Nathanael
Greene
Much
has been written about Nathanael Greene in numerous biographies and
several websites;
this posting will just highlight his local history and connection with
the
Kentish Guards, and give a summary of his major life events.
Greene
was born in 1742 and raised at his father’s home in the Potowomut
section of
Warwick; by 1770 he would have his own ‘homestead’ in Coventry. Both
areas are
part of Kent County, which had its courthouse and principle market town
in East
Greenwich. The Kentish Guards would have its headquarters at this
County seat,
from which it would also derive its name.
Greene’s
father was a very strict Quaker, which resulted in his family being
very hard
working and enterprising, but also pacifistic, and believing in a
restrictive
education … limited to the Bible and business mathematics, so as to
avoid the
vanities and temptations of the world. Upon appeal Nathanael was
allowed to
study Latin and Geometry, Euclid becoming a favorite; around age twelve
he began
reading the works of Ferguson, Locke, Swift and Watts suggest by Ezra
Stiles,
then a minister in Newport and later President of Yale. Green was very
enterprising, financially successful and politically active, being
admitted as
a ‘freeman’ (recognized property owner) in Warwick and (having moved to
Coventry in 1770) elected a member of the Colonial Assembly from
Coventry in
1771, 1772 and 1775. In preparation for conducting business and
necessary law
suits be began reading about law in Blackstone’s and Jacob’s writings.
Under
the benign neglect of Prime Minister Walpole, the English colonies were
allowed
to control their own affairs; but after the French & Indian War /
Seven
Years’ War England needed funds to pay for the war. The British were
already
heavily taxed and the English colonies were not; so the British
Parliament
thought it only fair that the colonies should assume part of the
burden. This
greatly chaffed the colonist, who had grown very used to governing
themselves,
who particularly resented having a tax imposed by a polity beyond their
control. Also, while the colonies were richer in food and materials
goods than
the Mother Country; there was a persistent shortage of specie money,
which
these taxes would only exacerbate. And, for the wealthy land owners,
especially
in Virginia, the closure of the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains
(to
save on the expense of Indian control) meant the lost of much property
and
expansion opportunities.
Greene
was well aware of the grown animosity against the British; he began
buying
military books from his Boston book seller friend, Henry Knox: Caesar’s
Commentaries,
Sharpe’s Military Guide, Turenne’s Memoirs,
and
others. He visited military organizations in nearby colonies to
‘compare notes’
and worked on military committees in the Rhode Island Colonial
Assembly; his
interest in military affairs would later lead to his being dropped from
membership in the local Quaker assembly.
With
trade being a large part of the local economy, Rhode Islanders were
acutely
aware of the growing political tensions with Great Britain; having a
rare
colonial charter which granted near total autonomy to the colonial
government,
they were also very independently minded. In 1771 the British Navy
ship, Gaspee,
while enforcing the customs laws, seized the sloop, Fortune,
and
its cargo; this belonged to Nathanael Greene and its seizure left him
with a
burning resentment against British rule. These known sentiments briefly
made
him a suspect in the later burning on the Gaspee.
Much
later while chasing another merchant ship, the Gaspee
ran aground
in June of 1772; before it could be freed by a rising tide, it was
attacked by
people from Providence, who shot the captain and burned the Gaspee
to the waterline. The December 1773 Boston Tea Party led to the
Coercive Acts
of 1774, whereby the British Parliament closed the Port of Boston. East
Greenwich was the first town in Rhode Island to send aid to Boston, an
act for
which some local Tories threatened to ‘burn the town down’ in September
1774. A
militia company from Providence was dispatch to maintain order,
resulting in no
violence, but the local townsfolk decided to form their own militia
company to
protect themselves.
In
July 1774 Nathanael Greene married Catherine Littlefield; she was from
Block Island
but, being orphaned, lived with her aunt, Catharine Ray, who was a very
well
establish social leader who had trained her nice is all of the social
graces.
The aunt had been a close friend of Benjamin Franklin and remained a
frequent
correspondent with him, and had married William Greene, who was to
become the
Governor of Rhode Island; they lived in the house at the corner of
Division
Street and Love Lane just over the border from East Greenwich in
Warwick. It is
still used by the Greene family today.
In
this era, every male between 18 and 45 was ‘in the militia’, but this
was a
very casual organization; the well to do merchants of East Greenwich
wanted to
form a ‘good unit’. In June 1774 Rhode Island had taken the hitherto
unheard of
step of chartering their own militia company; a charter was usually
acquired
from either the King or Parliament. This was possible because Rhode
Island had
a totally locally elected government; Massachusetts, in contract, had a
Royal
Governor, appointed by the King. Being aware of this legal possibility,
a local
lawyer, James Varnum, arranged to have a charter granted by the
Colonial
Assembly to this militia company being formed in East Greenwich.
First
meeting on September 24th, 1774 and formally meeting on
October 16th
in Arnold’s Tavern (which occupied the site of the current Greenwich
Hotel) the
Kentish Guards were granted a charter by the Colonial Assembly on
October 29th;
the Kentish Guards were formed with James Varnum as its first
Commander. The
admission requirements for this unit were high; it was considered an
‘elite
militia company’. Members had to be voted in, have sufficient funds for
dues
and to supply themselves with a full uniform and equipment. The well to
do men
of Kent County wanted to be in a quality unit, and so this unit
attracted the
cream of the county.
While
not having any military experience, Nathanael Greene was well read on
military
subjects, but he was not voted in as an officer; there was even talk
that he
wouldn’t be voted-in as an enlisted member. Much has been written on
this
subject with the majority view being that he was looked down-upon for
having a
noticeable limp, this not giving him a military bearing. The Kentish
Guards
wanted to have a ‘top notch’ organization. He became depressed by this
rejection, he appeared to have an inferiority complex; but he was
strongly
encouraged to join the Kentish Guards as an enlisted member by his
friend,
James Varnum, and so he did, proving to be a very strong, contributing
member.
Greene
was able to get a British Drill Sergeant in Boston to desert and to
train the
Kentish Guards in proper military drill. It is written that, during the
closure
of Boston when access roads were blocked by British sentries, that
Greene was
able to smuggle a musket out of Boston under a wagon load of hay.
Smuggle a
musket he did (it currently resides in the Greene Family Collection),
but one
does not cart hay out of a city; one brings hay into a city and carts
out
manure…
Greene also arranged
for the
Kentish Guards to hire a fife- and a drum-instructor to teach two lads
each
this military music; copies of these contracts exist in the collection
of his
papers. The Kentish Guards have a fife & drum corps, which today
can claim
Nathanael Greene as one of its founders.
In April 1775 dispatch
riders
spread word through-out New England and beyond of the hostilities in
Lexington
and Concord. On April 20th the Kentish Guards set out to aid
the
Patriots, marching northward in their proper, red regimental uniforms.
Nathanael Greene and a few of his cousins met-up with them in Apponaug,
a
section of Warwick just north of East Greenwich. A witness would later
write
that he saw the Kentish Guards march to the north with Nathanael Greene
marching noticeably among them, noticeable by his limp. When the Guards
reached
Providence, they received word from Deputy Governor Darius Sessions
“not to
leave the colony”; so, obedient to civilian control, they marched up to
the
border and there waited, until they received word that it was all over.
In May 1775 Rhode
Island decided
to raise three regiments in support of the Patriots in the Siege of
Boston.
James Varnum, the Colonel commanding the Kentish Guards became the
Commander of
one of these regiments, the Kent and Kings County Regiment. At that
time the
southern-most county of Rhode Island was named “Kings County”; this
would later
be changed to “Washington County” or informally “South County”. In the
General
Assembly there were three candidates for the General commanding the
three
regiments; Nathanael Greene was the third proposed. As it was said,
“That the
Baptist couldn’t, the Methodist wouldn’t, but the Quaker would.”
Nathanael
Greene, in one step, went from being a Private in the Kentish Guards to
Brigadier General of the three Rhode Island regiments.
During
the Siege of Boston and the formation of the Continental Army, Greene
caught
the eye of the new Commander in Chief, George Washington. Many of the
New
England militia units from colonies with Royal Governors, who
suppressed
militia development, were disorganized and insubordinate, which
Washington
thought they mistook for independence; but the Rhode Island regiments
were
organized and run straight out of the British military manual “down to
the tent
peg.” Washington would also take a liking to Greene’s Boston friend,
Henry
Knox, who later would distinguish himself with the artillery. During
this early
organization of the Continental Army, thirty-five members of the
Kentish Guards
would become officers, by virtue of their military knowledge. The first
Rhode
Island causality was Adjutant August Mumford, one of these Kentish
Guardsmen;
he was killed by a cannon ball within sight of Nathanael Greene, an
upsetting
sight about which he wrote.
Greene
would become a close friend and tactical advisor to Washington during
the
course of the war. A very active field commander, Greene was promoted
to Major
General in August 1776. He was largely in charge of laying down the
defenses on
Long Island until he was immobilized by a severe illness and missed the
initial
British assaults there. Later, during the defense of Manhattan, he
committed
his greatest blunder by declining to abandon Fort Washington, which led
to the
capture of thousands of American soldiers and many cannon and other
equipment;
but Washington continued to have faith in him and Greene performed well
afterwards at Trenton (where Greene commanded the left wing), at
Brandywine
(where the Continental Army avoided annihilation by Greene’s marching a
brigade
five miles in 45-minutes to fill-in a gap in the battle line at
Dilworth) and
at Germantown (covering the retreat after the confusing results of the
battle).
At
Valley Forge, with the Quartermaster’s Department in disarray and the
Continental Army in grievous need of food and supplies, Greene accepted
the
position of Quartermaster General in March 1778, much to his
displeasure; but
the situation was critical and Washington needed to have a competent person in that position. Greene
straightened out the mess and performed
miracles until he resigned as Quartermaster in June 1780. From time to
time, he
was given field command assignments and even took charge of the Army
during
Washington’s absence while consulting with Rochambeau in Hartford in
September
1780. During Washington’s absence, the Army under Greene repulsed an
attack
made by Clinton at Springfield and Rahway Bridges, New Jersey. In
position in
Tappen, New York, Greene took charge of West Point after Benedict
Arnold’s
treason was discovered, until Washington returned. He formally assumed
command
of West Point on October 8th.
On
October 14th Greene was appointed Commanding General of the
Southern
Army by the Continental Congress, replacing General Gates, who had
failed
significantly at the Battle of Camden in South Carolina. When he
assumed command
in December 2nd in Charlotte, North Carolina the Southern
Army was virtually
non-existent; Greene displayed his brilliance conducting a guerrilla
campaign,
disturbing British communications and supply lines. Greene’s army
gained
control of much of the back county and won the tacit support of the
local Tory
population by treating them fairly; this left the British in control of
only
the major port cities of the South. His actions frustrated British
General
Cornwallis so greatly that Clinton went ‘off station’ and, with limited
supplies to allow for faster movement, chased Greene’s army northward
until
Greene fought him at a battlefield of Greene’s choosing. At Guilford
Courthouse,
North Carolina Greene met Cornwallis’ attack with a three zoned defense
wherein
he brilliantly employed the lay-of-the land and the virtues and
limitations of
the troops under his command.
In
the first zone Greene placed his most inexperienced troops, local North
Carolina militiamen just recruited, behind a slip-rail fence (upon which they could rest and better aim their
muskets) facing a newly plowed field (which would slow the initial
British
assault). When the British came too close, ready to start a bayonet
assault,
this first line of militia ran away, as planned; they did not have
bayonets.
This led the British into dense woods, which broke-up their formations;
where
they were met by experienced Virginia militia, who engaged them in
sniping and
prolonged hand-to-hand combat. Finally emerging from the dense
woodland, the British
had to cross a brook and proceed uphill to attack the well rested
Continental
Troops. At one point the lead British unit was surrounded and could
have been
annihilated; to forestall this Cornwallis had British field cannon fire
into
the melee, injuring as many of his own troops as those of Greene.
Greene’s army
was forced to withdraw from the field, the first priority being the
survival of
the Continental Army; Cornwallis was left holding the field and
technically
winning the battle, but his army had been mauled.
Cornwallis
retired to Wilmington, North Carolina and then moved to Yorktown,
Virginia,
where another fate awaited him. Greene circled back into South Carolina
and in
several battles completely drove the British out of the back country.
He was
instrumental in re-establishing a state government in South Carolina
and
Georgia; an important consideration in advance of the final treaty
negotiations, or the British might have continued to claim jurisdiction
over
these states at the end of the war. In 1785 he moved to Mulberry Grove,
a
plantation given to him by the State of Georgia, where he died in 1787,
age 44,
of sunstroke. He was survived by his wife, two sons and three
daughters. An
idea by Catherine Greene was developed and engineered by the family
tutor, Eli
Whitney, creating the cotton gin, which would revolutionize agriculture
in the
South. The patent, however, could not be easily enforced; so this
invention
brought Catherine Greene and Whitney little financial reward.
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