Local History Website of the SMSU Department of History

Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene was born in 1742 in Rhode Island. He worked in his father’s iron or blacksmith shop. He married Catharine Littlefield. They had several children.  Nathanael was getting ready to run his father’s shop. Then came the American Revolution. 

Nathanael Greene was elected to the legislature. He was also in the Rhode Island citizen army, called the militia. He became their leader. In 1775, they joined George Washington’s army. It was called the Continental Army. Greene became a general in the army. He was in the army through the War of Independence.

Greene was very important at the Battle of Brandywine. He moved part of the army to stop the British attack. If he had not done this, many men would have been killed in the battle.

He was very good at organizing things. Washington put him in charge of organizing the supplies of the army. This job is called quartermaster general. Greene was at Washington’s main camp, the army's headquarters. It was at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.  

General Greene became the leader of the Continental Army in the South.  The area included the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.  He got the army and militia or citizen army to work together. They gathered supplies. They stopped the British from getting supplies.

There were many battles. One of the biggest was at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. There is a monument to honor Greene at this battlefield.

          Nathanael Greene Monument
                  by Francis H. Packer
     Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

General Greene and his army fought until the British army went back to the coast. The British army later left on their ships.

North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia thanked Greene after the war. They gave him land. He got a large farm. The farm was called Mulberry Grove. It was on the Savannah River. The farm was near Savannah, Georgia.  He and his family lived on the farm. This is where he died in 1786.

Greene helped America win the War of Independence. He was very important. He was a hero.  Several states have counties named after him.  Greene County Missouri is named for Nathanael Greene.

Top image, selection from the portrait by Charles Willson Peale