Copyright © 2006 by R. Blade All Rights Reserved
rblade@sbcglobal.net
Nathanael Greene was the Revolutionary War hero and Washington’s favorite general who Liberated the South from British rule forcing them to Yorktown, Virginia where they surrendered.
Contents
The Conversation:
The fictional conversation in this book reviews Major General Nathanael Greene’s participation in the American Revolutionary War (war). The conversation is not an oral enumeration of his life or of the war.
The fictional conversation was created from selected events and details described in scholarly works namely:
Caty: A Biography of Catherine Littlefield Greene, John Stegeman and Janet Stegeman
Decisive Battles of the American Revolution, Joseph B. Mitchell
Forgotten Patriot, Lee Patrick Anderson
George Washington’s Generals, George Athan Billias
George Washington’s War, Robert Leckie
Story of the Revolution, Henry Cabot Lodge
The Compact History of the Revolutionary War, Richard Ernest Dupuy
Washington’s General, Terry Golway
I hereby acknowledge my reliance on and appreciation of the above named works.
The Prelog provides the backgound for the conversation and Postlog the summary.
R. Blade
Mayflower Pilgrims
The Church of England was controlled by the English monarchy. Puritans were the separatist Protestants who broke away from the Church of England because it resembled the pompous rituals and vestments of Catholicism.
Puritans believed in religious and moral purity with independence from the monarchy. Unable to reform the Church of England and to independently practice their religion without fear of reprisals from the monarchy they departed for America the New World. Mayflower Pilgrims were the 102 separatist Puritans who sailed from England on the Mayflower. In 1620 they landed in America at Plymouth Colony (now Plymouth, MA) that became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In America Puritans became even more strict. They banned springtime maypole celebrations including dancing and sports, drama of any kind, and of course gambling.
Charter Colonies and Proprietary Colonies
Charles 2 King of England (1630-1685) made land grants in America in several ways, namely by charter and Lord Proprietorship. In charter colonies, such as Connecticut and Rhode Island, settlers had the same rights as men born and living in England. The independent settlers in charter colonies normally governed themselves. In Lord Proprietary colonies English aristocrats, called Lord Proprietors, were granted huge tracts of land in the South. They were vicars of the king and governed those lands in place of the king. Therefore there were more Tories in the South’s proprietary colonies than in the North’s charter colonies.
Doctor John Greene
Another nonconformist group to break away from the Church of England believed in direct experience with God on an individual basis, no need for a priest to intervene between an individual and God. Doctor John Greene was part of that group which arrived in America shortly after the Mayflower Pilgrims. He was Nathanael Greene’s great-great-grandfather.
Roger Williams
Roger Williams was a different kind Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He believed in separating God from the state. Williams was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony because he preached against the insertion of God in policies of state government. Instead of ‘in God we trust’ he preferred ‘in men’s wisdom we trust’.
In the brutal winter of 1736 Roger Williams and a group of his like-minded followers traveled south through the snow and ice to the western shore of Narragansett Bay. There they formed a new colony called Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (Rhode Island). Doctor John Greene was part of that group. Rhode Island was a self-governing charter colony that promised its citizens political and religious freedoms.
Quakers
Doctor John Greene and others who believed as he did called themselves Quakers. They were even stricter than Puritans. Quakers believed each individual had direct communication with God without need for religious services, rituals, pompous vestments, or the intervention of another person called pastor or priest. They did away with religious hierarchy and congregated not for church services but for meetings with like-minded friends. Quakers held religious meetings in plain buildings and called themselves Society of Friends. They sat silently in rough-hewn pews while listening to a preacher. Quakers were against swearing oaths to church or state. They were strong pacifists, against any kind of violence, and certainly against war. Quakers were devout, hard working, and lived plain no-nonsense lives.
Their pursuit of worldly goods reminds one of Judaism. They dressed in plain black habits without adornments or frills. All children were taught farming and handicrafts. Additionally girls were taught homemaking and boys taught trades. In the new colony Quakers became a thriving population. In the thriving settlement of Potowomut, Rhode Island Nathanael’s grandfather built a fine two-story house surrounded by acres of land. The extended Greene family lived in that fine old homestead. Nathanael’s father was an industrious man. The father and his brothers managed successful businesses of farm, iron forge, and sawmill. They were active in community affairs and aligned themselves with the politically prominent Samuel Ward family. The Wards were outspoken opponents and political enemies of Governor Stephen Hopkins and his supporters including the influential Browns (later founders of Brown University). An ambitious man Nathanael’s father eventually became sole proprietor of Greene & Co.
Birth of Nathanael Greene
There are discrepant versions of the place, East Greenwich or Potowomut or Warwick, Rhode Island and date, 27July1742 or 7August1742, of Nathanael’s birth. There’s a village of East Greenwich as well as a Town of East Greenwich. There’s also the village of Warwick as well as the Town of Warwick. Nathanael was born on 7August1742 in Potowomut, Rhode island a village at the tip of the promontory bordering the towns of Warwick and East Greenwich on the western shore of Narragansett Bay. Both towns are in Kent County.
Nathanael the second son of his father’s second wife was born in 1742, two younger sons followed. In the family were also older sons by the father’s first wife. Altogether there were 8 sons raised to work in family businesses. As in ancient Rome Nathanael’s father was head of the household and taught his children the ethical and stern Quaker way of life. But there were also times for socializing at Quaker meetings. During the fall there were games and dancing celebrating the harvest. The father did not permit his children to dance except during harvest celebrations.
French and Indian War 1754-1760
England colonized the East Coast of America. Its enemy France was colonizing lands in the Ohio River Valley and beyond. England and France disputed the ownership of certain lands west of the east coast. Their irresolvable disputes led to the French and Indian War. England and its American colonies fought against France and its Indian allies. During that war colonists such as Horatio Gates, Charles Lee, Daniel Morgan, and George Washington fought for England. Near the end of that war George 3 was crowned King of England and reigned from 1760 to 1820.
Money the Seed of Revolution
To defended its American colonies and disputed lands against encroachment by France, England needed money to pay for the French and Indian War. To compensate for the cost of the war England demanded its American colonies pay tribute, compensation in the form of taxes. Excessive taxes precipitated a trade war in which colonists refused to buy goods from England. In turn England retaliated by demanding more taxes and curtailing the rights of charter colonists to govern themselves. In the trade war England lost money because it imposed intolerable taxes on colonists who refused to pay. Colonists lost money because taxes were paid directly to England, not to their local legislatures. Because of the trade war colonists had fewer goods to sell to fewer customers who had less money because of high taxes.
The enforcement of taxes on charter colonies, without just representation in Parliament, meant colonists didn’t have the same rights as Englishmen living in England. Colonists’ Magna Carta rights and liberties were annulled by Parliament’s demands for more and more money through taxation. England’s need for money and the colonies’ lack of money precipitated the colonial rebellion. This caused the more independent colonies in New England to eventually rebel. They demonstrated their resistance by marching with weapons on village greens throughout New England. The British considered the demonstrations acts of treason. The trade war escalated to the shooting war. The need for and/or lack of money redounded to the movements for freedom and cries for independence from England leading to the American Revolutionary War (war). In America before the war money was denominated in British pounds sterling £. During the war money was denominated in £ and in American dollars $, after the war money was denominated in $.
American Revolutionary War Profile
The war began on 19April1775 when the British fired on American armed militiamen marching on village greens in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. On 14June1775 Congress created the Continental Army to fight the American Revolutionary War (war) against England. Thomas Jefferson of Virginia and the Maryland legislature were against the war preferring reconciliation with King George 3. On 17June1775 the fighting continued near Boston – notably on Charlestown’s Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill. Thereafter the fighting continued for 8 years. In the North fighting officially ended on 19October1781 with the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia. In the South sporadic fighting continued until 14December1782 when the British evacuated Charleston, South Carolina. The signing of the Treaty of Paris 3November1783 ended the war. Coincidentally the Treaty of Paris also ended the French and Indian War. Thereafter Congress disbanded the Continental Army and maintained a residual force at West Point, New York until Congress created a permanent United States Army 3June1784.
Glossary
battle talk Greene attacked and then retreated, means battlefield line commander Greene and his troops attacked and then they retreated.
casualties Dead, wounded, missing (captured, deserted, or escaped). British casualties include German mercenaries (Hessians). Casualties whether American or British are at best estimates only.
command Officer given authority to lead troops in battle.
Continental Army The army created, provisioned, and paid for by Congress to fight the war against England.
fort a fortified post.
fusillade A repeated discharge of firearms.
garrison Troops quartered separately from an army’s main body, normally in permanent buildings with mess hall and other facilities to service them.
Germans Mercenary professional soldiers from Hesse-Cassel, Germany (known as Hessians) who fought for England.
irregulars Troops not in the Continental Army, normally southern partisans who fought for the patriot cause in the war.
line A line of troops in battlefield formation.
line command An officer authorized to lead a line of troops in battle (compare to staff).
Officer ranks Lieutenant (Lt.), Captain, Major, Lt. Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier General, Major General, Lt. General, and General.
militia A military organization, not an army.
militiaman A patriot with/without uniform paid by a state or Congress for military service.
patriot American supporting or fighting in the war.
post An outpost, troops quartered separately from an army’s main body, normally in tents and/or cabins.
regulars Disciplined troops trained to fight in a war.
staff Officer on a general’s administrative staff, not a battlefield line commander.
troop(s) Soldier(s) fighting in the war whether for America or England (numbers of troops engaged in any battle are at best estimates only).
Tory An American loyal to the King of England or paid by the king to fight against rebellious patriots.
war American Revolutionary War.
£ Monetary designation for British pond sterling, before and during the war.
$ Monetary designation for Continental American dollar during and after the war.
(1742-1774)
HOST Major General Nathanael Greene it is indeed my privilege and pleasure to have this singular opportunity to converse with Washington’s most trusted and ablest general. During the northern struggle from 1775-1780 you were at his side and rode together into battle.
GREENE Together we witnessed the defeats and the victories. It was my great honor to ride into battle with His Excellency. We became close friends.
HOST You said His Excellency, a term reserved for monarchs, as if he were king.
GREENE Excellency of character, integrity, leadership, and mind.
HOST You were one of colonial America’s original Quakers. Perhaps you can answer this question. While attending meetings I’ve always wondered if Quakers were required to quake when the words God or Lord were spoken?
GREENE We sat motionless and in silence on hand-hewn benches listening to a Quaker preacher such as my father. He was a pious man and the leader of Quakers in East Greenwich.
HOST There’s also a sect called Shakers who did shake and tremble during religious services. They believed the community ownership of property and in celibacy. They will obviously die out unless they consistently get new converts.
GREENE Quakers were not Shakers who arrived in America after we did. Quakers are strict individualists who work hard to acquire property. We certainly don’t believe in the community ownership of property and obviously were not celibate. My father married twice and had many children.
HOST You were raised in the strict Quaker tradition.
GREENE I was tutored to read and write. I learned to write well enough to compose unambiguous letters for managing the family businesses.
HOST What about your education?
GREENE I was educated as a traditional Quaker. My reading was restricted to the Bible and other Quaker approved books such as those of George Fox the founder of the Society of Friends. My father thought book learning led Quakers astray and my brothers thought it took time away from doing business. I admired and respected my father, but my Quaker tutoring did not satisfy my educational expectations.
HOST Did your perceived limited education make you a rebellious youth?
GREENE No, I did what was expected. I spent most of my youth working in the family businesses.
HOST Were you allowed to socialize?
GREENE Only on approved holidays and fall festivities during harvest time. But undetected by my father I did learn to dance with the young ladies.
HOST There’s a vignette about you sneaking out of your house at night to attend a dance. Is that true?
GREENE I heard there was going to be a dance in town and wanted to go.
HOST A Quaker sponsored dance?
GREENE No, we weren’t allowed to dance except during harvest festivities. I sneaked out of the house by jumping from my second story bedroom window. When I returned my father was waiting for me and delivered the usual paddle whipping for breaking house rules.
HOST You were known to have a limp. Did the jump from the second story window injure your knee and cause the limp?
GREENE I did favor my knee from that time on.
HOST Except for that limp you were considered a handsome young man 5’10" tall, stocky, fair skin and hair, and steely blue-gray eyes.
GREENE All the Greene boys had more or less the same look. We had the same father.
HOST What did you think of your father?
GREENE He was a pious man, a preacher, and shrewd businessman but he was stern and parochial in his understanding of the world. I needed more, wanted to know about how other people lived.
HOST Let’s turn to how you a pacifist got into the military. In 1763 England’s Parliament passed the Proclamation Act. It forbid trade between the Allegheny Mountains and Mississippi River thereby reducing colonists income. That act also affected trade in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island. You were 21 and already in Newport Harbor there were skirmishes between America and England.
GREENE Rhode Island didn’t have vast acreage for growing crops for sale. What it had was seaports and business acumen. The port of Newport was second only to Boston in shipping tonnage. It imported molasses and sold it to others who produced rum and other saleable goods.
HOST In 1764 Parliament passed the Sugar Act. Colonists had to pay higher taxes on goods consumed daily such as coffee, molasses, rum, sugar, and wine.
GREENE We retaliated by not buying goods from England, depriving them of tax money and saving us money.
HOST Because of the Sugar Act British customs schooners intercepted American ships in order to collect taxes due on their cargoes.
GREENE British warships anchored in Newport Harbor were intercepting and inspecting colonial ships for cargoes of taxable items. While inspecting one of our ships the British customs schooner HMS Maidstone’s captain seized several of our sailors and forced them to work on his ship. Newporters charged the British with kidnapping American youths gathered dockside and forcing them to work on British ships.
HOST I believe that form of white slavery is called impressment.
GREENE Newporters retaliated by seizing and burning one of the Maidstone’s lifeboats tied up at the pier. Also British sailors on shore leave sometimes plundered local merchants and Newport’s fine homes.
HOST Speaking of plunder some British customs inspectors not only taxed the cargoes of colonial ships but helped themselves by carrying off some of it.
GREENE British sailors of the HMS St. John were accused of stealing cargo from a colonial ship. Newporters angry over the plunder fired on the St. John; it was the opening volley leading to Lexington and Concord.
HOST In 1765 Parliament retaliated with the Stamp Act and Quartering Act. The Stamp Act required colonists to buy British stamps to be affixed to most printed documents.
GREENE Boston lawyers complained about ‘taxation without representation’; it meant more money for England and less money for colonists. Lawyers especially didn’t like it because they dealt with official printed documents. My brothers and I had to buy stamps for our business letters, as if we needed England’s approval to conduct local business.
HOST In Virginia Patrick Henry declared only the Virginia legislature could tax its residents. In New York City the Stamp Act Congress met declaring only colonial legislatures had the right to tax residents and that ‘taxation without representation’ deprived colonists of their basic civil rights.
GREENE I joined the Sons of Liberty. We evicted British stamp act agents from their offices.
HOST The Sons of Liberty was an underground organization liable to arrest and imprisonment.
GREENE More repugnant was the Quartering Act; it required homeowners to open their homes to provide living quarters for British troops. Imagine having to feed them and then provide sleeping areas near your wife and daughters. Homeowners had to pay for the expense of quartering England’s troops, one impropriety aggravated by another. Homeowners refusing to quarter British troops eventually rioted against the British.
HOST Thereupon Parliament appointed British General Thomas Gage commander of all British troops in America. He demanded colonists comply with the Quartering Act. He declared that homeowners who refused or rioted would be arrested and punished, perhaps even lose their homes.
GREENE In the autumn of 1765 Stephen Hopkins was governor of Rhode Island. He published a seditious polemic against the king and Parliament for passing the Sugar Act and Stamp Act without colonial consent. He wrote that Parliament had no right to collect taxes from colonists without their advice; furthermore as decreed by King Charles 2, colonists were entitled to the same rights as Englishmen.
HOST Did Hopkins’ polemic excite sedition? It’s not good to pull the tiger’s tail.
GREENE Hopkins concluded that neither the king nor Parliament nor Mohawk Indians had any right to govern colonists. The Newport Mercury newspaper predicted that unless there was tax relief for colonists it would be the death of the colony buried by an angry king. It frequently carried headlines such as "Undaunted by TYRANTS – We’ll DIE or be FREE." (p29 Golway)
HOST Your friend Samuel Ward Sr. succeeded Hopkins as governor. Was that because of Hopkins’ seditious polemic and the fear that the king would retaliate?
GREENE I recall that in setting aside the 28th of November as Thanksgiving Day, Governor Ward prayed that God in his wisdom would be pleased to protect our rights, liberties, and privileges as decreed in the Magna Carta.
HOST In 1766 Parliament repealed the Stamp Act but passed the Declaratory Act claiming that England had overriding political power over all American colonies.
GREENE The Sons of Liberty did not tolerate the repeal of one act by substituting an even more obnoxious act. We harassed British troops and there was violence. In the melee several on each side were injured.
HOST In 1767 Parliament retaliated by passing the Townshend Act.
GREENE We were required to pay taxes on a variety of goods used daily such as glass, lead, paint, and paper. In Massachusetts Sam Adams wrote the Circular Letter opposing ‘taxation without representation’. It was circulated among other colonies and they again agreed not to buy goods from England.
HOST In 1769 British warships sailed into Boston Harbor. Several regiments of British troops debarked and encamped in Boston.
GREENE Violence erupted between the Sons of Liberty and British troops in Boston. Several men on each side were killed or wounded.
HOST In 1770 you were 28 and your father moved the iron forge to Coventry, Rhode Island.
GREENE Although it was inland, about 12 miles west of Potowomut, it was easier to transport iron ore to Coventry so my father moved the forge there. It was the year my father died at age 63. My brothers and I inherited the family businesses. In Coventry I had a fine two-story house built with standup garret. On the first floor I built a special room, a library for all the books I planned to read to enlarge my knowledge.
HOST Was that the year you tried to woo Anna Ward, a daughter of former governor Ward?
GREENE I fell in love for the first time but my passion for her went unrequited.
HOST Did she say why?
GREENE She played off my advances like a cat playing with a crippled mouse.
HOST Was that because of your limp? Did she mention your limp?
GREENE No, she’d simply cast a remark in my direction and then disappear.
HOST Is that when you befriended her younger brother Samuel Ward Jr.? He was 14 half your age.
GREEENE Sammy gave me a reason to visit and look upon Anna my lost love.
HOST Is that when you immersed yourself in books to mollify unrequited love?
GREENE I always felt I lacked a proper education.
HOST It appeared that your interest in education blossomed after your father died. You complained about the meager education you received and it was now time to expand your knowledge of the world.
GREENE "Early, very early, when I should have been in pursuit of Knowledge, I was digging into the Bowels of the Earth after Wealth" (digging for iron ore) and that his father "was over shadow’d with prejudices against Literary Accomplishments". (p15 Golway)
HOST In that respect you were acting as a true independent and nonconforming Rhode Islander. You’d often visited the local library browsing for special books to add to my knowledge.
GREENE One day while at the local library I met Mr. Maxwell a learned man. We became friends and he helped me select books to expand my knowledge of the world.
HOST In fact you even traveled to Newport looking for good books.
GREENE At the new forge in Coventry my brothers and I became proficient in forging iron anchors and chains for ships. I also wrought miniature anchors and other trinkets. I occasionally took the ferry across Narragansett Bay and then on horseback rode to the Newport, an all day journey. There I sold the miniature anchors and other trinkets for my own profit so I could buy books.
HOST Newport was a progressive city. Well-educated men patronized its bookstore and again you were fortunate to meet someone who took an interest in you.
GREENE One day I met Ezra Stiles, minister of the Congregational Church in Newport. He recommended books for me to read. Under his guidance I became an avid reader to broadened my meager knowledge of history, law, mathematics, the military, and politics.
HOST He introduced you to another Quaker also interested in books.
GREENE He introduced me to the lawyer Lindley Murray. We were about the same age. Murray worked for John Jay’s law firm in New York City.
HOST Jay was one of the founders of our nation.
GREENE Murray was a strict grammarian and helped me with writing and spelling.
HOST Eventually you amassed quite a library.
GREENE I bought and studied about 200 books on history, law, mathematics, military science, philosophy, and politics. But I was especially interested in military strategy and tactics of war. I read the military exploits of Julius Caesar, Roman emperors, and Frederick the Great.
HOST Some educators claim the study of certain books is equivalent to a college education. In fact your friend Stiles was later named the first president of Yale University (1778-1795). You became a self-educated and self-taught man whose knowledge was contrary to the teachings of Quakers.
GREENE I valued my Quaker upbringing but I needed more, more knowledge of the world.
HOST Did your adult education led you into politics?
GREENE Only as a means for establishing public education for all. I was voted a member of the Rhode Island Assembly from 1770-1772 and again in 1775. I urged the Assembly to establish the first public school in Rhode Island.
HOST At that time your young friend Sammy Ward was a student at Rhode Island College.
GREENE To expand public education I petitioned the Assembly to move Rhode Island College from the small town of Warren to East Greenwich. The Assembly moved the college to Providence and it was renamed Brown University at the urging of the Browns, prominent in Rhode Island politics.
HOST In several letters to Sammy Ward you refer to yourself as colonel, a giveaway clue to your military interest.
GREENE Sammy was half my age and I was merely trying to impress the youngster.
HOST In 1771 in a letter to Sammy Ward your wrote in part (reads):
"To pursue Virtue where theres no Opposition is the Merit of a common Man, But to Practice it in spight of all Opposition is the Carrector of a truly great and Nobel Soul." (p30 Golway)
In that passage you omitted the apostrophe in theres, spite is spight, and Corrector is Carrector. Looks as if you needed more spelling help from Murray.
HOST Because of high taxes on imported goods such as sugar and rum from the West Indies, Newporters became adept at smuggling. British warships continued to intercept colonial ships entering Newport harbor and inspecting them for contraband in order to collect the king’s taxes.
GREENE In one incident the HMS Liberty fired on an escaping colonial ship suspected of carrying contraband. When the Liberty tied dockside and its crew was on shore leave angry Newporters boarded it, cut it loose, and burned it. Newporters cheered the blazing hulk as it drifted away into Narragansett Bay and sank.
HOST The British retaliated. In 1772 determined to collect the king’s taxes the British Admiralty sent its best enforcer Lt. William Dudingston, captain of the warship HMS Gaspee. The Gaspee patrolled Newport Harbor and Narraqansett Bay for colonial ships suspected of carrying contraband.
GREENE We called him ‘Dudingston the terrible’ because he fired on colonial ships, stole their cargo, raided Newport farms and merchants of their goods, and waylayed innocent American young men to serve on British ships. When he intercepted and claimed my ship, the Fortune, I had to take retaliatory action.
HOST I understand that Nathanael Greene & Co. owned the Fortune and that it was loaded with contraband.
GREENE It was carrying commonly traded goods from the West Indies, mostly rum and sugar.
HOST Considered contraband.
GREENE Dudingston gave me no opportunity to negotiate. He had the Fortune towed to Boston’s Admiralty Court, which would decide its disposition. I was furious and bitterly complained the British were imposing on American freedom, liberty, and free trade. In Kent County, Rhode Island I had my lawyer James Varnum immediately file suit, Greene vs. Dudingston, for the recovery of the Fortune.
HOST Your suit must have shocked the British and colonials alike because the news quickly spread throughout New England that a bold citizen, you, had sued Dudingston one of the king’s officers.
GREENE In another incident the Dudingston’s Gaspee fired upon the colonial ship Hannah which turned about and deliberately sailed into the shallow waters of Narragansett Bay. In hot pursuit the Gaspee ran aground. That evening armed with a warrant for Dudingston’s arrest, Rhode Islanders rowed out to the Gaspee and demanded he surrender. He refused, shots were fired – the opening salvo of the war. Dudingston was wounded and taken to the hospital where the Kent County Sheriff arrested him. The British offered £500 reward for the apprehension of any of the villainous perpetrators who rebelled against the king’s rule and had the effrontery to arrest one of the king’s officers.
HOST In those days £500 was a lot of money, probably $50,000 today. Speaking of king’s officers one of his magistrates visiting Rhode Island was confounded and shocked at what he observed and strongly voiced his opinion (reads):
The common citizenry of Rhode Island usurps the king’s prerogatives of appointing magistrates by electing their own governor and legislature. It’s a downright democracy! I’ve never before witnessed any such experiment of rule by the common rabble.
GREENE During court proceedings a Gaspee sailor identified me as one of the perpetrators but the person he saw was my cousin Rufus Greene the captain of the Fortune. All the Greene boys looked alike. I shouted that the British lie under oath to abolish free trade and punish American merchants. Eventually the court declared Dudingston pay me the £500.
HOST Did that mollify you?
GREENE I never got the money or my ship because Dudingston went back to England. As if that weren’t bad enough the Coventry forge was consumed by fire. Two huge financial loss one piled upon another. Depressed by financial ruin I feared also that my freedom and liberty might be lost.
HOST You were soon to meet another Murray at the house of your friend James Varnum.
GREENE You refer to the Reverend John Murray. The iconoclastic clergyman who broke away from staunch New England Congregationalists and founded Universalism. In New England there was a lot of breaking away from the king, politics, and religion.
HOST Beginning in 1773 taxation, noncompliance, and skirmishes with the Sons of Liberty eventually led to rebellion. It was all about tea. Parliament gave the British East India Tea Co. permission to sell tea at reduced cost to its own agents in America who in turn sold it directly to colonists thereby bypassing local merchants depriving them of income.
GREENE The practice eliminated colonial merchants as middlemen in the tea trade thereby denying them profit. Bostonians refused to pay British agents of the East India Tea Co. and retaliated with the Boston Tea party. The Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded the 3 British ships loaded with tea and dumped the containers into the Boston Harbor.
HOST In 1774 deprived of the expected revenue from tea Parliament passed the series of Coercive Acts.
GREENE We called them Intolerable Acts. One of the acts, the Boston Port Act closed the port of Boston until we paid to England the taxes due to the East India Tea Co. plus reimbursement for the dumped tea. Bostonians retaliated by again refusing to buy goods from England. To enforce the port closing General Gage with 4,000 British troops became the Military Governor of Massachusetts. I made it clear that we should resist the Boston Port Act and other acts we found intolerable. Britain should not be feeding itself on American deprivations and its blood.
HOST Rhode Island and Connecticut supported Boston’s resistance to Gage’s military law. Boston is about 60 miles from Coventry and you sometimes visited bookstores there. On one of your visits you met the friendly, slightly older, and corpulent bookseller Henry Knox.
GREENE We shared a mutual interest in books, guns, and all things military. We commiserated about the hostilities between the colonies and England. But there was good news later that year. My younger brother Christopher married Catherine Ward, another daughter of the former Governor of Rhode Island.
HOST That must have rekindled unhappy memories of Anna.
GREENE Fortunately no because at the wedding was my cousin William Greene and his wife, the former Catherine Ray, and her niece Catherine Littlefield introduced as Caty. My eyes were on beautiful vivacious Caty during the whole of the wedding celebration.
HOST I have a brief biography of Caty in my notes. She was born Catherine Littlefield on 17December1753 into a prominent family on Block Island, 12 miles south of the mainland of Narragansett, Rhode Island. Her family roots go back to the 1660’s. She was a bright inquisitive child and with her family made occasional boat trips to Newport 30 miles from Block Island. When she was 10 her mother died and she was raised by her aunt Catherine, her mother’s sister, your cousin’s wife.
GREENE My cousin William Greene owned a fine mansion in East Greenwich. He was a political leader in Rhode Island and later elected governor of Rhode Island during the war.
HOST It was common knowledge that her aunt and in fact all the Littlefied women were good looking. There’s an interesting story about her aunt and her relationship with Benjamin Franklin. They corresponded regularly and on at least one occasion spent the weekend together.
GREENE One can only speculate as to their intimacy.
HOST The aunt taught Caty the social graces, had her educated by tutors, and insisted she learn to speak French. At 21 Caty was a small flirtatious brunette with peaches and cream complexion and sparkling violet eyes that darted from one young man to another. In any room of young women Caty never failed to attract men including you.
GREENE I became a frequent visitor to my cousin’s mansion in East Greenwich, a 10 mile ride. It was obvious to all I was completely taken in by Caty. I met her family on Block Island and the conversation quickly turned to politics of the day.
HOST I understand Caty complained to her aunt that whenever you two were engaged in conversation it would inevitably turn to serious politics rather than light-hearted repartee.
GREENE The king, Parliament, and taxes were the main topics of the day. After a proper courtship I proposed marriage and to my eternal gratitude Caty accepted. We were married on 20Juy1774. Among the several guests were my fiends James Varnum and Sammy Ward. After the ceremony Caty freely mingled with guests and took the opportunity to converse in French with Varnum. He was 5 years older than Caty and had graduated from Rhode Island College.
HOST They say opposites attract. You two were truly opposites. You were 32, Caty 21. You were studious, serious, dependable, an avid reader for knowledge. Caty was beautiful, flirty, vivacious and would rather party than pursue knowledge.
GREENE Though sparsely furnished we made the house in Coventry a home. I had never known such happiness.
HOST Because Rhode Island was too independent, Parliament was considering splitting it two, giving part to Massachusetts and part to Connecticut.
GREENE Thereupon the Assembly adopted Hope as its motto, hoping we would not be split in two.
HOST But then Gage’s troops threatened the sate.
GREENE My conjugal bliss was interrupted when we got word that some of Gage’s troops were bivouacking near the Rhode Island border in order to carry out Parliament’s intention. We prayed our small colony would remain intact. The Newport Mercury newspaper said it was time for us to act decisively.
HOST The Newport Mercury newspaper said it was time for us to act decisively. I have that notice; in part it reads that it’s:
"now high time for the Colonies to have a grand Congress to complete the system for the American Independent Commonwealth, as it is so evident that no other plan will secure the rights of the people from rapacious and plotting tyrants". (p41 Golway)
In fact in the autumn of 1774 the First Continental Congress did meet in Philadelphia.
GREENE The congress declared its opposition to the Coercive Acts by declaring they shouldn’t be obeyed and asserting colonial rights to ‘life, liberty, and property’. It issued its Declaration of Rights and Grievances but King George 3 ignored our declaration. Amidst the increased hostilities and martial law in Massachusetts, we organized a fund raiser to help Bostonians exposed to the "Late, Cruel, malignant and more than savage Acts of British Parliament." (p44 Golway)
HOST Your donation was among the highest.
GREENE I’m proud to claim that my donation was the second largest. Meanwhile patriots with guns were marching on village greens.
HOST Is it true you were suspended from Quaker meetings because you attended one of those military marches on village greens?
GREENE Not suspended, warned that Quakers were pacifists. But I was determined to fight for our rights and liberties. Eventually I rounded up enough patriots to form a militia unit. When my Quaker friends found out I had organized a militia unit they invoked my father’s good name expelled me from the Society of Friends.
HOST But were they justified? How can one be a Quaker and a soldier?
GREENE One can be a patriot and Quaker at the same time.
HOST But not part of a militia, not a Quaker that kills.
GREENE To survive a Quaker patriot may find it necessary kill the killers of Quakers.
HOST Your interest in the military confounds me because you were a Quaker, a pacifist.
GREENE I was more the patriot than Quaker. I had innate interests in all things military.
HOST I can envision military Catholics, Islamists, or Protestants fighting and killing each other but not Quakers. You certainly were an iconoclast.
GREENE I thought of myself as a separatist following in the footsteps of my great-great-grandfather when he accompanied Roger Williams into Rhode Island offering political and religious freedoms.
HOST I’m informed that in order for a patriot to be part of a militia he had to own a gun. You were an expelled Quaker, not a pacifist. Did you have a gun?
GREENE I daren’t own a gun and didn’t want to buy one locally, so I traveled by horseback 60 miles to Boston to buy a gun.
HOST Imagine a man in the unusual black Quaker garb buying a gun!
GREENE In Boston I visited my friend Henry Knox who told me where to buy a musket. I hid it in my blanket pack.
HOST At some point your local militia became the Kent Guard.
GREENE I proposed that the Rhode Island Assembly recognize us as the Kent Guard representing Kent County. That done we needed a leader. I was sure I would be appointed. Instead my friend Varnum was named Colonel to command the guard. Although Varnum was a good choice, I was devastated. I established the guard and with my background in military science I expected to be named its commander.
HOST Your background was from books. Is that why you were passed over?
GREENE I made several inquiries and was told my limp spoiled the uniformed look of their orderly marching. I was therefore unfit to be commander because my physical disability may be construed a sign of patriot weakness.
HOST The same limp suffered when you jumped from your second story window to go dancing?
GREENE True but I was determined to fight for my country, so I remained a private in the Kent Guard. Besides the guard wanted a man with a loud voice for barking commands and Varnum certainly was loud.
HOST At 32 because of your limp you remained one of the founders of the Kent Guard and still a private
GREENE A limp does not signify intellectual disability.
(1775-1780)HOST In 1775 Parliament prohibited New England colonies from fishing in the Atlantic Ocean.
GREENE Imagine no cod! Exacerbating the prohibition Parliament declared we had to buy fish from Nova Scootia its Canadian colony. It meant more money for them less for us. Money was fueling the war.
HOST With British troops camped in Boston patriots in Massachusetts were making preparations to defend themselves.
GREENE General Gage, no doubt informed by a Tory spy, ordered British troops to seize a cache of weapons hidden in Concord, Massachusetts. On the way British troops advancing in column formation encountered armed patriots, Massachusetts minutemen, marching on Lexington village green. Someone fired a shot, then shots were exchanged leaving dead and wounded on each side. The British continued their march to Concord where militiamen were warned of their coming. Shots were exchanged leaving dead and wounded on each side. Marching back to Boston patriot citizens and farmers fired on the British killing and wounding more of them.
HOST Meantime in upstate New York Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured British Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. They captured all the fort’s provisions and cannons.
GREENE I’d say that was a good exchange, muskets at Concord for cannons at Ticonderoga. We had few cannons.
HOST Parliament declared America to be in a state of rebellion.
GREENE What began as England’s need for money by taxing colonies led to noncompliance, retaliations, legislative battles, rioting, rebellion, and outright war. In Virginia Patrick Henry declared "Give me liberty or give me death".
Varnum and I with the Kent Guard departed Rhode Island and set out to help defend patriots in Massachusetts. When we arrived the British had withdrawn from Concord to Boston and we were called back to Rhode Island. Fearing the British might move against Rhode Island, its Assembly voted to consolidate town militias into the state militia called the Rhode Island Army of Observation.
HOST Why an Army of Observation, a peculiar name.
GREENE Our Tory-leaning Governor Wanton didn’t want to make an outright enemy of his benefactor King George 3. We deposed Wanton. Also an army of observation might not necessarily be a fighting army. As a former member of the Assembly I was asked to reorganize town militias to operate under one set of rules and regulations for the new Army of Observation mustered to protect Rhode Islanders against any harmful action by the British.
HOST Your friend Henry Ward Secretary of the Rhode Island Assembly appointed you Brigadier General in command of the Army of Observation.
GREENE The Assembly obviously had the power to appoint the commander of its own army.
HOST In about 2 months your military career skyrocketed from private in the Kent Guard to Brigadier General, skipping over at least 12 intervening military ranks. The question is why you?
GREENE The appointment was offered first to Varnum and then to another colonel each of whom declined because the commander had to swear an oath of allegiance to the king.
HOST You swore allegiance to the king when your duty was to fight him?
GREENE I muttered the pro forma words "by the Grace of God for the King of Great Britain … etc."
HOST Weren’t you being hypocritical?
GREENE Compliance to privileged protocol in exchange for the opportunity of meritorious service to one’s country is patriotism not hypocrisy. I was a patriot not a Tory and would never support the king.
HOST But you were self-taught without any field experience in commanding troops.
GREENE Self taught or teacher taught or field taught, I believe I had the mental disposition for leadership and made that known to several Assembly members.
HOST Today we call that lobbying, usually a quid pro quo endeavor.
GREENE I like to think my successful consolidation and reorganization of state militias for the Army of Observation earned me the position of commander and rank of general. The Army of Observation was operating under my new rules and regulations. Who better to command than the one whom established its charter?
HOST What about Caty, what did she think?
GREENE She was fearful and pregnant.
HOST Fearful of being pregnant?
GREENE About me being in command of the army. I told her the war would end one day and we would be together again.
HOST Only if you survived.
GREENE I told her our children and we would live as Americans in liberty and freedom.
HOST You temporarily imposed your love of country over your love for pregnant Caty?
GREENE I felt compelled to join other patriots in the fight for independence. Gage was depriving Boston citizens of their civil rights – the right to travel, confiscating patriot houses and properties, commandeering food and quarters for his troops, etc.
HOST Married less than a year you again departed for Massachusetts.
GREENE I left Caty in Coventry in the care of my brother Jacob and his wife Peggy. My fervent hope was to liberate Boston from Gage’s military occupation. If Boston fell other colonies would fall. We departed Providence, Rhode Island for Roxbury, Massachusetts several miles south of Boston. From Roxbury I traveled to Massachusetts College in the town of Cambridge north of Boston.
HOST Later called Harvard University.
GREENE In Cambridge I reported to Major General Artemas Ward and offered the support of the Rhode Island Army of Observation.
HOST Any relation to the your friends the Rhode Island Wards?
GREENE No, he was commander of the Massachusetts militia. Happily accepting Rhode Island’s support, he ordered me to find a suitable campsite in Roxbury. After scouting the area I found defensible high ground where I could observe British movements.
HOST In and around Boston each colony had its own militia, commander, and campsite.
GREENE And therefore each militia was responsible for its own food and supplies. I traveled to Providence several times to establish and maintain logistical support for food and supplies. My troops were sleeping in any kind of available shelter; we needed tents. More than once I complained about moldy bread and horsemeat substituted for beef. On another trip to Providence I encountered the Reverend Murray and named him my army chaplain.
HOST The logical action of a separatist from Puritanism naming as army chaplain a separatist from Congregationalism.
GREENE Before leaving for Roxbury on another occasion I wrote to Caty telling her that I "could have lived a private life in peace and plenty … but the injury done my country … calls me [forth] to defend our common rights, and repel the bold invaders of the Sons of freedom. The cause is the cause of God and man. [I am] determined to defend my rights and maintain my freedom or sell my life in the attempt." (pp52-3 Golway)
HOST With different New England militias in the Boston area who was in charge?
GREENE Artemas Ward but there was utter confusion in the camps. Each militia commander was trying to mold into soldiers individuals from different backgrounds and trades armed with all sorts of weapons - swords, knives, muskets, pikes, pistols, halberds, tomahawks. There was no drillmaster to train them, no standard procedure for drilling, no standard weapon, no uniforms, no shoes for marching, nothing to bind together patriots in different militias.
HOST What about your troops?
GREENE I exercised my own standard drill derived from my previous reorganization of the Rhode Island militias.
HOST Didn’t your officers drill the troops?
GREENE Keep in mind most officers were friends of the men they commanded and were fearful of offending them. I warned my officers not to neglect their duties in drilling their men. I warned them that if they shirked their duties I would break them in rank.
HOST By a cold-hearted pacifist Quaker?
GREENE Fortunately my efforts were helped by my friend Colonel Varnum a strict disciplinarian. I was compelled to lecture my troops about their debauchery, drinking, and swearing.
HOST In that respect your chaplain Murray probably helped. He would save your sinners from the purported fire and brimstone of eternal damnation because he believed that salvation was open to all irrespective of their sins.
GREENE The separate militias were in general disorder. Too many militiamen passed the days drinking, stealing, and gambling. Drunkeness was a common problem. I therefore petitioned the Massachusetts Provincial Congress to prevent the sale of liquor in and around camps. Civil punishment for being drunk was different from military punishment. In Rhode Island a civilian drunk was punished with 5 or 10 lashes. In the military it was at least 39 lashes. Discipline in civilian life is desirable but in the military it’s absolutely required to carry out orders in battle.
HOST Your Quaker upbringing and business acumen encouraged you and your relatives to make some money.
GREENE I convinced my relatives to expand their business by forging much needed parts for muskets.
HOST Quakers made money on forging muskets for killing British? What happened to pacifism and nonviolence?
GREENE We needed musket parts and they had to be forged somewhere. Money had to be spent and the Greene’s might as well profit along with other vendors of supplies.
HOST About that time Congress had little choice but to raise an American army to defend all he colonies against Britain.
GREENE In Philadelphia John Adams was urging Congress to consolidate all the state militias in the Boston area into a Continental Army. But there were dissenters to Adam’s plan. Thomas Jefferson was in favor of reconciliation with the king and Maryland opposed independence.
HOST Thereupon Congress had the politically difficult task of naming a commander. Southerners made it known they would not accept a northerner in command of a New England army.
GREENE Born in Virginia George Washington was appointed the Commander-in-Chief. It was a good political choice because he was a moderate southerner in command of a New England fighting force. But there were other Virginians who complained they should have been appointed. Charles Lee and Horatio Gates were born in England and also lived in Virginia. Each claimed he should have been appointed Commander-in-Chief because he was the most experienced general. Actually Gates, Lee, and Washington were British officers who fought against the French in the French and Indian War.
HOST Congress named other generals to serve under Washington including you. Is it true you refused to serve if you were not named a general?
GREENE I let it be known that as general of the Rhode Island Army of Observation I’d hesitate to serve at a lesser rank but would serve my country if necessary. I didn’t abandon my beautiful young bride and successful business to be another common officer in the newly formed military hierarchy of the Continental Army.
HOST An indication of your military ambition. You were the last general named by Congress. Except for you all the generals had some military experience in the French and Indian War. You never led troops in battle or even participated in a battle.
GREENE True but none of the generals had yet won a battle in the American Revolutionary War.
HOST Speaking of winning battles, Parliament was not satisfied that Gage had not yet won the decisive battle to put down the American Revolution.
GREENE Gage was recalled to London and replaced by 3 of England’s top generals – Lt. General John Burgoyne, Lt. General Sir Henry Clinton, and General Sir William Howe who was named commander of all British troops in America.
HOST On one of your visits to Providence you made time to visit Caty in Coventry.
GREENE Our blissful domestic reunion was interrupted by news that the British were attacking Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill in Charlestown.
HOST Eventually you were ordered into the battle to siege Boston from the British who had occupied it since 1768. Descriptions of that battle are geographically confusing until you look at a map. Boston is separated into four parts jutting out into Boston harbor. The central or common part is called Boston Common. Northward across Boston Harbor is Charlestown. Eastward across the harbor is East Boston and southward is the high ground of Dorchester Heights. At that time the greater city of Boston had a population of about 16,000. Boston was third in population after Philadelphia 40,000 and New York 20,000.
GREENE Major General Artemas Ward was in Cambridge and commanded all the New England troops. He ordered me to take a position in Roxbury south of Boston Common. I commanded 2300 militia from Rhode Island and an equal number from Connecticut. To my left were about the same number of Massachusetts Minutemen. In the harbor British ships were constantly bombarding our positions. When the British attacked our militiamen fought with honor. In the several battles around Boston the different militias valiantly fought against superior forces of the British Redcoats.
HOST The historically famous battle took place on Bunker Hill.
GREENE The battle of Bunker Hill is a misnomer because the battle was mostly fought on Breed’s Hill.
HOST What happened?
GREENE On 16June1775 General Israel Putnam (Old Put) found out the British were planning to take Dorchester Heights, so he ordered Breed’s Hill fortified because it was closer to Dorchester Heights than Bunker Hill. The next day a British warship noticed we were fortifying Breed’s Hill and blasted it with a cannonade.
HOST You had no navy.
GREENE And no big guns to fire back at British ships.
HOST What about the battle itself.
GREENE The hills were defended by Old Put and Major William Prescott. On 17June1775 the combined forces of British generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne attacked Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill with about 2,000 troops. The battles were ferocious and bloody. At first we fought valiantly and repelled the redcoats but their superior forces overran our fortified earthworks.
HOST Who was it that cried out "Don’t fire unless you see the whites of their eyes". (p385 Dupuy)
GREENE Not sure, some say Old Put others say Prescott. What happened is that the British made a bayonet charge up the hill. We drove them back because they never expected a musket fusillade at so close a range. They made other charges and we retreated.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 440 and British 1500. It’s claimed Americans retreated but won the day.
GREENE It was a Pyrrhic victory for the British because they retained Charlestown. It was such a costly victory Howe didn’t attempt to take another hill in Boston . British General Clinton remarked "A few more such victories would have surely put an end to British dominion in America".
HOST You didn’t mention Washington. Where was he?
GREENE He was on his way to Cambridge. He and his staff arrived after the battle of Breed’s Hill and were briefed by Artemas Ward. He immediately assumed command of the newly declared Continental Army made up of about 17,000 New Englanders.
HOST Is it true you arranged a welcoming party for him?
GREENE I led 200 of my best-dressed and disciplined troops to greet him upon his arrival. He invited me to his headquarters, our first meeting.
HOST Is it also true your troops didn’t like it when you referred to Washington as His Excellency?
GREENE I explained to my salty New Englanders that I was not addressing an aristocrat but only using a form of respect for our Commander-in-Chief.
HOST So the tall taciturn southern Anglican met the nonconformist New England Quaker.
GREENE He was only 10 years older than I but his imposing presence was that of a father figure.
HOST My notes indicate the he took his measure of you in that first meeting. He appreciated your grasp of military science and the logistics of moving an army.
GREENE The next day during his inspection of our camps, he expressed concern that the troops behaved like a rowdy undisciplined mob living in unsanitary camps. A strict disciplinarian he ordered the immediate upgrading of camps and latrines.
HOST Washington remarked that only your troops had the look of well-drilled soldiers. He congratulated you on the look of your tented campsite as having the look of professionalism. Other generals were asking your advice on how to discipline their troops.
GREENE I assure you it was the result of hard work and harsh words. I put an end to troops relieving themselves in the open field and had them dig proper latrines. There were other problems such as stealing. In an accounting of gunpowder the expected full barrels were found to be half empty. Shocked at this predicament Washington hurriedly dispatched couriers to beg for gunpowder for defending Boston. Fortunately the southern colonies sent us some, which gave the lie that they might hinder the war effort because they were jealous of the New England colonies. Thereafter Washington ordered anyone firing at flying geese or wasting gunpowder would be court martialed or flogged 50-100 lashes with a cat-o-nine-tails.
HOST What about the conflicts between New Englanders and southerners.
GREENE When southerners joined the Continental Army their different attitudes were noticeable. New Englanders were proud of their colonial heritage; they disdained aristocratic titles such as His Excellency. Southerners were tolerant of aristocratic behavior and titles. They ridiculed the excessive pride of New Englanders who in turn admired them as expert riflemen. I confided in Washington that New Englanders and southerners needed to cooperate for the cause.
HOST I understand inflation set in overnight. Prices for army provisions doubled and tripled.
GREENE More than once Washington expressed his great concern over the high cost merchants charged the army for provisions. Farmers and merchants were selling goods to the army at 3 or 4 times their original value prior to the war.
HOST Were they against the war?
GREENE They thought more of profit than the glorious cause of independence. I believe exorbitant prices were charged simply because merchants were billing not fellow citizens but the anonymous and faceless Congress. Tory merchants raised prices even more.
HOST In July 1775 colonial cries for independence persuaded Congress to appeal for peace. Congress drafted the Olive Branch Petition, which declared loyalty to King George 3. He refused to read it and instead declared England to be in a state of war against the rebellious American colonies. Moreover the king issued a proclamation ending all trade with the colonies.
GREENE Congress responded by declaring Americans would rather die than live under the Coercive Acts of England.
HOST One summer night Washington invited you and your chaplain Murray to dine with him.
GREENE After dinner Washington asked Murray to explain Universalism. Briefly Universalism is a heretical Protestant sect whose members believe all men will be saved from their sins and restored under the Universal Fatherhood of God. That evening upon retiring and having spoken of fatherhood I remembered Caty’s pregnancy and wrote to her.
HOST I have a copy of that letter (reads):
"It is past nine o’clock; the room is still, and my company is gone. My attention turns towards you. Permit me to address you, my dear, with some sentiments of warm affection. My soul breathes a secret prayer for your happiness, amidst these times of great calamity. How fondly should I press you to my bosom, were you with me. Cruel separation! But I console myself that you are happily provided for, and I in the way of my duty, offering my small services, united with others who are endeavoring to preserve an oppressed people from the worst of miseries, slavery. May God speed our efforts, crown us with success, and wing our way home before we lose the altar of Innocence". (p38 Anderson)
HOST That summer Washington was making plans to begin the siege of Boston to liberate it from the British.
GREENE He called together his generals for a war council. I supported his plan but other generals disagreed. They complained that we didn’t have large bore cannons to soften the British prior to a ground attack.
HOST Some senior generals complained of your presence. They claimed you were a newly commissioned general who was recently only a private in the Rhode Island militia and who now pretends to give Washington military advice. Someone sarcastically remarked that your only outstanding feature was your limp.
GREENE My humiliation rendered me speechless. I couldn’t tolerate being laughed at or slighted in any manner. Washington calmly reminded them that it was he who called the war council and that it included all his generals. Fortunately my friend General Henry Knox rescued me along with the garrulous General Charles Lee of Virginia, a veteran of the French and Indian War.
HOST He’s the one who loved dogs more than people, a crude man who used profanity in conversations with men or women.
GREENE Several weeks later I had the good fortune of meeting the great and many-talented Benjamin Franklin. I was attentive to his every word. He knew of the Greene family because he had been especially friendly, some say intimate, with Catherine Ray the aunt who raised Caty and later married my cousin William Greene.
HOST With the British military occupation of Boston there were public outcries for independence from England.
GREENE I wrote to my friend and congressman Samuel Ward that Congress should proclaim a Declaration of Independence. I informed Washington of my letter and he agreed.
HOST Before military service you were an avid reader. During military service you became a prolific letter writer. We are indeed fortunate for that. Your letters recount the history of your participation in the war better than any historian.
GREENE The king ignored our petition for peace. Parliament reacted by sending more troops to put down the rebellion. With New England enlistments in the army due to expire on 1December1775, Washington told Congress that he needed more troops to meet the additional British threat. He warned Congress that if it didn’t pay for new recruits the army would disintegrate. While Congress authorized Washington to recruit troops for another 1-year enlistment, it didn’t provide any funds for guns and ammunition.
HOST What good are new recruits without guns and ammunition?
GREENE In desperate need of guns Washington ordered that any soldier whose enlistment expired had to relinquish his gun to the army, even if the gun was his own private weapon. I disagreed and tried to persuade him that a well-armed citizenry might deter the British from attacking coastal towns.
HOST But that means armed Tories would have guns and help the British.
GREENE No matter, patriots also owned guns and they would help the army.
HOST Speaking of the army you got surprising news about your cousin Colonel Christopher Greene.
GREENE Because of the smallpox epidemic in the Boston area Washington ordered all troops to be inoculated against the disease. Probably due to a sense of adventure rather the disease my cousin and young friend Sammy Ward departed Boston to join Benedict Arnold’s expedition to Quebec, Canada.
HOST You got even more surprising news when Caty wrote that she would be accompanying Varnum to Boston.
GREENE I immediately dispatched a rider to Coventry warning her about the smallpox epidemic. More worrisome was that she was near term in her pregnancy. My rider was too late, she arrived that evening.
HOST Did she ever explain her coming?
GREENE I had written that some of the officers’ wives planned to winter over in Boston. She took that as an invitation. Her visit proved fruitful. She made social calls on the sick troops in quarantine. They liked her deliberate flirtations which made them feel like healthy men again. Her most important social call was at Washington’s headquarters. I was ever so pleased to hear that she and Martha got along well even though they were opposites. Martha was twice her age, stout, and dowdy. Washington was taken by her high spirits and teased her about her Quaker husband. Caty promised that if the baby was a boy, he’d be named George Washington Greene. Being childless he was very pleased.
HOST It the whirl of social events it became common knowledge that Caty preferred the attention of men.
GREENE She had the opportunity of meeting other generals such as Horatio Gates, Thomas Mifflin, Henry Knox, Israel Putnam and of course their wives.
HOST Is it true their wives responded rather coolly to Caty’s feminine charms?
GREENE I do not pretend to know the reasons or mysteries of women’s camouflaged responses.
HOST That autumn and with winter approaching Washington complained he lacked the proper provisions for the army.
GREENE Washington informed Congress the army did not have proper clothing and rations for winter but Congress did nothing because it claimed it had yet to find money for paying the new recruits he demanded.
HOST The year 1775 ended with an American defeat in Canada.
GREENE Unfortunately I got word that my cousin Colonel Christopher Greene, my friend Sammy Ward, and the Virginian Daniel Morgan were captured in Colonel Benedict Arnold’s failed attempt to relieve Britain of Quebec, Canada. They were later exchanged for British prisoners from other battles. The good news was that on 10May1775 Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys of Vermont had captured British Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York.
GREENE Washington concluded that we needed Ticonderoga’s large bore cannons for liberating Boston. That winter Washington sent Henry Knox to retrieve the cannons. Knox successfully transported 59 cannons from upstate New York over the mountains of Vermont and the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts to Boston. Dragging tons of cannon over water, mountains, snow, ice, water, and mud was one of the greatest logistical feats of the war. I was reminded of Hannibal’s arduous journey from Africa across the Mediterranean Sea, over the Alps, and down into Italy.
HOST In January 1776 Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense in which he argues for American independence not only for itself but also for the world. He was a visionary because today we’re fighting in Iraq for the independence of its people.
GREENE Iraq?
HOST A county in the Middle East. American soldiers are fighting to free it from dictatorship and tyranny, just as you fought to free the colonies from the tyranny of kingship. Well back to Boston, the winter of 1776, and the continued threat of smallpox.
GREENE More troops were dying of smallpox than of battle action. With utmost secrecy Washington continued to inoculate the troops.
HOST Why secrecy?
GREENE If the British knew our troops were dying of disease and unable to fight, they’d attack us.
HOST In the winter of 1776 there was a lull in the fighting. For reasons unknown Howe was not attacking so while waiting for Knox’s cannons to arrive Washington was planning to attack Howe in Boston.
GREENE And I was stricken with yellow jaundice. I was so weak I had hardly strength to move about. I asked Washington for leave, for permission to go home to Coventry to recuperate. To my surprise he denied my request claiming he needed recommendations from all his generals to plan the attack on Boston. I wrote to Caty describing my weakened condition and confining circumstances. In her response I learned that I had become a father of a baby boy. We named him George Washington Greene. Several weeks later Caty’s letter informed that she was on her way to visit me.
HOST I understand at that time wives were allowed to visit camps, and that enlisted men’s wives could earn money doing domestic chores for officers’ wives.
GREENE Some wives followed their men to different camps. The day Caty arrived with little George the sun shone brightly through breaks in Boston’s cold gray winter sky. Their presence had an immediately recuperative affect on me.
HOST One of the camp rumors was that you didn’t spend much time out of your tent when Caty was visiting, which deprived enlisted men and officers the occasional chance of ogling her.
GREENE I assure you that most of that time was spent nursing me back to health and caring for baby George. In a few weeks I was again my usual self.
HOST Did Washington really tease her about her Quaker husband who caught himself a beautiful young wife?
GREENE He took an immediate liking to Caty and so did Martha. Caty displayed baby George to Washington who was pleased to view is namesake. Having been trained in the social graces Caty eagerly helped Martha plan dinners and parties for senior officers and their wives. They got along very well even though they were opposites. They developed a close friendship strengthening the bond between Washington and me.
HOST For some unknown reason Howe did not continue to attack Washington.
GREENE But our generals were still against attacking Howe’s superior forces. Washington decided that if Howe wasn’t going to attack, he’d use Ticonderoga’s cannons to shell him. He had the cannons mounted on Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill.
HOST Wasn’t there also Dorchester height?
GREENE In a stealthy nighttime action Washington had Knox move his cannons and artillery men to Dorchester Heights. He aimed the cannons directly at British ships in the harbor and Howe’s positions in Boston Common. The next day while Knox cannonaded the British Major General John Sullivan and I moved our troops up into Boston Neck to prevent Howe from escaping. That evening we got word that the British planned to attack our gun emplacements on Dorchester Heights. But at dawn a severe storm made it impossible for the British to cross the harbor from Boston Common to Dorchester Heights.
HOST At that time didn’t Washington have Howe surrounded?
GREENE Howe realized our artillery could sink his ships and that he was surrounded by Americans.
HOST Is that what caused Howe to evacuate Boston?
GREENE Washington got word that London ordered Howe to evacuate Boston and make New York City his northern headquarters.
HOST Why didn’t Washington attack and capture Howe and all his troops?
GREENE We were outnumbered. We couldn’t recover from the losses of such an undertaking. It’s better to be satisfied with standoff than depressed by defeat. Besides we had barley enough food to feed ourselves without having to feed and provide for thousands of British prisoners.
HOST On 17March1776, Saint Patrick’s Day, Howe evacuated Boston.
GREENE Howe, his generals, troops, and Boston’s Tory families boarded British ships and sailed out of the harbor. During the evacuation Howe purportedly grumbled that an armed rabble defeated his professional soldiers. Our spies reported that Howe planned to deposit Boston’s Tory families in Nova Scotia, Canada. He gave General Brugoyne command of Canada and then sailed down the coast to take over New York City.
HOST Washington liberated Boston without winning a single battle. I presume there were wild celebrations by Bostonians.
GREENE Celebrations appeared muted by the long suffering endured by Bostonians. Led by Washington our victorious army marched into Boston Common liberating that city from British occupation since 1768. Boston’s citizens lined the streets respectfully cheering our victorious army. Several citizens flew the first American flag of 13 red and white stripes with white Christian crosses on a blue field. At camp I ordered extra rations of rum for my troops.
HOST Wasn’t drinking alcohol against your Quaker culture?
GREENE We were celebrating. Rum and soldiering were field mates. As for Quaker tradition I found rum and many other necessities to be contrary to it. During the celebrations some troops plundered Boston’s abandoned Tory mansions. Several of my troops were caught doing so and I had them flogged.
HOST Washington then made a surprise appointment. He appointed you his youngest general military commander of Boston with the order:
"General Greene will dispose of the regiments in Boston to the best advantage. The wagon-master and a company of carpenters in the city are to receive and obey all such orders and directions as Brigadier-General Nathanael Greene shall think proper to give". (p43 Anderson)
GREENE Thereafter Washington called another war council to plan a defense of New York City before Howe arrived. The city was spread out over Manhattan Island, Staten Island, and parts of Long Island. New York was a city of about 20,000.
HOST He made another surprise appointment by naming you to defend Manhattan Island prior to his arrival with the main body of the army. Senior generals again complained Washington was giving you, a rookie general, the crucial order to defend Manhattan.
GREENE I sent Caty and young George on their way to Coventry assuring her I’d visit her on my way to New York. My troops and I stopped in Providence for an overnight rest and supplies. I was informed that my friend Samuel Ward, Governor of Rhode Island, died of smallpox. Unfortunately there was no time for visiting of any kind for the troops or me. The next day we departed for New London where we boarded troopships and sailed across Long Island Sound to Manhattan. It was our good luck to land unopposed in Manhattan because Howe had not yet arrived.
HOST On 4July1776 Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence from England. It reads in part:
"WE THEREFORE, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; …
GREENE We were now states not colonies. Rhode Island was the first state to declare its independence from England.
HOST Various reports claim that Howe was loyal to the king but sympathetic to the American cause.
GREENE Howe considered Washington the leader of the American rebellion and tried to negotiate peace with him. Washington politely refused Howe’s terms of surrender.
HOST In 1776 England had the world’s largest and most powerful navy.
GREENE Howe’s brother Admiral Lord Richard Howe sailed into New York Harbor with the biggest fleet ever seen, a terrifying sight. We counted 330 British warships and transports anchored off Staten Island. The next day general Howe’s massive invasion force of 30,000 British, Canadian, and German troops debarked from the ships and made camp on Staten Island.
HOST Congress insisted that Washington defend Manhattan at any cost.
GREENE The big problem was that Manhattan Island, Staten Island, and Long Island were vulnerable to naval attack and our small navy was no match against the most powerful navy in the world. Moreover whichever army occupied Brooklyn Heights in Long Island could dominate Manhattan. Therefore Washington decided to split his army between Manhattan and Brooklyn Heights. He ordered me to command the army in Brooklyn Heights while he commanded the army in Manhattan.
HOST Some historians claim that when Washington named you commander of the army defending Brooklyn Heights, you lobbied your friends in Congress for a promotion to major general. Is that true?
GREENE I tried to improve the conditions for all men serving in the Continental Army. I wrote a letter to Congress recommending pay increases for all troops - officers, enlisted men, and especially men wounded or maimed in battle.
HOST Some congressmen interpreted your letter to be a recommendation for your promotion to major general, that would be a pay increase for you. John Adams took exception to your presumptive letter.
GREENE And I responded accusing Congress, and specifically John Adams, of not willing to pay for full-time professional troops in the Continental Army.
HOST There was dissatisfaction also among senior generals. They complained that Washington had named you a general with little battle experience to defend Brooklyn Heights. Those generals agreed that if Congress had named Charles Lee Commander-in-Chief he would not have split the army between Manhattan and Brooklyn Heights.
GREENE Where pride and egos are involved there are always conflicts of personalities. Washington ordered me to protect Brooklyn Heights with 5,000 troops mostly militia. I moved my troops across to Brooklyn Heights and ordered them to fortify it by building redoubts and digging trenches.
HOST Today that area is called Fort Greene in your honor. But what about Caty’s unexpected arrival in Manhattan?
GREENE Henry Knox and his wife were headquartered in lower Manhattan. To my great surprise and without prior notice Caty appeared at his headquarters. Of course I was happy to join her. They went of a shopping spree. The two wives got along well but it was obvious that portly Lucy was envious of Caty’s svelte figure.
GREENE Because of the imminent battle Henry Knox sent his wife Lucy to the safety of Connecticut and I told Caty not to return. Besides we got word that baby George was ill so Caty returned to Coventry.
HOST But several weeks later Caty appeared again at the Knox headquarters. You had a very willful woman on your hands.
GREENE I can tell you she was not welcomed by either of us. Realizing her imprudence she departed several days later. While fortifying the area my scouts sighted 36 additional troopships for a total of 366 British ships in the area. I immediately sent word to Washington.
HOST Today that many ships would attract millions of spectators.
GREENE Did you say millions?
HOST There are over 8 million people in New York City, it’s overpopulated just was ancient Rome when it attracted all those immigrants who flooded the city for doles of bread and circuses. The welfare of the ancient City of Rome has become modern New York City welfare.
GREENE During the building and digging of fortifications in Brooklyn Heights some of my troops were stricken with fever. Trying to nurse and comfort them I was also stricken. Washington had me moved to Manhattan and gave Sullivan command of Brooklyn Heights. In Manhattan the doctor said I was infected with typhoid fever. During my recovery I got some good news; Washington promoted me to major general.
HOST The bad news was that at the end of August Howe and Clinton with 22,000 troops crossed from Staten Island to Long Island. They landed unopposed near Brooklyn Heights.
GREENE We were aware that Tory spies in Long Island were keeping Howe informed of our moves. When Sullivan foolishly gave away his position by firing on British scouts, Washington reinforced him with Putnam (Old Put) and 7,000 troops mostly militia.
HOST Had your health improved enough to engage in the battle?
GREEENE I remained bedridden with fever. The British had us outnumbered about 2-to-1. Howe and Clinton attacked Sullivan’s left flank forcing him to withdraw. They easily enveloped and overpowered Sullivan to capture Brooklyn Heights. In the capture Sullivan and most his troops were taken prisoners.
HOST What about Putnam and his troops?
GREENE During the night of 30August1776 Washington ordered Putnam to evacuate Brooklyn Heights for Manhattan. Luckily Putnam and his troops escaped during the night and joined the main body of our army. They escaped across the East River helped by a thick fog and the Marblehead Brigade, hardy salty rowers form Marblehead Massachusetts. Otherwise they would have been caught by the British between Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan. The British were completely surprised by the escape as they were in the springtime in Boston when during the night Washington ordered cannons and troops moved onto Dorchester Heights. Washington lost Brooklyn Heights and Howe lost the opportunity of capturing our army by not having British ships patrolling the East River.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 1719 and British 377.
GREENE The king knighted Howe for his victory. Ever hopeful of peace, Howe sent the captured Sullivan to Philadelphia to arrange for peace negotiations. Congress refused Howe’s peace offer.
HOST It was known that whoever dominates Manhattan Island controls the Hudson River all the way up to Lake Champlain and Canada.
GREENE To prevent British ships from sailing up the Hudson to reinforce their troops in upstate New York, we built two forts on the Hudson - Fort Washington in upper Manhattan and Fort Lee opposite it in New Jersey. The twin forts were built to protect the lower Hudson River from British warships patrolling the waters around Manhattan Island.
HOST The forts were named for the senior generals George Washington and Charles Lee.
GREENE In September Washington ordered me to defend Manhattan. I told him Manhattan was indefensible because patrolling British ships surrounded it.
HOST I’m surprised you were able to discuss strategy with him without incurring his anger.
GREENE Sometimes we discussed problems in private. Washington told me that many suggestions from many minds sometimes issue from self-interests and do not necessarily resolve a current problem.
HOST Some generals complained that Washington depended on your advice more than theirs and that you were really second in command.
GREENE Washington and I had much in common when it came to military matters. We became confidants but he always made the final decision. For example I suggested we burn Manhattan so Howe couldn’t use it for his northern headquarters but Washington by order of Congress insisted that we defend it.
HOST Following their victory the British again try for a peace settlement, this time with congressional representatives. Admiral Lord Richard Howe met with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin who refused his surrender terms.
GREENE After the defeat at Brooklyn Heights Washington divided the Manhattan army into 3 divisions – one in southern Manhattan, one in the middle, and the other in the northern Manhattan to provide an escape route.
HOST Washington again divided the army?
GREENE He was fearful of losing the army in a direct confrontation with the greater combined forces of the Howe brothers. He was right because cannons from Brooklyn Heights and British ships in the East River fired on southern Manhattan.
HOST On 15September1776 Howe landed another large army of about 13,000 British and German troops in southern Manhattan. Today that’s around 34th Street in the Kip’s Bay area.
GREENE Howe was met by a small force of 900 patriot militamen. After a few skirmishes the vastly outnumbered militamen made a quick retreat northward and Howe easily took control of southern Manhattan. In the rout the militiamen left behind much needed cannons, ammunition, and provisions. The militiamen lost more than one third of their small force.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 380 and British 12.
GREENE Throngs of Tories welcomed and toasted Howe as their deliverer. Suspected patriots were rounded up, jailed, and hanged without trial.
HOST The patriot spy Nathan Hale was included in the roundup.
GREENE Hale was a captain in the Connecticut Rangers. When the British arrested him he was dressed as a Dutch schoolteacher gathering intelligence by observing the movement of British troops. When he refused to reveal his patriot contacts Howe without trial condemned Hale to death by hanging. When the noose was tightened around his neck Hale uttered the famous words "I only regret that I have but one life to loose for my country". As the militiamen retreated from southern Manhattan they set it on fire keeping the British busy putting out the fire instead of pursuing them. The next day the retreating militiamen camped at Harlem Heights
HOST And the Battle of Harlem Heights, which is now called Morningside Heights.
GREENE At that time I had recovered from my fever. Washington gave me 3,000 troops directing me to defend Harlem Heights. It was my first battle as Major General. My scouts spotted a British unit of infantry far ahead of Howe’s main body. We attacked and then I purposely withdrew allowing them to advance and then I enveloped them. We attacked again driving them back and for the first time in a year we beheld the ‘lobster backs’ of the fleeing British redcoats.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 130 and British 400. You had yourself a victory.
GREENE That minor victory restored confidence in troops who had been routed in southern Manhattan. Following that victory Washington regrouped the troops at Fort Washington, the northern tip and highest point of Manhattan 230 feet above the Hudson River. He notified Congress that the fort should be evacuated because Manhattan was vulnerable on all sides especially by British ships.
HOST Congress responded by sending General Charles Lee to help Washington defend northern Manhattan and the fort.
GREENE Lee had recently defeated the British at Sullivan’s Island off Charleston, South Carolina. Reporting with his beloved yapping dogs Lee urged Washington to evacuate Manhattan and that if Congress didn’t agree Washington should resign. Congress would then appoint Lee the Commander-in-Chief, the position Lee had wanted from the beginning of the war.
HOST Congress again ordered Washington to defend northern Manhattan and Fort Washington.
GREENE Those talking gentlemen in Congress were getting too much involved in making military decisions. Thereafter the British landed a large force at Throg’s Neck across the Harlem River from northern Manhattan. The British occupied most of Manhattan and were now threatening northern Manhattan and Fort Washington. To avoid a catastrophic loss Washington marched the main body of his army of 14,500 troops north to White Plains, NY. Howe was already in the area of White Plains. His officers were stunned at his apparent nonchalance because he could have intercepted and defeated Washington’s army anytime.
HOST Why do you think Howe didn’t move against Washington?
GREENE He was busy marching around towns near White Plains recruiting Tories to fight for the king. He was successful.
HOST Later there was a battle on 1November1776, the Battle of White Plains.
GREENE Reinforced with 3,400 Tories Howe had about 14,000 troops including 4,000 Germans. Americans had roughly the same number in and around Chatterton’s Hill. Howe built bridges across the Bronx River to move his cannons within firing range of the hill. He bombarded the hill and then attacked our positions with full force. At first we resisted his advance but eventually retreated. During the night Washington escaped with his cannons, provisions, and wounded. The "Old Fox" slipped away to Northcastle, New York about 5 miles north of White Plains.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 160 and British 230.
Howe did not pursue Washington and was accused of letting the "Old Fox" and his mob of ragtag rebels escape. Was Howe playing cat-and-mouse with Washington enjoying the game of war knowing he could defeat him anytime?
GREENE Howe must have had other plans because he unexpectedly departed White Plains for Manhattan. Washington believed Howe made the move to attack Fort Washington. He directed Lee to remain in White Plains with 11,000 troops, the main body of his army. With the remainder of his army, about 2,500, Washington marched north above Dobbs Ferry to avoid British ships patrolling the Hudson and undetected crossed over to New Jersey. He expected to be greeted by about 5,000 New Jersey militiamen but only a dozen or so arrived. We met at Fort Lee where I was waiting for him.
HOST Meanwhile 3 British warships sailed up the Hudson River past the twin forts of Washington and Lee which fired on them causing little or no damage.
GREENE Yes and British sailors mocked us for our weak firepower and poor marksmanship. Washington posited that if British warships could freely sail past the twin forts how could we repel a full-scale attack. He notified Congress that Fort Washington should be evacuated to save its men, cannons, and provisions.
HOST Congress again insisted that Washington defend the fort to the last man.
GREENE Washington ordered me to defend Fort Washington as well as Fort Lee.
HOST Did you change your mind about defending Fort Washington? You claimed it was indefensible?
GREENE No, I claimed that Manhattan Island was indefensible. Howe proved me right because he had advanced all the way up to Harlem Heights where I halted his advance. I thought the fort’s cannons and high rocky position made it impregnable. Also that if defeat was imminent troops defending the fort could escape during the night.
HOST You disagreed with Washington who wanted to abandon the fort.
GREENE I insisted the fort should not be abandoned because the troops would consider it a sign of weakness, another defeat, and troops might desert and return to their homes. That coming to pass the two forts would fall into the hands of the British without a fight. Thereupon Washington ordered me to defend the fort. I gave Colonel Robert Magaw command of 2,000 troops to defend the fort. With 4,000 troops I crossed the Hudson to defend Fort Lee. Several days later Washington and I crossed the Hudson for a final inspection of Fort Washington. I reinforced Magaw with 1,000 troops bringing the total to 3,000. Washington and I were satisfied that Magaw could hold the fort and returned to the safety of Fort Lee.
HOST On 16November1776 Howe with 8,000 British and German troops surrounded the fort defended by only 3,000 Americans. The Battle of Fort Washington had begun.
GREENE A British officer with a white flag approached the fort and demanded Magaw surrender. He refused. The next day at dawn Washington and I were crossing the Hudson for a last minute inspection when we heard cannon fire. We were too late; Howe’s assault had already begun. We hastily returned to Fort Lee. When Howe’s cannon fire breached the walls of the fort he asked Magaw to surrender, again he refused. Thereupon General Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen commanding a large force of Germans attacked the fort overwhelming our troops. Magaw asked for a 12-hour truce to tend to his wounded but really to give his troops time to escape. Howe refused and captured the fort but some of our troops did managed to escape.
HOST I understand the reinforcements you sent did more harm than good because they overcrowded the garrison’s small area. Packed shoulder to shoulder they didn’t even have enough space to reload their muskets because they were bumping into each other.
GREENE I take full blame for that oversight. The small fort wasn’t built to withstand such a massive assault.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 2,967 and British 506.
When American troops tried to escape, it was like yelling fire in a crowded theater with only one exit. In the disastrous defeat most of the troops were captured plus all the forts’ cannons and much needed provisions. At that time the loss of Fort Washington was the worst defeat of the war.
GREENE What neither Washington nor I knew before the battle was that Magaw’s adjutant William Demont was missing from roll call, absent without leave, a punishable offense. The treasonous Demont provided Howe with a detailed description of the fort’s manpower and defenses. That treachery was the reason Howe unexpectedly departed White Plains for Manhattan and attacked the fort.
HOST Treason and the fact that British warships previously sailed by both forts with impunity. The British navy transported up the Hudson the thousands of troops who attacked the fort.
GREENE All of the captured American troops were held prisoners of war in the rotting hulks of rat infested British ships anchored in New York harbor. Crowded like coals in a bucket they were held under deplorable conditions. Most of them died of starvation and disease.
HOST That victory gave the British control of Manhattan Island and Long Island. They already occupied Staten Island. Then came all the blame and finger pointing from Congress and others. Congress wanted Washington to explain why he didn’t fire the inexperienced General Greene.
GREENE Lee immediately wrote to Congress reminding them that he would have avoided the disaster if he had been named Commander-in-Chief. Washington competence was assaulted from all sides but he accepted all the blame because he was the Commander-in-Chief. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he broke me in rank. It was the lowest point of my entire military career.
HOST Your military reputation plunged. The gossip was that Washington retained your services for more on the job training.
GREENE Despondent I wrote to my good friend Henry Knox:
"I feel mad, vexed, sick, and sorry; Never did I need the consoling voice of a friend more than now". (p113 Billias)
I retreated to find refuge in books. I reread several campaigns of Roman generals. I had forgotten one of their most important lessons, never confront a massive force with a lesser one. I wanted to write to Caty for her comforting words but I was so depressed I daren’t make a fool of myself in her eyes.
HOST By the way Fort Washington was later renamed Fort Tryon in honor of Sir William Tryon the last colonial governor of New York.
GREENE In spite of his victory Howe didn’t fare any better. Reporting to him was General Lord Charles Cornwallis with a letter from London. Parliament wanted to know why with superior forces Howe didn’t deliver the killing blow to end the war. To achieve that end Parliament sent Howe General Cornwallis, an aristocrat of inherited privileges, well bred, and a professional soldier. He was the opposite of American generals who for the most part merited their ranks.
HOST And certainly the opposite of you the self taught general.
GREENE Cornwallis had the high reputation for hunting and successfully bagging foxes. Howe ordered him to find and bag the fleeing American fox last seen in Fort Lee.
HOST Some called it the Battle of Fort Lee but it wasn’t a battle or even a skirmish.
GREENE In mid-November Cornwallis with 6,000 troops landed in New Jersey only a half dozen miles from Fort Lee. Washington ordered a hasty retreat inland but many of the troops couldn’t be roused from their drunken sleep. They had gotten drunk the night before over the loss of their friends at Fort Washington. I immediately ordered the sober troops to collect themselves, cannons, provisions, and promptly depart. I led them to a safe distance away from the fort. About an hour later I returned to the fort and threatened the drunken with severe flogging. Eventually they roused themselves and I led them away. Tories in New Jersey raised British flags as they berated us in our retreat.
HOST Some of your officers remarked it was a foolish gesture because Cornwallis was nearby. You and your troops could have been captured.
GREENE Hours later Cornwallis occupied the abandoned Fort Lee. Tories prepared a warm welcome for Cornwallis and celebrated his victory over us. Because Cornwallis was nearby and pursuing him Washington sent an urgent message to Lee that he desperately needed the main body of his army. Lee failed to respond. We began our retreat across New Jersey towards Trenton. Washington sent another urgent message ordering Lee to join him in the area of Trenton. Again Lee failed to respond.
HOST Didn’t Lee get the messages?
GREENE They were hand delivered to Lee. Devilish minds concocted the theory that Lee wanted Cornwallis to capture Washington so that he Lee could succeed him as Commander-in-Chief. In fact in a letter to Gates Lee claimed that Washington was incapable of leading Americans to victory. Perhaps fearing that Washington would charge him with insubordination and court martial him Lee eventually began his march to join us New Jersey.
HOST I believe it was about that time you met the patriot Thomas Paine.
GREENE Tom Paine had accompanied me during our retreat across New Jersey’s meadows. He marched along with our suffering army now reduced to about 3,000 troops. We talked about the American cause and the present crisis.
HOST I understand you and Paine became close friends.
GREENE We engaged in long conversations about the war for independence. He consulted me about a pamphlet he was writing. I’d see him writing by candlelight in the evenings. I liked Paine and appointed him a civilian aide to my staff.
HOST What about the story of cattle intended to feed starving American troops but captured by the British?
GREENE While crossing the Jersey meadows we encountered hundreds of cattle meant for our hungry troops but with Cornwallis in hot pursuit we didn’t have time to herd but a few cattle. We had to abandon most of the vast herd to Cornwallis’ well-fed British beefeaters.
HOST Meanwhile in early December a fleet of British warships was sighted approaching Narragansett Bay. Soon after and without resistance Clinton’s German troops easily captured Newport, Rhode Island.
GREENE An easier target than Boston the British made Newport its base of operations for New England. Germans plundered Newport’s merchants and fine homes. In a letter from Caty she expressed her fears that Germans would attack our house in Coventry because of my part in the war. Fortunately that didn’t happen. Without his main body and fearful of losing his entire meager army to Cornwallis, Washington sent ahead an advance party to collect boats for crossing the Delaware River. On 8December1776 we successfully crossed the river and made camp in Pennsylvania. I scouted the area and set up my headquarters in private house about 3 miles west of the river. Absent the cattle intended for us my officers and I begged local citizens for food, forage, and other badly needed supplies. With Washington in Pennsylvania and Congress fearful the British would attack Philadelphia it moved to Baltimore, Maryland.
HOST You were at Washington’s side in all the retreats from New York to Pennsylvania. Two men fighting and escaping, saving their troops to fight for another day.
GREENE Reminiscent of the military strategy of the ancient Roman general and great procrastinator Fabius Maximus. He defeated Hannibal by raiding his supply lines and harassing his soldiers without ever engaging him in a major battle.
HOST When at last Lee condescended to join Washington he got himself captured!
GREENE While his troops continued their march to join Washington, Lee and his bodyguard escort inexplicably stopped for the night at a tavern in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The next morning while enjoying a leisurely breakfast he was captured and taken prisoner by the raiding party of British Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton, who immediately reported his prize catch to Cornwallis. Upon the capture Washington gave command of Lee’s troops to Sullivan.
HOST At that time Congress wanted Washington to send you back to Rhode Island to liberate Newport from the British but Washington claimed he needed you at his side. In the constant struggle between Congress and the military, you were instrumental in making Congress’ Board of War subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief. How did you do that?
GREENE In December I wrote a letter to Congress recommending it give Washington greater powers to conduct the war. At first Congress refused to give any military officer dictatorial powers. I argued that Washington was a man who could be trusted and would never abuse additional power. I also expressed my sentiments in a letter to John Hancock.
HOST I have a copy of that letter in part it reads:
"Remember the Policy of the Romans (a People as tenacious of their Liberties as any on Earth), when their state was invaded they [delegated] full Powers to exert their whole Force. The Fate of War is so uncertain, dependant upon so many Contingencies. A Day, nay an Hour, is so important in the Crisis of publick Affairs that it would be folly to wait for Relief from deliberative Councils of Legislative Bodies." (pp109-10 Golway)
GREENE Perhaps Hancock was also influential in persuading Congress because it relented and granted Washington full authority to conduct the war.
HOST Is that why Washington decided to attack Trenton without Congress’ consent?
GREENE In northern New Jersey the British army was scattered from New York to the Delaware River. Aware of the temporary advantage of our numerical superiority I convinced Washington to attack the lesser force of Germans at the Trenton garrison. Washington summoned a war council. Most generals disagreed because of winter’s frigid weather, lack of clothing, and meager provisions for the troops. In crisis the war council was unable to agree on a plan. I thought of Paine’s pamphlet and suggested he be allowed to read it. Washington summoned all the fortunate troops who escaped from Fort Washington, the remnants of our main body, Lee’s former troops, and other patriots who joined our retreat across New Jersey to Pennsylvania. A motley assemblage of patriots wounded, starving, half-naked, and poorly equipped. Emoting with great patriotic zeal Paine read his pamphlet.
HOST I have that pamphlet ‘ The American Crisis’. I’ll read the most quoted part:
"These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service to their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." (p164 Dupuy)
GREENE On Christmas Eve at my headquarters I hosted a dinner for Washington and his staff. After dinner Washington revealed his plan to attack the garrison at Trenton on Christmas Day hoping the Germans would be recuperating from feasting and drinking the night before. Our generals warned him, and rightly so, of his daring plan. If the Germans found out they could trap us between Trenton and the Delaware River destroying most of what remained of our army.
HOST And now we come to the famous Battle of Trenton 26December1776.
GREENE Colonel Johann Rall commanded the Trenton garrison of about 1,400 Germans. Washington planned a three-column attack deploying about 4,500 troops. With 2,500 troops he and I, including Henry Knox and his cannons, would attack from the north. With help from Hamilton’s cannons Sullivan would attack from the west, and the third column from the south
HOST I thought Hamilton was Washington’s aide-de-camp.
GREENE At that time Hamilton was captain of an artillery company from New York. Later he became Washington’s chief-of-staff.
HOST You encountered all the bad weather the generals feared.
GREENE With only several dozen men in each boat we had to make many crossings rowing through ice pack, snow, and sleet. Cannons had to be securely tied down to avoid them falling overboard into the river. In the crossings several troops froze to death. Fortunately the hardy salty rowers of the Marblehead Brigade succeeded in making the crossings. But instead of arriving on the other side at the planned midnight hour we arrived 3 hours later at 3 AM. On the other side one of our spies overheard a German saying that during our retreat to Pennsylvania we left bloodstained footprints in the snow and that American soldiers without shoes were not fit to attack.
HOST I understand the third column never made it.
GREENE The third column of 2,000 troops was to cross to the south but at least 600 couldn’t cross because of thicker the ice pack. They positioned themselves to prevent any escape by the Germans to the south. Marching to Trenton many troops again left bloodstained footprints in the snow. At Trenton readying for battle Washington rode his white horse and I a dark horse. We led the main attack column of mostly militiamen. Because of the driving sleet musket touchholes were wet and had to be dried in order to fire. Washington ordered troops to use the bayonet, the favorite weapon of the British and Germans. Hamilton set his cannons in several strategic sites to prevent Germans from escaping along unguarded roads.
HOST But Americans were spotted by German sentries because it was already daylight.
GREENE When they saw us approaching they fired warning shots but it was too late. Sullivan and I were already attacking. Knox was firing grapeshot into the scrambling Germans and Hamilton cannons prevented them from escaping en masse.
HOST Rall must have been stunned that Washington crossed the ice packed Delaware in such frigid weather.
GREENE Charging on his horse Colonel Johann Rall was shot several times and died a few days later. Our surprise attack began in early morning and by noon we had a victory. Most of the surprised Germans were captured before they could flee. We commandeered their cannons, ammunition, and provisions. That afternoon having won our first decisive battle we recrossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 6, 2 froze to death and Germans 1,115 most of whom were taken prisoners.
HOST It was one of the most one-sided victories of the war and eased some of the humiliation of the defeats at Fort Washington and Fort Lee.
GREENE The victory gave Congress renewed confidence in Washington and also increased enlistment in the Continental Army. An elated Washington convinced Robert Morris to provide money for paying his troops and spies. Morris agreed. A dismayed Howe remarked that "three old established regiments of a people who make war a profession, should lay down their arms to a ragged and undisciplined militia". (p174 Dupuy)
HOST Of your leadership in battle your friend Henry Knox was quoted as saying that you came in as a raw recruit but within a year were equal to any general and superior to most.
GREENE I advised Washington to immediately attack Princeton before the British could reinforce it but our war council overruled me. I then advised Washington to immediately attack the British garrison at Burlington before Howe sent reinforcements there. The war council again overruled me. Later Washington confided in me that he regretted not having taken advantage of both opportunities.
HOST Howe ordered Cornwallis to liberate Trenton.
GREENE Stunned at losing Trenton Howe ordered Cornwallis to take command of New Jersey and crush Washington’s armed rabble along the Delaware River. With 8,000 troops Cornwallis departed New Brunswick, New Jersey for Trenton. When Washington got the news of Cornwallis’ approach he mustered about 6,000 troops in preparation for the encounter. Again we crossed the Delaware into New Jersey entrenching ourselves south of the nearby Assunpink Creek. Our generals again complained to Washington that camping there meant that Cornwallis might trap them between the creek and the Delaware. But Washington insisted on using the creek as his first line of defense.
HOST Is that where you had problems with some of your rowdy troops?
GREENE Most of my troops were from New England. They got rowdy because their enlistment expired on 1Jan1777. Here it was the end of December 1776 and they hadn’t been paid. I assured them they would be paid. What do you do with armed disgruntled men who hadn’t been paid, and have nothing to do but gamble, argue, and fight with each other? You enforce discipline by keeping them busy in daily drills. I reminded them that disciplined Roman armies conquered the world.
HOST While Cornwallis was marching toward Trenton several historians claim there was a second battle for Trenton.
GREENE There were skirmishes only, not really a battle. What happened was that Cornwallis stopped at Princeton, about 6 miles north of Trenton, and deposited about 1,200 troops to guard the Princeton garrison. He then continued his march toward Trenton. Giving me several hundred troops Washington directed me to delay his march to Trenton. Several times my troops encountered his vanguard and the skirmishes delayed Cornwallis from reaching Trenton during the day. The difficult march through snow and ice must have exhausted Cornwallis’ troops because they rested overnight several miles north of Assunpink Creek. Across the creek we saw his scouts reconnoitering our camp.
HOST It was reported Cornwallis told his staff that he had Washington trapped between the Assunpink Creek and Delaware River and that he planned to spring his trap the ‘old fox’ in the morning.
GREENE Our generals’ warning to Washington came true. We were caught between the creek and river. I proposed to Washington a surprise move around Cornwallis. Perhaps with luck we could even strike the British main supply depot in New Brunswick overflowing with provisions and best of all deposits of £70,000. Imagine having all that money for the army! That night Washington announced to his war council that caught between the creek and river they would escape to Princeton, overwhelm its British garrison, and then continue north to New Brunswick to strike the British supply depot.
HOST Then the old fox played an Indian trick on Cornwallis.
GREENE Washington left behind several hundred troops ordering them to dig trenches, burn fires, and make camp noise throughout the night to convince Cornwallis we were digging in for the next day’s battle. The camp action was intended to cover our escape toward Princeton. The frozen ground made marching difficult but frozen roads made passable heavy cannon carriages whose wheels we wrapped with cloth to deaden the rolling sound. During our march over a back road to Princeton one of our scouts noticed moving shadows and panicked shouting Germans! Germans surrounded us. About 1,000 Pennsylvania militiamen deserted leaving us with about 4,000 troops.
HOST The Battle of Princeton took place in winter on 3January77.
GREENE Washington was reinforced with a contingent of Pennsylvania militiamen increasing his troop strength to 5,000. Cornwallis had 6,000 troops.
HOST You had a problem with bridges.
GREENE The bridge over Stony Brook wasn’t strong enough to support our cannons, so we had to build our own bridge. Several troops having frozen to death and exhausted by the difficult march through snow and ice, we rested about 3 miles from the Princeton garrison. Washington warmed their hearts with extra gills of rum. He divided the army in two columns; I commanded one column and Sullivan the other. At dawn the next morning we attacked Princeton while Cornwallis was still camped across the Assunpink Creek. I would advance along the Princeton Post Road to stop highway traffic and destroy the Stony Brook Bridge so Cornwallis couldn’t use it. Before my troops reached the Post Road we were observed by British sentries who fired warning shots. The ensuing skirmish in an orchard developed into a raging battle between my column and the British garrison from Princeton. I attacked one British wing and they responded with a bayonet charge so we retreated. Charging into the fray on his white horse Washington shouted encouragement to our outnumbered troops.
HOST What about Suillivan?
GREENE Sullivan would attack from the rear of the College of New Jersey to envelop Cornwallis. Sullivan encountered a similar British force and drove it back to Princeton. The fleeing British took refuge in a building of the College of New Jersey. When Knox unleashed a cannonade at the building the British surrendered ending the Battle of Princeton.
HOST The College of New Jersey became Princeton University. You didn’t mention Cornwallis’ main body.
GREENE Awakened by the cannon fire Cornwallis roused his troops and rushed towards Princeton but Hamilton’s cannons had destroyed the bridges over the Stony Brook. By the time Cornwallis built a new bridge and reached Princeton with his main body, we had slipped away.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 105 and British 454.
GREENE Having failed in his mission to crush the American rabble the humiliated Cornwallis returned to New Brunswick. To avoid a direct confrontation with Cornwallis’ main body, Washington marched to Morristown, New Jersey. From there he could strike at Cornwallis in New Jersey or at the British along the Hudson River.
HOST The victories at Trenton and Princeton boosted American morale and Congress’ confidence in Washington.
GREENE The victories drove the British from northern New Jersey, saved the Continental Army and our capital in Philadelphia, and boosted enlistment in the army by several thousand new recruits.
HOST Europeans were astonished that undisciplined American rebels defeated the best of their professional soldiers. Frederick the Great, King of Prussia (1740-86) wrote "The achievements of Washington and his little band of compatriots between the 25th of December and the 4th of January, a space of 10 days, were the most brilliant of any recorded in the history of military achievements’. (p117 Golway)
GREENE I recalled with satisfaction my readings of Caesar and Frederick the Great. Thereafter Washington decided to spend the winter in Morristown, New Jersey.
HOST In the winter of 1777 a smallpox epidemic broke out in New Jersey.
GREENE In Morristown to protect themselves from winter’s icy blasts troops cut down trees and built small log huts seamed with clay. About a dozen troops occupied each hut. In the crowded huts the sick were infecting the physically fit with smallpox so Washington had thousands of troops inoculated.
HOST Did Washington and you live in those huts?
GREENE High-ranking officers rented nearby houses or lived with patriots in their homes and Congress paid their per diem expenses.
HOST About that time Washington’s adjutant resigned and Washington asked you to take over his duties.
GREENE I helped Washington with his burdensome paper work and administrative chores. Working daily with Washington strengthened our confidence in each other. I wrote to Caty describing my daily relationship with His Excellency, his confidence in my work and his reliance upon my advice. I also added a postscript that I had been without food or refreshment of any kind for two days.
HOST While wintering in Morristown many troops deserted because of intolerable living conditions.
GREENE Most of the troops whose enlistment would soon expire didn’t wait for the expiration date and went home. They deserted for lack of everything – food, clothing, pay, and supplies. We were left with barely a thousand troops most of who were unfit for duty. To keep them busy and their minds off desertion, I took them out on maneuvers during which my scouts spied a British patrol. We ambushed them killing about 300. I realized the advantage of surprise hit and run tactics.
HOST In March 1777 Washington’s victories in Trenton and Princeton convinced Congress it was safe to leave Baltimore and return to Philadelphia.
GREENE Yes and that March I got word that Caty gave birth to a bay girl; we named her Martha Washington Greene. We completed our complimentary partnership, a boy named George and a girl named Martha. But Caty became ill after a difficult delivery. Her doctor prescribed bed rest and potions of mercury.
HOST Mercury is a poison!
GREENE Eventually she recovered.
HOST In New Jersey patriots complained to Congress that Tories were directing occupying Germans to the homes of patriots for plunder and committing atrocities against them.
GREENE Germans felt their deserved reward was to plunder merchants and fine homes and freely rape women as they did in Europe. At the points of bayonets, restraining husbands and sons, Germans would gang rape wives and daughters while the family watched. I wrote to Caty several times to be aware of Germans.
HOST I have a copy of that letter. In part it reads:
"The Tories are the crudest rascals among us. They lead the relentless [Hessians] to the houses of their neighbors and strip the poor women and children of everything they have to eat or wear; and after plundering them in this sort, the brutes often ravish the mothers and daughters and compel the fathers and sons to behold their brutality." (Stegeman p39)
GREENE Because of persistent patriot complaints, Congress advised Washington to drive the British out of New Jersey. Washington claimed that after his troops deserted he had only about 3,000 troops to oppose Howe’s 17,000, hardly any food, and lacked adequate provisions. Also that his paymaster had no cash on hand for daily expenses. Such a campaign against the British would be a disaster.
HOST Among the many problems between Congress and the army was the one over promotions of officers. Washington wanted to create openings for Lt. Generals and recommended you be promoted. You got yourself involved in trying to solve that problem.
GREENE I wrote to John Adams recommending the army not Congress should decide which officers should be promoted. Adams responded that it’s Congress’ prerogative to promote officers, that consideration must be given to all states. He cited the case of Connecticut’s Benedict Arnold who the army wanted to promote from Brigadier General to Major General. Congress denied the promotion because it claimed that Connecticut already had its share of major generals.
HOST The multitude of problems obliged Washington to send you, his personal representative, to Congress in Philadelphia. Why didn’t he go in person?
GREENE I don’t know and daren’t ask. He gave me his handwritten letter to deliver to Congress.
HOST I have a copy of that letter in which he describes why he’s sending you. In part here’s what Washington wrote speaking of you:
" [because he] is so much in my confidence, so intimately acquainted with my ideas, with our strengths and weaknesses, with everything respecting the army." … and that he could "ill spare so useful an officer at this time." (p123 Golway)
Several congressmen sarcastically suggested that Washington should have presented himself as your assistant.
GREENE After several days of discussion Congress and I didn’t agree on anything. Congress recognized the problems and admitted it would do its best to correct problems over which it had control. In my report to Washington I wrote:
"The Congress have so many of those talking gentlemen among them that they tire themselves and everybody else with their long labored speeching that is calculated to display their own talents than to promote the public interest". (p115 Billias)
HOST In March 1777 you got some good news and some controversial news. The good news was that a shipload of muskets arrived from France to ease your shortage of muskets and ammunition. The controversial news was that accompanying the shipload of muskets was the French military officer Phillippe du Coudray. He carried a letter signed by Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, American diplomats in Paris, recommending that he be made a major general in command of all American artillery units.
GREENE I was enraged at such an obvious exploitation of the American-French alliance. du Coudray’s appointment meant that he would be in charge of Hamilton, Knox, and all our other artillery commanders. Making the matter worse I learned that du Coudray’s commission took effect on the date that Franklin and Deane wrote the letter 1August1776 about a week before I was promoted to major general 9August1776. That made du Coudray my senior officer! I immediately dispatched an angry letter to John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress and threatened to resign.
HOST What was Washington’s reaction?
GREENE He never mentioned du Coudray and I never pressed him to get involved. The du Coudray affair exacerbated the antagonism between the army and Congress. Supporting my position Knox and Sullivan also wrote letters to Congress threatening to resign.
HOST Congress informed Washington that Knox, Sullivan, and especially you were interfering with the peoples’ business and would happily accept the resignations of the three of you.
GREENE Washington intervened to reduce the rancor. I got a letter from John Adams accusing me of wantonness and rebuked me for attempting to assume Congress’ prerogative in appointing army officers. To pacify France Congress commissioned du Coudray a captain, Inspector of Ordnance. du Coudray outraged at the downgrade refused the commission, insisting he occupy the top spot over all American artillery officers. The controversy ended two months later when du Coudray accidentally drowned.
HOST But the hostile dispute over the du Coudray affair cost you your friendship with John Adams.
GREENE True but the answers to right and wrong should have nothing to do with friendship.
HOST In April 1777 the British raided the small American post of Bound Brook, New Jersey.
GREENE From their main depot in New Brunswick the British had little success in local forging raids. Therefore Howe decided to raid the small American garrison at Bound Brook manned by about 500 troops commanded by General Benjamin Lincoln. Howe ordered Cornwallis to attack with 4,000 troops along the Raritan River.
HOST An 8-to-1 advantage.
GREENE Caught by surprise at the extent of the attack, Americans fought back but were eventually overwhelmed and retreated. General Lincoln barley had time to get dressed and escape. Most Americans escaped but others were captured. The British emptied the garrison of its meager supplies of food and provisions.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 110 and British 60.
Excuse me for asking but what were 500 Americans doing in Bound Brook only 5 miles northwest of the New Brunswick garrison where there were 17,000 British and German troops.
GREENE Washington deliberately scattered small posts, some temporary, throughout central New Jersey to monitor Howe’s moves. Thereafter Washington gave me several hundred troops to harass the British on their homeward march to New Brunswick. We skirmished with the British rear guard killing about 50. The next day Washington evacuated Bound Brook because it was indefensible.
HOST After the Bound Brook fiasco the army departed Morristown.
GREENE Washington sent me into the Watchung Mountains to find a suitable campsite from which to launch a summer campaign. I found Middlebrook whose heights offered us a better view of Howe’s moves. Howe tried to lure Washington from our high camp in Middlebrook to engage him in the open field but Washington didn’t budge.
HOST About that time you got a distressing letter from Caty informing you that she was seriously ill. In your response you wrote in part (reads):
I was almost thunderstruck at the [receipt] of your letter. How different its contents from my wishes: a lingering disorder of five Weeks…and from the present symptoms a confinement of two months longer. Heaven preserve you and bless you with patience and fortitude to support yourself under the cruel misfortune. … Oh that I had but wings to fly to your relief. The healing balm should not be wanting to mitigate your pain. (p126 Golway)
HOST Unable to lure Washington into battle Howe withdrew to New Brunswick. In June Washington moved the army back to Morristotwn.
GREENE It was springtime, nature was renewing itself. I wrote to Caty and told her how much I missed her and yearned for her presence. I suggested that if she decided to join me she should get herself a new set of clothes. She could get the latest fashions by writing to Lucy Knox in Boston who would send the clothes to Morristown where they’d be waiting on her arrival. I cautioned her that if she wrote to Lucy to be careful about her spelling because Lucy was an educated and learned woman.
HOST You warned Caty about her bad spelling but you yourself are a bad speller. I have several examples of your bad spelling, for example you wrote (reads):
… People are often laughed at for not spelling well but never for not writeing well." Then added that you would like to reacquaint yourself with the "pleasures of domestick felicity." (pp127-8 Golway)
In those passages the word writing has an e and domestic ends with k. You were a prolific letter writer but remained a bad speller. Fortunately it was not detrimental to your innate intelligence, integrity, and generalship
GREENE Once I was laughed at for my bad spelling. I was humiliated; I don’t like being laughed at for my spelling, limp, or any other matter.
HOST In June you got a bad news letter from brother Jacob.
GREENE Jacob complained that ever since the beginning of the war, because of Caty’s and my voluntary absences, our children George 1½ and Martha 3 months have been fatherless and motherless. I wrote to thank Jacob and Peggy for the care of our children and assured him that when the war ended we would all be together again.
HOST By the way on 14June1777 Congress mandated the flag of 13 stars in a blue field with 13 alternating red and white white stripes be the flag of free and independent America. The flag was purportedly designed by Hopkinson and sewn by Betsy Ross. About that time you got yourself involved in another argument with Congress.
GREENE General Philip Schuyler, also a congressional representative form New York, was nominated to be President of Congress. I wrote a stern letter to John Adams complaining that civil and military powers need to be separated and that those powers residing in the same person lead to dictatorship. I wrote that no one serving as general in the Continental Army should be also President of Congress. To my surprise Adams agreed and Schuyler was given command of the update New York army to defend Fort Ticonderoga.
HOST Meanwhile British General John Burgoyne was already marching from Canada towards the fort.
GREENE Schuyler ordered his troops to evacuate the fort in advance of the British troops. It was a humiliating retreat for Schuyler, who was dismissed as commander of the upstate New York army. There were rumors that I would be named to replace him but Congress appointed Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold. Burgoyne’s capture of the fort prompted Howe to take the initiative in again trying to maneuver Washington into New Jersey’s open meadows. There to engage him in a major battle, destroy him, and be rid of him thereby ending the war. To do this Howe sent Cornwallis with about half his army towards Somerset and the German General Leopold von Heister towards Middlebush. Both New Jersey towns south of Morristown.
HOST Seeing that Howe had split his army Washington took the bait.
GREENE He ordered me along with Brigadier General Anthony Wayne (Mad Anthony) and Sullivan to harass the British but not get involved in a major battle. We played hide-and-seek interspersed with skirmishes. There were dead and wounded on each side but neither side won convincingly.
HOST Howe’s critics again accused him of not marching his 16,000 troops directly to Morristown to attack and crush Washington’s force of only 8,300 of which 1/3 were disabled and couldn’t fight.
GREENE At the end of June Howe retreated from Somerset and Middlebush. He marched his army towards the coast to Amboy, New Jersey. I advised Washington to attack his extended double column on its slow march to the coast. The war council overruled me claiming we needed the use of all our troops to protect Philadelphia. However Washington gave me permission to attack Howe’s rear guard, which I did killing and wounding about 100. Several weeks later we learned that his 16,000 troops had camped on Staten Island. There they embarked on British ships, 245 transports escorted by 16 warships, under command of his brother Admiral Howe.
HOST The fleet departed for an unknown destination.
GREENE We didn’t know if Howe planned to attack Philadelphia or our posts along the Hudson River. Washington thought Howe would attack our posts along the Hudson. From Morristown he dispatched several of us to inspect our defenses along the Hudson. We agreed our posts should be strengthened. On my way back I stopped near Morristown at the mansion of a patriot merchant my friend Abraham Lott. He informed me that Caty was waiting for me at camp. I was happy for her recovery but was stunned at the news and rode pell-mell for Morristown but when I arrived she wasn’t there. Apparently a message in transit was misinterpreted. The thought of Caty’s company compelled me to write inviting her to join me.
HOST While waiting for Caty to join you a Frenchman volunteered to join your army.
GREENE From France the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19 year old aristocrat, arrived with a letter from Benjamin Franklin addressed to Congress. Meeting in Philadelphia Lafayette told Congress he’d serve without pay. Congress commissioned him a major general in the Continental Army. Imagine Congress awarded a 19 year-old foreigner without any battle experience the rank of major general while denying the same rank to Morgan and other American battle hardened officers doing the fighting. Congress not only demeaned American generals waiting for promotion but Lafayette’s commission smacked of aristocratic privilege, one of the reasons America was fighting the war.
HOST But that was the original complaint against you when Congress appointed you a Brigadier General, you hadn’t any battle experience.
GREENE However after joining Washington’s staff Lafayette proved himself in battle and became one of our leading generals.
HOST In mid-August the army got some good news. Americans won the Battle of Bennington, Vermont actually fought in New York.
GREENE I got more good news when Caty arrived in Morristown and brightened the camp’s apprehensive atmosphere over Howe’s real intentions. In late August we were relieved of our apprehension. We learned that Howe’s fleet with 16,000 troops landed at the northern end of Chesapeake Bay at the head of the Elk River in Maryland about 50 miles southwest of Philadelphia.
HOST Today that area is called Elkton, Maryland.
GREENE There was no doubt that Howe planned to attack Philadelphia. With 11,000 troops we marched southwest through Philadelphia to encounter Howe’s army of 16,000 marching north from Maryland. Tories jeered and spat on us as we marched through Philadelphia. Washington directed us to take a position on high ground near Chad’s Ford along Brandywine Creek, Pennsylvania. While I was thus engaged Caty was the guest of the Lott family near Morristown. They arranged for parties in her honor. I got word that she missed her children George and Martha and whether there’d be a battle over Philadelphia. I wrote to her trying to console her apprehensions and fears.
HOST You wrote her a tender letter, in part it reads:
My sweet angel how I wish, how I long to return to your warm embrace. … How happy should I be could I administer consolation to you in a distressing hour. Rest assured my dear, nothing but the great duties of my station, the loud wails of my Country, the peace, liberty and happiness of [millions] should keep me from [you]. (p141 Golway)
Thereafter in mid-September 1777 you prepared to fight the Battle of Brandywine Creek, Pennsylvania.
GREENE Washington marched us to the northeast side of Bardywine Creek. He divided his army of 11,000 into two units, the larger one under Sullivan and the other under my command. He directed Wayne and other generals to guard the fords of the creek where Howe is likely to cross. Opposing us Howe deployed 15,000. He and Cornwallis jointly commanded one column of 12,000 and Knyphausen the other of 5,000. Howe gave Cornwallis most of his army and sent him about 20 miles around Washington’s flank to attack his rear guard, the same maneuver he used for his victory at Brooklyn Heights. Meanwhile in hills along the creek Knyphausen’s artillery bombarded our positions at Chad’s Ford. Ferocious grapeshot from Knyphausen’s artillery denuded trees leaving the area as bare as winter, exposing our troops.
HOST What about the civilian patriot who warned Washington about Cornwallis flanking maneuver?
GREENE In a startling development a civilian patriot told us that the British crossed the creek and were on the same side as we were. Sullivan was caught between Cornwallis on the same side of the creek and Knyphausen across the creek. After disbelieving the news, Sullivan reported the same. Outflanked Washington ordered me to rescue Sullivan. Commanding Weedon’s Brigade of Virginians I first drew off Cornwallis and then counterattacked with a cannonade enabling Sullivan to retreat. I maintained the battleground until dark enabling all of Sullivan’s troops to retreat.
HOST Thereby saving hundreds of lives and avoiding an apparent disaster.
GREENE Washington ordered a general retreat from Brandywine Creek to Chester, Pennsylvania. We lost another battle but managed to save the main body of our army from annihilation. Congress quickly abandoned Philadelphia for Lancaster and then York, Pennsylvania.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 2100 of whom 400 were taken prisoners and British 583, less than half the American loss. As if that weren’t bad enough about a week later the British massacred part of Wayne troops at Paoli, Pennsylvania.
GREENE Washington withdrew to Warwick, Pennsylvania northwest of Valley Forge. We heard the British had crossed the Schuylkill River, so he gave Wayne about 1500 troops to hide in the forests around Paoli and surprise the British as they advanced. But local Tories informed the British of Wayne’s encampment. Howe ordered Major General Charles Grey to attack Wayne. Grey ordered flints to be removed from muskets to prevent accidental fire. Guided by Tories ‘no flint’ Grey’s troops spurted from the woods and abundantly pierced the sides of our unsuspecting bivouacking troops. They bayoneted 150 troops before Wayne could retreat to safety. In the frenzy of bayonet sport our captured troops were massacred even though they raised their arms in surrender. Luckily Wayne managed to escape with most of his troops and cannons. After that massacre militiamen deserted by the numbers and went home.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 150 and British 7. What a disaster!
GREENE Howe again failed to destroy Washington’s army.
HOST But two weeks after the Brandywine victory, on 26September1777, the British captured Philadelphia without a battle or firing a single shot.
GREENE Having a population of 40,000 it was the largest American city, comparable in size to England’s largest cities. After the victory Howe notified the king that Britain controlled America’s two largest cities, New York and Philadelphia. British and German troops plundered the city’s merchants and its many fine homes. With Philadelphia females for the taking as spoils of war they ravished women and carried off young girls to their camps. An old soldier once said that in war victory trumps all else, plunder is its reward, and age is not an impediment to rape. We didn’t knowingly tolerate such behavior. Any American guilty of rape would have been severely punished.
HOST Congress and other leading patriots criticized Washington for the defeat at Brandywine Creek and for the loss of Philadelphia. Congress demanded an explanation.
GREENE Washington complied by writing a lengthy report to Congress. In his report he failed to mention that I was the commander of Weedon’s Brigade which rescued Sullivan’s troops from being slaughtered at Brandywine Creek. Peeved at the omission I wrote him a terse note mentioning that fact.
HOST Besides Congress and others you also criticized Washington. I have a copy of his answer to you (reads):
"You Sir, are considered my favorite officer: Weedon’s brigade, like myself, are Virginians: should I applaud them for their achievement under your command, I shall be charged with partiality, jealousy will be excited, and the service injured". (p116 Billias)
GREENE It was the first and last time I openly criticized His Excellency.
HOST With Howe’s army nearby Congress again fled, this time to Baltimore, Maryland.
GREENE The victory celebration in Philadelphia having subsided Howe gave military command of Philadelphia to Cornwallis and then with 9,000 troops he encamped at the British garrison at Germantown about 5 miles west of Philadelphia. He also directed his older brother the admiral to sail up the Delaware River for provisioning Philadelphia.
HOST But then Washington decided to attack Howe.
GREENE Eager to compensate for the loss at the Brandywine Creek Washington seized the opportunity for a perceived quick victory over the British garrison at Germantown. Tom Paine wanted to accompany me but I told him he’d serve best as civilian. Marching to Germantown I lost my prized brass pistol engraved with the letters HK, a gift from Henry Knox. I considered it my good luck piece and offered a $20 reward but the pistol never was returned.
HOST I didn’t know Quakers were superstitious.
GREENE I valued the pistol as a gift from Henry.
HOST What about Germantown?
GREENE With 8,000 Continentals and 3,000 militiamen we marched to about 16 miles from Germantown. Howe had 9,000 troops at the garrison. Washington ordered a 4-column surprise attack of Howe under generals Adams, Sullivan, Wayne, and me. On 4October1777 at 5 AM Sullivan was first to attack but he was spotted by Howe’s sentries who fired warning shots. Making a quick response Howe struck back.
HOST I read that Wayne ordered his troops to bayonet the British in revenge for the Paoli massacre of his troops.
GREENE Without firing a shot Wayne’s survivors of the Paoli massacre attacked the British with fixed bayonets driving them back. My larger column had 4 more miles to march than the others. Unfortunately my guide got lost in the milky fog and we arrived late. However my troops distinguished themselves by driving back the British rear guard. They retreated finding refuge in and around Chew House, a solidly built stone building. Henry Knox’s artillery severely damaged the house but the British did not surrender. Hearing Knox’s artillery fire Adams thinking it was the British firing on Americans, rushed in the direction of Chew House. Then Wayne thinking that it was Sullivan who was in trouble also rushed to the scene. Disaster followed because Adams’ troops and Wayne’s troops thinking the other was British began firing on each other, Americans were killing Americans
HOST Because of the fog?
GREENE The big problem that morning was the soup of dense fog out of which Cornwallis suddenly appeared with additional troops. The combined larger forces of Cornwallis and Howe, attacked. We retreated to save ourselves from apparent disaster. When fog lifted Howe and Cornwallis were victorious.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 1,073 and British 535
GREENE It was later reported that even Howe’s constant companion his dog got lost in the fog. With the British in hot pursuit to finish us off we retreated to the hills of Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania about 20 miles from Philadelphia. It was another victory for Howe but the 5th time he failed to destroy Washington’s army. Keep in mind that in one day our troops marched 40 miles and fought a 4-hour battle.
HOST But all was not lost. Lafayette marveled that Washington who was defeated at Brandywine Creek would turn about and dare attack the army that had just defeated him. Lafayette was so impressed with Washington’s boldness he convinced France to ally itself with America.
GREENE A peculiar reward for defeat but much appreciated.
HOST Congress again blamed Washington for the losses at Brandywine Creek and Germantown.
GREENE Again Washington the Commander-In-Chief accepted full blame for the losses.
HOST The rumor circulating in Congress was that for Washington it was Commander-In-Chief in training. He retorted with the recommendation that if he were captured or killed that you Greene were best qualified to replace him.
GREENE With that recommendation, and for the first time in memory, all those talking gentlemen in Congress were stunned to silence.
HOST Later that month October 1777 you got some good news. Gates defeated Burgoyne at Saratoga in one of the major battles of the war.
GREENE Actually Philip Schuyler and Benedict Arnold deserved credit for the victory. Schuyler planned the battle and Arnold led troops in the fighting. Gates the presumptive victor proved to be ignoble. He ignored military protocol by not informing Washington of his victory. Instead he demeaned Washington by going over his head to directly inform congress of his victory. He anticipated Congress would heap praises upon him because Washington lost at Brandywine Creek and Germantown. Gates’ Saratoga victory precipitated another round of criticism of Washington.
HOST Some historians claim the victories at Trenton, Princeton, and Saratoga convinced France to support America.
GREENE Those victories proved the armed American rabble could defeat Europe’s best professional soldiers. While Washington licked his wounds and planned his next move Americans kept the Howe brothers busy for several months along the Delaware River.
HOST Are you referring to the two forts?
GREENE Admiral Howe’s ships had to sail up the Delaware River past two American forts, Fort Mercer and Fort Mifflin, in order to provision Philadelphia. The forts fired at the British ships as they sailed towards Philadelphia. Fort Mercer was commanded by my cousin Christopher Greene and defended by only 400 Rhode Islanders. Admiral Howe’s warships bombarded the fort and then attacked it with the overwhelming force of 2,000 Germans. At first the fort repulsed the attack and sunk two of the admiral’s ships. Washington sent me to help my cousin but it was too late. Our troops were forced to retreat and had crossed the Delaware to join Washington in Pennsylvania.
HOST And the other fort?
GREENE Fort Mifflin was a smaller fort easily shelled by British warships. After several heavy bombardments Americans escaped across the river and the British easily captured the fort.
HOST During the battles of the two forts, Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation naming itself as sole authority of the new American government.
GREENE Washington was inclined to have me attack Cornwallis. At first I agreed but when I learned that Cornwallis had a force of 15,000 while I had only 3,000 I notified Washington it was too risky. However if Washington insisted I would attack if ordered. Washington agreed with me and called off the planned attack.
HOST In early December 1777 Congress and Washington engaged in another confrontation.
GREENE Congress insisted that Washington attack Howe in Philadelphia where Tories and Quakers were acclaiming him their deliverer. Congress didn’t want Howe enjoying the winter in Philadelphia having parties and balls in what was once their capitol. Washington disagreed, not wanting to risk his army against the much larger forces of Howe and Cornwallis.
HOST But there were skirmishes.
GREENE Using hit-and-run tactics we engaged the British in skirmishes. Lafayette and I harassed and killed German pickets and British scouts patrolling the area in and around Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania.
HOST And then came winter in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
GREENE Washington asked his generals to select a suitable campsite for winter quarters. Most generals wanted to camp far away from the British but I insisted officers and troops alike would get too soft by visiting friends and relatives. To keep our fighting edge I insisted we stay close to the British to remain aware of their movements. My father once told me he knew a Quaker iron mongers near Valley Forge about 25 miles northwest of Philadelphia. It was a good location so I recommended Valley Forge. Washington agreed. In mid-December we marched from Whitemarsh to Valley Forge on the bank of the Schuylkill River. It was a difficult weeklong march in snow and freezing weather. We arrived before Christmas but our holiday feast was flour and water dough at the end of a bayonet cooked over a fire.
HOST That supports the reports that American troops didn’t know how to use bayonets.
GREENE Keep in mind patriots were habituated to using muskets while Europeans were experienced in using bayonets. Americans normally used their bayonets to spear dough and cook it over a fire but the British and Germans used bayonets to kill Americans.
HOST I have a report of that brutal winter at Valley Forge (reads):
"Washington made his headquarters at Valley Forge from 19December1777 – 19June1778, 6 months. In that winter the suffering of the troops will be forever imprinted in the American memory. There were about 11,000 ragged troops with hardly any clothes, some men had only a covering blanket, many with no shoes, they left bloody footprints in the snow, those men were not fit for duty and couldn’t possibly do soldiering. Some men had black fingers and feet that had to be amputated but there were few doctors and no hospitals’.
GREENE A German doctor and his two sons volunteered to perform the amputations if we provided the facilities. About 10 miles away from camp Washington had a 3-story wood building converted to a military hospital.
HOST Did the doctors have anesthesia?
GREENE What’s that?
HOST It blocks the pain.
GREENE I don’t think so. There was rum.
HOST The report continues:
‘The wounded cried out for succor, men were starving. Because of lack of food they complained - No bread! No meat! No tea! About 3,000 men died of exposure, starvation, and disease’.
GREENE Animals of any kind were eaten, mostly squirrels and occasionally a dog. To avoid starvation some troops relieved dead troops of their leather such as cowhide and pigskin for making field broth. The popular saying in camp was that:
"No one can imagine, who has not experienced it, the sweetness of a roasted shot-pouch to the famished appetite". (p73 Dupuy)
HOST The report ends with the following item:
‘To protect themselves from winter’s fury troops built log huts measuring 14’x16’ with 7’ high walls and gable roof. At one end they built a wooden fireplace and chimney lined with clay plaster to prevent burning. With skeletons crowded in those small log huts without windows Valley Forge was literally the ‘valley of death’. Inhaling each other’s foul breaths suspended in the miasma, diseases spread like wildfire throughout the camp. About one third of the army having died from disease and starvation there was talk of mutiny’.
GREENE Washington had the troops inoculated against smallpox but other diseases prevailed such as dysentery and typhus. Also troops relieved themselves anywhere and the odor was sickening, no soap to wash themselves and of course bathing was nonexistent. Washington ordered that privies be built and properly maintained. Anyone relieving himself elsewhere would be flogged with a cat-o-nine tails. Living conditions improved in the spring when windows were cut in huts for circulation of fresh air and the infirm were moved into tents.
HOST I’ve read letters in which a desperate Washington begged Congress for supplies claiming it must decide whether to provision the army or disband it and surrender to the British.
GREENE In February 1778 Washington claimed and rightly so that Thomas Mifflin the Quartermaster General was derelict in his duties and should be replaced. He was a former congressman and only other Quaker on Washington’s staff. I wrote to Mifflin about the army’s desperate situation. I informed him that if food, clothing, and provisions were not forthcoming it would be impossible to engage in another campaign because the Continental Army was on a razor’s edge of extinction.
HOST The army was not being provisioned because Mifflin and his supporters were out to replace Washington.
GREENE And Washington wanted to replace Mifflin who hated his job to the extent that he ignored the needs of the army and all our demands for help. With daily temperatures in the 20’s, snow piled upon snow, and freezing rain creating ice packs our camp problems were very much exacerbated by the derelict quartermaster Thomas Mifflin.
HOST A severe critic of Washington Mifflin blamed him for the defeats at Brandywine Creek, Germantown, and the American humiliation suffered when Howe marched into Philadelphia without firing a shot. Furthermore Mifflin was jealous of you because you had Washington’s ear. He blamed you for giving him bad advice, as in the disaster at Fort Washington, and criticized him for listening to you.
GREENE Mifflin demanded that Washington and I be replaced. To impress Congress of the seriousness of his demands he resigned as quartermaster general leaving the army without a supply officer during the brutal winter at Valley Forge.
HOST Unexpectedly the scheming Mifflin gained an accomplice named Conway.
GREEN In France the American diplomat Silas Deane granted the rank of Brigadier General to Thomas Conway, a boastful Irish-born soldier of fortune who served many years in the French army. Upon his arrival Washington and others took an immediate dislike to Conway’s air of superiority. His attitude was that Silas Deane had sent him to America to save the incompetent Washington from total defeat.
HOST Conway blamed Washington for all the losses and supported Mifflin’s demand that Washington be replaced.
GREENE Moreover Conway informed congress that he’s superior to Washington in military science and that he should be Commander-in-Chief. Thereupon Congress promoted Conway to major general. Imagine the audacity of that foreigner! I complained to Congress that Conway was a braggart and a dishonorable man with no talent for military strategy. Washington despised him because he was the most boisterous haughty officer of his staff, a popinjay.
HOST You had critics such as Conway, Gates, Lee, and Mifflin, who were jealous of your influence on Washington.
GREENE I determined them to be my enemies and treated them as such.
HOST Mifflin’s plan to replace Washington was enlarged to a cabal. Generals Conway, Gates, and Lee each claimed to be more qualified than Washington to be Commander-in-Chief.
GREENE Furthermore Mifflin lobbied for his own appointment to the Board of War. He convinced Congress to enlarge the board from 3 to 5 members. He was successful in having himself and Gates appointed to the board. To assure the success of the cabal General Conway was to be named Inspector General of the Continental Army. His job was to visit the camps and report his findings to Mifflin and Gates. His unfavorable camp reports would undermine the leadership of Washington and thereby provide the reasons to have him replaced.
HOST What about your prospects as Washington’s confidant?
GREENE If Washington were replaced my future would be uncertain. In the effort to give Washington more control over military decisions, I petitioned Congress to subordinate its bureaucratic and ineffective Board of War to Washington. I cited the Mifflin and Conway cabal to have Washington replaced. I sought the help of officers loyal to Washington including Hamilton, Lafayette, and Knox. To the dismay of the generals vying to replace Washington, Congress rejected the attempted cabal as malevolent and agreed to give Washington more power over military affairs. With Washington in full command and without ill feeling against Gates he ordered him back to Saratoga.
HOST Most surprising of all Washington notified Congress that if he fell in battle you should be named Commander-in-Chief. Outraged at such a preposterous recommendation Mifflin resigned as well as the obnoxious Conway.
GREENE But that wasn’t the end of Conway. His boasting of superiority got him into an argument with one of our staff officers. Conway challenged him to a duel. Against Washington’s wishes the staff officer accepted. In the duel Conway was wounded and thereafter returned to France.
HOST Speaking of France In February 1778 America and France made their alliance official by signing the Treaty of Alliance.
GREENE The aristocrats Howe and Cornwallis spent winter in the warmth and luxury of Philadelphia to the great adulation of its celebrating Tories and Quakers while Americans suffered through the brutal winter at Valley Forge.
HOST By the way your fellow patriot from Connecticut was also at Valley Forge.
GREENE Benedict Arnold the hero of Lake Champlain and Saratoga. He was recuperating from leg wounds and I occasionally visited him. He petitioned Congress for promotion and reimbursement of his own money spent for wartime expenses. Congress rejected his petitions making an enemy of him. At that time Congress resumed its interference with the military. The same Congress that gave Washington more control over military decisions was again making military decisions on its own. The Board of War foolishly recommended a wintertime invasion of Canada.
HOST What? With the army already reduced by one third and on the verge of mutiny how did Congress expect it to march to Canada in the wintertime and fight a major battle?
GREENE Washington forthrightly rejected the recommendation. Meanwhile in Rhode Island my cousin Christopher Greene and friend Sammy Ward assembled an all-black regiment. Southerners were horrified, complaining that they would not fight alongside blacks and might even join the Tories fighting against northerners. Southern states warned Congress that they would recall southerners from the army if blacks fought alongside whites. Congress assured southerners that blacks would fight only in the North alongside New Englanders.
HOST In Valley Forge things began improving with the arrival in February 1778 of one Baron von Steuben, a Prussian who claimed to have served as an officer under Frederick the Great.
GREENE He appeared before Congress with a letter of recommendation from Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane. Impressed with his credentials Congress sent him to Washington. Although disappointed at arrogant the European generals du Coudray and Conway Washington agreed to see him. Steuben was a strict disciplinarian and drill master of basic training for soldiers. He did not speak English and Washington did not speak German. Washington assigned several of his aides to interpret for him, including Lafayette and the French speaking Hamilton. Washington a strict disciplinarian was impressed by Steuben’s sincerity and modesty. When Steuben offered to serve without salary and only per diem expenses Washington hired him.
HOST I believe Sullivan quipped that it would be a miracle if Steuben could discipline an army considered a mob. On the other hand you and Steuben became friends.
GREENE Because of my experience in drilling Rhode Island militiamen we shared common interests and became friends. Steuben quickly realized our troops were suffering low morale due to winter, desertions, hunger, disease, and hardly any provisions. Both of us advocated for professional soldiers whose training was equal to that of the British and Germans. Steuben wrote his drill instructions in French and then had them translated into plain American language for our officers.
HOST But Americans were not Europeans and at first Steuben had a big problem.
GREENE Steuben claimed that when he told a European soldier to do something the soldier did it. But when he told an American soldier to do something, the soldier wanted to know the reason for doing it. However at the end of a month’s work Steuben had written all the drill instructions to train the unruly inquisitive Americans to disciplined soldiers.
HOST But it was another matter to put words into action.
GREENE Steuben never asked American troops to do something he couldn’t do. He demonstrated every move. He instructed them in the use of the bayonet yelling "Thrust the bayonet"! The troops liked his gruff manner and when he learned to curse in broken English he became one of them.
HOST I understand Steuben’s drills included officers.
GREENE He insisted that officers drill with their troops, something they had never done. He also reduced the number of officers’ servants much to their dismay but to the approval of the troops. He insisted Continental Army soldiers be given uniforms to instill in them an esprit de corps and distinguish them from militiamen. Impressed with his work Washington made him Acting Inspector General. This gave Washington more time for administrative duties such as planning war strategy.
HOST There were also personal improvements. Because of bad weather for waging war winter was normally a time when each side tried to recuperate.
GREENE It was also common for officers’ wives to join their husbands at winter camp. Wives had to tolerate the foul odors of camps teeming with unwashed men, stench of privies, and generally unhygienic conditions. At that time I was suffering from a painful pinkeye infection and begged Caty to join me. Her journey from Coventry was all the more difficult because of deep ruts and icy roads. Her delightful presence made winter tolerable for me and others with whom she socialized.
HOST But did her presence relieve your pain?
GREENE Somewhat.
HOST I’m informed she had a penchant for socializing with men such as Lafayette and Wayne. Weren’t you jealous?
GREENE Caty loved the repartee of socializing with men. It was a game she was good at and Lafyette gave her opportunity to practice her French. But she got along well also with Martha Washington.
HOST During March 1778 there were two important events. Parliament sent a Peace Commission to Philadelphia to negotiate with Congress.
GREENE Negotiations failed because Congress demanded independence for America.
HOST The other important event was that Washington appointed you to take over Mifflin’s job as Quartermaster General of the Army. In his glowing letter of recommendation to Congress he said you were well organized and called you his ablest, trusted, and most efficient general. He informed Congress that as a former businessman you understood the problems and logistics involved in supply and demand and would use your skills to find provisions for the army. He added that you would right Mifflin’s wrongs. I’d say that was quite an endorsement from His Excellency.
GREENE I foresaw an immediate problem. I remarked to Washington that being a quartermaster was humiliating to my military pride because it was a staff position and not a line command. Furthermore that no quartermaster had ever been commended for brilliant military action. But I would serve in that capacity if he so wished. In accepting the position I wrote:
"There is a great difference between being raised to an office, and descending to one. Had I been an inferior officer I might have thought myself honored by the appointment. But as I was high in rank in the army, I have ever considered it derogatory to serve in this office". (p118 Billias)
HOST But you did accept the position.
GREENE In accepting I insisted that I retain my ability to command troops in the field, Washington agreed.
HOST On the other hand a quartermaster received a 3% commission on money spent to provision the army. Didn’t that serve to ameliorate your perceived military humiliation?
GREENE Profits are always flattering to one’s fortune. I was allowed a 3% commission on money spent by the quartermaster department which I divided equally with my two deputies. We each received one cent of every dollar spent.
HOST Washington gave you considerable power to appoint your own wagon masters, forage masters, and engineers.
GREENE With a company of troops Colonel Biddle and I commandeered from farmers some livestock, food, forage, and wagons. From merchants we commandeered blankets and clothing. We issued farmers and merchants receipts redeemable from Congress. Within a matter of weeks we ameliorated the life threatening conditions at Valley Forge.
HOST You issued receipts for goods received but Congress had no money. Whatever money it had was worthless because the money wasn’t backed by a tradable commodity like gold or silver. Wasn’t that like stealing from farmers and merchants?
GREENE In a crisis stealing is preferable to starvation and death. Besides most farmers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland were Tories. If they refused to cooperate I threatened them with imprisonment.
HOST You ventured all the way to Maryland?
GREENE We needed provisions for the coming months. Upon loading wagons with hay from Tories I had the extra burned to prevent the British from using it.
HOST Wasn’t wasting food like burning hay against you Quaker tradition?
GREENE It was standard field procedure, the British did the same to us.
HOST That wasn’t very considerate of farmers.
GREENE My consideration was for our troops.
HOST Your fearsome success at finding forage prompted farmers, whether patriot or Tory, to hide their livestock from you in nearby woods.
GREENE My scouts found the livestock. We culled the herds leaving some cows for farmers.
HOST After the miseries of winter it was a time for some good luck. Local farmers and merchants began bringing in their goods to camp. Also French made uniforms and military weapons began arriving from France.
GREENE The addition of new uniforms and weapons encouraged our troops to act like professional soldiers. Washington was so pleased at all the improvements he gave troops who survived the winter an extra month’s pay and directed me to dispense extra rations of rum.
HOST It was reported that you made deals with private contractors in order to increase your commissions.
GREENE Not true, those rumors tried to undermine Washington’s trust in me. The truth was that Washington’s confidence in Steuben’s and me proved him right. We did our jobs as expected.
HOST Because its Peace Commission failed in March 1778 Parliament decided to make a significant change of command. In May Parliament replaced Howe with General Henry Clinton naming him commander of all British forces in America.
GREENE We got the report that Howe was ordered back to England because he vacillated by trying to negotiate peace with Congress and Washington rather than destroying his army. Equally important Parliament ordered Clinton to evacuate Philadelphia for New York City and make it its base of operations in the North. Another important development was that General Charles Lee, a prisoner of war for 15 months, was exchanged for a British major and rejoined Washington.
HOST About that time the Treaty of Alliance with France was ratified by Congress.
GREENE To provide support Admiral d’Estaing’s French fleet with 4,000 marines was on its way to America. On 18June1778, fearing a blockade of Philadelphia by the d’Estaing’s fleet, Clinton led 16,000 troops and 3,000 Tories out of the city. It was an immense double wagon train of troops, civilians, baggage, and provisions. They slowly marched across northern Jersey’s meadowlands towards Sandy Hook, New Jersey where ships were waiting to ferry them to New York City. Washington sensed the opportunity for attacking Clinton’s slow moving convoy of heavily loaded wagons. We departed Valley Forge planning to attack Howe.
HOST What about Caty?
GREENE We said our good-byes; she was again pregnant. I arranged for one of my aides to drive her carriage back to Coventry. We broke camp, evacuated Valley Forge, and with 13,500 troops trained by Steuben we crossed the Delaware River into New Jersey determined to confront Clinton.
HOST The British having abandoned Philadelphia Congress again convened there.
HOST I understand there was disagreement among the generals about attacking Clinton.
GREENE Washington called a war council to plan the attack. I asked to be released from staff duty as quartermaster to return to a line command. Washington agreed. Lafayette, Wayne, and I argued for immediate attack before Clinton reached Sandy Hook. The newly released Charles Lee disagreed claiming that a Continental Army of untrained militiamen was no match for Clinton’s British and German professional soldiers.
HOST Didn’t Lee know about improvements in the army, your reprovisioning and Steuben’s drilling?
GREENE I countered that while Lee was a prisoner of war Steuben had disciplined and trained the army and that my reorganized logistics enabled us to quickly move troops and baggage. Furious that the British born Lee was fearful of the vaunted British lion I reminded Washington that patriots expect us to fight. He agreed and named Lafayette the commander of 5,000 troops with Lee in support. When Lee realized he would be supporting the junior Lafayette he changed his mind. He claimed that as the senior general he wouldn’t subordinate himself to Lafayette and demanded that he lead the attack. Washington agreed.
HOST Informed of Washington move and fearful of an attack on his slow moving wagon train, Howe reinforced his rear guard.
GREENE Our scouts reported that during the night Clinton deployed Cornwallis to reinforce his rear guard. The next day carrying heavy backpacks and wearing wool clothing British and German soldiers marched in temperatures near 100°F. Not accustomed to such high temperatures in Europe several dozen dropped out of line and died of heat exhaustion or sunstroke. Americans were not well clothed but several also died because of the heat. We caught up with Clinton near the Monmouth Courthouse, New Jersey.
HOST Today that area is called Freehold. It’s where the two armies collided in the famous Battle of Monmouth 28June 1778.
GREENE We had 13,500 troops and Clinton 16,000. Each side lost troops because of the unbearable heat. Clinton divided his army in two units - Cornwallis with 10,000 troops and Knyphausen with 6,000 . Lee with 5,440 troops was supported by Lafayette. Washington led our main body with Knox, Wayne, and me. At first there were skirmishes as each side attacked and strategically retreated.
HOST Testing each other’s strengths?
GREENE Washington ordered Lee to attack Cornwallis who was outflanking him. After a brief engagement the outnumbered Lee ordered retreat. Encountering Lee’s troops retreating and in disarray Washington became furious. At a full gallop towards Lee Washington bellowed:
"Why this retreat? Why this disorder? Stand fast, I say stand fast and hold your position".
Pointing his sword towards the British Washington countermanded Lee’s retreat and ordered his troops to turn about and attack. Confused by the conflicting orders of Lee and Washington our troops were temporarily immobilized. Taking advantage of the lull Clinton’s forces attacked. Washington orders defense lines to repel the attack. He ordered me to lead a column in counterattack. Cornwallis attacked my column twice and twice with fierce musket fusilades we drove him back. Meanwhile Wayne’s troops were pushed back and forced to retreat. From a nearby hill Knox’s cannonade prevents the British and Germans from overwhelming us. When her husband falls mortally wounded Molly Pitcher carries water to her husband’s gun crew and then she herself grabs the rammer to service the cannon.
HOST So that story is true?
GREENE It was told many times after the battle. Sensing victory Washington planned an early morning attack. The next morning we were astonished to learn that Clinton was nowhere in sight. He escaped during the cooler evening something the Old Fox had done. Each side claimed victory having lost about the same number of troops killed or died of sunstroke. Washington hoped that the French fleet would arrive in time to intercept Clinton before he reached New York City.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 452 and British 1,156. It’s estimated that the Battle of Monmouth involving 19,000 – 20,000 troops was the largest one-day battle of the war.
GREENE According to our count the British and German dead numbered about 2,000. We won that battle. After the battle Washington dismissed from further duty the inept and insubordinate Lee. Admiral d’Estaing’s French fleet with 4,000 French marines arrived weeks after the battle, too late to prevent Clinton’s army at Sandy Hook from sailing across to New York City.
HOST I’d like to linger on Lee for a minute. Why did the British exchange Lee an American general for one of their majors? I thought rank was exchanged for rank?
GREENE Exchanges are negotiated. Besides we didn’t have a British general to exchange.
HOST The British probably brainwashed him to their side which is why they exchanged Lee for only a major.
GREENE Brainwashed?
HOST The British persuaded Lee that the American armed rabble couldn’t possibly defeat Europe’s best professional soldiers.
GREENE Congress court martialed the British born, British loving, and British brainwashed Lee. He was found guilty of dereliction of duty. In retaliation Lee wrote nasty letters denouncing Congress, Washington, and others. Because of his recalcitrance Congress eventually released him from military duty several years later on 10January1780. With his pack of dogs he departed for Virginia where he retired. Lee resentful that Congress had not named him Commander-in-Chief always acted like an unindicted conspirator against Washington.
HOST Concerning Washington’s encounter with Lee during the battle, I have Lafayette’s brief description of that encounter (reads):
"His presence stopped the retreat … His fine appearance on horseback, his calm courage, roused to animations by the vexations of the morning, gave him the air best calculated to excite enthusiasm … I thought then, as now, that never had I beheld so superb a man". (p283 Dupuy)
GREENE After the battle I resumed my quartermaster duties. Washington sent me north to find a suitable campsite along the Hudson River where we could monitor Clinton’s moves. Washington camped near New Brunswick, New Jersey where the troops celebrated the glorious cause of the Fourth of July Holiday by parading, wasting ammunition by firing their guns in the air, and of course downing extra rations of rum. Washington marched north joining me at Haverstraw, New York on the east bank of the Hudson. He decided to make it his temporary headquarters while I continued to search for a better campsite. Meanwhile a letter from Caty caught up with me. She wasn’t getting along with my plain living relatives, so I advised her to move to my farm in Westerly, Rhode Island where she and the two children could spend the summer.
HOST In July 1778 the mobile Washington moved his headquarters to West Point, New York.
GREENE About a week later I received a letter from a frustrated Washington. He stated his disappointment that d’Estaing had not intercepted Clinton and that he urgently needed to talk to me about using d’Estaing’s fleet to liberate Newport. The letter ended with a hint of quartermaster neglect because I hadn’t yet found a suitable campsite. I was outraged to think that he didn’t appreciate my double duty as staff quartermaster and line commander. As quartermaster I’m required to find and provide supplies, search for and find campsites, and keep all the numbers of accountant’s books in balance. As line commander I’m asked to plan war strategy, detail war tactics, and lead troops in battle.
HOST Washington’s hint of quartermaster neglect damaged your self-esteem and wounded your ego. You must have been roiling with outrage because you dashed off a letter full of fury. Here are selected parts of the letter you wrote to Washington. (reads):
"Your Excellency has made me very unhappy. I can submit very patiently to deserved censure; but it wounds my feelings exceedingly to meet with a rebuke for doing what I conceived to be a proper part of my duty, and in the order of things … And here I must observe that neither my constitution or strength are equal to constant exercise … Your Excellency knows well how I came to this department. It was by your special request, and you must be sensible there is no other man upon Earth could have brought me into the business but you. … I flatter myself when your Excellency … will do me the justice to say I have not been negligent or inattentive to my duty. … I have never solicited you for a furlough to go home to indulge in pleasure or to improve my interest, … I have never been troublesome to your Excellency to publish anything to my advantage altho I think myself as justly entitled as some others who have been more fortunate. Particularly in the action of Brandywine. …[I have] always endeavored to deserve the public esteem and your Excellency’s approbation."
In closing you threatened to resign:
"As I came into the quarter masters department with reluctance so I shall leave it with pleasure. Your influence brought me in and the want of your approbation will induce me to go out." (pp181-182 Golway))
Putting aside some of his other duties, Washington immediately responded in writing (reads):
"I can, and do assure you, that I have ever been happy in your friendship, and have no scruples in declaring that I think myself indebted to your Abilities, honour and canddour, to your attachment to me, and your faithful service to the Public." (p182 Golway)
GREENE I was surprised by Washington’s quick response given he’s overwhelmed by administrative duties and paperwork. I appreciated his understanding of my despondency at his mention of quartermaster neglect.
HOST You took out your frustration on Washington when he failed to mention to Congress that you had rescued Sullivan in the Battle of Brandywine Creek. Washington took out his frustration on you when d’Estaing’s fleet failed to intercept Clinton and you hadn’t yet found a suitable campsite for monitoring Clinton’s moves.
GREENE In that sense the vituperative exchanges were tit-for-tat were they not?
HOST In August 1778 to pacify any of your lingering resentment Washington wrote to Congress. In his letter he praised you for your steadfast service and efficiency enabling a well-provisioned army to move from Valley Forge to other campsites in an orderly manner. Regarding your commission and reputation, Washington concluded that you a no-nonsense Quaker are most efficient and his best quartermaster.
GREENE Shortly thereafter I found a suitable campsite. I recommended White Plains, New York. Meanwhile a letter from Caty caught up with me. She chided me because other officer’s wives had visits from their spouses and I hadn’t visited Coventry in 3 years. Besides she was carrying our 3rd child and needed my declared support for her condition. I wrote to Caty explaining the war required many personal sacrifices.
HOST I have a copy of that letter. I’ve highlighted parts of it (reads):
"This I am sure has done violence to your feelings … but I trust … that I shall meet with no difficulty in obtaining your forgiveness hereafter. At the close of the war I flatter myself I shall be able to return to your arms with the same unspotted love and affection as when I took the field. Altho I have been absent from you, I have not been inconstant n love, unfaithful to my vows, or unjust to your bed." (p63 Stegeman)
GREENE Little did I know that I would soon have the opportunity to prove my love. In his White Plains headquarters Washington decided to use d’Estaing’s fleet to liberate Newport, Rhode Island which the British occupied since 1776. Newport was the British base of operations for New England.
HOST Why was Washington determined to use d’Estaing’s fleet.
GREENE He wanted d’Estaing’s fleet to counter Clinton’s use of Admiral Howe’s massive fleet. Because of my knowledge of Newport, I asked Washington to give me line command for assisting Sullivan even though he was my junior officer. He agreed. I immediately dashed off a letter to Sullivan informing him of Washington’s decision and that given line command I’d be happy to serve under him in defending my home state. After a 3-year absence I prepared to go home. I rode 170 miles in 3 days arriving in Coventry 30July1778. For the first time in 3 years father, pregnant mother, and children George and Martha experienced family unity. I spent a heart-warming week reacquainting myself with my family and relatives.
HOST So Caty gathered her brood and introduced you "Children this is your father".
GREENE Thereafter d’Estaing’s fleet arrived in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island with 4,000 marines aboard. When Admiral Howe got word that d’Estaing’s fleet was anchored in Newport Harbor he immediately set sail from New York City to destroy it. Newport is at the southern tip of Aquidneck Island. The British garrison was on the northern tip of Aquidneck Island and had 6,000 British soldiers commanded by the British General Sir Robert Pigot. About ½ mile across from Aquidneck Island is Tiverton, on the Rhode Island mainland.
HOST Sullivan was headquartered in the Tiverton area with 2,500 troops.
GREENE Washington complained about the slow delivery of messages from Providence, Rhode Island to his White Plains, New York headquarters. He complained that he wasn’t getting daily reports. I established a relay system of express riders at posts between Providence and White Plains.
HOST That’s what the Romans had throughout their empire, a sort of pony express mail system from post to post.
GREENE Washington thought the alliance of American and French forces would liberate Newport. To assure victory Washington sent Sullivan reinforcements under Lafayette and Varnum. John Hancock arrived with his New England militiamen. Sammy Ward and Cousin Christopher arrived with his regiment of free blacks.
HOST Newport was developing into a major battle.
GREENE We learned the British abandoned their northern garrison and moved to the island’s southern tip to defend Newport. Sullivan conferred with d’Estaing for mutual agreement on a battle plan. They couldn’t agree because d’Estaing with his 4,000 marines insisted on being in charge of the entire campaign. Sullivan the son of indentured Irish parents hated aristocrats such as d’Estaing and refused to take orders from him.
HOST But a violent storm lashed Narragansett Bay dispersing Howe’s approaching fleet. The next morning Howe’s fleet was nowhere in sight. It had returned to New York City for repairs. Anchored in Newport Harbor several of d’Estaing’s ships were also damaged.
GREENE I got a message from my pregnant Caty that she was ill. I thought of going home but couldn’t abandon my command at that critical time. I wrote to her explaining my dilemma over my heartfelt concern for her and the impending battle for Newport.
HOST I believe I have a copy of that letter, in part it reads:
I am sorry to find you are getting unwell. I am afraid it is the effect of anxiety and fearful apprehension. … Would to God it was in my power to give peace to your bosom, which, I fear, is like the troubled ocean. I feel your distress. My bosom beats with compassion and kind concern for your welfare, and the more so at this time as your situation is critical. I thank you kindly for your concern for my health and safety; the former is not very perfect, the latter is in the book of fate. I wish to live but for your sake and those little pledges of conjugal affection which Providence has blessed us with. Those dear little rogues have begun to command a large share of my affection and attention. (p187 Golway)
GREENE Sullivan fearful of Washington’s wrath for not cooperating with d’Estaing sent Lafayette and me out to his flagship to plead with him for his cooperation. In the convivial atmosphere of allies and brotherhood we dined with d’Estaing on his flagship.
HOST Did you understand French?
GREENE No but I got the gist of their conversation and Lafayette interpreted for me.
HOST At least you must have had a good French dinner.
GREENE I got seasick being rowed out to the flagship. d’Estaing claimed he had to sail for Boston to get his damaged ships repaired. I suggested his ships could be repaired in Providence but he insisted on sailing to Boston. The meeting and dinner were failures. When Washington was notified of d’Estaing’s departure he advised us to continue friendly relations with the French because their help was needed.
HOST The expected great American-French alliance failed to materialize.
GREENE Sullivan was furious at d’Estaing’s departure because with his French marines he was sure he could have easily liberated Newport.
HOST But the wild Irishman attacked anyway on 28August1788.
GREENE Sullivan planed a 3-column attack – he in the center, I on the right, and Lafayette on the left. Cousin Christopher, Varnum, and Sammy Ward are held in reserve. From Tiverton we crossed to Aquidneck Island. When Sullivan’s militiamen saw that d’Estaing’s fleet had sailed away about 5,000 deserted and went home leaving us in the lurch. Pigot immediately moved up from Newport to engage us. Lafayette and I wanted to attack but with half his troops gone Sullivan preferred to defend. Pigot attacked us first. Instead of retreating I directed my cannons to fire at his front line. The British lobster backs ran away faster than at the Battle of Monmouth. But then British ships in Newport Harbor pounded our positions with cannon fire.
HOST To bad d’Estaing’s fleet deserted you.
GREENE We were caught in the middle. Most of the battle was fought at long range with cannon fire from land and British ships in the harbor. Fortunately my cousin and his all black regiment temporarily repulsed Pigot’s attack. Eventually Pigot forced us to retreat and we crossed to the mainland first to Tiverton and then to Bristol.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 211 and British 260.
GREENE Pigot retained command of Newport as the British base of operations for New England. In September I resumed my quartermaster duties. On the way to Boston to buy uniforms and shoes for the army I stopped in Coventry. Caty was nearing her term for birthing our third child. After several wonderful days with my family I continued to Boston. On my way back I stopped at John Hancock’s house.
HOST The next morning your breakfast with John Hancock was interrupted by a family messenger telling you that Caty gave birth to a daughter and they were not doing well.
GREENE I rushed back to Coventry where family wives were doing their best to support Caty and the baby girl. We named it Cornelia Lott after our good friend and host Abraham Lott. Informing Washington of my predicament, I lingered at home until Caty and Cornelia grew stronger. When their health improved I was required to return to Washington’s headquarters in White Plains. It was October and he directed me to search for a suitable campsite for winter quarters. My search ended where it did last year in central New Jersey in Middlebrook, where we could keep an eye on the British movements. I found a two-story stone house for my headquarters, a house in which Caty would be happy during her visit to winter camp.
HOST In late October Clinton in planning a southern expedition made several key moves. He believed Washington was too weak to threaten the British in the North or the garrison in New York City, so he ordered Pigot to evacuate Newport and reinforce New York City under command of Knyphausen. In December 1778 he and Cornwallis sailed south.
GREENE I wrote to Caty to join me in Middlebrook but she hesitated.
HOST Can you blame her? In the past 3 years she had 3 children each conceived at your winter camps.
GREENE I wrote again asking her to join me with 3-year old George a toddler. She responded that George and Martha had been with relatives for about a year and they were just getting to know her again. Besides her last two deliveries had been difficult.
HOST You continued to pressure her to join you.
GREENE I understood her reluctance but I needed the pleasure of her company.
HOST You wrote her an enticing note suggesting more of her favorite pleasure, her penchant for socializing especially with men. Here’s part of that note (reads):
"I [dined] yesterday with His Excellency, who inquired very particularly about you and renewed his charge to have you at Camp very soon". (p195 Golway)
GREENE Caty responded that she would deposit Martha and Cornelia with my relatives and with toddler George depart for Middlebrook. My spirits soared with anticipation of seeing them again.
HOST One of my notes states that the Middlebrook winter was not as severe as in Valley Forge.
GREENE We wondered how long winter’s respite would favor us.
HOST From reports I’ve read the 1778 –1779 winter in Middlebrook was compensation for the suffering in Valley Forge. Here are several excerpts from those reports:
Ranking officers and their wives enjoy dinners and balls. At 23 years old Caty Greene enjoys the company of men and has no problem attracting them. She freely speaks French with Lafayette and flirts with other officers. She engages in flirtatious tête-à-têtes and personal conversations with Anthony Wayne and Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth. … Wayne is handsome ladies man impeccably dressed in his privately tailored uniform, Wadsworth is Greene’s handsome and rich commissary officer, a financier of the war. … It was obvious to all there was a great attraction between Caty and those two men. … Several officers’ wives jealous of her beauty and popularity gossip about her exhibited scandalous disposition for actively seeking the company of men. They spread rumors about her intentions. … Caty also seeks the company of her true friend Martha Washington who quickly dispatches wives’ rumors with words such as "Caty is a young vivacious wife who likes to socialize". … Andoned by Caty on such occasions a sympathetic officer’s wife would on occasion rescue the disconsolate Greene by striking up a conversation with him. … At one ball Washington and Caty danced all night to the exclusion of other wives and even Martha. Remarks from wives dripped with jealousy such as "Washington and Greene’s lady make an unusual pair".
HOST Do you think Washington was a womanizer?
GREENE What, His Excellency a womanizer? No, no.
HOST Weren’t you jealous that Washington commandeered your wife and danced away the night with her?
GREENE Having recently recovered from childbirth I was worried about her health. She put herself in danger for a few hours of pleasure. But I’m pleased that none other than His Excellency chose Caty for his dance partner.
HOST What about Martha’s reaction?
GREENE More than wife she enjoyed the frolick as spectator. Among all the officer’s wives Martha remained her true friend.
HOST What about the encounter between Caty and an overweight matronly officer’s wife who called her a wench?
GREENE My demeaned Caty, normally socially adept, accosted her like a fishwife. That must have been the dramatic highlight of the night. We had tread in the troubled waters of marriage but our love survived because Caty was pregnant again.
HOST While the merrymaking was going on in Middlebrook Clinton and Cornwallis invaded Georgia at the end of December 1778. They captured first Savannah and then Augusta. Assured of British control and occupation of Georgia, Clinton departed for New York City leaving Cornwallis in command of the South. The lamentation in Middlebrook over those losses were exacerbated by the severe shortage of food for troops and forage for horses. In fact Washington dispersed his troops to different posts to relieve the shortages. Also because of lack of pay there were the usual complaints from troops augmented by complaints even from officers.
HOST And Congress again complained that you were spending too much money. In fact Congress refused to give you more money until you explained your overdrafts.
GREENE Washington and I with our wives traveled to Philadelphia to confer with Congress about their refusal to provide money for the army.
HOST Fortunately I have a secret transcript of that conference.
GREENE Yes I heard about that, a bastardized version from a scurrilous unknown newspaper writer.
HOST Bastardized or not it’s the only one available (CONGRESSMAN means any Congressman) reads:
CONGRESSMAN We are fortunate indeed that Major General Nathanael Greene, Washington’s efficient quartermaster, has appeared in person before this Congress here assembled.
GREENE I’m pleased Congress has given me the opportunity to do so on behalf of the Quartermaster Department of the Continental Army.
CONGRESSMAN As quartermaster of the Continental Army we need you to explain your overdrafts for the same provisions purchased last year at half the cost.
GREENE Due to inflation the Continental dollar lost about 90% of its former value. Therefore I have to spend more and more money to buy less and less of the same amount of provisions. It’s up to you to back up the dollar with gold or silver or other valuable commodity.
CONGRESSMAN We have no gold. Where do you propose we get such a commodity?
GREENE I’m not a Congressman. If I were I’d find such a commodity. With good intentions Congress established the Continental Army but with less intention Congress doesn’t know how to administrate it. Also regarding your inadequate support of the army my deputies and I are not receiving the commissions due us.
CONGRESSMAN With the shortage of money you have the temerity to discuss with Congress the lack of commissions?
GREENE In that case I propose my deputies and I be paid salaries rather than commissions.
CONGRESSMAN If Congress cannot afford to pay commisssions how can it afford to pay salaries?
GREENE It was Congress that established the awards of commissions, not the quartermaster department.
CONGRESSMAN Are you proposing that Congress eliminate commissions? We would be more than happy to do so.
GREENE No, commissions are part of our pay and we rely on them.
CONGRESSMAN We understand Washington permits you to engage in the dual role of staff officer and line commander. Are you playing also a dual role as quartermaster and private investor? What is your relationship with the investment banker Barnabas Deane & Co.?
GREENE In April 1779 I entered into a business partnership with Jeremiah Wadsworth my commissary general. We each invested $10,000 with Barnabas Deane & Co. an investment firm.
CONGRESSMAN First you complain about not
receiving commissions and then you inform us that your commissions were so
extravagant that you were able to invest $10,000.
GREENE The $10,000 I invested was for the most part loans from Jeremiah Wadsworth and my brother’s business Jacob Greene & Co.
CONGRESSMAN Jacob Greene & Co. does business with the quartermaster department. Are you a member of that company?
GREENE To avoid conflicts of interest and as a private investor I do not do business with the quartermaster department. I avoid investing in army contracts.
CONGRESSMAN Are you a member of Jacob Greene & Co.?
GREENE No, I invest in private enterprises.
CONGRESSMAN But Jacob Greene & Co. is a private investment firm.
GREENE I’m not a member of Jacob Greene & Co.
CONGRESSMAN Barnabas Deane & Co. and Jacob Greene & Co. invest in army contracts. Furthermore Jacob Greene & Co. profits by employing privateers to raid British ships of their cargoes.
GREENE Recall sir that in order to help the war effort Congress approved raids of British ships in order to transfer their cargoes to the army. The same Congress approved also the plunder of Tory homes to disarm them for providing weapons for the army. Besides I invest my commissions in land speculations through Barnabas Deane & Co. I am an investor, not a partner in either Jacob Greene & Co. or Barnabas Deane & Co.
CONGRESSMAN Are you profiting as quartermaster by inflating costs to get more commissions for your private investments?
GREENE If the matter of commissions is painful to Congress perhaps it can pay salaries in lieu of army pay and commissions.
CONGRESSMAN What? We reject out of hand your impractical proposal.
GREENE I remind congress that I accepted the position of quartermaster out of respect for Washington, not money. The army cannot survive on handouts preferred by Congress, an organization that would never survive in the private market. Furthermore I’ll resign unless Congress changes the way it does business.
HOST Bastardized or not that recitation was like one of today’s congressional hearings.
GREENE I told Washington that I wasn’t going to sacrifice my good reputation for Congress’ incompetence. Washington agreed with me but did nothing to offend either Congress or me because he needed both.
HOST It wasn’t all counterattack and no play. Since Congress again made Philadelphia its headquarters there were incessant rounds of lavish dinners and parties.
GREENE I saw excessive feasting and diners gorging themselves on course after course of exotic foods.
HOST Reminds me of Rome’s excesses.
GREENE While I admired Rome’s military prowess I renounced its banquets, extravagances, and unfettered pagan entertainment. Also diners consumed bottle after bottle of wine - white, red, tawny port. I politely cautioned Caty after her second glass of wine.
HOST You criticized her drinking?
GREENE I daren’t do that but her conversation was becoming too animated accompanied by gestures. The food wasted by the extravagance of sumptuous dinners, offended my Quaker ethics especially while our troops were starving. I yearned for simpler foods - Block Island swordfish, Rhode Island clam chowder, and lobsters. One or t’other would do and of course a Sally Lunn with hearty tea.
HOST Washington planned on staying in Philadelphia only several days but you all lingered for 6 weeks. Caty must have been in her glory darting from one party to another.
GREENE Much as Caty enjoyed the rounds of parties it was time to return to camp. I told her that "We cannot build a nation on gluttony, the garbage of exotic foods, and worthless money".
HOST While in Philadelphia it was rumored that Washington informally told Adams that if he fell or had to be replaced you should be appointed Commander-in-Chief.
GREENE A rumor told in private and never confirmed.
HOST In May 1779 the British were marching north along the Hudson River capturing American posts.
GREENE With 6,000 troops Clinton sailed up the Hudson towards West Point. Washington decided to march north into New York to monitor British moves. He directed me to reconnoiter the Hudson Valley to find a suitable campsite. During my search I wrote to Caty discreetly suggesting that perhaps it was time for her to go home to Coventry. Eventually she departed Middlebrook’s social whirl for the austerity of Coventy. In June I found a suitable campsite at New Windsor, New York.
HOST Because of your spat with Congress in Philadelphia, Washington wrote to Congress praising you for your efficiency in moving wagon loads of troops, women, and provisions from Middlebrook to establish the new campsite. His letter ends claiming that he expected nothing less from his competent quartermaster. By the way today New Windsor is in Orange County the home of West Point.
GREENE Apparently Congress wasn’t impressed. It still blamed my quartermaster department and its deputies for spending too much money. Moreover it assumed the authority of the quartermaster department by permitting states to fire any of my deputies suspected of corruption. I immediately tendered my resignation in the hope of again getting line command. No longer willing to serve as quartermaster I notified Washington I have a right to be a line commander.
HOST In July 1779 Washington summoned you to join his war council at West Point regarding Clinton’s move up the Hudson.
GREENE The council also considered my right to be a line commander. I submitted to Washington letters supporting my position from friends Hamilton, Knox, Steuben, and Wayne. After heated arguments the council agreed that officers do not have the inherent right to a line command. Some of the officers who disagreed were concerned that I might replace them as line commander. Washington agreed with the decision of the council; his rejection submitted me to depression. I again offered my resignation as quartermaster but Washington refused to contemplate or accept it.
HOST Meanwhile to cut off supplies from Connecticut to the Continental Army the British burned the towns of Fairfield and Norwalk in Connecticut. They continued east and burned ships in New Haven Harbor.
GREENE In August I received a letter from Caty. She confessed that she was as reluctant to go back to Coventry as she had been to leave it. I read the disturbing news that she along with George, Martha, and Cornelia were ill. Moreover she was again pregnant, her teeth were loose, and she was bleeding from her gums. I wondered if her all night dancing and drinking wine contributed to her illness. I wrote that perhaps the reason for her illness was that I allowed her to dance all night at Middlebrook and drink wine to excess in Philadelphia.
HOST I believe it was more than dancing and wine that got her pregnant again. Too bad you didn’t have condoms.
GREENE What?
HOST Just thinking aloud.
GREENE I got another disheartening letter from Caty. She was at her wit’s end at the thought of having to endure another pregnancy in the austerity and aloofness of Coventry attended by well meaning Greene wives dissatisfied with her motherly administrations.
HOST Dissatisfied as in delinquent behavior?
GREENE Not delinquent, I beckoned her to Middlebrook and she responded. In war who’s to say whether one would ever have the opportunity to beckon again?
HOST Adding to your familial problems there were persistent military problems with Indians in upstate New York. That summer Americans finally retaliated against the allied British, Tory, and Indian forces that were massacring American settlers.
GREENE I advised Washington it was time to punish that alliance. Washington gave Sullivan command of several regiments and with my logistical support Sullivan destroyed the corn and grain crops in at least 40 Iroquois, Cayuga, and Seneca villages. Thereafter those Indians ended their alliances with the British and Tories.
HOST We now come to the failed American siege of Savannah, Georgia. The British captured the city last December 1778 and heavily fortified it.
GREENE The siege consisted of a number of disparate forces. French Admiral d’Estaing commanded 5,000 French troops and Haitian blacks, Polish Count Kazimierz Pulaski commanded his legion of 500, Lincoln and Huger commanded Continental Army troops for a total force of about 10,000. Unfortunately an American deserter turned traitor informed the British of details of the planned siege. On 9October1779 Lincoln and d’Estaing led the main column with some success but other columns were repulsed. After more than a week of fighting d’Estaing was twice wounded and Count Pulaski was killed. Perhaps the siege failed because it had too many commanders none with overall responsibility. The defeat was a severe setback for our southern campaign because Georgia remained under British control.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 800 and British 140.
GREENE I suggested to Washington that we use d’Estaing’s fleet to attack New York City. He agreed and again made plans to recover the city but when d’Estaing’s fleet sailed for France he had to abandon his plan. Thereafter Washington directed me to prepare Morristown for winter camp.
HOST In November1779 the army arrived at winter camp in Morristown.
GREENE Washington notified congress the army lacked food and clothing and was in a state of distress. Troops had low morale, many deserted, and there were attempts at mutiny. Adding to those miseries there was another crisis between my quartermaster department and Congress. Merchants wouldn’t sell us goods to provision the army because the continental dollar was worthless. Congress had no money and it couldn’t borrow money from abroad. Europeans claimed Congress wouldn’t be able to pay back the money because Americans were losing the war.
HOST It’s a wonder Washington could maintain any kind of army.
GREENE The series of crises with Congress caused my deputy Wadsworth to resign. I again tendered my resignation and Congress again ignored it. During that Christmas week I got more bad news. My $10,000 investment in a business venture with Barnabas Deane & Co. failed. From my original $10,000 investment I collected a mere $960, a 90% loss. The army and I personally were in desperate financial condition.
HOST In December Clinton with 8,000 troops sailed from New York City for Charleston, South Carolina leaving Knyphausen in command of New York City.
GREENE I wrote to pregnant Caty cautioning her to remain in Coventry until the baby was born. She was only 24 and would be having her 4th child in 4 years, each younger than 4. In order to recuperate I recommend she remain in Coventry, that it was too precarious to travel to our winter camp at Morristown.
HOST Most reports of the war differ in content but they all agree that the Morristown winter of 1779-1780 was the coldest of the war.
GREENE I got word from my brother Christopher in Coventry that Narragansett Bay froze over. We got reports that parts of Chesapeake Bay froze over. In Morristown we had snowfall after snowfall 18" was common. Daytime temperatures were in the teens. The sun would melt the snow surface which would freeze at night covering it with a sheet of ice. The cold and blizzards in Morristown were more killing than at Valley Forge. Again our troops were unclothed, shoeless, and starving. Compelled to write to someone about our predicament I wrote to Benedict Arnold who experienced the cold of Valley Forge. I wrote that in addition to the brutal cold we were starving. Through knee high snow Wayne, my deputies, and I managed to commandeer local cattle temporarily avoiding complete starvation. Morristown was not the place for a woman so again I wrote to Caty warning her not to travel because frozen roads made carriage travel treacherous and almost impossible. Can you imagine my surprise when I got her letter informing me that she was on her way?
HOST You had a truly obstinate wife on your hands.
GREENE She had deposited the two girls, Martha and Cornelia, with my relatives and with 4-year old George departed Coventry for Morristown.
HOST Why do you think she deliberately disobeyed first your caution and then your warning?
GREENE She was boldly independent, not to be told what to do and insisted on joining me because she didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be in camp along with other officers’ wives. I was confounded because she was at least 8 months pregnant. Upon her arrival we had trouble renting a house because of young George and her condition. We finally found rooms to rent at a reasonable rate but the so-called patriot owner wasn’t very welcoming.
HOST That January 1780 within days of her arrival camp doctors gave you the good news that Caty gave birth to a son.
GREENE We named him Nathanael and called him Nat. His birth was celebrated throughout the camp but the homeowner was furious over all the commotion of birthing having taken place in his house. Thereafter Caty wanted to go to Philadelphia to celebrate Nat’s birth. I agreed and suggested we visit my friend Benedict Arnold the military governor and newly married for the second time.
HOST How did Arnold get to be military governor of Philadelphia.
GREENE Recall that Congress refused to promote Arnold or reimburse him for his wartime expenses. To pacify Arnold Washington appointed him Military Governor of Philadelphia, enabling Americans to return to that city. He entertained political leaders and celebrities with lavish parties, went into debt, and got involved in shady financial schemes to pay off the debts. He was found guilty of malfeasance and court martialed but remained in the army in Philadelphia.
HOST I know the rest of the story. He courted and married the beautiful young Peggy Shippen half his age. He was 39 and she 20.
GREENE In Philadelphia Caty bought herself some new clothes and then we called on Arnold and his young bride. We had a pleasant dinner to the accompanying and constant chatter of Caty and Peggy.
HOST Peggy came from a Tory family. It was no secret that she freely consorted with British officers and had a close relationship with Clinton.
GREENE She couldn’t have been much of a Tory if she married Arnold an American hero. Immobilized by winter in Morristown Washington shifted his attention south to Charleston, South Carolina. He gave General Benjamin Lincoln 5,200 troops and directed him to defend Charleston against Clinton. Charleston was an indefensible city because it’s located at the tip of a peninsular vulnerable to attack from any direction. Lincoln built fortifications around Charleston and added a citadel for further protection.
HOST That citadel was rebuilt and today is called the Citadel Military College.
GREENE In Charleston Clinton recruited Tories to reinforce his army
HOST For my own benefit I need to review my note about southern Tories. Clinton knew there were more Tories in the South because of what King Charles 2 of England did in 1663. The king granted to his chosen aristocrats, called Lord Proprietors, huge tracts of land in what became the colonies of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida. A Lord Proprietor governed a colony as the king’s representative. The citizens of those southern colonies subordinated themselves to aristocratic privileges, which is why there were more Tories in the South than in the North. Well now we come to the Battle of Charleston 12May1780.
GREENE When Clinton learned that Lincoln had only 5,200 troops he attacked with 14,000 troops including Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s division of British troops and reinforced by Tories. Vastly outnumbered Lincoln rightly took a defensive position retaliating with a continuous cannonade against Clinton’s front lines. Clinton regrouped and again repeatedly attacked until Lincoln was forced to retreat. Clinton then advised Lincoln to surrender to save Americans lives, reminding himof their common ancestors. Losing and outnumbered 3 to 1 Lincoln eventually surrendered.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 4,750 including 4,500 who were captured and British 265.
Charleston was a disaster comparable to the American loss of Fort Washington and the British loss of Saratoga.
GREENE Additionally Clinton captured 390 cannons, 6,000 muskets and all the ammunition. In exchange for their parole to quit fighting, Clinton magnanimously permitted captured Americans to return to their homes rather than imprison and feed them.
HOST Obvious is the great difference between the gentleman soldier Clinton and the bloody roguish Tarleton.
GREENE Having captured Charleston Clinton decided South Carolina was safely in British hands. Leaving 8,300 troops with Cornwallis he gave him command of the South and departed for New York City. Thereafter Cornwallis ordered Tarleton to clear the area of patriots.
HOST On 29May1780 the truculent Tarleton eagerly executed Cornwallis’ order to clear the area of patriots.
GREENE Scouting the area with his combined British and Tory cavalry Tarleton encountered a company of Virginia cavalry at Waxhaws Creek, South Carolina. He enveloped the company and slaughtered them along with women and children. Those who surrendered were also slaughtered. The few who escaped called the slaughter ‘Tarleton’s Quarter’. The phrase was broadcast throughout the South as memento of Tarleton’s butchery of defenseless men, women, and children.
HOST Meanwhile at Morristown two armed regiments marched through camp threatening mutiny if they didn’t get full rations and 5 months back pay.
GREENE Washington ordered Pennsylvania troops to squash the attempted rebellion. The two mutinous ringleaders were apprehended and hanged.
HOST While Washington was temporarily headquartered in Springfield, New Jersey he departed for Morristown and gave you command of the army on 23June1780.
GREENE During his absence I was again doing double duty as quartermaster and commander of the army in Springfield.
HOST The British took advantage of attacking Washington who was in Morristown without an army.
GREENE Knyphausen with 6,000 troops including Tories departed Staten Island planning to attack Washington. My scouts notified me that Knyphausen was marching towards Springfield on his way to Morristown. I had 3,000 troops and strategically placed them on roads and bridges leading to Springfield and along the Rahway River crossings. Knyphausen launched 5 attacks during the first hour of battle. Each time my troops fought back holding their positions. Knyphausen then launched a two-pronged attack against me. Outnumbered I retreated to the nearby heights of Short Hills. I hoped he’d follow because I had the advantage of firing down on him but he didn’t. Instead he torched Springfield burning most of the houses and buildings as he retreated. I directed my troops to harass his rear guard hastening his retreat back to Staten Island.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 55 and British 100.
Washington congratulated you on your victory and wrote Congress a letter praising your liberation of New Jersey from British occupation. Your victory was the last battle of the war in New Jersey and forced the British out of for good. Washington was reinforced on 11July1780 when the French fleet arrived in Newport.
GREENE While I was fighting the Springfield battle, French General Comte de Rochambeau arrived in Newport with a fleet of ships carrying 5,000 French soldiers. Washington wanted to use the French fleet to liberate New York City but a British fleet arrived blockading Narragansett Bay. The blockade prevented the French fleet from sailing out of Newport Harbor.
HOST Why didn’t the French fleet fight its way out of the harbor.
GREENE The British warships had more guns than the French. anchored in the harbor the French warships didn’t have space to maneuver. The confrontation was a standoff like my quartermaster job. Keeping books like an accountant, bored with my quartermaster duties, I told Washington I wanted to reclaim my duties as full time line commander. He agreed but Congress had other ideas. It wanted to reorganize the quartermaster department so that an individual state would be apportioned its appropriate share of the cost for maintaining the army.
HOST More clashes between Congress and you?
GREENE I told Congress such a system would fail because any individual state could claim it wasn’t responsible for the shortfall or ineptitude of other states. Hamilton and I argued for a strong Federal government because the different local political interests of individual states inhibited Congress from raising money to support the war. Congress persisted in its plan for requiring individual states to support the army. We continued to exchange bitter letters. I again submitted my resignation and agreed to remain until a replacement quartermaster was found.
HOST Sympathetic to your cause Washington recommended you for Commander of the Southern Army. Again Congress disagreed and instead appointed Gates the hero of Saratoga to liberate the South from Corwallis.
GREENE In the summer 1780 Benedict Arnold convinced Washington the British might attack the garrison at West Point. Arnold claimed West Point should be reinforced and that he should be appointed its commander. Washington agreed.
HOST No one knew at that time that Arnold had been secretly informing Clinton of Washington’s moves.
GREENE That probably explains why during spring of last year the British were marching north along the Hudson River capturing American posts.
HOST Speaking of being captured, in mid-August 1780 Americans suffered another disastrous defeat. This time near Camden, South Carolina.
GREENE Cornwallis established a garrison of 2,250 troops about 6 miles north of Camden, South Carolina. Gates had 1,900 troops most of whom were inexperienced militiamen from Maryland. When Tarleton and his Tory legion attacked with fixed bayonets glinting in the morning sun, most of Gates’ tenderfoot militiamen panicked and fled. As Gates’ reserve troops tried to advance to the front line they joined the fleeing militiamen leaving only about 900 to face Cornwallis. They fought valiantly but had to retreat when Cornwallis’ troops overran their positions.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 1,900 of whom 1,000 were taken prisoners and British 395.
First it was Charleston and then Camden. It was the second time in 4 months the Americans had been defeated in the South.
GREENE Cornwallis catpured all of Gates’ artillery and ammunition. In his retreat from Camden to Hillsboro, North Carolina Gates and his survivors marched a distance of about 180 miles in 3 days. After his victory at Camden Cornwallis recruited Tories to reinforce British garrisons in South Carolina and Georgia. Convinced that South Carolina and Georgia were under British control Cornwallis marched north toward Charlotte, North Carolina. Years ago I urged Congress to give Washington greater command of the war, perhaps Camden could have been saved. I blamed Congress for its ineptitude in managing the war in the South.
HOST Meanwhile Washington called a conference at Hartford, CT regarding a possible British attack on West Point. While there he gave you command of the army.
GREENE I immediately wrote to Caty telling her that Washington named me temporary Commander-in-Chief for a day or two. He ordered me to march to West Point to aid Benedict Arnold in the event of a British attack. During those days I drilled my troops in preparation for the attack on West Point. About a week later I received a package from Caty. In it was several new shirts and inside one of the shirt pockets a poem. I wrote to Caty telling her I was the happiest husband on earth.
HOST Also in September 1780 you learned of Arnold’s betrayal. The general details are as follows (reads):
Major John André Clinton’s aide debarked from a British ship in the Hudson River and met with Arnold who signed the treasonous agreement to hand over West Point to Clinton. A patriot happened to see the British ship anchored in the Hudson and fired at it. Its captain fearing a cannonade from land weighed anchor and sailed away leaving André stranded. Arnold gave him civilian clothes to escape but American militiamen intercepted André. They searched him and found the signed treasonous agreement. Upon hearing of André’s capture Arnold fled to Clinton who for protection immediately sent him on the next British ship to England.
GREENE It was speculated that Arnold was getting even with Congress, which repeatedly refused him a much deserved promotion and reimbursement of his wartime expenses.
HOST Is that what did you think?
GREENE I believe Arnold was unduly influenced by his wife. Recall that as Military Governor of Philadelphia Arnold, while courting Peggy, got deeply in debt hosting lavish parties complete with musicians and entertainers. Peggy was a Tory and friend of Clinton who promised Arnold £20,000 sterling, enough to pay off all his debts, if he’d cross over to the British side and cede West Point.
HOST Unfortunately Major André was caught in the middle of the two conspirators.
GREENE Washington appointed me to preside over André’s court martial. He was found guilty of spying. Clinton pleaded with me not to execute his favorite aide but I reminded him that despite our pleas Howe hung Nathan Hale without a trial and that André got a fair trial.
HOST André was hung in Tappan, New York 2October1780. With Arnold on his way to England Washington appointed you commander of West Point. After all your efforts to obtain a line command you gave it up to accept the staff position at West Point.
GREENE Because I would be garrisoned with Caty and the children during the winter. I immediately wrote telling her the good news that during the winter we’d be together at West Point.
HOST I have a copy of that letter. In part it reads:
"I shall be happy to receive you in my arms, as soon as you can render it convenient to come. … O, sweet angel how I wish – how I long to return to your soft embrace". (p7 Golway)
You and Caty had the children to prove her soft embrace, 4 children in 4 years each conceived during her stay at a winter camp. Meanwhile while at West Point you got the stunning good news that southern partisans routed the British at King’s Mountain, North Carolina a village about 32 miles west of Charlotte.
GREENE On top of King’s Mountain was a redoubt protecting the British garrison of 1,100 commanded by Major Patrick Ferguson. He and 100 of his officers were British all the rest were Tories, many of whom had been patriots who crossed over to the British side. About an equal number of sharpshooter partisans surrounded the mountain commaded by several local colonels. On 7October1780 they crept up the mountain Indian style firing from behind rocks and trees. Each time the patriots stormed the mountain they were repulsed by Tory rifle fire followed by bayonet charges. But when Ferguson decided to charge down the mountain the partisan sharpshooters picked them off. They hit Ferguson several times killing him. In revenge for the Waxhaws massacre by Tarleton, partisans slaughtered some of the surrendering Tories shouting "Give ‘em Tarleton’s Quarter".
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 90 and British 1,020
GREENE The hour-long battle was a stunning victory for the South. the captured Tories were hanged on a variety of charges including arson and the murder of patriot civilians including women and children. The unexpected victory stopped Cornwallis’ northward march into North Carolina forcing him to return to Winsboro, South Carolina. The victory at King’s Mountain convinced Congress that the South was not completely lost. I again urged Congress to give Washington sole power to appoint commanders. To my great surprise Congress agreed but insisted on approving appointments. Alarmed that Cornwallis would take North Carolina and Virginia, Congress notified Washington to stop him and requested Washington to replace Gates.
HOST Washington responded that he would appoint his most resourceful, reliable, and efficient officer. When he appointed you Congress balked, it complained that it never heard of a quartermaster being named commander of an army. Also there were Congressmen and army officers against your appointment because they were jealous of your close association with Washington.
GREENE Washington reminded Congress and others that since I was appointed quartermaster in March 1778, I was doing double duty as staff member and line commander.
HOST While Congress was bickering over your appointment Knox, Hamilton, and others supported it. Hamilton implored Washington ‘for heaven’s sake and that of this nation send Greene’.
Another high-ranking officer wrote on your behalf:
"If anything is to be expected from the abilities and exertions of a single person, I think no one will be more likely to answer every reasonable expectation than this amiable officer. There can be no better proof of his worth than the universal regret that all ranks among us feel at the idea of parting with him." (p120 Billias).
On 14October1780 Washington named you Commander of the Southern Continental Army. It was a foregone conclusion. Imagine! the ironmaster Quaker from Rhode Island was given command of the Southern Army from Delaware to Georgia, half the territory of the American fledgling nation.
GREENE I wrote to Washington that while honored by the appointment I reluctantly accepted because I would miss the chance to be with my family at West Point.
HOST Washington responded in writing (reads):
"I wish circumstances could be made to correspond with your wishes … but your presence with your command as soon as possible is indispensable … I hope to see you without delay". (p373 Dupuy)
HOST Do you think Washington deceived you when he gave you command of West Point while thinking of you as replacement for Gates?
GREENE His Excellency is not a deceiver, except of course as Commander-in-Chief of battle strategy.
HOST Your brother Jacob warned you that southern commanders Lincoln and Gates met with disaster.
GREENE Caty wrote that she was much distressed that I’d be in the South leaving her stranded in the North. I wrote trying to allay her fears and to reassure her of my family’s support in Coventry.
HOST I have a copy of your letter in part it reads:
"My dear angel
What I have been dreading has come to pass. His Excellency George Washington by order of Congress has appointed me to the command of the Southern Army. … This is so foreign from my wishes that I am distressed exceedingly. … How unhappy is war to domestic happiness. … I wish it was possible for me to stay until your arrival, but [by] the pressing manner [in] which the general urges my setting out I am afraid you will come too late to see me. …
God bless you my love. With the truest love and sincearest affection, I am yours. N Greene (Stegeman p81)
GREENE I made the final effort to meet with Caty in Fishkill, New York but to no avail. I dashed off a short note revealing my frustration.
HOST The best laid plans… I have a copy of that note:
My eyes longing to see you looked for you in all directions. I anxiously stretched my neck to view each passing carriage for your sweet presence. Oh misfortune that our paths did not cross before I departed for Philadelphia and the South.
HOST At Valley Forge when the army’s quartermaster department had collapsed leaving troops starving, without clothing or shoes, a desperate Washington turned to you to resuscitate the army. When Gates lost Camden and Congress despaired the South was lost Washington again turned to you. But it’s obvious to me that appointing a Yankee general to command a southern army was not only daring but a real gamble.
GREENE In our last meeting before my departure Washington in a confidential manner remarked ‘you can save the war by saving the South’. I told confessed that I was humbled by his great confidence in me and that I would use every bit of experience I had gained at his side to accomplish what he expected of me. We shook hands and I departed for the South.
(1780-1782)GREENE I stopped in Philadelphia to request from Congress money, wagons, and provisions but none was forthcoming. I asked Washington for the cavalry of Henry Lee (Light Horse Harry) and for Daniel Morgan (Old Wagoner). Washington agreed to send them to me when I made camp in the South.
HOST I understand Morgan fought in the French and Indian War.
GREENE Morgan was a teamster and captain of a group of Virginia sharpshooters who fought at Cambridge in the liberation of Boston. He retired because Congress would not promote him from colonel to general. He and Washington were old friends so Washington petitioned Congress to promote him. Congress relented and appointed Morgan brigadier general. I was fortunate indeed to have a commander of his stature assigned to me and thanked Washington for his intervention with Congress.
HOST Going south you made stops all along the way to recruit patriots and provisions for the southern army.
GREENE I arranged for von Steuben to help me recruit and drill troops. Together we traveled to Virginia where I left him to enlist and train new recruits. I met with Virginia’s Governor Thomas Jefferson who promised me 3,500 militiamen and 100 wagons with horses. Later I got only 1,500 gaunt militiamen unfit for duty, partially naked, and 18 wagons without horses. In Virginia horses were coveted more than independence and liberty. Perhaps Jefferson, who was against the war, was still thinking about reconciliation with the British. Continuing on my way I tried to recruit patriots. I also begged state leaders for money, supplies, horses, anything available for the southern army. I asked for much but got little or nothing. Finally I arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina where Gates was headquartered.
HOST You must have recognized the South is vastly larger than New England.
GREENE All that and moreover I wasn’t familiar with southern terrain. There were more Tories in the South because there were more farm hands working huge tracts of land granted by the king to English aristocrats. Those aristocrats got even richer as gentlemen farmers. They obviously didn’t want to lose their fiefdoms to a bunch of socially deprived rebels who called themselves patriots and especially to a Yankee general. Finally I arrived in Charlotte where Gates was camped.
HOST When you met Gates in December 1780 did he extend to you a gentlemanly greeting or view you as a usurper of his command.
GREENE I met a defeated and depressed man. With downcast eyes he begged for my understanding. I was embarrassed to see such a man fawning. It was a friendly meeting. I didn’t mention his defeat at Camden. Instead I was careful to speak kind words in taking over command. I wrote to Washington informing him of Gates’ depression and suggested that Congress should drop its proposed inquiry into his defeat. Without further inquiry of Gates or injury to him Congress permitted him to retire at his home in Virginia.
HOST You became the active new Commander of the Southern Continental Army.
GREENE I inherited 2,000 badly beaten troops. They were a disheveled mob, beggars, forced to plunder neighbors for food and clothing. Those troops lost their self respect and couldn’t possibly fight anyone, certainly not professional British and German troops. After the fall of Camden the British raided the entire area stripping it of all available forage and food. Men were starving for lack of food and horses were starving for lack of forage.
HOST When Cornwallis learned of your arrival he moved his 2,000 troops to Winsboro, South Carolina and began recruiting and training Tories to crush you as he had Gates.
GREEENE I was informed there was a state militia in Hillsboro, North Carolina. I traveled there and found about 1,400 men in the same condition - starving, half naked, without arms or ammunition. I was informed there were other state militias in the same sorry condition and quickly realized I had only Gates’ survivors and several state militias under local commanders. Furthermore I was unaware that Congress would not provide money for provisioning a southern army. Instead Congress paid each southern governor who paid his own state militia. Together the militias comprised a loosely confederated southern force.
HOST Are you saying you had no southern army?
GREENE Precisely! I decided not to waste time with Congress or southern governors in trying to organize an officially recognized southern army. Instead I’d consolidate what remained of Gates’ survivors and state militias into a makeshift army, instill in it a southern esprit de corps, and call it a southern army.
HOST A true Rhode Island iconoclast you decided to use individual state militias as units of a southern army?
GREENE The individual units under local military leaders, mostly colonels, would act in concert to carry out my overall strategy.
HOST Also in December 1780 you welcomed to Charlotte Brigadier General Daniel Morgan and his unit of Virginia sharpshooter riflemen.
GREENE I was indeed fortunate to have such a commander with his riflemen. With their arrival I realized I needed a safe camp where I could implement my plans. I ordered Kos to find a suitable South Carolina camp site with food, water, and forage for horses, a place where my dilapidated equipment and wagons could be repaired.
HOST Who’s Kos?
GREENE Colonel Tadeusz Kosciuszko, my Polish military engineer. I called him Kos because I couldn’t pronounce or spell his name. Kos found Cheraw Hill on the Pee Dee River about 60 miles southeast of Charlotte and 75 miles northeast of Winnsboro where the British were camped. I decided my army of lesser force should not confront Cornwallis’ army of greater force. My strategy was to outmaneuver, pester, frustrate, and confuse Cornwallis by fighting him piecemeal. I therefore decided to divide my army into two units.
HOST Isn’t dividing an army in two against all orthodox military strategy because each part is less than the whole?
GREENE Most northern generals berated and condemned me for my breach of orthodox military strategy – never weaken your army by cutting it up in pieces. But other generals voiced their trust in my organizational skills and Washington remained silent.
HOST When Washington divided his army between Long Island and Manhattan Island the results were disastrous.
GREENE Some see the ocean but not the waves and the old saying is ‘the proof is in the pudding’. My plan was to have Brigadier General Isaac Huger and I with half the army march to Cheraw Hill. Morgan and Lt. Colonel William Washington with the other half would march southwest towards the Pacolet River.
HOST I believe Colonel Wahington was the cousin of George.
GREENE We departed for our separate destinations. I assigned local militia commanders to provide Morgan and me with topographical maps identifying likely areas of food and forage. With their help I began recruiting patriots to rebuild and provision a southern army.
HOST At Cheraw Hill you were isolated from Morgan and Cornwallis.
GREENE I concentrated on drilling recruits converting undisciplined men into troops capable of fighting. In order to train the state militias and consolidate them for an army there must be discipline; discipline must precede esprit de corps. I encouraged men to bathe as often as practicable. Enjoying what they considered a joke most of them thought my order laughable. I threatened to execute arsonists who burn down Tory houses and rapists whether patriot or Tory; the troops didn’t laugh at that.
HOST While you were drilling troops where was Morgan and what was he doing?
GREENE I got word that Morgan was about 125 miles from Cheraw Hill and still marching southwest towards the Pacolet River. Meantime I got two more fighting units. Washington sent me Colonel Henry Lee with his cavalry and infantry, a most welcome addition of veteran fighters. Lee was called Light Horse Harry for the ability of his cavalry to make lightning fast assaults; they would be a counterforce to Tarlelton’s cavalry of Tories. Also southern Colonel Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, and his band of irregulars joined me. He was called the Swamp Fox for his ability to elude the British by using swamp trails. Marion and his irregulars knew every bend of the Pee Dee River.
HOST Despite Cheraw Hill’s great distance from Morgan you expressed satisfaction with your strategy and maneuvers (reads):
I am here in my camp of repose, improving the discipline and spirits of my men, and the opportunity of looking about me. I am well satisfied with the movement, for it has answered thus far all the purposes for which I intended it. It makes the most of my inferior force, for it compels my adversary to divide his, and holds him in doubt as to his own line of conduct. He cannot leave Morgan behind him to come at me, or his posts at Ninety Six and Augusta would be exposed. And he cannot chase Morgan far, or prosecute his views upon Virginia, while I am here with the whole country open before me. I am as near Charleston as he is, and as near Hillsboro as I was at Charlotte; so that I am in no danger of being cut off from my reinforcements. (p123 Billias)
GREENE While Morgan was camped near the Pacolet River, he dispatched William Washington to harass Tories in the area of the British post Ninety Six. In the skirmish he wounded or killed about 150 Tories and captured 40 without losing any of his troops.
HOST After the skirmish at Ninety Six Cornwallis did what you did; he divided his army.
GREENE Cornwallis was camped at Winsboro about halfway between Cheraw Hill and Ninety Six. He divided his army into two forces, one under his command and the other under Colonel Banastre Tarleton, the Waxhaws butcher of women and children. Morgan was killing Tories near the British post of Ninety Six about 65 miles from Cornwallis in Winsboro. Cornwallis dispatched Tarleton with about 800 troops to relieve Ninety Six and crush Morgan. I immediately sent couriers to notify Morgan to make a series of gadfly assaults on British posts to confuse Cornwallis.
HOST You used irregulars to confuse Cornwallis as to your true intent.
GREENE I directed Lee, Marion, and William Washington to harass the British and execute a series of raids on their posts. Lee harassed Tories between Winsboro and Orangeburg. Marion successfully raided British wagon trains for much needed supplies. William Washington’s cavalry wiped out a unit of Tories. Meanwhile British General Alexander Leslie arrived from England with 2,500 troops to reinforce Cornwallis.
HOST All this time I understand Caty was trying to write to you and didn’t know where you were.
GREENE She wrote to Washington who assured her that he’d relay her letters to me. To assure Caty I was well and the southern army still viable I wrote to her from Cheraw Hill.
HOST I have a copy odd that letter. In part it reads:
"I am posted in the Wilderness, on a great river, endeavoring to reform the army and improve its [discipline]. … [The] weather is mild and the climate moderate, so much so that we live in [tents] without the least inconvenience. … recapitulating the pleasures and diversions of Morristown." (p243 Golway).
HOST The beginning of 1781 was not a propitious one. Washington’s Pennsylvania troops near Morristown hadn’t been paid for more than a year. Washington repeatedly begged Congress to pay his battle-hardened veterans and provide them with food and clothing. Congress repeatedly ignored Washington’s pleas for payment. The troops mutinied by rebelling against their officers and negotiating with Tories.
GREENE Taking advantage of the mutiny and acting as mediators for the British, Tories promised the Pennsylvania troops back pay, release from military service, and the freedom to go home. About half of Washington’s army agreed to the Tory terms and deserted. Congress then offered new recruits a bounty of $81 in silver and 200 acres of land; it would even pardon civilian prisoners if they enlisted in the army. Outraged that battle-hardened veterans were not given the same offer, the remainder of the army whose tours of duty had already expired on 1January1781, mutinied by mustering on the parade ground and firing their weapons in the air wasting precious ammunition. After several days of mutiny and promises that Congress would pay them they withdrew without the loss of life.
HOST Following the example of the Pennsylvania mutineers and for the same reasons, a smaller force mutinied in Pompton, New Jersey.
GREENE But Washington quickly used disciplinary action. He rounded up the mutineers, took their weapons, and forced them to march in formation on the parade grounds. He seized several of the ringleaders and executed the two leaders by firing squad. There weren’t any more mutinies.
HOST Meanwhile in the South Morgan was preparing to engage Tarleton.
GREENE Morgan was on the west side of the Pacolet River. Tarleton was approaching from the east. Morgan had troops at fords commonly crossed but down river Tarleton found and crossed an unguarded ford. That evening Morgan marched north to the village of Cowpens, South Carolina.
HOST That brings us to 17January1781 and the famous Battle of Cowpens, an apt name for the area where grazing cows were herded and penned. Today that area is just above Spartanburg, South Carolina.
GREENE It was there that Tarleton finally caught up with Morgan. Tarleton’s scouts caught up with Morgan’s pickets and killed them forcing Morgan to retreat to the Cowpens area.
HOST Before you recount the battle, you had directed Morgan to harass Cornwallis but not to confront him in battle. Was Morgan insubordinate when he engaged Tarleton?
GREENE No, no. Morgan had no choice but to defend himself. Morgan had 1,000 troops of irregulars and rehabilitated militiamen. Tarleton had 1,150 professional troops and Tories. Some of Morgan’s troops were at Waxhaws and told him of Tarleton’s tactics. Thereupon Morgan predicted how Tarleton would fight and deployed his troops accordingly. As predicted Tarleton launched a fierce frontal attack. Morgan fired upon the charge then purposely ordered retreat. Tarleton pursued the retreating troops deeper into Morgan’s lines where he encountered a fuslliade of musket fire from his sharpshooters.
HOST During the ferocious battle it’s reported that Morgan shouted encouragement to his sharpshooters (reads):
"Look for epaulets. Pick off the epaulets! Give them the bayonet!" (p385Dupuy)
"Form, form, my brave fellows! Give them one more fire, and the day is ours. Old Morgan has never been beaten"! (p386 Dupuy)
GREENE When Morgan’s troops again retreated Tarleton charged even deeper into Morgan’s lines. Thereupon Morgan attacked his flanks in an enveloping pincers action. Lt. Colonel William Washington, who directed the counterattack, came horse-to-horse upon Tarleton and almost captured him. Tarleton shot Washington’s horse from under him and escaped with his retreating troops.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were American 73 and British 1,140 of which 800 were taken prisoners.
In a stunning reversal of military fortune Morgan defeated Tarleton’s veteran professional force, took prisoners, captured his cannons, muskets, horses, and his wagons loaded with provisions. It was the most decisive victory of the southern campaign.
GREENE Some militarists compare the Battle of Cowpens to Hannibal’s victory at Cannae. In Cowpens Morgan defeated the mighty British army and in Cannae Hannibal defeated the mighty Roman army. But the results was vastly different. After the logistical success of crossing the Alps Hannibal won only the battle; he didn’t claim the land or govern the people of that land. He retreated and departed Italy. In Cowpens we claimed the land and the people.
HOST It appears to me that Morgan was to you as Tarleton was to Cornwallis.
GREENE An apt comparison. At Cheraw Hill we got the news of Morgan’s victory at Cowpens. For Morgan the Virginian it was personal revenge for ‘Tarleton’s Quarter’ the massacre of a Virginian cavalry unit and patriot civilians.
HOST The South had two consecutive victories, King’s Mountain and Cowpens, a good omen. In the northern states Americans celebrated Cowpens as they did the victories at Trenton, Princeton, and Saratoga. It appears your strategy of splitting your army into two units was successful.
GREENE Huger and I were in Cheraw Hill waiting for word from Morgan. About a week later we got the good news of Morgan’s victory at Cowpens. Cornwallis was enraged that Morgan and his rabble of riflemen defeated Tarleton his best line commander, took prisoners, and captured his provisions. My scouts reported that an enraged Cornwallis took out after Morgan with 3,000 troops and an immense wagon train intended for a long pursuit. In addition to destroying Morgan, Cornwallis wanted to recover his troops and lost provisions. He intended to destroy first Morgan and then me to annihilate the entire southern army. Knowing that Cornwallis would retaliate Morgan immediately marched north crossing the Broad River. His progress was slow because of the forced march of prisoners and wagons loaded with booty over winter’s roads, muddy during the day frozen during the night.
HOST Why didn’t you try to intercept Cornwallis?
GREENE I had some battle-hardened troops but most of them were inexperienced militiamen. I couldn’t afford to risk my small army against Cornwallis’ more experienced and better equipped larger army.
HOST Was that the time you called a war council to outline your plan to join up with Morgan?
GREENE My plan was to frustrate Cornwallis keeping him busy by a series of spurious maneuvers without confronting his larger army in battle. We would meet with Morgan, recombine the divided armies, then march north to Virginia where we had supply depots and Steuben was recruiting and drilling patriot recruits.
HOST Also in Virginia was your friend Benedict Arnold. While in exile in England the British appointed him a brigadier general and sent him back to America. He was recruiting and training Tories to fight against Americans.
GREENE A shameful act by an embittered soldier. Reinforced in Virginia I would return to engage Cornwallis. I planned a coordinated attack. I would attack from the north while our southern partisan leaders would do so from the south.
HOST If your plan failed Cornwallis would take over the South. If that happened the American North would have to fight the British South, a war 80 years before its time.
GREENE What?
HOST Just thinking out loud again.
GREENE Several of my commanders complained my plan was too risky because we’d have to cross too many rivers. I agreed and explained that in order to elude Cornwallis and escape to Virginia we’d have to cross several rivers among them the Catawba, Yadkin, and Dan. The logistical problem was to locate the available fords and have boats ready for the crossings. I ordered my quartermaster Colonel Edward Carrington and Kos my military engineer to commandeer all available boats and construct wheeled carriages on which to transport them overland to the rivers for future use. Finally I ordered troops in our Salisbury, North Carolina depot to march with their prisoners and provisions to Virginia to avoid capture by Cornwallis.
HOST And so that January 1781 began the life and death saga of your great escape from Cornwallis from South Carolina across North Carolina and into Virginia. Your escape is sometimes aptly called the race to the Dan River.
GREENE Morgan sent us word of his position near the Catawba River. I gave Huger command of the main body most of whom were ragged, some without shoes, and all without adequate food. I directed him to march northwest towards Morgan so we could recombine the divided army. His task was to keep several days ahead of Cornwallis’ hot pursuit but never enable Cornwallis to catch and engage him in battle.
HOST You yourself set out on the dangerous task of joining up with Morgan to inform him of your plan. Most generals claimed your decision was not only dangerous but reckless, some say foolish, because you could have dispatched couriers to inform Morgan of your plan.
GREENE I daren’t put my couriers to the test unless I was willing to do the same. Besides if they were caught they might have revealed my plan.
HOST With several aides and a guide you departed on a 125-mile journey riding 3 days through heavily infested Tory territory. It’s one thing to solve logistical problems but quite another to avail yourself to capture. If caught the southern army had no commander! It could have been the end of the war in the South.
GREENE After a harrowing 3-day ride we reached Morgan who was camped near the Catawba River. I revealed my planned escape to Virginia but Morgan thought it was too great a distance to travel for his exhausted troops. Morgan knew we would have to cross several rivers at certain fords, which was too risky because if it rained swollen fords would render the rivers uncrossable. He preferred hiding in North Carolina’s western mountains where his troops and prisoners could recuperate.
HOST Cornwallis would never find you in The Great Smoky Mountains.
GREENE I insisted on executing my plan. Morgan complained that he wouldn’t be responsible if such a risky plan failed. I replied that I’d take full responsibility upon myself. Although he disagreed with me he followed orders. I sent word to Huger to march towards Salisbury. I became concerned about Morgan when I noticed the Old Wagoner needed help mounting his horse. We crossed the Catawba River just in time because the next day it began raining rendering the swollen river uncrossable and muddying the roads even more.
HOST There’s the story that Cornwallis dumped his provisions trying to keep pace with your spurious maneuvers. What was that all about?
GREENE My poorly provisioned troops traveled light which made us mobile. Cornwallis was about two days behind us. When he reached the Catawba he couldn’t cross because it had overflowed its banks due to the heavy rain. He was stranded on the other side and used the time to unburden his slow progress by dumping his wagons of their burdensome loads and even casks of rum much to the chagrin of his troops.
HOST Is it true he even dumped his personal belongings?
GREENE He dumped and burned all of his personal baggage in the hope of marching faster to catch up with me. To delay Cornwallis’ faster march I gave General William Davidson about 800 of his North Carolina militiamen to destroy the several fords Cornwallis would likely use to cross the Catawba. I ordered Morgan to continue to the Yadkin River while I waited on the road to Salisbury for Colonel William Davidson and his militiamen to return. At dawn the next day I got good news and bad news. The good news was that Morgan reached the Trading Ford on the Yadkin River. The bad news was that there were several skirmishes with Cornwallis’ vanguard. In one skirmish Cornwallis had his horse shot out from under him. In another Davidson was killed causing his militiamen to desert. I couldn’t count on militiamen because they’d desert and go home at the least provocation. Disheartened I rode on alone until I came upon Steele’s Tavern in Salisbury.
HOST There’s a heart-warming vignette about Mrs. Steele. I have one of the several accounts of that event (reads):
Greene was greeted by a friend asking "What? Alone Nathanael"? He answered "Yes, tired, hungry, alone, and penniless". He explained his predicament after which he was introduced to Mrs. Steele the owner. She served him a manly breakfast. In thanking her for the breakfast he reached to shake her hand into which she deposited two small bags of coins remarking "Take them, for you need them, and I can do without them". With tears in his eyes thanking her again and again for her generosity he informed her the coins represented the entire war chest of the southern army. Upon leaving he noticed a picture of King George 3. Nathanael turned it around and wrote on its back "Hide thy face, George, and blush". In taking leave you remarked to Mrs. Steele "You’re another of our great patriots I shall never forget". (quotes from p271 Anderson)
HOST Where was Cornwallis?
GREENE Eventually I caught up with Morgan. We crossed the Yadkin just in time before it began raining. The unburdened Cornwallis had crossed the Catawba and was catching up to us. The next day my rear guard reported they spied Cornwallis on the other side of the Yadkin waiting for the swollen river to subside.
HOST I understand Cornwallis was so furious you had already crossed that he unleashed a cannonade of your camp on the other side of the Yadkin.
GREENE Stranded on the other side of the river the angry and frustrated Cornwallis ordered a punishing bombardment of our camp. Luckily the bombardment heaved up enough earth to reveal a cache of 1700 muskets and ammunition intended for the North Carolina militia.
HOST Is it true that in frustration you exclaimed:
"O that we had in the field as Henry the 5th said, some few of the merry thousands that are idle at home!" (p126 Billias).
GREENE I had muskets and ammunition but not the thousands of troops to profit by our find. The swollen Yadkin gave us another day of separation from Cornwallis. I sent word to Huger to join us at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina about 40 miles northeast of Salisbury. That’s where I expected to be reinforced by Virginia militia and it was a good defensive position for the eventual battle with Cornwallis.
HOST In February 1781 you finally joined up with Huger.
GREENE We mustered in the area of Guilford Courthouse. I was shocked at the appearance of Huger’s troops - half naked, shoeless, some with bleeding feet, and of course starving with bones prominent under skin. I had planned to engage Cornwallis but my scouts reported he had at least 3,000 troops. I had only 2,000 troops, only half of which were fit for fighting. The expected Virginia militia was not there but happily in its place was Light-Horse Harry Lee’s Legion of cavalry and infantry. Lee would be a counterforce to Tarleton’s Tories. I decided to continue retreating to the Dan River bordering North Carolina and Virginia, a distance of about 70 miles north of the Guilford Courthouse. I reminded Carrington and Kos to have ready all available boats for crossing the Dan into Virginia. I gave Morgan about 700 troops to decoy the hot pursuing Cornwallis but the exhausting and unrelenting march had taken its toll on him. He couldn’t even mount his horse. He was stricken with rheumatism in his joints. With appreciation and many thanks I commended the "Old Wagoner" for his leadership and patriotism and had him littered to his home in Virginia.
HOST You lost the hero of Cowpens but then you made another daring move.
GREENE I gave Morgan’s command to Colonel Otho Williams supported by Lee. Their mission was to have Cornwallis follow them by marching towards the Dan’s upper fords near Virginia while I marched in the opposite direction towards the Dan’s lower fords in North Carolina. I directed them to destroy bridges for delaying Cornwallis but not get caught by him.
HOST In mid-February there was a skirmish when Tarleton caught up with Lee.
GREENE Cornwallis pursued with such speed that Tarleton’s Tory force caught up with some of Lee’s cavalry rear guard. There was a skirmish and each side lost troops, 18 Tories were killed and we lost 2.
GREENE Fortunately Williams and Lee decoyed Cornwallis into thinking their troops were my main body marching toward the upper fords of the Dan. Thereupon Cornwallis raced toward the upper fords of the Dan hoping to get there first to intercept me before I crossed into Virginia. The forced persistent marching exhausted my troops. Many marched shoeless leaving bloodstained footprints. I feared Cornwallis’ scouts or resident Tories in the area might pick up our trail to reveal my decoy maneuver. Without tents in winter’s rain my troops huddled by a fires under pine trees trying to keep warm. I sent word to Lee and Williams that we were in sight of the Dan and would march to Irwin’s Ferry where Kos had collected boats for the crossing.
HOST Williams was following you on a different road and Cornwallis was following him on a parallel road trying to overtake him to the upper fords. But how can you march in two directions and meet at the Dan at the same time?
GREENE I instructed Williams and Lee that after decoying Cornwallis for 2 days they were to change direction and head for the lower fords of the Dan. During the second night they turned about and headed for the lower fords at Irwin’s Ferry on the Dan. The next morning Cornwallis realized their change of direction and followed pellmell.
HOST So Williams and Lee would arrive after you had already crossed the Dan.
GREENE We would have boats waiting for them. After an exhausting and stressful march not knowing when or if Cornwallis would overtake them or intercept me we reached Irwin’s Ferry where Kos had collected boats for us.
I sent Williams the following message:
"Irwin’s Ferry, 12 past 5 o’clock. All our troops are over and the stage is clear. … I am ready to receive you and give you a hearty welcome." (p611 Leckie)
When Williams and Lee crossed the Dan there was such a great prolonged cheer from all our troops that it echoed throughout the area. Approaching the Dan the hot pursuing Cornwallis realized the chase had ended. When he arrived at the Dan all the boats were on our side. Thereafter we marched into Virginia where our army would be fed, clothed, and reinforced with new recruits trained by Steuben. Also southern Brigadier General Andrew Pickens joined us with his corps of irregulars.
HOST Coincidentally it’s believed you crossed the Dan near the village of South Boston, Virginia. Your great escape from Cheraw Hill to Virginia is reminiscent of Washington’s retreat from New York through northern New Jersey. Did you consider your great escape a victory without fighting a single battle?
GREENE Troops were lost on each side and yes I was victorious because I achieved my military objective.
HOST What was your objective?
GREENE To preserve my army by marching to Virginia where it would be provisioned and reinforced for liberating the South. For Cornwallis to be provisioned and reinforced from England would require months for ships to sail across the Atlantic. It the end his army was weakened and my army strengthened. I proved to aristocrats and professional soldiers that a self-taught military strategist could outwit them and be triumphant.
HOST You led Cornwallis on a two-month 200 mile chase through back woods and across rivers from South Carolina to North Carolina and into Virginia. During that exhausting and punishing winter escape you wrote:
"from neither officer or man would be heard a discouraging comment. For the fate of the entire South hung in the fate of every one of us". (p123 Anderson)
GREENE If Cornwallis had ever caught up with me he could have destroyed my small army, moved into Virginia to join the traitor Arnold’s forces, free the British prisoners of Saratoga and Cowpens being held there, and add them to his own army. Massively reinforced Cornwallis could have easily captured Virginia and the patriot posts in the Carolinas and Georgia thereby conquering the South for England.
HOST Americans, the British, and French knew of your escape and anxiously awaited its outcome. It meant victory or defeat in the South. Defeat meant American surrender.
GREENE Without food and provisions, exhausted by his demanding pursuit and fearful of extending his supply lines too far away from his supply depots, Cornwallis turned about and marched his army in the direction of Hillsboro, North Carolina about 50 miles away. It was reported that in a philosophical mood Cornwallis declared that he had chased me into Virginia leaving the Carolina’s and Georgia without an American army and all to himself. What he didn’t know is that I planned to return.
HOST Your friend Hamilton reported:
To have effected a retreat in the face of so ardent a pursuit, through so great an extent of the country, through a country offering every obstacle, affording scarcely any resources; with troops destitute of everything … to have done all this, I say, without loss of any kind, may, without exaggeration, be denominated a masterpiece of military skill and exertion. (p252, Golway)
Military strategists claim that your successful retreat of more than 200 miles on foot, dragging cannons, driving wagons, constructing carriages for the portage of boats, and the forced march of prisoners was one of the greatest of military achievements.
Even the butcher Tarleton praised you (reads):
"Every measure of the Americans during their march from the Catawba to Virginia, was judiciously designed and vigorously executed." (p128 Billias)
GREENE The army having recuperated and reprovisioned I was in a position to put Cornwallis on the defensive. I sent Lee and Pickens back across the Dan to harass newly recruited Tories marching to join Cornwallis. They killed about 100 Tories and wounded at least 250. After that Tories were hesitant to join Cornwallis.
HOST Several days later in mid-February 1781 you sent the vanguard of your army under command of Williams back across the Dan.
GREENE I followed with the main body of the army. I felt it was time to stop running and confront Cornwallis.
HOST You reversed the chase? You were following him?
GREENE He had camped in an area about 10 miles south of Guilford Courthouse, the very place where I had intended to engage him 6 weeks earlier during my escape.
HOST Meantime on 2March1781 Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation.
GREENE I received a copy but had trouble reading it because my right eye was inflamed. The camp doctor bled me without doing much good. Several weeks later I marched to the area of Guilford Courthouse to confront Cornwallis.
HOST Which brings us to 15March1781 and the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.
GREENE I had about 4,200 troops most of whom were untested militiamen trained by Steuben, about 500 were battle veterans. I also had Morgan’s Virginia riflemen; they were boisterous and always arguing with Yankees but they were sharpshooters. Cornwallis had about 2,200 troops most of whom were battle veterans.
HOST At last a 2-to-1 ratio in your favor.
GREENE I deployed 3 lines as did Morgan.
HOST Some military historians claim your lines were too far apart to be effective.
GREENE In the first line I positioned new untested militiamen.
HOST Why did you place untested militiamen in the first line?
GREENE The first line served as a coarse mesh to absorb the first assault; some of them would normally flee when the first shots were fired. In the second line 300 yards behind the first line were battle veterans. In the third line 500 yards behind the second line were battle veteran Yankees and my artillery. These lines were flanked by Virginian sharpshooters hiding in nearby woods. I kept several hundred troops in reserve and viewed the field of battle from a nearby hill.
HOST What about Cornwallis?
GREENE He deployed two columns left and right of my first line. He attacked first. Both columns charged with fixed bayonets. When my first line troops saw bayonets glinting in the morning sun, some of them ran away. Predicting something like that would happen, I ordered them to fire two volleys and then retreat.
HOST I don’t understand why you didn’t place your artillery in the first line and blast away at the enemy as they were charging.
GREENE If they captured my artillery they’d have turned it around and blasted us.
HOST Then what happened?
GREENE The charging British troops were repulsed by veterans in the second line. The British fell back regrouped and charged again. Some of them infiltrated my second line but were picked off by Virginia sharpshooters from behind trees. The British fell back again and regrouped. This time they attacked full force. My second line retreated but the Yankee third line held fast.
HOST One account has it that on horseback you shouted to your troops to stand fast and charged into the enemy line. You could have been killed except that an aide shouted at you to turn back.
GREENE Neither side retreated; there was hand-to-hand fighting and bayoneting; the fierce fighting was stalemated. A frustrated Cornwallis, desperate for a victory after the defeat at Cowpens, ordered his artillery to fire grapeshot into the bloody melee killing American and his own troops. I don’t believe any American officer would do that. It was an act of aristocratic privilege over the common man paid to service him. During a lull in the two-hour battle I ordered a general retreat to safe ground out of range of his artillery.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 261 and British 532.
Cornwallis claimed a tactical victory because you withdrew from the field of battle.
GREENE A Pyrrhic victory at best; his casualties were greater than mine. He lost about ¼ of his army. Also there were many deserters from each side. Cornwallis admitted he couldn’t afford another such victory. His losses were too great for him to risk another such battle.
HOST Tarleton noted their Pyrrhic victory did not conquer the American rabble. Some historians compare the results of Trenton and Princeton to those of Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse as battles favoring eventual American victory. Several military historians claim that if had you used more of you troops instead of holding them in reserve, you could have won a decisive victory. Did your Quaker upbringing prevent you from annihilating Cornwallis’ troops for a decisive victory?
GREENE My intent was not a decisive victory over Cornwallis by sacrificing my main body but to weaken him sufficiently so he’d give up and go elsewhere. We repulsed him and bloodied his nose to discourage further attacks. The battle of Fort Washington taught me there are times when it’s better to be prudent than aggressive. We succeeded in driving Cornwallis out of the area.
HOST Is that your idea of victory?
GREENE Victory means that the victors occupy the land and govern the people. Victory in battle or victories in a campaign do not necessarily mean victory in war. Victory in war means the victors claim the land and govern the people. One is not victorious if both of those conditions do not prevail.
HOST By the way that area is now named Greensboro after you.
GREENE The next day 17March1781, Saint Patrick’s Day, Cornwallis evacuated the area and marched towards Hillsboro, North Carolina to recover. Keep in mind that we still occupied the area and governed ourselves; it was Cornwallis who abandoned the area.
HOST Reminiscent of Howe’s evacuation of Boston on Saint Patrick’s Day 1776.
GREENE He left some of his wounded behind in our care. We managed to help them and some even joined us rather than become prisoners. From Hillsboro Cornwallis marched to the coast to Wilmington, North Carolina. There he rested his army and reprovisioned it from British ships anchored in the harbor. To confuse Cornwallis I first feinted a march towards him and then turned south towards Camden. On the way my troops found much needed food and to their delight casks of British rum. Cornwallis surprised everyone when he gave command of the Carolinas to Brigadier General Lord Francis Rawdon. Thereafter Cornwallis abandoned the area and marched north. On the way he recruited Tories and made camp near the small port of Yorktown, Virginia.
HOST I understand Cornwallis expected you to follow him to Virginia where he, together with Arnold and his Tories, would destroy your small army and recover the South for England.
GREENE If Cornwallis expected me to pursue him to Virginia I didn’t. My plan was to march south to liberate South Carolina of British posts protecting Tories and the eventually liberate Camden and Charleston. Before marching south I was obliged to write several letters. I wrote to Washington informing him of my intention to continue the liberation of the South. I also wrote to Caty about the battle at Guilford Courthouse. About a month later I got her plaintive answer. It appears Caty was again discontented with Quaker social austerity in Coventry. She had gathered her children and again moved to the farm in Westerly, Rhode Island.
HOST One of her frequent visitors was Wadsworth.
GREENE Wadsworth had business interests in nearby New London, Connecticut. I sent him a note to look in on Caty to see that the farm was being properly managed and that she was well provisioned.
HOST There were rumors accusing Caty of using her Westerly home as a rendezvous for adultery, something she couldn’t do in Coventry under the eyes of the Greene’s.
GREENE What, Caty and Wadsworth? He was my business partner and good friend; he provisioned Caty with food and clothing and helped her manage the farm. His help was much appreciated as was his companionship and conversation in rural Westerly.
HOST Getting back to South Carolina what was your strategy?
GREENE I planned to raid British supply lines, seize their forts, and interrupt their communications to forestall a large coordinated attack against me.
HOST When word of your intended campaign reached Virginia, Thomas Jefferson remarked that if the Carolinas were lost the South would be lost. Lafayette commented that it was a great strategy for liberating the South.
GREENE In early April 1781 I marched south to engage Rawdon at the important British garrison of Camden, South Carolina. It was heavily fortified so I decided to make camp on Hobkirk’s Hill which overlooked Camden.
HOST Is it true that one of your drummer boys turned traitor.
GREENE Unfortunately yes. My scouts reported they saw him crossing over to Rawdon’s garrison. It’s safe to assume he gave Rawdon details of our defenses on Hobkirk’s Hill.
HOST That brings us to the Battle of Hobkirk’s Hill 25April1781.
GREENE I had 1,400 troops dug in on the hill. We estimated Rawdon had 1,000. Rawdon attacked our positions. At first we repelled him but his repeated assaults had some success. Emerging from both sides of the hill we attacked with pincers movement but they charged with bayonets and we retreated.
HOST I don’t understand. Muskets fire at long range to prevent bayonet charges.
GREENE Yes but you have to reload muskets. By the time all troops reloaded the bayonets were upon them in hand-to-hand fighting. The battle seesawed between advances and retreats on each side until I ordered a retreat to end the short battle.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 134 and British 258.
GREENE Rawdon having lost almost one third of his small army withdrew and abandoned Hobkirk’s Hill. I’d say the battle was technically a draw.
HOST Again you didn’t win a decisive victory but forced the enemy to withdraw from the area leaving it under your control.
GREENE "We fight, get beat, rise, fight again". (p411 Dupuy) Later my sentries captured the drummer boy and 5 deserters who had gone over to Rawdon. After a quick hearing I ordered them hung.
HOST A Quaker becoming a hangman?
GREENE Traitors increase the killing of their former comrades. A general must do what’s required to maintain troop discipline. While encamped in the area of Hobkirk’s Hill Rawdon tried to draw me into another battle. This time without preliminary treasonous information I outmaneuvered him. Tired of trying to entrap me he quit pursuing me, burned most of the buildings in Camden, and departed for Charleston.
HOST You fought to a draw at Hobkirk’s Hill but won the campaign because you forced Rawdon to evacuate Camden and march to the coast as had Cornwallis.
GREENE With our occupation of Camden I decided to break the command link between Camden and Charleston by systematically capturing British posts linking them. I dispatched Marion and Lee to assault Fort Watson which was protected by a stockade. Marion and Lee cut trees to erect a tower higher than the stockade. Their sharpshooters were able to fire down and pick off the British as they scrambled within.
HOST Reminiscent of Roman siege towers assaulting enemy forts.
GREENE We captured the fort and 114 prisoners but some of them escaped. We had only 6 casualties. To celebrate the victory Marion invited me to dinner. I suggested that in recovering British posts irregulars not engage in tit-for-tat reprisals against Tory civilians who helped the British. There was too much killing going on between patriots and Tories.
HOST Meanwhile Clinton ordered Cornwallis back to Noth Carolina to recruit more Tories for recovering lost British territory. There was a second battle at Guilford Courthouse.
GREENE Not a battle only a skirmish. With Cornwallis back in North Carolina I directed General Andrew Pickens and Colonels Lee and Williams to shadow Cornwallis and pick off his rear guard but avoid an all-out battle. In a following encounter Tarleton lost 90 of his Tories thereafter Cornwallis had trouble recruiting Tories. After that I decided to disrupt Rawdon’s ability to communicate with British posts. To do that I needed the help of Marion, Lee, Thomas Sumter, Pickens, and their irregulars.
HOST During May 1781 my notes list a series of assaults in which you captured all the following British posts: Sumter captured Orangeburg, Marion and Lee captured Fort Motte, Lee captured Fort Granby, and Marion captured Georgetown
GREENE Those victories broke the chain of British command in South Carolina leaving only Charleston and Ninety Six under British control.
HOST Your campaign of clearing the South of British occupation is applicable to our troops trying to clear out terrorists in Iraq.
GREENE Iraq again?
HOST We got ourselves entangled in a war of liberation which turned out to be a civil-holy war by people who didn’t understand or want democracy.
GREENE In Georgia the British occupied only Augusta and Savannah. About 50 miles north of Augusta was the British fort of Ninety Six, South Carolina. It was the last garrison of any consequence and had to be taken because its two forts protected Tories in the area and maintained friendship with Indians who were British allies. But first Augusta had to be liberated to prevent British troops there from marching north to reinforce Ninety Six. I dispatched Pickens and Lee to march on Augusta. During their march they collected many southern patriots anxious to liberate Augusta from the British and especially from the Tories who had helped them. While they marched to Augusta I marched towards Ninety Six.
HOST Which brings us to the Battle of Augusta 6June1781.
GREENE Arriving in Augusta Pickens and Lee had a combined force of about 1500. Augusta was protected by two British forts, Cornwallis and Gierson. The smaller Fort Gierson was manned by 330 Tories and commanded by the Tory of the same name. We assaulted first Fort Gierson killing Gierson its commander and capturing its Tories. We then assaulted Fort Cornwallis in the center of Augusta. It was heavily fortified and manned by 500 Tories and Creek Indians. The fighting was ferocious and particularly bloody because it pitted southern patriots against southern Tories, some of whom knew each other, some were even kinsmen killing each other. In the end Pickens and Lee were victorious.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were
In liberating Augusta you achieved another victory. soon Americans 51 and British 386. Soon after that you got a letter from Washington complimenting you.
GREENE It pleased me immensely that in recognition of my accomplishments he took time out to write to me. Augusta having been liberated we could proceed with the assault of Ninety Six.
HOST By the way Ninety Six is an unusual name for a fort.
GREENE So called because as the crow flies it was 96 miles west of Charleston. Actually it’s about twice that distance.
HOST The siege of Ninety Six endured for about a month 22May-19June1781 during which time different numbers of troops were engaged.
GREENE The village of Ninety Six was protected with a robust stockade having two connected forts, Star Fort at the east side and Holmes’s Fort at the west side. The village and forts were manned by Tories under Lt. Colonel John Cruger, himself a Tory from New York. I had about 1,000 troops and Cruger 600 Tories. I surrounded Fort Star and asked Cruger to surrender; he refused. I ordered Kos my military engineer to build a high siege tower from which my troops set the fort’s roofs on fire. We picked off the Tories within as they tried to put out the fires. Cruger then had all roofs torn off the fort’s buildings.
HOST You were reinforced by Lee and Pickens who arrived from liberating Augusta.
GREENE While I was making preparations to assault Ninety Six, Pickens and Lee arrived with prisoners from Augusta. Lee imediately recommended we cut off the water supply. After a fierce battle Lee seized the spring supplying water to Ninety Six. I got word that Rawdon with 2,000 reinforcements was marching to relieve Ninety Six. Without water Cruger’s situation became desperate but he held on hoping Rawdon would arrive in time to rescue him. I ordered Sumter to harass and delay Rawdon in his march but he refused claiming he wasn’t subordinate to anyone, especially a Yankee general. I was shocked because previously Sumter successfully carried out my orders.
HOST Sumter did what Roger Williams did. Williams refused to obey the orders of Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and departed to found Rhode Island. Sumter was called Gamecock for his barnyard personality. Did you court martial Sumter for insubordination?
GREENE No, no. I needed his help. I had to remind him that whether one was a New England Yankee or southern partisan we were Americans fighting to live in freedom and liberty in an independent America. Later claiming my order was his own decision Sumter cooperated.
HOST So the North-South antagonism went back to the revolutionary war.
GREENE It went further back to the king of England granting charter colonies in the North and Proprietary colonies in the South.
HOST What about Rawdon?
GREENE I immediately ordered assaults on both forts before Rawdon arrived with his einforcements. I attacked Fort Star and Lee attacked Fort Holme’s. In the raging battles Cruger and most of his Tories escaped. When I got word that Rawdon was approaching I marched northeast towards Charlotte.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 147 and British 85.
GREENE But that wasn’t the end. Rawdon and Cruger pursued me hoping to maneuver me into battle. Unable to do so they returned to Ninety Six, burned the stockade and forts, and marched to Charleston.
HOST Again you forced the British to abandon another area and march to the coast.
GREENE Although we lost more troops we again forced the British to evacuate another area leaving it to patriots. With the fall of Ninety Six we claimed the land and the people. I sent Marion, Lee, and Sumter after Rawdon to harass and attack his rear guard. There were several skirmishes in which Rawdon lost some of his reinforcements. At that time the British occupied only Charleston and Savannah.
HOST When Rawdon reached Charleston he got sick.
GREENE His health failing he gave Lt. Colonel Alexander Stewart command of all remaining British forces in the South. Rawdon sailed for England on one of the British troopships. While crossing the Atlantic the troopship was seized by French Admiral Comte deGrasse who was sailing back to France from the West Indies. Rawdon was imprisoned in France and later freed in a prisoner exchange.
HOST With the British gone patriots revenged themselves against Tories.
GREENE Patriots were revenging themselves against Tories. There were retaliations on each side friend against friend, neighbor against neighbor, and even kinsman against kinsman. Meanwhile in the brutally hot summer of 1781 we continued our retreat to find a suitable campsite. On the way we’d forage for food. Southern irregulars knew the area and hunted for deer, frogs, squirrels, animals for stews, and any edible vegetation including mushrooms.
HOST How many died eating poisonous mushrooms?
GREENE Fortunately none. We found a suitable campsite along the Santee River about 30 miles north of Charleston.
HOST While you were liberating the South your friend Arnold attacked the coastal towns of New London and Groton, Connecticut his home state. Commanding British, German, and Tory troops he made an amphibious landing in New London on 6Spetember1781.
GREENE The local militia of 160 was commanded by William Ledyard. The militiamen fought valiantly but were overwhelmed by Arnold’s superior forces. In the act of surrendering Ledyard, following military protocol, offered his sword to the German commander who took it and without mercy ruthlessly thrust it through him. Arnold’s forces massacred 85 patriots and wounded 65. They destroyed New London and torched to the ground the nearby town of Groton. Arnold and his jubilant troops embarked on British ships and escaped unmolested. Once again the embittered Arnold was victorious but added murder and arson to his treason.
HOST There’s an interesting side note about Arnold. After the war Arnold regretted his betrayal insisting he was still a patriot. He died in England and directed that he be buried in his American patriot uniform.
GREENE At the Santee camp I got the unexpected news that Washington and the French fleet had Cornwallis trapped at Yorktown, Virginia. I decided to move against Alexander Stewart at Eutaw Springs to prevent the British there from marching to relieve Cornwallis. Having rested for 6 weeks, my troops well fed and relaxed with generous rations of rum, it was time for us to move on. Eutaw Springs was the last of Britain’s heavily fortified garrisons in South Carolina. We needed to dismantle it.
HOST The Battle of Eutaw Springs 8September1781 was the last battle in South Carolina.
GREENE I had 2,400 troops mostly irregulars with Lee, Marion, Pickens, Sumter, and William Washington assisting. Stewart and Cruger had 2,000 British, Tories, patriot deserters, and patriot prisoners. We attacked first and drove them back. The fighting was extremely ferocious because deserters and prisoners from each side were fighting and killing each other, former friends and kinfolk killed each other.
HOST During the battle your troops got drunk. How did that happen?
GREENE Some of the British troops retreated to Eutaw House, their headquarters, a sturdily built brick and stone building full of food and drink. Our troops instead of pursuing the British for a decisive victory invaded the house forcing the British to flee. In the presence of such great stores of food and drink, our troops gorged themselves on food washing down each mouthful with copious gulps of French wine or Jamaican rum. Although we inflicted heavy looses on the British they held the far ground beyond Eutaw House. Eventually we retreated with our gorged drunken troops.
HOST (reads from notes) Casualties reported were Americans 514 and British 866.
The British claimed victory because you withdrew from the battlefield.
GREENE We retreated but Stewart lost 40% of his army. They withdrew from the battlefield leaving their wounded and dead behind for us to nurture or bury. While a decisive victory eluded us we succeeded in mauling and inflicting heavy losses on the British driving them out of the area of Eutaw Springs. Again we claimed the land and people. Stewart and Cruger retreated to Charleston as had Cornwallis and Rawdon before them.
HOST I understand they lingered there until the end of the war.
GREENE For 7 years the British occupied South Carolina but it failed to serve as their headquarters for conquering the South.
HOST And then from Yorktown, Virginia you were informed of the most stunning event of the war. Cornwallis had surrendered on 19October1781.
GREENE I got the extraordinary news that Cornwallis was walled off on land by Washington and French Admiral de Grasse’s fleet blockaded any escape by sea. Walled off by Washington on land and blockaded by the French fleet in Chesapeake Bay Cornwallis surrendered.
HOST The ‘old fox’ had trapped the celebrated ‘fox trapper’. It was rumored Washington preferred that you should receive Cornwallis’ sword of surrender because you forced him to march to Yorktown where he surrendered.
GREENE But Washington the victor and man of high character followed protocol directing Cornwallis’ sword to be handed not to himself but to the army’s senior officer General Benjamin Ferguson. Keep in mind that after Yorktown the British still held New York City, Charleston, and Savannah. The British also occupied Canada and if they could have regained the South, New England would have been isolated. A pincers north-south attack by the British would easily have defeated New England and America would have lost the war.
HOST The British having surrendered at Yorktown it’s estimated that 100,000 Tories eventually departed America for Canada. But you were still fighting the British and Tories in the South. Fortunately you occupied most of the South.
GREENE The good news of Yorktown was demolished when hundreds of my sick troops began dying of disease and their untreated festering wounds. The crisp autumn air was infected with the sickening odors of rotting corpses being consumed by maggots. Congress had no money for the army neither did the Carolinas. In makeshift hospitals wounded patriots were dying because there was no money for curative care. When word of our desperate condition reached Virginia, Steuben sold his set of solid silverware to help pay for nursing the wounded. I was forced to devise a plan whereby healthy troops would be discharged and sent home if they bartered their few possessions for food, care, or clothing for their sick or wounded comrades.
HOST Robert Morris the then Superintendent of Finances praised you for your ingenuity in that ‘only one such as Greene would devise such a simple and effective plan’.
GREENE I had also to deal with the growing problem of Tories desperate for revenge. Under British protection and with impunity Tories killed patriots, confiscated their properties, and after mock trials hung them. Realizing they had lost the war Tories mistreated patriots even more than usual killing many of them. Those Tories captured the governor and state leaders of South Carolina and handed them over to the British. The more aggressive Tories were hung for their crimes and southern governors responded by confiscating Tory properties.
HOST You had to play the part of a politician in trying to bring patriots and Tories together.
GREENE My Quaker upbringing eschewed outrageous cruelty and revenge killing, compelling me to write to southern governors claiming it was time for understanding and forgiveness not persecution or revenge.
HOST In November 1781 confidant that you had liberated the South Congress asked you to be Secretary of War.
GREENE I declined the offer to be Secretary of War reminding Congress that army life is more honorable than political life and that a congressional salary would not support my family. I was concerned about the welfare of my 4 children. Besides I had to nurture my sick and wounded troops. I informed Congress there was still more fighting to do and that my starving troops couldn’t survive without food, or march without shoes, or fight without ammunition. Did Congress think the war was over? The British still occupied Charleston and Savannah.
HOST Your predicament was complicated when you got a letter from Caty.
GREENE She informed me that she was determined to travel to the South to visit me. I told her there’d be more fighting and tried to mollify her anxiety.
HOST Did that dissuade her? She was a very headstrong lady.
GREENE Several weeks later I got her letter informing me that she had already departed Coventry with young George and was on her way.
HOST I’ve excerpted parts of several accounts of Caty’s pilgrimage from Coventry to visit you in the South (reads):
‘Caty deposits Martha, Cornelia, and Nat with relatives in Coventry and with young George 6 travels to Philadelphia. There she joins the continuing celebrations of Cornwallis’ surrender and is again immersed in socializing. Because of the parties and balls her planned layover of a few days turns out to be several weeks. In view of the difficult journey ahead, friends in Philadelphia convince Caty to leave young George with them and she quickly agrees. Her residual exhilaration is deflated and she’s visibly disappointed when she receives the message that Wadsworth arrived in Philadelphia the day after she departed.
Caty stops at Mount Vernon to visit with the Washingtons. As usual Martha enjoys her company and Washington her flirtations and charm. Caty spends more than a month there waiting for good weather to continue her journey south. Upon her departure Washington writes to Greene, his favorite officer, that Caty is on her way to join him in South Carolina and that he hopes the roads to him will be strewn with flowers. This despite the fact that Jesus got only branches and palms riding into Jerusalem. The relationship between the Washingtons and Greenes continues strong as ever.’
GREENE That reading tells me more than her letters. While Caty was traveling south I saw the opportunity to take the British garrison at Dorchester, South Carolina about 30 miles northwest of Charleston. We attacked and to our surprise the British first retreated and then fled into the woods. We pursued them pushing the lobster backs towards the coast. We commandeered all the food and provisions at the garrison. We learned later the British thought I was attacking with my entire southern army. Soon after the capture word reached me that thousands of British reinforcements, mostly Irish, were on their way from New York City to Charleston. I immediately sent several aides to Virginia to ask for reinforcements but none was provided. I therefore took a defensive position between Charleston and Savannah.
HOST You wanted to reinforce your troops with blacks but were again denied permission by southern leaders.
GREENE Almost half of the southern population was black. I proposed that blacks should reinforce my troops as they did in Newport. Southern governors had previously declined such proposals from Congress. Although I lobbied for black enlistment Southern governors again declined my proposal fearing armed blacks would mutiny against whites. I informed them that blacks were providing the British with intelligence of my movements. If blacks joined us they could provide me with intelligence about British movements. Politicians forthrightly accused me of abolitionism.
HOST To mollify your wounded ego politicians awarded you Boone Barony a large confiscated Tory plantation in South Carolina.
GREENE I was against the confiscation of property whether patriot of Tory. Individual ownership of property distinguishes Americans from Europeans.
HOST But you didn’t reject the property.
GREENE I accepted the plantation to maintain a civil relationship with southern leaders whose help I needed. One day the war would end and I would have to consider the 4 F’s – freedom, family, farm, and finances. I would need money not medals.
HOST But then you sold part of it.
GREENE To buy food for my starving troops.
HOST The next year 1782 you liberated Charleston and Savannah.
GREENE In Charleston General Leslie was in command of all British forces which included Irish reinforcements and the troops of Stewart and Cruger. There were fewer British in Savannah so I decided to liberate it first. But while I was planning the siege of Savannah Caty arrived.
HOST I have an account of that meeting (reads):
‘More than 3 months after leaving Coventry and almost 2 years since they had last been together, their longest separation in the war, Caty arrived in Dorchester in March 1782. She’s shocked at the gaunt appearance of her husband Major General Nathanael Greene. The stress of the war had taken its toll on him. He’s older and thinner with a look of infirmity expressed by a wrinkled and worried expression. His aides aware of her surprise at his appearance took her aside and explained that ‘of all Washington’s generals only her husband, with much self-imposed stress on himself, could have accomplished so much with so little’.
GREENE All the fighting, retreating, escaping, starving, and waiting were redeemed when I held her in my arms.
HOST By the way I have questions about Caty’s behavior. Perhaps this is a good time to ask. Before leaving Coventy Caty deposited Martha, Cornelia, and Nat with your relatives. When she departed Philadelphia she deposited George with friends to complete her trip alone. Was she being a delinquent mother?
GREENE Heavens no! Do you expect her to travel several months over rough country roads confined in a crowded carriage with 4 young children? Think of the logistics involved – food, diapers, washing, crying, diversions, nature’s stops along the way, it’s too much even for a quartermaster.
HOST On quite a different matter, while you were fighting in the South Caty visited Newport crowded with French soldiers. It was common knowledge that she’d return with 1 or 2 of them to spend the weekend with her.
GREENE No, not common knowledge, common gossip.
HOST Why would she expose herself to such gossip? I mean a lonely wife inviting French soldiers to spend the weekend with her.
GREENE Caty is too independent to care about gossip. She needed to socialize. She loved to practice her French.
HOST Especially with men. Did Caty ever write you a Dear John letter? You know Dear John I’m sorry to tell you that in your long absence I found someone else.
GREENE No, no. Caty is a faithful wife.
HOST Although Caty’s behavior with men gave you ample reasons to inquire, did you ever questioned her?
GREENE I wouldn’t demean her in that manner. I was too much in love with her and didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Moreover our children prove Caty’s easy fertility and after an absence of more than 2 years she wasn’t pregnant when she arrived.
HOST If she were she wouldn’t have made the trip. Anyway well said by a true and loving husband. Now lets get on with your tactics in evading Leslie.
GREENE Leslie and I monitored each other’s moves but neither of us attacked the other. In the doldrums between battles some of my troops disappeared into the woods and went home. With Caty occupying my attention some troops mutinied because of the lack of food and clothing. While their complaints were justified I could not and did not tolerate mutiny. I had the ringleader hung.
HOST Was hanging the only alternative?
GREENE No but it’s the only effective one. Washington did the same when his troops mutinied in Pompton, New Jersey. Speaking of Washington he moved his headquarters to Newburgh, New York.
HOST Soon after Caty’s arrival one of her many admirers got transferred to your command. Was that just a coincidence?
GREENE General Wayne and his Pennsylvania troops were transferred to my command. I was pleased to have such a friend and commander at my disposal. I ordered him to harass the garrison at Savannah commanded by British Colonel Browne.
HOST Later some of the Pennsylvania troops mutinied and you had them hung.
GREENE They had legitimate reasons to complain because of lack of food, clothing, and shoes but not to mutiny. I rounded up the ringleader and had him hung. To avoid total desertion there must be discipline in the ranks enforced by appropriate punishment.
HOST Meanwhile Congress denied your friend Henry Knox promotion to major general.
GREENE Another much deserved promotion denied to a great man. Having suffered many times from Congress’ underhanded intrigue and stinginess. With much empathy for Henry I wrote to him to console him.
HOST I read an account that d’Estaing thought about claiming Georgia for France. Was there any truth to that?
GREENE One of his English-speaking aides mentioned it during a meeting. When I recovered from the initial shock I made the aide aware that I was about to lay siege to Savannah. The next day d’Estaing sailed for France. With Wayne at my side we marched towards Savannah and made camp equidistant between there and Charleston.
HOST Where was Caty when you were marching on Savannah? Did you leave her behind in the Dorchester camp?
GREENE I arranged for her to stay with my good friends in Savannah, my namesake Nathanael Pendleton and his wfie.
HOST Wasn’t that dangerous given you were about to attack.
GREENE The Pendletons lived on the outskirts of Savannah.
HOST On 11July1782 you attacked Savannah.
GREENE While attacking Savannah we met with little resistance. Judging by the brief return of British fire I offered British Colonel Browne surrender terms and to our surprise he accepted. Several days later the defeated British with their Tories and Indian allies suddenly evacuated Savannah. They marched to the harbor where they embarked on transport ships bound for British occupied New York City.
HOST That afternoon a strange thing happened, a break in traditional protocol. You magnanimously granted Wayne the honor of leading your troops into Savannah. That honor is normally reserved for the victorious leader, you.
GREENE I granted Wayne the honor while my officers and I marched behind him.
HOST No longer under British rule Savannah celebrated and you were hailed its liberating hero.
GREENE Caty, Mrs. Pendleton, and the ladies of leading politicians arranged for a gala ball. After the ceremonies of the evening Caty and Wayne danced the night away.
HOST Didn’t that bother you?
GREENE I was tired and watched Caty enjoy herself.
HOST The summer of 1782, the last summer of war, disease not war took its toll on your troops.
GREENE Hundreds died of malaria and hundreds more were stricken with it. There were so many dead being buried that it was depressing for everyone hear the ‘dead march’ drum beat all day long, so I discontinued the practice. Several of my aides were afflicted with malaria including William Washington and even Caty came down with a severe fever. General Leslie still occupied Charleston and the nearby Island of Kiawah. Because of Leslie’s civility I asked him if he would permit Caty, Washington, and several of my aides to recuperate on Kiawah. He agreed and they recovered. Having regained her vivacity and beauty Caty made social calls on the sick much appreciated by them.
HOST At the end of November 1782 the British signed the Articles of Peace to end the war, even though they still occupied Charleston and New York City.
GREENE Anxious to end the war in the South, I wrote to Washington requesting reinforcements for the liberation of Charleston. He sent me 3,000 starving, half-naked and poorly equipped troops from the Yorktown. I failed in my attempts to get the funds to feed and clothe them for the winter. Aware of my dilemma and wanting to help John Banks a partner the financial firm Hunter Banks & Co. convinced me to cosign a $30,000 loan from his creditors which he would use to buy food and clothing from Charleston merchants. I signed the note and Charleston merchants delivered the needed provisions. It was a straight business transaction, the same as I’d done in the past. The problem was that Banks didn’t pay the merchants.
HOST Preparatory to the liberation of Charleston you had to deal with a sort of conspiracy.
GREENE Some of my disgruntled troops lacking food and clothing conspired with British troops to capture my staff and me. The plot was discovered and I ordered the ringleader executed by firing squad.
HOST Charleston merchants having fed and clothed your troops you were in a position to take Charleston, the last remaining British garrison in South Carolina.
GREENE I planned to use deGrasse’s fleet to block any British escape by water but he departed for France. Then unexpectedly I received an offer of truce from Leslie. I informed him I was willing but only Congress could officially approve a truce. I offered Leslie surrender terms and he accepted. Knowing how Congress worked it would probably take months for it to act.
HOST Did you get any response from Congress?
GREENE As usual Congress failed to act. I sent a message to Leslie that Congress had not yet approved the truce. My message gave him fair warning that I would attack the Charleston garrison before the full impact of winter. I had 3,000 troops, the Charleston garrison about 12,000 troops and inhabitants. When we attacked we met only token resistance so I called off the attack. I offered Leslie surrender terms that he accepted. The next day 3,000 British troops, 3,800 Tories, and 5,000 Indians and slaves evacuated Charleston. They marched unmolested to the coast where they mustered waiting to board troopships for England.
HOST That afternoon 14December1782 Charleston was officially liberated.
GREENE My mission in Georgia accomplished I led my troops into Charleston. The governor and his retinue of state leaders followed. Close behind in a new blue and gold gown were Caty in her phaeton accompanied by the ladies of selected state leaders. Caty and the ladies arranged a victory ball to celebrate Charleston’s liberation. At the ball I handed over Caty to Wayne and they danced the night away.
HOST Caty became the belle of Charleston and once again was in her glory at parties and balls held in your honor. At the close of 1782 you controlled the South saving it for the revolution. You were hailed and rightly so the deliverer of the South. I have here a montage of complimentary comments (reads):
The Yankee Greene must be considered the hero, liberator, and savior of the South.
Greene entered Charleston as Caesar Triumphator entered Rome. The South has been liberated.
General Greene was like a pesky swamp gnat distracting British generals with his stinging painful bites until they gave up and withdrew from the South.
Major General Nathanael Greene subjected the British in South to the painful and intolerable irritations of military Chinese water torture.
Of the southern battles Henry Knox wrote "The exalted talents of General Greene have been amply displayed in Northe and South Carolina – without an army, without Means, without anything he has performed wonders" and John Adams wrote "quite as glorious for the American arms as the capture of Cornwallis". (p132 Billias)
Some southern patriots called you a military genius for your ability to harass and lessen General Lord Charles Cornwallis’ larger army forcing him to depart the Carolinas and Georgia thereby relinquishing his plans for southern conquest.
It’s claimed Greene never won a single decisive victory. He didn’t have to, he won the entire South to save it and the war.
During the winter 1782-3 you were being praised in the North as well as the South. What were you thinking at that time?
GREENE I can sum up my southern command as follows:
"There are few generals that have run oftener, or more lustily than I have done. But I have taken care not to run too far, and commonly have run as fast forward as backward, to convince the enemy that we were like a Crab, that could run either way". (p109 Billias)
HOST Even Congress praised you.
GREENE The Congress that repeatedly demeaned me as quartermaster now profusely thanked me for my meritorious service to the nation. That penitent Congress honored and praised me for my liberation of the South calling it a triumph in the glorious cause of the war.
HOST In February 1783 you received a congratulatory letter from Washington. In part it reads:
"It is with pleasure [that] I congratulate you on the glorious end you have put to hostilities in the Southern States. The honor and advantages of it, I hope & trust, you will live long to enjoy." (p303 Golway)
GREENE He frequently inquired about my son Gorge a student at Princeton calling him a fine young boy.
HOST Your admiration for Washington was no less praiseworthy. In response you wrote (reads):
"Every ear feels and every tongue confesses the merit and importance of your services. … The polite Attention which I have experienced since I have had the honor to serve under your Command claims my particular acknowledgments, and I feel singular satisfaction, in having preserved your Confidence and esteem [through] the whole progress of the War, notwithstanding many jarring interests." (pp303-4 Golway)
HOST Amid all the praises there were problems with Washington’s officers at his new headquarters at Newburgh, New York
GREENE His officers circulated a letter defying the authority of the new Congress because it had not met its obligations to them to honor past promises. A meeting was called to take action but Washington intervened in the incipient rebellion. He instead suggested that his officers should list their complaints in a letter and send it directly to the new Congress. The officers agreed.
HOST 8 years after Lexington and Concord Congress declared the end of the war. On 19April1783 Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris and there were more celebrations throughout the new nation of free and independent America.
GREENE With the war over, the celebrations over, and winter gone it was time for Caty to return to Coventry. She had been away for more than a year. Besides she was pregnant again. In April I put her on a ship sailing for Philadelphia.
HOST In Philadelphia she met Wayne who was being honored as Pennsylvania’s’ war hero. He escorted her to the many state functions celebrating the peace treaty. Together they made an attractive couple, she in her stunning gowns and he in his privately tailored uniform.
GREENE Unfortunately to impress Philadelphia society she bought a new phaeton, two horses, more clothes, and charged to me the costs totaling $1,400. I wasl in Charleston ill with a fever. When I got word of Caty’s charges I wrote her a letter reprimanding her profligacy. Caty must have been furious at my reprimand because she didn’t answer. I wrote her a letter of apology; she still didn’t answer. I wrote her another letter, still no answer. At last I did receive a letter from her. When I opened it I found her note informing me that she had picked up young George from his tutor in Philadelphia. Enclosed also was the tutor’s bill, a staggering amount! She had answered my reprimand with notice of more debt.
HOST But then you got some good news. In appreciation for your services in liberating the South, North Carolina and Georgia awarded you money and liberal grants of land.
North Carolina awarded you 25,000 acres of land.
Georgia awarded you Mulberry Grove a 2,000-acre plantation near Savannah.
South Carolina had already awarded you Boone Barony a large confiscated Tory plantation.
GREENE I found it incumbent upon me to officially dismiss the brave men whom fought with me and protected me, men with wives and children waiting for their return, men alive one day wounded or dead the next. At that moment I don’t know why I thought of my father’s preaching and his words in the meetings of friends. In Charleston in June 1783 I dismissed my troops in the classic tradition of leaders of men who have endured the absence of great needs to final victory:
We have trod the paths of adversity together, and have felt the sunshine of better fortune. We found a people overwhelmed with distress, and a country groaning under oppression. It has been our happiness to relieve them. …Your generous confidence, amidst surrounding difficulties; your persevering tempers, against the tide of misfortune, paved the way to success. …
It is unnecessary, and might be deemed improper on this occasion, to enumerate the many trying scenes we have passed, of the suffering you have sustained. It is sufficient for the General that they have now subsided. It is his happiness that he has had the honor to command an army no less distinguished for its patience than bravery. …
United by principle and cemented by affection, you have exhibited to the world a proof that elevated souls and persevering tempers will triumph over every difficulty. The orders of government now separate us, perhaps forever. Our great object is answered; our first wish obtained. The same considerations which led us to the field, will now call upon us to retire. In whatever situation the General may be placed, it will afford him the highest pleasure to promote your interests; and it is among the first of his wishes to see you as happy as you have rendered millions of others. (p304 Golway)
HOST If I were one of your troops I would consider that farewell a magnificent dismissal. I have here one of your reported comments (reads):
At war’s end Greene without his soldiers said that he felt "like Sampson after Delilah cut his locks". (p132 Billias)
GREENE In August I said my good-byes in Charleston and departed for Coventry. Along the way north I made many stops to visit friends and former comrades in arms in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. I was greeted and honored at every stop.
HOST You were as famous in the North as in the South. On one of your stopovers in Virginia you were honored at a public gathering. The principal speaker declared that you had "the honor of proving to the World that circumstances of the greatest distress … can be nobly demonstrated by brave men … under the command of wise, virtuous, and persevering Leaders". (p133 Billias)
GREENE Washington had come down from Newburgh, New York to meet me at Trenton. We had fought side-by-side and together reminisced about the hell of war and glory of victory. Together we traveled once more to Princeton where Congress was in session and Pennsylvania troops were again demanding back pay.
HOST It was at Princeton that Congress voted you two brass cannons from the South and then relied on Washington to find them.
GREENE With Washington at my side it was there that I tended my resignation as Major General; it was he who had promoted me. It was there that I asked Congress for permission to be separated from the army to go home as a civilian. Congress accepted my resignation and after many more good-byes I departed for Coventry.
(1783)HOST You had been fighting for 8 years from Boston 1775 to Charleston 1782. In autumn 1783 When you returned to Coventry did you feel a sense of having lost those 8 years?
GREENE No because there was compensation in that I would be with Caty, the children, and my extended family. In Coventry I felt a stranger as Caty again introduced me to the children. I believe George was 7, Martha 6, Cornelia 5, and Nat 3. They were at first shy but then we fast became friends and a family.
HOST Your debts and the matter of John Banks & Co. stalked your every move whether in the South or North.
GREENE When Banks defaulted on the $30,000 loan from creditors I was accused of being a silent partner in the scam, splitting the money with him rather than paying off Charleston merchants. Banks testified several times that I was innocent of the charges but creditors still demanded payment from me because I had cosigned the loan.
HOST I understand you petitioned Congress for the money.
GREENE I petitioned Congress for payment of the loan but it refused to pay. The note I cosigned was for food and clothing for my troops for the coming winter. It was Congress’ responsibility for maintaining the army. I signed in lieu of Congress’ approval which would take months. Moreover Charleston merchants were hounding me.
HOST I understand you made a heroic attempt to settle with Banks.
GREEBE In the final attempt to resolve the matter, I rode all the way from Rhode Island to Virginia to confront Banks. I got there too late, Banks was in the ground dead and buried. On my return I told Caty not to worry because I had purchased parcels of land in Newport and Cumberland Island, Georgia.
HOST In fact you moved your family to Newport.
GREENE During the war the family business declined and had passed to my brothers. There was nothing left in Coventry for me and I needed money. I sold my house in Coventry to my brother Jacob and moved the family to Newport.
HOST The entire town gathered to honor you. The principal speaker declared "In this might Revolution, Which regard the Rights of Humanity for its Base, we feel a Pride … that a Citizen of this State had brightened the Paths of Glory … ." (p133 Billias)
GREENE Caty delighted living in the more enlightened Newport. I was ready to settle down but she quickly joined its sophisticated nightlife and we made the rounds of dinners and parties.
HOST Finally on the 3rd of September 1783 Congress officially ended the war by signing the Treaty of Paris. Two months later on the 25th of November 1783, in accordance with the treaty, the British evacuated New York City and America. Whether from lack of business or boredom you got involved in politics.
GREENE Not directly involved in politics but in building a new nation. I confided in Washington and Hamilton that states should act cooperatively. The independence won in the glorious cause must bring together and unite all states for the establishment of the new nation. For example knowing individual states have political differences, I proposed Congress pass a 5% tax on trade to pay the nation’s enormous war debt.
HOST Congress defeated your proposition. Even Rhode Island rejected the proposal of its most famous son. Speaking of debt you found yourself in enormous personal debt.
GREENE My lingering private debts superimposed themselves over my concern for the nation. I had the unpleasant task of telling Caty we were land rich and money poor. My $10,000 investment in Barnabas Deane & Co. was a financial disaster yielding only $960, a 96% loss. $1,000 invested with Wadsworth returned only $50, a 95% loss. I was a partner in my brothers shipping company which lost money. I had to sell some of the land awarded me in North Carolina to reduce the debt to Charleston merchants. Moreover I had to tell Caty to reduce her expenditures on new clothes for partying.
HOST On the 4th of December 1783, at Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan, Washington made his famous farewell address to his officers. It must have been surprising to him that his favorite officer was not there. Were you absent because Congress had rejected your petition for payment of the note you cosigned?
GREENE Too long absent from my family I was at home. On 23December1783 Congress was in session at Annapolis, Maryland. Washington made his triumphant journey from New York to Annapolis. There before Congress the Commander-in-Chief of the victorious Continental Army resigned his commission granted 15June1775 and then as civilian continued the journey to his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia.
HOST In March 1784 Thomas Mifflin, a Quaker and one of your old enemies, was then President of Congress. He wanted you to be the head of a commission for negotiating peace treaties with Indian tribes but you declined. Was that because you still considered him an enemy?
GREENE I needed to be with Caty who was ill after giving birth to our 5th child Louisa.
HOST Here’s an interesting aside. Cincinnatus was a Roman soldier-citizen who, after serving as general and statesman, returned to his farm as an ordinary citizen. In his memory Washington and other former officers of the Continental Army established the Society of the Cincinnati. Washington was named president and invited you to attend its first meeting.
GREENE I hastened to Philadelphia to meet with His Excellency. He confided in me that he hoped I would play an important role in the society and that membership would be handed down from father to son. Patriots such as John Adams and Benjamin Franklin were appalled that passing membership from father to son sustained the Old World aristocratic practice of privilege rather than meritorious service to the nation.
HOST The society survived because Washington served as is president until his death in 1799.
(1784-1786)HOST In the spring of 1784 you became a resident plantation owner.
GREENE After a few months in Newport I decided I couldn’t make a living there. I realized the North has lots of people in buildings but the South has lots of bright sun on rolling acres for producing profitable crops.. I concluded my future was in the South working its acres as a gentleman farmer. Leaving my family once more I sailed south to make preparations for working my two plantations, Boone Barony in South Carolina and Mulberry Grove in Georgia.
HOST Being a plantation owner means slaves. You got involved in the controversy of slavery, even though you publicly voiced your objections to slavery.
GREENE I’m opposed to slavery as are Quakers.
HOST That being true why did you become a slave owner?
GREENE In order to survive, to provide for my family, to pay off my massive debts. Being a hands-on plantation owner meant slaves to work the fields. I needed slaves to work the fields for income producing crops. Slaves would be better off working for me than someone else. I would care for them as I had my troops.
HOST Being heavily in debt how could you possibly buy slaves? I understand they cost about $70 a head.
GREENE To work Boone Barony in South Carolina I petitioned its legislators for a loan to buy slaves. After some negotiation we came to an agreement wherein I would make installment payments to pay off the loan. For Mulberry Grove plantation I solicited loans from my friends Robert Morris and Jeremiah Wadsworth. Also through former comrades in arms I was fortunate to find experienced managers for the two plantations.
HOST You kept borrowing more and more money forcing you deeper and deeper into debt.
GREENE A businessman borrows money to make money. My rice crops were doing well and I anticipated a handsome profit. But thenin the summer of 1784 mother nature dealt me a devastating blow. A hurricane destroyed all my crops rendering me penniless.
HOST You were financially ruined. Why didn’t abandon the plantations?
GREENE Where would I go? What would I do? I did what I’ve always done. Repair the damage and begin over.
HOST The next year 1785 Congress gave you another opportunity to serve the new nation as Secretary of State but again you refused to serve. When Congress offered it a second time you still refused.
GREENE The Congress that demeaned me as quartermaster of the army is the same Congress that declined to approve my petition for its rightful obligation to pay a $30,000 loan for provisioning its troops. It then wanted me to sacrifice my family in order to serve its needs.
HOST The needs of a new nation.
GREENE I had voluntarily served my country and was afterwards obliged to serve my family.
HOST While working your plantations you were confronted by an angry and boisterous James Gunn.
GREENE A former leader in the Georgia militia. We had argued over the ownership of an army horse during the liberation of Savannah. It was an army horse. Its ownership unresolved the argument continued even after the war. The hot headed Gunn challenged me to a duel. I forthrightly declined such an outrageous challenge and was later congratulated by Washington for doing so. Eventually he departed never again to be seen or heard from.
HOST In the summer of 1785 you returned to Newport to collect your family for permanent residence in the Georgia.
GREENE I decided to move my family South where I had two plantations large enough to support us and in time pay off my debts. For the last time my family and I departed Rhode Island and sailed for Mulberry Grove. At that time Caty was about to give birth to our 6th child. Several weeks later she delivered a baby girl. We named her Catherine after the aunt who raised Caty. Unfortunately the baby died of whooping cough shortly after birth.
HOST And about that time you hired a tutor for your children?
GREENE I wrote to my friend Ezra Stiles President of Yale University inquiring whether he knew of a suitable tutor for my children. He recommended 21 year old Phineas Miller living in Connecticut. We paid for his ship’s passage to Georgia and installed him in our home as the children’s tutor.
HOST I understand that from the beginning Caty and he got along very well.
GREENE Caty took an instant liking to him which benefited the children. More than tutoring the children, he offered Caty companionship and conversation; they became close friends.
HOST I meant more than friends. I understand you were alarmed by her outward displays of affection for him in the presence of the children.
GREENE They developed a deep affection for each other. I cautioned Caty that her outward fondness for young Miller might be misinterpreted by the children and our household help.
HOST In the spring of 1786 you were busy planting new crops in the hope of gaining some profit.
GREENE Having survived war and life’s vicissitudes I settled down as a gentleman farmer. I took pen in hand to summarize my peaceful feelings:
It is a busy time with us. We are planting. We have upwards [of] sixty acres of corn planted, and expect to plant one hundred and thirty of rice. The garden is delightful. The fruit trees and flowering shrubs form a pleasing variety.
We have green peas almost fit to eat, and as fine lettuce as you ever saw. The mocking birds surround us evening and morning. The weather is mild, and the vegetable kingdom progressing to perfection. (pp312-3 Golway)
HOST You and your wartime friends frequently visited each other, especially by Anthony Wayne who lived nearby.
GREENE We fought a good part of the war together. Wayne had purchased a nearby plantation to be close to Caty and me.
HOST The local gossip was that he frequently made nocturnal visits to Caty while you were away on business.
GREENE He was a comrade in arms and a dear friend. He was always welcome at Mulberry Grove.
HOST Did you ever confront Caty about the rumors, rumors of her conduct while you were away from Mulberry Grove?
GREENE Having survived 10 catastrophic years of war, financial ruin, destruction of crops, and challenge to a duel I wasn’t going to engage in any prosecution of Caty’s past. I loved her too much to upset her with rumors. At last I was able to relax and submit to domestic life. On my plantation I had some measure of a peaceful life broken only by mocking birds that seemed to be rebuking as too easy my new idyllic lifestyle.
HOST But you were still burdened with massive debts and being hounded by creditors.
GREENE Through my lawyer friend Pendleton I again petitioned congress for relief of my debt to Bank’s creditors.
HOST You and Caty had to cope with yet another tragedy, that of the aftermath of yet another birth.
GREENE In the spring of 17856 our idyllic life was shattered when Caty lost our 7th child at birth, a boy. We agreed to mark its tombstone simply with Greene.
HOST The rumor among your household help and slaves at the plantation was that the child died because it was conceived in adultery with either Miller or Wayne.
GREENE Nonsense! she was pregnant when I went away on business. After the loss of our baby Caty insisted on getting away from the plantation for a few days. In Savannah we visited our lawyer friend Nathanael Pendleton and his wife.
HOST A man with an interesting past.
GREENE When the British seized Boston Pendleton age 19 walked from Virginia to Boston and offered his service to Washington who knew of his family. Captured at Fort Washington he spent 4 years as a British prisoner of war. When exchanged he made his way to Philadelphia where Washington excused him from further military service. But instead of going home he volunteered to join my unit and distinguished himself in the Battle of Eutaw Springs. Thereafter I made him one of my staff aides.
HOST You and Caty spent the night with the Pendleton’s and the next morning on the way home stopped to inspect on of your neighbor’s plantation.
GREENE It was a blistering hot day unlike any in New England. I developed a severe headache and we returned to Mulberry Grove. Later that day I complained of a tormenting headache and put myself to bed. Caty summoned the doctor; he bled me. I felt worse the next day and Caty called another doctor who claimed I was suffering from sunstroke and he too bled me. The last thing I remember is that my family and Wayne were at my bedside.
End of Conversation
Nathanael’s Death (1786)
The well-meaning doctors who bled Nathanael hastened the death of a national hero, savior of the South and perhaps of the war. On 19June1786 Major General Nathanel Greene died; he was 44. On 20June1786 in Savannah a state funeral and burial was held in his honor. The beloved Major General Nathanael Greene was honored and memorialized by his comrades in arms and the nation’s leaders.
In Memoriam
Wayne the comrade who fought alongside Greene and was at his deathbed wrote:
"He was great as a soldier, great as a citizen, immaculate as a friend. The honors – the greatest honors – of war are due his remains. Pardon this scrawl. My feelings are but too much affected because I have seen a great and good man die". (p447 Lodge)
In the annals of American military history can be recorded that never was so much accomplished by a general with so little while enduring persistent hunger exacerbated by lack of clothing, provisions, and disease. In military ability he was second only to Washington who remarked more than once that ‘if he were captured or killed Greene should replace him as Commander-in-Chief’. On the dais of American military heroes Nathanael Greene surely deserves the chair to the right of George Washington.
George Washington grieved for Caty and her children. He told Wadsworth that he mourned "the death of this valuable character, especially at this crisis, when the political machine seems pregnant with the most awful events." (p314 Golway) Washington’s great regard for Nathanael compelled him to send Caty a picture of himself together with locks of his and Martha’s hair.
From Philadelphia his former colonel now Congressman Henry Lee wrote to Washington:
"Your friend and second, the patriot Greene, is no more. Universal grief reigns here. How hard is the fate of the United States to lose such a man in the middle of life! Irreparable loss!" (p314 Golway)
Hamilton grieved:
"The sudden termination of his life, deprived the country of universal and pervading genius which qualified him not less for the Senate than for the field." (p314 Golway)
Summarizing Greene’s southern campaign Knox remarked:
"[Without] an army, without Means, without anything, [Greene] has performed Wonders." (p286 Golway).
Thomas Jefferson remarked that ‘Greene was second to none among Revolutionary War generals’.
Congressman Francis Kinloch a veteran of the war declared that Greene was "the greatest military genius produced by the War for Independence". (p133 Billias)
"Greene who was a very noble character, seems to me to stand little if at all lower than Washington as a general in the field". (p631 Leckie)
Washington’s ablest general acting on his own, Greene’s successful southern campaign was the most extraordinary performance in the war. Next to Washington he was the war’s greatest hero but never got the popular acclaim due him.
Memorials
Greensboro, NC
Greenville, SC
Nathanael Greene monument in Savannah, GA
Nathanael Greene statue in National hall of Statuary in
Capitol building, Washington, DC
Nathanael Greene equestrian statue in Washington, DC
Nathanael Greene equestrian statue in Greensboro, SC
One cent stamp engraved with portraits of Washington and Greene
Two navy ships named Nathanael Greene
East of the Mississippi River are many places named for Nathanael Greene including cities, towns, parks, and streets.
Recapitulation
In 1774 Nathaniel Greene was a volunteer private in the militia of the Rhode Island colony. To defend the small colony when war with Britain was imminent, the Rhode Island Assembly named him Brigadier General of the Rhode Island Army of Observation. The maverick Quaker in his General’s uniform of buff trousers and shirt, blue jacket with red trim adorned with gold epaulets and stars, complete with boots and three-cornered hat, must have been a sight to behold by his fellow Quakers dressed in plain-cut black clothing without adornment.
During the siege of Boston 1775 Congress appointed Greene one of 8 Brigadier Generals in the Continental Army. He became military assistant and confidant of Washington who later promoted him to major general. Washington called him his ablest, most creative, and dependable officer. In the northern struggle’s 5 years of fighting from 1775-1780 the British army with its professionally trained troops, the best in Europe, was unable to deliver the final blow to defeat Washington’s army of ragtag American patriots. During that time Greene was at Washington’s side. On 14October1780 Washington named Greene Commander of the Southern Army. Separated from Washington in the North Greene was completely on his own performing the multiple duties of strategist, tactician, battlefield commander, and quartermaster all the while acting as humanitarian.
In the South Greene converted patriots from rabid southern partisans to Americans fighting with other patriots for the common cause of freedom and independence from England. Greene’s military strategy was to harass, weaken, and frustrate the British until they abandoned an area. He fought a war of attrition against the British and won. Under his command were fought the battles of Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk’s Hill, Augusta, Ninety Six, Eutaw Springs, Savannah, and Charleston. Except for Cowpens he never had a decisive win but sufficiently weakened the enemy preventing further occupation of contested areas. In liberating and cleaning up the South he also captured most of the British posts. During the 2 years (1780-1782) of Greene’s command he marched his cobbled army almost 3,000 miles throughout the south.
A humanitarian he even sold some of his land and went into debt to buy food and clothing for his troops. Of all the American generals in the war he sacrificed the most, personally and physically. Except for Greene no general achieved so much with so little. A self-taught militarist Greene outwitted the best British and German professional generals. Except for Washington Greene was the war’s most important general because he made the greatest contribution in winning for America. While Washington was struggling to win in the North, Greene outmaneuvered Cornwallis and won the South forcing Cornwallis to march to Yorktown, Virginia where he eventually surrendered to Washington. At war’s end in 1783 Greene resigned from the Continental Army and returned to civilian life.
Relationship with Washington
From 1775-1780 Greene fought side-by-side with Washington. He was Washington’s youngest, brightest, and ablest general. They confided in each other developing strong personal and military bonds. As confidants they had no hesitation about expressing to each other disagreements of their personal feelings or military strategy. They interacted and depended on each other. Washington never cared about or even mentioned his limp and admitted Greene was his favorite officer. Congress was always fearful of delegating any of its powers to anyone. However Greene convinced Congress to give Washington more power in making military decisions. Thereafter Washington successfully attacked Trenton and Princeton, American victories in the northern struggle.
Washington and Greene were men of daring. They had in common the spirit of dangerous adventure. Washington’s daring decisions to attack Trenton and Princeton and the appointment of Greene a Yankee general to command a southern army was not only daring but also fraught with failure. For Greene it was his daring ride without protective escort through Tory infested territory to join up with Morgan. Also Greene’s daring 200-mile great escape from Cornwallis (see next paragraph). With Washington commanding in the North more battles were fought in New Jersey than any other state; in the South with Greene commanding it was South Carolina. Washington 1732-1799 outlived Greene 1742-1786 by 13 years.
Greene’s Great Escape
Greene’s great escape from Cornwallis is also called the Race to the Dan River. In this great escape Greene’s army raced more than 200 miles from South Carolina, through North Carolina, and crossed the Dan River into the safety of Virginia before Cornwallis’ greater forces could catch up with and defeat him. Greene was credited with one of the most ingenious escapes in military history. It might be considered his most important campaign because it enabled him to retain his small southern army. Greene’s failure to escape meant the probable loss of the South and the war. In Virginia Greene’s army was provisioned and reinforced. He returned to the Carolinas and executed a series of dazzling maneuvers in which he forced Cornwallis to abandon the Carolinas and Georgia for Virginia where he eventually surrendered at Yorktown. One might make a comparison of the daring Greene in the Revolutionary War with the daring Patton in World War 2.
All About Caty
Caty was not fond of domesticity or the austerity of the Quaker household. She was headstrong, saucy, self-centered, loved partying, and a free spender of her husband’s money. She was a forerunner of today’s modern woman who wants everything now. From the time Caty married Nathanael she grabbed the bull by the horns and rode it for the full measure of her anticipated pleasure. She needed to be the center of attraction especially among men, and sought the attention of married men even when they were with their wives. She presented herself as a mare in heat trying to get noticed by stallions. Washington preferred Caty as his dancing partner above the wives of other generals. During and after the war Nathanael and Caty were probably closer to Martha and George than any other couple. After Nathanael’s death President Washington (1789-97) offered to host his namesake young George Greene and pay for his education. Martha and George also hosted daughter Cornelia Greene over the 1792-3 winter. During President Washington’s tour of the South in 1790 he made a special stop at Mulberry Grove to visit Caty and her family.
Mother and Children
George Washington, January 1776, Coventry RI
Martha Washington, March 1777, Coventry, RI
Cornelia Lott, autumn 1778, Coventry, RI
Nathanael Ray (Nat), January 1780, Morristown, NJ
Louisa, March 1784, Newport, RI
Catherine, autumn 1785, Mulberry Grove, GA died from whooping cough
7th Baby, spring 1786, Mulberry Grove, GA died after birth
When Caty visited Nathanael at winter camps she normally deposited her children with Nathanael’s relatives. In December 1781 in order to visit Nathanael in South Carolina, Caty deposited 3 of her children in Coventry and the 4th in Philadelphia. In the guise of loving mother she freely distributed her children to her in-laws in Rhode Island and to friends in France, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Was she a delinquent mother?
In 1793 the 5 children George, Martha, Cornelia, Nat, and Louisa were living with Caty at Mulberry Grove. In a tragic accident the well-educated and French speaking George was drowned in the strong and swift flowing currents of the nearby swollen Savannah River.
Housekeeper
Caty the free, independent, and unconventional wife must have been a poor housekeeper. She frequently squabbled with the Greene wives especially Peggy who, exasperated with her lack of dedication to domesticity, finally took over running the house in Coventry. To escape the critical eyes of Peggy Caty moved to Potowomut under the guidance of mother-in-law Greene. Sometimes Caty acted like a desperate housewife who visits several doctors until she finds the one who’ll hospitalize her so she’ll be relieved of caring for children, doing domestic chores, and receive the personal attention she craves.
Lovers
Her first love was Nathanael her husband. Although appearing happily married Caty actively sought the attention of men married or not. On one occasion while traveling south to visit Nathanael she stopped in Philadelphia. Upon her departure close friend Jeremiah Wadsworth arrived the next day. Disappointed to her core she wrote to him:
"I am trembling for fear I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you before I go to the south, [but] I know your time is entirely taken up. Be assured if I can not see you I shall go Mourning all the way. (Stegeman p93)
Are the above words those of a faithful loving wife on her way to see her hero husband absent for almost 2 years? Caty continued her intimate relationships with Anthony Wayne her neighbor in Georgia and Jeremiah Wadsworth her lawyer in Connecticut. It’s written that when Caty traveled to New York City to discuss her petition to Congress with lawyer Wadsworth, then a congressman, she spent the weekend with him. Rather than being appreciative of her presence Wadsworth, a dominating jealous type, accused her of something he couldn’t possibly know; he accused her of sexual excesses with Miller and Wayne.
When Nathanael died Wayne was at his bedside. Later Wayne wrote that Nathanael was ‘immaculate as a friend’. Might this be interpreted that despite Caty’s perceived intimacy with him, Nathanael never mentioned it? Did Caty’s flirtatious disposition beckon love from her close men friends? The speculation is that before Nathanael’s death Caty might have had affairs with French soldiers, Wadsworth, and Wayne. After Nathanael’s death it’s likely that Wadsworth and Wayne were her lovers as well as Miller whom she married.
Debts
When Nathanael died Caty was saddled with his massive debts. When Congress refused to settle Nathanael’s promissory note to Banks’s creditors, Caty had to sell the Boone Barony plantation South Carolina to pay off some of the mounting debts inherited from Nathanael. Thereafter she personally lobbied her friends Henry Knox Secretary of War, Alexander Hamilton Secretary of Treasury, and President Washington to indemnify the Greene estate in order to pay off Greene’s promissory note. Congress was delinquent in not indemnifying the Greene estate because the money was used to provision troops for winter, not for personal gain by Greene. At the time Jeremiah Wadsworth, lawyer and congressman, was handling her petition. It took friends in the highest positions of government to persuade Congress to approve her petition. President Washington happily signed it to indemnify the Greene estate. That frugal and spiteful Congress emphatically contrasts with today’s profligate Congress.
Second Marriage
At Mulberry Grove Phineas Miller was tutor to the Greene children and later managed the plantation for Caty. In 1796, 10 years after Nathanael’s death Caty married Phineas in Philadelphia. It was a private ceremony attended by the Washingtons and a few friends. Caty was 43 and Phineas 33, the reverse age difference between she and Nathanael when they married. Caty and Phineas met another Yale graduate Eli Whitney who immediately fell in love with Caty. Needing money to develop his cotton gin invention, Caty agreed to finance the partnership of Phineas and Eli to develop the cotton gin. Following in the footsteps of Nathanael she lost most of her money. Eventually she had to sell Mulberry Grove to pay off debts incurred by the development of a working model of the cotton gin. Fortunately Phineas and she were able to move to the Dungeness plantation, land granted to Nathanael on Cumberland Island, Georgia. Phineas died there in 1803. At that time in Connecticut Eli had perfected the cotton gin and was making money manufacturing it. He was still in love with Caty. He proposed marriage several times and offered inducements. Caty could have settled all her debts and lived in comfort by accepting any of Eli’s many marriage proposals.
Death
During the war of 1812 British ships were anchored off Cumberland Island, Georgia. President James Madison sent the marines there to protect the island where Caty’s family was living. Having suffered through the Revolutionary War the prospect of more war didn’t scare Caty. Near the end of the 1812 war Caty succumbed to a killing fever and died in 1814. Caty is buried in Dungeness next to Phineas rather than in Savannah next to Nathanael. Perhaps she might have held a grudge against Nathanael because of his reprimands of her profligacy and his tacit knowledge of her infidelity (referenced in his will).
Nathanael’s Will
In his will Nathanael emphasized a liberal education for his children and included a most unusual provision – ‘that the morals of his daughters be emphasized’. That provision points directly to Caty’s perceived infidelities.
Rhode Island the 13th State
Washington presided over the United States Constitutional Convention from 5May1787 to 17Sep1787, the date the Constitution was ratified. It was a time when patriot leaders participated directly in the establishment of an independent and free American nation.
The independent, nonconforming, and separatist state of Rhode Island did not send a representative to the Constitutional Convention. Rhode Island the maverick state resisted ratifying the Constitution. When Congress threatened to interfere with its trade and tax it as a foreign nation it signed the Constitution in 1790, the last and 13th state to approve it. Today the state’s official name is still Rhode Island and Providence Plantations but it’s identified simply as State of Rhode Island (RI). It’s also known as the Ocean State because the Atlantic Ocean surrounds most of the state. The smallest state it’s nicknamed Little Rhody. Parks, schools, and monuments memorialize Nathanael Greene and the Greene name is still prominent in RI.
End of Book