Inorder to understand how Greene was appointed to Quartermaster one must understand the American Army’s living conditions in the winter of 1777. The army had a two mile wide camp in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (Carborne, 2008, p. 84). The only commodity of the land was the trees in which soldiers used to make huts. The huts were not comfortable for they leaked, during the snow and rain in which had often fallen in Valley Forge (Carborne, 2008, p. 84-85). The snow made the transportation of supplies to be impossible, for the snow tended to block the wagons in which delivered the food and other important items to soldiers. Moreover, the troops had a very meager amount of food and clothing, for many of them had to resort to drastic measures. For an example, many troops tended to cover their bodies with blankets, for they did not have enough cloths to wear (Carborne, 2008, p. 84-85). Therefore, the need for a new Quartermaster, a person in charge of supplying the army was crucial in the year of 1777 to 1778.
After ineffective Quartermaster Thomas Mifflin resigned in 1778, Congress and George Washington turned to Nathanael Greene for the position. George Washington wanted Greene as Quartermaster, because Greene was a master at acquiring supplies. For an example, when George Washington needed cartridges in White Plains, NY in 1775 Greene had forwarded 80,000 of them (Carborne, 2008 p. 89). Greene at first did not want to be Quartermaster for two reasons. The first reason was Greene believed a Quartermaster would not obtain fame. As he wrote in a letter addressed to
Greene was a very effective Quartermaster. One of Greene’s accomplishments was to fix the roads at Valley Forge. The roads in Valley Forge needed to be fixed, so the wagons would deliver the supplies without getting stuck in the snow. Greene through George Washington ordered one hundred men to fix the roads, and more materials to make more wagons. A month after Greene became Quartermaster the wagons had managed to transport the supplies on the rebuilt roads. As a result, troops at Valley Forge were no longer hungry, and had more supplies (Carborne, 2008, p. 91). Greene also delivered more tents, horses, and a plant for livestock called forage for the troops at Valley Forge (“US Army Quarter Master Foundation: Major General Nathanael Greene”, 2008). Through his two year tenure as Quartermaster Greene ability to transport more supplies helped troops in other military locations as well (Carborne, 2008, p. 120). The wagons in Valley Forge also helped the American troops physically transport themselves from Philadelphia in 1778 in a very easy manner (“US Army Quarter Master Foundation: Major General Nathanael Greene”, 2008).
Greene also participated in battles, despite his office position. The first battle Greene fought was in the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse in
Later in the year of 1778, Greene went to his home state of
In September of 1778, Greene went to Boston to stop a breakdown in Franco- American relations (“The Patriot Resource: Nathanael Greene,” 2010). The potential for the breakdown happened because on September, 6, 2008, an American mob had attacked a group of French soldiers at a bakery. The solution to soothe the French’s hard feelings was for Greene, and John Hancook to entertain officers at John Hancock mansion in Boston for a month (Carborne, 2008, p.114). After in Boston Greene back to
Greene learned that Congress insisted upon holding the Quartermaster General personally and financially responsible for the people who worked under him in the Quartermaster department (US Army Quarter Master Foundation: Major General Nathanael Greene”, 2008). Greene was furious at the new policy. The second reason was he did not agree with Congress’s new policy of demanding supplies from individual states (Logan, 2009). In Greene’s resignation letter he compared Congress to the King’s administration in England. Greene’s letter angered Congress so much there was talk about removing Greene from the battlefield.
