river from Fort Constitution. While in command of Fort Lee, Greene established supply depots in New Jersey along a potential line of retreat; these would later prove to be valuable resources for the Continental Army. Washington suggested to Greene that he remove the garrison from Fort Washington due to its vulnerability to a British attack, but he ultimately deferred to Greene's decision to continue to station soldiers there. In the subsequent Battle of Fort Washington, fought in November 1776, the British captured the Fort Washington and its 3,000-man garrison. Greene was subjected to heavy criticism in the aftermath of the battle, but Washington declined to relieve Greene from command. Shortly after the Battle of Fort Washington, a British force under General Cornwallis captured Fort Lee, and the Continental Army began a retreat across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. Greene commanded part of Washington's army in the December 1776 Battle of Trenton and the January 1777 Battle of Princeton, both of which were victories for the Continental Army.
Philadelphia campaign.
Along with the rest of Washington's army, Greene was stationed in New Jersey throughout the first half of 1777. In July 1777, he publicly threatened to resign over the appointment of a French officer to the Continental Army, but he ultimately retained his commission. Meanwhile, the British began a campaign to capture Philadelphia, the seat of Congress. At the Battle of the Brandywine, Greene commanded a division at the center of the American line, but the British launched a flanking maneuver. Greene's division helped prevent the envelopment of American forces and allowed for a safe retreat. The British captured Philadelphia shortly after the Battle of the Brandywine, but Washington launched a surprise attack on a British force at the October 1777 Battle of Germantown. Greene's detachment arrived late to the battle, which ended in another American defeat. In December, Greene joined with the rest of Washington's army in establishing a camp at Valley Forge, located twenty-five miles northwest of Philadelphia. Over the winter of 1777–1778, he clashed with Thomas Mifflin and other members of the Conway Cabal, a group that frequently criticized Washington and sought to install Horatio Gates as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
In March 1778, Greene reluctantly accepted the position of quartermaster general, making him responsible for procuring supplies for the Continental Army. Along with his top two assistants, Charles Pettit and John Cox, Greene reorganized his 3,000-person department, establishing supply depots in strategic places across the United States. As quartermaster general, Greene continued to attend Washington's councils-of-war, an unusual arrangement for a staff officer. After France joined the war in early 1778, the British army in Philadelphia was ordered to New York. Along with Anthony Wayne and the Marquis de Lafayette, Greene recommended an attack on the British force while it retreated across New Jersey to New York. Greene commanded a division in the subsequent Battle of Monmouth, which, after hours of fighting, ended indecisively.
Stalemate in the Northern theater, 1778–1780.
In July 1778, Washington granted Greene temporary leave as quartermaster general so that he could take part in an attack on British forces stationed in his home state of Rhode Island. The offensive was designed as a combined Franco-American operation under the command of General John Sullivan and French admiral d'Estaing, but the French fleet withdrew due to bad weather conditions. Greene fought in the subsequent Battle of Rhode Island, an inconclusive battle that ended with a British retreat from the American position. After the battle, the American force under Sullivan left Rhode Island, while Greene returned to his duties as quartermaster general.
After mid-1778, the Northern theater of the war became a stalemate, as the main British force remained in New York City and Washington's force was stationed nearby on the Hudson River. The British turned their attention to the Southern theater of the war, launching an ultimately successful expedition to capture Savannah. Though he desired a battlefield command, Greene continued to serve as the Continental Army's quartermaster general. As Congress was increasingly powerless to furnish funds for supplies, Greene became an advocate of a stronger national government. In June 1780, while Washington's main force continued to guard the Hudson River, Greene led a detachment to block the advance of a British contingent through New Jersey. Despite being vastly outnumbered in the Battle of Springfield, Greene forced the withdrawal of the British force on the field. Shortly after the battle, Greene resigned as quartermaster general in a letter that strongly criticized Congress; although some members of Congress were so outraged by the letter that they sought to relieve Greene of his officer's commission, Washington's intervention ensured that Greene retained a position in the Continental Army. After Benedict Arnold defected to the British, Greene briefly served as the commandant of West Point and presided over the execution of John André, Arnold's contact in the British army.
Command in the South.
Appointment.
By October 1780, the Continental Army had suffered several devastating defeats in the South under the command of Benjamin Lincoln and Horatio Gates, leaving the United States at a major disadvantage in the Southern theater of the war. On October 14, 1780, Washington, acting on the authorization of Congress,