Greene, NATHANAEL, a famous American general, was born 6th June 1742, at Warwick, Rhode Island. His father was a leading preacher among the Quakers, and educated his son very simply, training him from childhood to work on his farm, and at his forge and grist-mill. By his own perseverance, however, Nathanael the younger acquired considerable knowledge of ancient and English history, geometry, law, and moral and political science; he was also fond of reading books upon war. In 1770 he was chosen a member of the Rhode Island Assembly, and, to the great scandal of his fellow Quakers, was among the first to engage in the military exercises preparatory to resisting the mother-country. In 1774 he enlisted as a private, and in 1775 he was appointed to the command of the Rhode Island contingent to the army around Boston, with the rank of brigadier-general. Promoted to be major-general, he distinguished himself at the engagements of Trenton and Princeton. At the battle of the Brandywine he commanded a division, and by his skilful movements saved the American army from utter destruction; and at Germantown he commanded the left wing, and skilfully covered the retreat. In 1778 he accepted the office of quartermaster-general, retaining the right to command in the field. In 1778 he fought at Monmouth Court-house; in 1780 he foiled Clinton at the Rahway bridges, was president of the board that condemned André, and, having resigned the quartermaster-generalship owing to the delays of congress in providing supplies, was appointed to Arnold's post at West Point.
In December 1780 he succeeded Gates (q.v.) in the command of the army of the south. Gates had just been completely defeated by Cornwallis, and Greene found the army in a wretched state, without discipline, clothing, arms, or spirit. By dint of great activity he got his army into better condition, and in January 1781, one of his lieutenants having nearly annihilated an English detachment, and this having drawn upon Greene the whole army of Cornwallis, much his superior in numbers, he made a masterly and successful retreat. On 15th March, having drawn Cornwallis more than 200 miles from his base, he forced on him a battle at Guilford Court-house, which resulted in a victory for the British, but one so costly that Greene was allowed to pass unmolested into South Carolina. The inland portions of this state and Georgia were rapidly reconquered, and fort after fort reduced, until, at the battle of Eutaw Springs, the war in the south was practically ended in what was virtually a victory for the Americans. Congress presented Greene with a gold medal in honour of this battle, and the Carolinas and Georgia made him valuable grants of land. When peace was restored in 1783 he returned to Rhode Island, where he received numerous testimonials of the public admiration. In 1785 he retired with his family to his estate at Mulberry Grove, Georgia, where he died of sunstroke, 19th June 1786. Greene was one of the very best generals of the war of independence, second, perhaps, only to Washington, whose close friend he was. See the Life by his grandson, Professor G. W. Greene (3 vols. 1867-71), and that by Capt. F. V. Greene (1893).