Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene 1742-86, American Revolutionary general, b. Potowomut (now Warwick), R.I. An iron founder, he became active in colonial politics and served (1770-72, 1775) in the Rhode Island assembly. At the beginning of the American Revolution he commanded a detachment of militia at the siege of Boston and was in charge of the city after the British evacuation (1776). Greene helped plan the defense of New York (1776), but illness kept him from the battle of Long Island. He was with Washington (1776-77) at Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown , and Valley Forge. In Feb., 1778, he became quartermaster general while still holding his field command; he reorganized the department, found supplies for the army, and rendered fine service in this capacity. His notable ability at organization also appeared in his fieldwork. He fought (1778) at Monmouth and in the Rhode Island campaign and was president (1780) of the court-martial board that sentenced Major John André. After Gates was defeated at Camden (1780), Greene became the commander in the Carolina campaign . He reorganized the Southern army, and he and his lieutenants (notably Daniel Morgan and Henry Lee ), with aid of partisan bands under Francis Marion , Thomas Sumter, and Andrew Pickens , turned the tide in Carolina. Greene's forces were defeated at Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirks Hill, and Eutaw Springs, but each time the British victory was reversed, and he pushed south to surround Charleston until the British evacuated it (1782). The campaign is generally considered an example of excellent strategy, and Greene's generalship is much admired. To get supplies for the Continental Army, Greene often had been forced to endorse personal notes. After the war the dishonesty of a contractor forced him to sell his estates to honor those pledges. The people of Georgia, however, gave him a plantation.

Bibliography: See biographies by his grandson, G. W. Greene (3 vol., 1867-71), and T. G. Thayer (1960); W. Johnson, Sketches of the Life and Correspondence of Nathanael Greene (1822, repr. 1973).

Greene, Nathanael (1742–1786), Revolutionary War general.In May 1775, Greene, a member of the Rhode Island legislature, was appointed to command the Rhode Island troops besieging Boston, making him the youngest general in the Continental Army. Appointed a major general in 1776, he commanded troops in several important battles in 1776–1777, performing so well that he soon became George Washington's key adviser. At Washington's behest, Greene served as quartermaster general from 1778 until 1780, when he resigned to protest congressionally mandated changes in the department's staffing and operations. Named in October 1780 commander of the Southern Department, which included states from Pennsylvania to Georgia, he held this command until war's end, the only one of Washington's generals to serve throughout the war.

Greene was perhaps the greatest military strategist of the American Revolution. When he arrived in the South to command a Continental Army bordering on dissolution, the British virtually controlled South Carolina and Georgia and were poised to overrun North Carolina. Greene reversed this situation in less than a year. Using available militia and partisan fighters brilliantly, and understanding the role that mounted troops could play in eroding British control and support, Greene lured British General Charles Cornwallis into an exhausting chase and finally, without scoring a clear‐cut tactical victory, was able to retake all but two southern seaports.

Greene settled in Georgia after the war on a plantation given to him in recognition of his service to that state. His early death resulted from heat stroke.

Bibliography

Theodore Thayer , Nathanael Greene: Strategist of the American Revolution, 1960.
Richard Showman et al., eds., The Papers of General Nathanael Greene, 10 vols, 1976–.

Dennis M. Conrad

Greene, Nathanael (1742–1786), Continental army general.Nathanael Greene was born into a Warwick, Rhode Island, family of anchorsmiths and millowners. Raised a Quaker, Greene nevertheless developed a youthful fascination for military history. In 1775 Private Greene joined patriots besieging Boston. His intelligence, knowledge of military affairs, and managerial skills, led Congress to appoint him a brigadier general and placed him in charge of Boston when the British left.

Greene was one of George Washington's favorite lieutenants. An amateur, Greene initially made by‐the‐book mistakes; learning war through war, however, he grew as a leader. Promoted to major‐general, Greene fought the Battles of Trenton and Princeton (1776–77), Brandywine (1777), Germantown (1777), Monmouth (1778), and Newport (1778), and often commanded in Washington's absence. Appointed quartermaster general (1778), his business experience aided him immeasurably. Resuming field duty, Greene fought at Springfield (1780) before accepting command of the Southern Department in December 1780.

In the South, Greene's position appeared hopeless. Georgia and South Carolina had fallen, North Carolina and Virginia lay exposed to British invasion, and his small detachment of the Continental army was ill‐clothed, starving, and demoralized. Greene quickly restored discipline and morale. Next, he boldly divided his force, detaching Daniel Morgan into South Carolina's backcountry and Henry Lee's cavalry to join Francis Marion's coastal guerrillas. It was a stroke of genius. With one order, Greene recaptured the strategic initiative. After Morgan's victory at the Battle of Cowpens (1781), Greene concentrated his forces and led British Gen. Charles Cornwallis deep into North Carolina. At the Battle of Guilford Courthouse (1781) they fought a bitter engagement, with Cornwallis winning a Pyrrhic victory. Lord Cornwallis retired to Virginia to meet ultimate defeat by Washington at the Battle of Yorktown.

Greene returned south. Combining guerrillas, militia, and regulars as integral parts of his operational strategy, he fought several battles (Ninety‐Six, Hobkirk's Hill, Eutaw Springs). The British won all of them, but at high cost. By October 1781, except for Charleston and Savannah, the South was under American control. A brilliant, innovative leader practicing in guerrilla warfare, Greene left the army in 1783. Soon after (1786), he died of sunstroke in Georgia.
[See also Revolutionary War: Military and Diplomatic Course; Yorktown, Battle of.]

Bibliography

Theodore Thayer , Nathanael Greene: Strategist of the Revolution, 1960.
Morgan Dederer , Making Bricks Without Straw: Nathanael Greene's Southern Campaigns and Mao Tse‐Tung's Mobile War, 1983.

John Morgan Dederer