Washington's General: Nathanael Greene and the Triumph of the American Revolution

The overlooked Quaker from Rhode Island who won the American Revolutions crucial southern campaign and helped to set up the final victory of American independence at Yorktown. Nathanael Greene is a revolutionary hero who has been lost to history. Although places named in his honor dot city and country few people know his quintessentially American story as a self-made self-educated military genius who renounced his Quaker upbringing-horrifying his large family-to take up arms against the British. Untrained in military matters when he joined the Rhode Island militia in 1774 he quickly rose to become Washingtons right-hand man and heir apparent. After many daring exploits during the wars first four years (and brilliant service as the armys quartermaster) he was chosen in 1780 by Washington to replace the routed Horatio Gates in South Carolina. . Greenes southern campaign which combined the forces of regular troops with bands of irregulars broke all the rules of eighteenth-century warfare and foreshadowed the guerrilla wars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His opponent in the south Lord Cornwallis wrote Greene is as dangerous as Washington. I never feel secure when I am encamped in his neighborhood. He is vigilant enterprising and full of resources. Greenes ingenious tactics sapped the British of their strength and resolve even as they won nearly every battle. Terry Golway argues that Greenes appointment as commander of the American Southern Army was the wars decisive moment and this bold new book returns Greene to his proper place in the Revolutionary eras pantheon.. Washington said if he went down in battle Greene was his choice to succeed him. Read this book and you will understand why. -- Joseph J. Ellis author of His Excellency: George Washington