Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/422

 GREENE

GREENE

serving with him uutil the close of the war. He was promoted major aud brevetted lieutenant- colonel for distinguished gallantry and was mus- tei'ed out of the service in April, 1^66. He was agent and assistant secretary for the Berkshire life insurance company at Pittsfield, Mass., 1866- 70 ; assistant secretary of the Connecticut Mutual life insurance company at Hartford, Conn., 1870-71, secretary, 1871-78, and succeeded Presi- dent Goodwin as president of the company in 1878. He was made a director in the Connecti- cut trust and safe deposit company ; the Con- necticut society for savings; the Hartford fire insurance company and the Plioenix national bank. He became a member of the Connecticut society of the Sons of the Revolution and a trus- tee of the Watkins library, Hartford, Conn.

QREENE, John Priest, educator, was born in Scotland county. Mo., Aug. 20, 1849; son of Thomas William and Nancy (Priest) Greene. He was educated under Bartlett Anderson and at the Memphis academy and by two years' attend- ance at La Grange college. He was an instruc- tor in La Grange college, 1872-7,5. He entered the Southern Baptist theological seminary at Greenville, S.C, in 1875, and was graduated from that institution after its removal to Louisville, Ky., in 1879. He was pastor of the East Baptist church in Louisville, 1877-79. He was a student in the University of Leipzig, Germany, 1879-80, and also tra%"elled in Europe. He renewed the charge of the church in Louisville in 1880 and served until 1883 when he removed to St. Louis, Mo., to become pastor of the Third Bajitist church in which pastorate he remained until September, 1892, when he was made jsresident of William Jewell college. He received the honor- ary degree of D. D. from William Jewell college in 1885; and that of LL.D. from Colgate uni- versity, N.Y., in 1893 and from Wake Forest col- lege. N.C., in 1894.

QREENE, Nathanael, soldier, was born in Warwick, R.I., May 27, 1743; son of Nathaniel and Mary (Mott) Greene ; and a descendant in the fifth generation from John Greene, a surgeon of Salisbury, England, who emigrated to America, landing in Boston in 1635, and .soon after aided Roger Williams in founding Rhode Island. His father was a Quaker preacher, farmer, mill owner and iron founder. Nathanael was one of eight sons and was brought up to work in the fields, the mills, or at the forge, and to attend meetings, a walk of two miles from the homestead at Patowomut. In 1757, through a friendship formed with a college student he determined to gain a higher education, and he began the study of geoinetry and Latin and the reading of history. The Rev. Dr. Stiles, Lindley Murray, and a teacher by the name of Maxwell gave him assist-

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ance in his studies, and he read Watts and Locke aud soon not only acquired a superior education for his opportunities, but accumulated a library of several hundred classical books. He contin- ued his manual labor on the farm and at the forge, and in 1770 was elected to the general assembly from Cov- ^

entry. The events that foreshadowed war with the mother country led him to take up the study of the art of war, and he joined the Kentish Guards for which act he was expelled from tlie Quaker meeting. In May, 1775, the gen- eral assembly of the state appointed him brigadier-general of the Rhode Island con- tingent in the army before Boston, and he joined his command June 3, 1775, and left the army when it was disbanded in 1783, after an uninter- rupted service of eight years. He won Washing- ton's confidence by the perfect discipline of his brigade stationed at Roxbury, Mass. When Boston was evacuated he was entrusted by Washington with the defence of Long Island, but was unable to take part in the battle of Aug. 37, 1776, being stricken with fever. He directed the retreat of the army and lost the day at Fort Washington by undertaking to hold the position against the advice of Washington. He was made major-genei'al and given command of the troops in New Jersey in September, 1776. He commanded the division at Trenton with which the commander-in-chief marched in person, and was to share with Knox the command of the Continental army in the pursuit of the British after the surprise. He also took a brilliant jiart at Princeton and Brandywine, and commanded the left wing at Germantown. On March 2, 1788, he was made (juartermaster-general of the American army and accepted the position at the urgent request of the commander-in-chief and of the committee of congress with the provi.so that in event of battle he should command his divi- sion. He commanded the right wing at Mon- mouth in 1778, took active direction of the battle of Tiverton Heights, R.I. ; was in command of the army during Washington's absence in Hart- ford in September, 1780, when Arnold's treason was discovered, and was president of the court that tried Andrfi. On Oct. 14, 1780, he was ap- pointed to the command of the southern army which had become discouraged from repeated defeat and disaster, and he soon restored confi-