The American Revolution happened in 1775, after the battles in Lexington and Concord. An Army of Observation was established by the Rhode Island, General Assembly. On May, 8, 1775 Greene was given command as a Brigadier General, and he was the youngest Brigadier commissioned by the army (“The Patriot Resource: Nathanael Greene,” 2010). Greene’s promotion from Private to Brigadier was considered to be one of the fastest promotions in military history. The answer to why Greene was promoted was unknown; but a valid prediction was Greene impressed top military officials with his knowledge on military affairs (Buchanan, 1997, 264,). At the age 33, Greene left his family, town, and manufacturing job to take his place in the American Revolution (Greene, 1893, p. 22-23).
Greene went to Boston, where he trained troops who lacked discipline and military training (Greene, 1893, p. 22-23). Greene spent a vast amount of energy training them, and was met with success. Unfortunately, Greene’s troop could not fight at the Battle of Bunker Hill because Greene was in Rhode Island petitioning for more supplies from Governor Cooke of Rhode Island (Logan, 2010 & Greene, 1893, p. 24). In his nine months in Boston Greene demonstrated a vast amount of organization and preparation among his troops, but there was no striking battlefield action (Greene, 1893, p. 24).
Nathanael Greene met George Washington in June of 1775, who was a general at the time. Greene and Washington immediately became very close comrades (The Patriot Resource: Nathanael Greene,” 2010). The friendship between Washington and Greene never deteriorated (Buchanan, 1997, p. 265). After George Washington came there was a complete transformation of the troops in Boston they stopped being called the militia, and became the Continental Army (Greene, 1893, p. 24). Greene became a Brigadier General of the Continental Army, and Washington gave Greene a position in the Councils of War. The Councils of War was a committee on which often advised against aggressive action in the battlefield (Buchanan, 1997, 265).
Greene wrote two very important letters during his stay in Boston. In the first letter Nathanael Greene was the first person to coin the phrase, “a declaration of American Independence,” a sentence many colonists would repeat in the following year (Carborne, 28). He wrote the phrase in a letter to his cousin Jacob in response to King George’s speech. The speech was on how the Germans (called Hessians) allied with the British Army against the Americans, who were fighting for independence (Carborne, 2008, p. 27). In Greene’s second important letter was to his friend Samuel Ward Sr, where he predicted the French would soon alley with the American troops; due to tense relations between the Germans, and the French (Carborne, 2008, p. 27). Greene made a valid prediction, because the French did alley themselves with the American troops in 1778.
George Washington gave Greene command of the Long Island to troops to oversee the Brooklyn defenses. Greene was promoted to General of the New York army, but he missed the battle because he had a fever (“The Patriot Resource: Nathanael Greene,” 2010). The fever nearly killed Greene, and had to go to a doctor’s house in Manhattan away from the battlefield to recover (Carborne, 2008, p. 35). The American troops were badly defeated in Long Island. Greene was disappointed, for he felt he would have had better command of the troops, if he had been in the battle (Buchanan, 1997, p. 265). In spite of Greene’s belief no American General or army was a match for the 20, 000 British regulars (Buchanan, 1997, p. 265-266). However, there were some Greene biographers, such as Sir Vincent Greene, who stated due to Greene’s later experience in the South he might have been able to weaken the British advances (Greene, 1893, p. 44). Therefore, the American troops might have had a better battle with Greene in charge.
After Greene recovered from his illness he went to a section in New York City called the Kip’s Bay Area. Greene witnessed a very messy scene at Kip’s Bay, when the British fired seven canons from five different war ships. The American troops did not retaliate; instead they ran very fast from the canons (Buchanan, 1997, p.266). Washington described the battle as disgraceful; but Washington was at fault, for deploying his troops so badly (Buchanan, 1997, p. 266). Greene believed the incident to be fault of Congress, who brought in soldiers who came and went (Buchanan, 1997, p.266). The day after the disgraceful attack of Kip’s Bay, American soldiers fought back at Brooklyn Heights. The Americans had stood their ground, and forced the British to withdraw from Brooklyn Heights. The attack in Brooklyn Heights was described as a skirmish not a battle, and the American troops only fought a small section of British soldiers not the main army. However, the troops needed a victory after Kip’s Bay, so they celebrated their victory at Brooklyn Heights. The evidence, which Greene was a part of this victory, was in his words, “I had the honor to be in command.” (Buchanan, 1997, p. 268). Nathanael Greene and the rest of the American army were happy to have a victory, even a minor one after a series of many defeats.
The biggest mistake Greene’s military career was to protect Fort Washington (Buchanan, 1997, p. 267). Fort Washington was one of the two forts built on bluffs on the narrows of the Hudson River. Fort Washington and Fort Lee were designed to stop British shipping on the Hudson River (Carborne, 2008, p. 41). Washington was concerned, and tried to reason with Greene to get the troops away from Fort Washington. However, Greene remained optimistic the fort would be protected. In 1776, Greene’s predictions turned out false, for 8, 000 British and Hessians surrounded Fort Washington (Buchanan, 1997, p. 268). All of the 2,837 Americans holding the fort were either killed or captured (Carborne, 2008, p. 44). The men taken prisoners were either locked up in squalid warehouses, or in dark and wet prison ships on the Manhattan harbor (Carborne, 2008, p. 44). In the next eighteen months two thirds of the men, who were taken prisoners died, because of the horrible conditions in captivity (Buchanan, 1997, p. 268). A huge amount of military equipment was lost in the attack as well, for 146 cannons, 12, 000 ammunitions, 2,800 muskets, and 400,000 cartridges were all lost to the British army. Fort Washington was the worst defeat that happened in the early period of the American Revolution (Buchanan, 1997, p. 268). Greene felt very ashamed of himself as he stated in a letter: “I feel mad, vexed, and sorry…” (Sheer & Rankin, 1957, p. 20). Greene was still an inexperienced general in 1776, so his lack of experience caused him to make an error of judgment. Greene had learned from his mistake, for he never made another serious military error (Buchanan, 1997, p. 268). In spite of Nathanael Greene’s mistake in Fort Washington, George Washington had not lost faith in him as a General (Buchanan, 1997, p. 269).
Greene was not bitter for long, for he had to concentrate to protect the other fort, Fort Lee. The British had come to Fort Lee 4 days after the attack on Fort Washington. Greene along with George Washington gave immediate orders to the soldiers to evacuate Fort Lee (Carborne, 2008, 45). The people protecting Fort Lee were better prepared with the exception of 90 soldiers all of the 2500, who were at Fort Lee had escaped (Carborne, 2008, 46). Nathanael Greene learned from his mistake in a very rapid manner.
