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Greene (NATHANAEL an American military)

NATHANAEL, an American military officer;

born in Warwick co., R. I., May 27, 1742. His school education was of the simplest and most limited character; but by industry he acquired a knowledge of the principal GREENE branches of English education, and made some progress in law. On the commencement of the troubles between the colonies and Great Britain, he volunteered as a private (1774) ; but the following year he was chosen, by the Assembly of Rhode Island, general of the contingent furnished by that colony to the army near Boston. He was made Major-General in the Continental army in 1776, and accompanied Washington on his brilliant He performed a expedition into New Jersey near the close of the same year. He performed a New Jersey near the close of the same year . prominent part in the disastrous battle of Germantown (1777), on which occasion his courage and skill did much toward retrieving the reputation of the American arms. In 1778 he was apthe reputation of the American arms . pointed quartermaster-general. After the defeat of General Gates (1780) at the battle of Camden, S. C., he was appointed to the command of the S. army, which he found demoralized, and in a state of utter destitution. His presence soon restored the confidence of the troops. In March, 1781, he was defeated by Lord Cornwallis in the hard-fought battle of Guilford Court House, but the English general derived no permanent advantages from this success. Cornwallis having re- . Cornwallis hav treated into Virginia, Greene defeated, after a severe action (September, 1781), the forces of Colonel Stewart at Eutaw Springs, and thereby put an end to the British power in South Carolina. This was the last battle in which General Greene was engaged, though he held his command till the end of the war. He died from the effect of a sunstroke at Mulberry Grove on the Savannah river, June 19, 1786. In 1778 he was ap-