Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene was a major general in the Continental Army and one of George Washington’s most trusted commanders during the American Revolution. A Rhode Island Quaker by background, he rose rapidly from militia service and also served as quartermaster general during a critical period of the war.

In 1780 Greene took command of the Southern Department and used manoeuvre, supply disruption and selective battle to exhaust British forces across the Carolinas. Although he lost several tactical engagements, his campaign helped make continued British occupation of the interior unsustainable.

Ann Rinaldi’s The Family Greene looks at Nathanael Greene from inside his household, contrasting the Revolutionary general’s public reputation with the absences, financial pressures and uncertainties experienced by his children. Jeff Shaara’s The Glorious Cause follows Greene as one of Washington’s most important commanders, carrying him from the battered Continental Army of 1776 into the southern campaigns that weakened British control. Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Hurricane’s Eye explains how Greene’s operations in the Carolinas helped draw Cornwallis towards Virginia and created the strategic opportunity for Yorktown. David Hackett Fischer’s Washington’s Crossing places Greene among the officers who helped preserve the Continental Army during the crisis of Trenton and Princeton.