Military officer; born in
Warwick, R. I., May 27, 1742; was the son of a member of the Society of Friends or Quakers.
His education was confined to the
English of the common school, and his youth was spent on the farm, in a mill, or in a blacksmith's shop.
At the age of twenty years he studied law and afterwards military tactics.
He was fond of books from his childhood.
In 1770 he was elected a member of the Rhode Island legislature, wherein he held a seat until appointed to the command of the
Southern army in 1780.
His military proclivities caused him to be “disowned” by Friends, and he became a member of a military company.
Three regiments of militia were organized in
Rhode Island after the affair at
Lexington, as an “army of observation,” and these
Greene, as provincial brigadier-general, led to
Cambridge, where he was created a brigadiergeneral in the
Continental army, June 22, 1775.
Washington saw and appreciated his soldierly qualities, and in August, 1776, he was made a major-general.
He commanded the left wing of the army at
Trenton; was active in
New Jersey; by a rapid movement saved the army from destruction at the
Brandywine; was in the
battle of Germantown, Oct. 4, 1777, and in March, 1778, accepted the office of quartermaster-general, but with a guarantee that he should not lose his right of command in action.
This office he resigned in August, 1780.
In the
battle of Springfield, in June, 1780, he was conspicuous.
During
Washington's visit to
Hartford (September, 1780) he was in command of the army, and was president of the court of inquiry in the case of
Major Andre soon afterwards (see
Andre, John).
Greene succeeded
Gates in command of the
Southern army, Oct. 14, 1780, which he found a mere skeleton, while a powerful enemy was in front of it. He took command of it at
Charlotte, N. C., Dec. 4.
By skill and energy he brought order and strength out of confusion, and soon taught Cornwallis that a better
general than
Gates confronted him. He made a famous retreat through
Carolina into
Virginia, and, turning back, fought the
British army at Guildford Courthouse, N. C., March 15, 1781.
Greene then pushed into
South Carolina, and was defeated by Lord Rawdon in the battle of Hobkirk's Hill, April 25.
Soon afterwards he besieged the fort of Ninety-Six, and on Sept. 8 gained a victory at
Eutaw Springs, S. C., for which Congress gave him thanks, a British standard, and a gold medal.
Expelling the
British from the
Southern country,
Greene returned to
Rhode Island at the close of the war.
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Congress presented him with two pieces of artillery.
The
State of Georgia gave him a fine plantation a few miles from
Savannah, where he settled in the fall of
1785, and died June 19, 1786.
South Carolina also gave him a valuable tract of land.
A monument dedicated jointly to
Greene and
Pulaski stands in the city of
Savannah, and the
State of Rhode Island has erected an equestrian statue of him at the national capital, executed by
H. K. Browne.
The doubt that had long existed as to the actual burial-place of
the hero was settled early in March, 1901, when
Col. Asa Bird Gardiner, acting in behalf of the
Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati, made an exploration of the cemeteries in
Savannah, Ga., and, in the Jones vault of the long-abandoned colonial cemetery, found, the plate that had been on
General Greene's coffin and three metal buttons, with the
American eagle on them, doubtless from the uniform in which it is known that
General Greene was buried.
While
Greene and his army remained on the
Santee Hills until late in the fall, his partisan corps, led by
Marion,
Sumter,
Lee, and others, were driving the
British forces from post to post, in the low country, and smiting Tory bands in every direction.
The
British finally evacuated all their interior stations and retired to
Charleston, pursued almost to the edge of the city by the partisan troops.
The main army occupied a position between
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that city and
Jacksonboro, where the South Carolina legislature had resumed its sessions.
Greene had failed to win victories in battle, but had fully accomplished the object of his campaign— namely, to liberate the Carolinas and
Georgia from British rule.
In the course of nine months he had recovered the three Southern States, and at the close of 1781 he had all the
British troops below
Virginia hemmed within the cities of
Charleston and
Savannah.
After the disaster at the Cowpens, Cornwallis placed his force in light marching order and started in pursuit of
Morgan, hoping to intercept him before he could cross the
Catawba River.
The earl ordered all his stores and superfluous baggage to be burned, and his whole army was converted into light infantry
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corps.
The only wagons saved were those with hospital stores, salt, and ammunition, and four empty ones for sick and wounded.
Sensible of his danger,
Morgan, leaving seventy of his wounded under a flag of truce, crossed the
Broad River immediately after the battle at the
Cowpens (q. v.), and pushed for the
Catawba.
Cornwallis followed the next morning.
Two hours before the van of the pursuers appeared,
Morgan had passed the
Catawba at
Trading Ford, and before the
British could begin the passage, heavy rains produced a sudden rise in the waters, and time was given to
Morgan to send off his prisoners, and to refresh his weary troops.
When
Greene heard of the affair at the Cowpens, he put his troops in motion to join
Morgan.
Pressing forward with only a small guard, he joined
Morgan two days after he had passed the
Catawba (Jan. 29, 1781), and assumed, in person, the command of the division.
And now one of the most remarkable military movements on record occurred.
It was the retreat of the
American army, under
Greene, from the
Catawba through
North Carolina into
Virginia.
When the waters of the
Catawba subsided, Cornwallis crossed and resumed his pursuit.
He reached the right bank of the
Yadkin (Feb. 3), just as the
Americans were safely landed on the opposite shore.
Again he was arrested by the sudden swelling of the river.
Onward the flying patriots sped, and after a few hours Cornwallis was again in full pursuit.
At Guilford Court-house
Greene was joined (Feb. 7) by his main army from
Cheraw, and all continued their flight towards
Virginia, for they were not strong enough to give battle.
After many hardships and narrow escapes, the
Americans reached the
Dan (Feb. 15, 1781), and crossed its rising waters into the friendly bosom of
Halifax county, Va. When Cornwallis arrived, a few hours afterwards, the stream was so high and turbulent that he could not cross.
There, mortified and disappointed, the earl abandoned the chase, and, moving sullenly southward through
North Carolina, established his camp at
Hillsboro.
