Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/786

750 being for a year with the Russian army m the field. He was assistant to the engineer in charge of public works in the District of Columbia in 1879-'85, being made captain in January, 1888, instructor in practical engineering at West Point from 1 Sept., 1885, to January, 1886, and on 31 Dec. of the latter year resigned his commission. He has published "Deflections of the Plumb-Line along the 49th Parallel" (1876); "The Russian Army and its Campaigns in Turkey in 1877-8" (2 vols.. New York, 1879) ; " Army Life in Russia" (1880); "The Mississippi" (1882); and "General Greene," in "Great Commanders" series (1893).

GREENE, Nathanael, soldier, b. in Potowomut, within the jurisdiction of Warwick, R. I., 6 June, 1742; d. at Mulberry Grove, Ga., 19 June, 1786. He was the fifth in descent from John Greene, a surgeon, who came over in the next company after Roger Williams, and became an original proprietor in both Providence and Shawomet. Nathanael was the fourth son in a family of eight boys and one girl, two being the issue of Nathanael the elder's first marriage, and the others of the second. The elder Nathanael was a Quaker, exercising on Sunday his gift as a preacher, and his sons were brought up according to the strictest principles of that sect. Young Nathanael was trained in common with the other boys to work in the field, the mill and the forge. Young Greene was of a robust nature, fond of athletic sports, in which he excelled; but he was also of a studious disposition. A chance meeting with a young collegian named Giles aroused a desire for more knowledge than the crude educational materials in vogue in this Quaker community afforded. His father was appealed to, to enlarge his means of study; and shortly afterward Nathanael, under the guidance of a Scotchman named Maxwell, began Latin and geometry. Euclid became an absorbing study, and a copy of this treatise, purchased with his own earnings, was his almost constant companion on his daily round of duty. Between 1753 and 1755 he made the acquaintance of President Stiles, then a clergyman in Newport, and under his guidance acquired a knowledge of such authors as Locke, Watts, and Swift. The latter was his literary model, and he shaped his ideas of history upon Ferguson's &ldquo;History of Civil Society.&rdquo; About the same time he met Lindley Murray, the &ldquo;grammarian of three generations of ungrateful school-boys,&rdquo; with whom he had many profitable discussions on the subjects of his readings. In 1760 Nathanael took a step that exhibited his independence of judgment and action. At that time a strong prejudice against inoculation prevailed, and the practice of it had been forbidden by the assemblies of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the latter rejecting it as late as 1772. Greene, finding the scourge of small-pox raging in New York on one of his visits, submitted to inoculation, much to the scandal, it is presumed, of his neighbors and friends. In order to conduct intelligently a lawsuit in which the family had become involved, he made, in his twentieth year, a thorough study of Blackstone's &ldquo;Commentaries&rdquo; and Jacob's &ldquo;Law Dictionary.&rdquo; As the business of the Greene forge, at Coventry, required the constant attention of one of the partners, Nathanael removed to that place in 1770. In April, 1765, he had been admitted a freeman in Warwick, by virtue of his proprietorship of an estate at West Greenwich. Three years later he canvassed the county for signatures to the association test, and shortly after his removal to Coventry he sat in the general assembly as a representative from that place. The disputes between the colonies and the British government were commented upon by the young legislator, and so well known were his sentiments that the royal agents appointed to seek out the offenders in the burning of the &ldquo;Gaspé&rdquo; at once fixed their suspicions upon him, and for some time he was in danger of being summoned to the court of inquiry at Newport. He was convinced that war would be the outcome of pending troubles, and applied himself to the study of military science. From Sharpe's &ldquo;Military Guide,&rdquo; Turenne's &ldquo;Memoirs,&rdquo; Cæsar's &ldquo;Commentaries,&rdquo; and Plutarch, he derived that theoretical military knowledge which he so successfully put into practice in his military career. In 1774 an independent company, recruited from East Greenwich, Warwick, and Coventry, was formed under the name of the Kentish Guards, and Greene immediately enrolled himself as a private, after failing of an election to the office of lieutenant. Even his admission as a private was some time in doubt, owing to a slight limp in his gait. In securing his military equipment, Greene showed his customary energy, making a trip to Boston, and not only bringing back the accoutrements concealed under straw in his wagon, but also having with him a deserter from one of the British regiments in Boston, whom he had employed to act as drill-master. The Quakers looked askance at Greene's interest in military matters, and a conference resulted in the severance of his formal connection with that fraternity; but he never lost his attachment for this simple religion. The news of the battle of Bunker Hill aroused the Rhode Island assembly, and they voted to raise a brigade of three regiments to join the forces around Boston, commissioning Greene as brigadier-general. This contingent joined the American army at Jamaica Plain, on 3 June, 1776, and the young officer at once proceeded with the task of organizing the undisciplined men in his command. Washington arrived at Cambridge on 2 July, and upon Greene devolved the duty of welcoming the commander-in-chief in the name of the soldiers, which task he performed in a dignified and pleasing manner. During the siege of Boston he was stationed at Prospect Hill, and in the affair of Dorchester Heights he commanded a brigade. On the evacuation of Boston he was ordered to Long Island, but during the disastrous operations in this campaign he lay at the point of death. The American army made a stand at Harlem in the retreat from Long Island; but the critical situation induced Greene, who had been promoted to major-general, to propose to Washington the abandonment of New York, and the occupation of the Westchester shore from King's Bridge, and the council of war finally approved the plan. Fort Washington was to be held, to obstruct the passage of the Hudson; but its downfall soon followed, and Greene, who advised its retention, has suffered in reputation in consequence. The question of his responsibility has been the subject of controversy between Bancroft, the historian, and George W. Greene. Cornwallis crossed the Hudson on 18 Nov., 1776, and made a movement to cut off the American retreat to the Hackensack; but Greene engaged him at the head of the stream, and held him until the troops had crossed. The retreat through the Jerseys now began, and the harassed army brought up at Trenton on 2 Dec., where Washington at once set about getting his baggage and stores across the Delaware. On 25 Dec. the American army, with Greene in command of the left wing and Sullivan of the right,