Nathanael Greene Biography

Dromo's Den

GREENE, Nathanael (1742-86). An American general. He was born Aug. 7, 1742, at Patowomut, Warwick Co., R. I. His father was a leading preacher among the Quakers and educated his son very simply, training him from childhood to work on his farm and at his anchor forge and gristmill. By his own perseverance, however, the son acquired considerable knowledge of ancient and English history, geometry, law, and moral and political science. In 1770 he was chosen a member of the Rhode Island Assembly, was reelected in 1771, 1772, and 1775, and, to the great scandal of his fellow Quakers, was among the first to engage in the military exercises preparatory to resisting the mother country. In 1774 he enlisted as a private in an independent company, the Kentish Guards, and in 1775 was appointed to the command of the Rhode Island contingent sent to the army at Boston, with the rank of brigadier general. He was promoted to be major general on Aug. 9, 1776 and was placed in command of the troops on Long Island. In the affair of Harlem Heights, where he was for the first time under fire, he handled his command with skill and valor. The movements by which the British General Howe tried to turn the flanks of the American army forced Washington to withdraw the greater part of his forces into New Jersey, leaving Greene in command of the remainder near Fort Washington on the Hudson. As the obstruction to navigation had been removed by the British, Greene's position was much exposed, and he was authorized to fall back across the river. The matter was left to his discretion, however, and he deemed it inadvisable to retire at the time. Preparations were made to defend the fort, but it was invested by Howe's forces and was compelled to surrender on Nov. 16, 1776, after a spirited conflict. (See FORT WASHINGTON.) In the New Jersey campaign of 1776-77 Greene distinguished himself, particularly at Trenton and Princeton. At the battle of Brandywine he was in command of a reserve force; at Germantown he commanded the left wing, and was vigorously pressing the enemy when a panic seized a brigade of militia, which gave way, and the American forces were compelled to retire, which they did in good order, General Greene commanding the rear guard. In 1778 he reluctantly consented to act as quartermaster-general at a time when the administration of that department was difficult. His particularly noteworthy service was rendered after he succeeded General Gates on Oct. 30, 1780, in the command of the Army of the South. Congress vested in him authority to raise supplies, appoint officers, and command all the troops raised or to be raised in six States. Gates had just been completely defeated by Cornwallis at the battle of Camden (Aug. 16, 1780), and Greene, upon his arrival in North Carolina in December, 1780, found the army in a wretched state. By dint of great activity he got his troops into better condition and remained for a short time on the defensive. In the meantime the prospects of the Americans had been improved by the decisive victory at King's Mountain (Oct. 7, 1780) and by Morgan's overthrow of Tarleton at Cowpens (Jan. 17, 1781). Nevertheless, Cornwallis forced Greene northward into Virginia; but Greene, being reënforced, reentered North Carolina and took his stand at Guilford Courthouse. Battle was joined here (March 15, 1781), and, although Greene retired from the fight, he remained in control of much of North Carolina, while Cornwallis found it expedient to move northward into Virginia. Carrying the war into South Carolina, Greene was defeated by Cornwallis' successor, Rawdon, at Hobkirk's Hill (April 25, 1781); but he held his own in a severe battle at Eutaw Springs against Stuart (Sept. 8, 1781) and secured finally the exclusion of the English forces from all of Georgia and the Carolinas except three coast towns. Congress struck and presented to him a medal in honor of this battle, and the Carolinas and Georgia made him valuable grants of land. When peace was restored in 1783, Greene returned to Rhode Island, where he received numerous testimonials of the public admiration. In 1785 he retired with his family to his estate in Georgia, where he died of sunstroke, June 19, 1786. As a soldier, Greene was fitly described by his distinguished opponent Cornwallis as being "as dangerous as Washington, vigilant, enterprising, and full of resource." He also possessed many of the qualities of a statesman, was well balanced, full of tact, a master of the countless details involved in raising troops in a country not wholly patriotic or friendly to the cause, in impressing Congress with the needs of the army, and in harmonizing the conflicting policies of the new States. Consult: Francis V. Greene, General Nathanael Greene (New York, 1893), in the "Great Commanders Series"; G. W. Greene, The Life of Nathanael Greene (3 vols., ib., 1867-71); and, less favorable to Greene, McCrady, History of South Carolina in the Revolution (ib., 1902).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. X (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 338-339.