Nathanael Greene

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Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene (* July 27 jul. / 7. August  1742 greg. In Potowomut ( Warwick , Colony of Rhode Iceland and Providence Plantations ); † 19th June 1786 in Mulberry Grove in Savannah , Georgia ), was after George Washington 's most important American general during the American Revolutionary War .

Life

Nathanael Greene came from a Quaker family and acquired a good general education as an autodidact . He worked as his father's assistant on a farm and in a forge . He was expelled from the Quaker sect because of his support for the armed struggle against England .

In 1770 Greene was elected to the Parliament of Rhode Island, received command of the troops of Rhode Island after the outbreak of the American Revolution in May 1775 and led them to the Continental Army off Boston .

Greene, Brigadier General since August 1776 , was charged with the defense of Long Island by General George Washington . Shortly before the British attack , he had to give up command due to illness, whereupon the island was taken by the British. He was promoted to major general in September 1776 , distinguished himself in the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776 and the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777, covered in the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777 and in the Battle of Germantown withdrew the army on October 4, 1777 and became quartermaster general of the American troops on March 2, 1778 .

After the defeat of General Gates at Camden in 1780, Greene was given command of the Southern Army in South Carolina . He reorganized this together with Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben . He lost, although the Battle of Guilford Court House , the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill and the Battle of Eutaw Springs , him yet, succeeded his army to hold together the local guerrilla - militias and to support the British finally end in 1781 to give up the southern inland and force them to retreat to the coastal cities.

Nathanael Greene lost every single one of his battles fought in the south, but is still considered one of the best American generals, as he was successful in a strategic sense and defeated the numerically weak British in the south solely through the presence of his army and his constant attacks. Greene embodies the understanding that you don't have to win battles to win wars. The US Congress donated land in South Carolina and Georgia to Nathanael Greene in recognition of his services .

After the peace agreement on September 3, 1783, he retired to Georgia to his Mulberry Grove plantation .

Honor

18 counties and several cities in the United States were named after Nathanael Greene . (see under Articles Greene County and Greenville )

An equestrian statue was erected for him in Washington, DC ( Henry K. Brown ).

literature

  • George W. Greene: The Life of Nathanael Greene: Major-General in the Army of the Revolution . 3 volumes. New York 1867-1871. Reprint: Freeport, New York 1972, ISBN 0-8369-6910-3 .
  • Meg Greene: Nathanael Greene (Rwl). ISBN 0-7910-5977-4 (English)
  • Terry Golway: Washington's General: Nathanael Greene and the Triumph of the American Revolution . New York 2005, ISBN 0-8050-7066-4 .
  • Greene, Nathanael . In: James Grant Wilson, John Fiske (Eds.): Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography . tape 2 : Crane - Grimshaw . D. Appleton and Company, New York 1887, p. 750 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

Commons : Nathanael Greene  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Charles Curry Aiken, Joseph Nathan Kane: The American Counties: Origins of County Names, Dates of Creation, Area, and Population Data, 1950-2010 . 6th edition. Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2013, ISBN 978-0-8108-8762-6 , p. Xiv.
personal data
SURNAME Greene, Nathanael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American general
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1742
PLACE OF BIRTH Potowomut , Warwick , Rhode Island
DATE OF DEATH June 19, 1786
Place of death near Savannah , Georgia