Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene (1742-86), American revolutionary soldier, born in Warwick, Rhode Island, and self-educated. In 1770 he was elected a member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island. In the period before the American Revolution, Greene took part in military exercises to prepare for war, which he regarded as inevitable. In 1775 he was appointed brigadier general of the Rhode Island forces sent to join the Continental Army besieging the British in Boston. Later, after winning the esteem of General George Washington for his service in battles in the vicinity of New York City, Greene was made a major general and was assigned to the command of the revolutionary troops in New Jersey. Subsequently he fought in the battles of Princeton, the Brandywine, and Germantown. In 1778 he was appointed quartermaster general of the revolutionary army, occupying that post until 1780. In the latter year he sat as president of the military court that tried the British major John André, the accomplice of the American traitor Benedict Arnold. Greene was then given command of the southern revolutionary army and, despite reverses suffered at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina, and Hobkirk's Hill, South Carolina (March and April 1781), he was successful in forcing the enemy to retreat to three coastal bases, where they were subsequently trapped. North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia honored Greene with gifts of valuable estates, including Mulberry Grove on the Savannah River in Georgia, to which he retired after the war.