by Terry Golway
closeness of, 3-4, 109, 117-18, 140, 182-83, 242
confidence of Washington in Greene’s abilities, 96, 98, 134, 162, 163, 182, 183, 201, 245
criticism of Washington’s indecisiveness, Greene’s, 142
at end of the war, 303-304, 305
first meeting, 57-58, 305
future of the nation and, 308
Greene’s death, 314
grievances, Greene’s, 139-40, 179, 181-82, 199, 234
hero worship, 60, 118, 179, 245
quartermaster general, Greene as, 165-66, 179, 180 83, 226
Society of the Cincinnati and, 310-11
southern campaign and, 232, 236-37, 239, 243-44, 251, 253, 254, 264-65, 272, 276, 285, 286-87, 303
strategy and councils of war, 65-67, 92-93, 107, 108-109, 111-12, 134, 142, 151-52, 153, 173, 175, 198, 205, 215, 222
southern campaign and, 232, 251, 254
as surrogate father and mentor for Greene, 58, 303
Yorktown, victory at, 287, 294
Wateree River, 275
Watson, Fort, 271, 273
Wayne, General Anthony, 120, 163, 175, 176, 313, 314
Caty Greene and, 158, 314
Germantown and, 144, 146, 147
Webster, Lieutenant Colonel James, 257-59
Weedon, General John, 133, 138, 139, 140
West Point, 222-23
Arnold’s attempted betrayal of, 5, 123, 225, 228-30, 233
Greene as commandant of, 6-8
Whipple, Abraham, 36
White Horse Tavern, Pennsylvania, 141
Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania, 150, 152, 153
White Plains, New York, 98, 99, 100
Williams, Colonel Otho, 250, 251, 252, 254, 282
Williams, Roger, 12, 13, 17
Wilmington, Delaware, 133, 134, 135
Wilmington, North Carolina, 261, 262, 305
Winthrop, John, 13
Yadkin River, 232, 238, 250
Yellow Springs, Pennsylvania, 142
York, Pennsylvania, 141, 279
Yorktown, Virginia, 262, 279, 280, 285, 296
American victory at, 287-88, 290, 292, 294
Young, Peter, 52
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TERRY GOLWAY, columnist and city editor of the New York Observer, is a frequent contributor to American Heritage, the Irish Echo, America Magazine, and the New York Times. His previous books include So Others Might Live, The Irish in America, For the Cause of Liberty, and Irish Rebel. He lives in Maplewood, New Jersey.
“It George Washington was the one indispensable man in our Revolution, Nathanael Greene was surely Washington’s one indispensable general. In a spirited, wholly engrossing narrative, Terry Golway summons this underappreciated figure back from the mists and puts the living man before us with all his crotchets, self-pity, self-doubt—and the tenacious, high-hearted optimism that more than once saved his infant republic.”
—Richard F. Snow, editor in chief, American Heritage
He was an unlikely warrior, even in an army of inexperienced officers and citizen soldiers. The Quaker with a pronounced limp, Nathanael Greene surprised fellow patriots by rising quickly to become George Washington’s favorite soldier and heir apparent. Other generals could claim a deeper knowledge of strategy and tactics, but none possessed his foresight and ingenuity or his organizational skills.
Unjustly humiliated for the loss of New York early in the war, Greene demonstrated the ability to turn defeat into victory in countless engagements. Yet it wasn’t until he replaced Horatio Gates, the tailed commander of the southern army, and formulated an unconventional campaign employing hit-and-run guerrilla tactics that his true military genius became apparent. Gates—a traditional general of the old school—had spent the two years since Saratoga basking in the glow of that famous victory. In the meantime, he had stumbled into a series of catastrophes until finally his entire army—1,500 Continentals and 2,000 militia patriots—was annihilated at Camden, South Carolina, in the summer of 1780. Benedict Arnold’s stunning treason followed a month later to deliver a near-fatal blow to the rebel cause.
Greene knew that the lessons learned under Washington on the battlefields of New Jersey and Pennsylvania would not apply in the South. Instead of risking conventional battles with Cornwallis’s superior army, Greene kept his smaller field forces of Continentals and militia, cavalry and lightly outfitted infantry in constant motion. His was a partisan campaign, and its success depended upon local support. His unorthodox strategy was to win by surprise attacks and hasty retreats, which cut the enemy’s supply lines until the British leaders tired of hunger and bloody sacrifices.
In one of the most audacious decisions of the war, Greene divided his army, separating Daniel Morgan’s nimble troops from his own by 120 miles, with Cornwallis’s army between them The gamble paid off handsomely: the victory that followed not only stunned the British, it gave heart to southern patriots. Conscious of doubts among many southerners about the Revolution, Greene believed civilians would be more inclined to join the Continentals if the cause did not seem unwinnable. Greene’s unconventional campaign sealed the bargain, and the way was prepared for the final victory at Yorktown less than a year later.
Terry Golway’s bold new book, drawn from field documents, letters, diaries, and other sources, takes full account of the scope of Nathanael Greene’s remarkable accomplishments, returning the forgotten patriot to his proper place in American history.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR
WASHINGTON’S GENERAL
“While researching and writing a book about George Washington, I concluded that Nathanael Greene was the most underappreciated great man in the War for Independence, and that he deserved a modern biography that told his incredible story. Now here it is. Washington once said that if he went down in battle, Greene was his choice to succeed him. Read this book and you will understand why.”
—Joseph J. Ellis, author of His Excellency: George Washington and Founding Brothers