General Nathanael Greene 277th Birthday Ceremony

General Nathanael Greene 277th Birthday Ceremony Video & Photo Slide Show
Dan Bidondi – July 27th, 2019  Coventry, RI

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General Nathanael Greene Homestead

Major Gen. Nathanael Greene was born at the Forge Grist Mill in Potowomut, Warwick R.I., July 27, 1742 (O.S.), to Nathanael a preacher in the Society of Friends and Mary (Mott) Greene.

Nathanael Jr. and his brothers were trained by their father as ironmasters. The family business at the forge prospered and this led to the establishment of a second ironworks in Coventry, ten miles from the Potowomut forge on the south branch of the Pawtuxet River. This business grew and by 1768 over 100 families lived in the vicinity of their Coventry forge. Nathanael made his home at the Coventry forge in 1770 and ran the family business. A setback occurred in 1772 when a fire destroyed the Coventry forge. Although efforts to rebuild were slow, the forge was eventually rebuilt. Today there is no evidence of a forge. An avid reader since boyhood, Nathanael actually had no formal education.

Nathanael believed that a war was inevitable between the colonists and the mother country, Britain. Because of this concern, he joined in the establishment of the Kentish Guards of East Greenwich. This military unit, organized by charter of the Rhode Island General Assembly, was trained by a British sergeant, a deserter, who Nathanael had persuaded to join the colonists’ cause. On the evening of April 19, 1775, news of the British attack at Lexington reached Nathanael. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Greene mounted his horse and rode to East Greenwich where he joined other members of the Kentish Guard and marched onward to Boston. Soon after, the Rhode Island general Assembly appointed Greene, General of the Army of Observation. With a portion of this force, he joined the American troops besieging Boston. Six weeks later, Congress appointed Greene Brigadier General of the Continental Army. Later, he was named Major General.

As Quartermaster General and war strategist, Greene was involved in the major battles of the Revolution including Harlem Heights, Trenton, Brandywine, Valley Forge and Portsmouth Rhode Island. Following the defeat of Generals Lincoln and Gates in the south, Washington appointed General Greene to command the southern forces. Under this command came success at Eutaw Springs and Guilford Court House and the withdrawal of Lord Cornwallis to Virginia. As the war ended, General Greene and others received gifts of land tracts and Tory plantations from South Carolina and Georgia in appreciation for the defeat of Cornwallis. Among the holdings given Greene was Mulberry Grove, a plantation on the Savannah River in Georgia. 

General Nathanael Greene
After the war ended, the Greenes faced with enormous debts incurred during the war from the letter of credit Nathanael had received to provide money for provisions for his troops. An agent sent to purchase the provisions absconded with the funds. The provisions had to be provided, so Greene pledged repayment expecting Congress to compensate him. The creditors’ demands for reimbursements obliged the General to sell some properties. Congress did vote the funds but it was not until 1792 several years after Greene’s death, that the matter was finally resolved.

In 1783, General Greene’s family moved from Coventry to Newport for a brief time and then to Mulberry Grove. The Homestead in Coventry was signed over to his brother Jacob. In 1786, General Greene died of sunstroke while riding through his plantation. He was buried in the colonial cemetery of Christ Episcopal Church in the Graham vault in Savannah, Georgia. Later his remains were removed from the cemetery and re-interred in Johnson Square, Savannah Georgia.

Dan Bidondi for TruthRadioShow.com