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

by Terry Golway

Book Overview

The overlooked Quaker from Rhode Island who won the Revolutionary War's 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 Washington's right-hand man and heir apparent. After many daringexploits during the war's first four years (and brilliant service as the army's quartermaster), he was chosen in 1780 by Washington to replace the routed Horatio Gates in South Carolina.Greene's 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." Greene's ingenious tactics sapped the British of their strength and resolve even as they "won" nearly every battle. Terry Golway argues that Greene's appointment as commander of the American Southern Army was the war's decisive moment, and this bold new book returns Greene to his proper place in the Revolutionary era's pantheon.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805070664
• ISBN13: 9780805070668
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 355 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Perfect for history lovers

This book gives an in depth look at the part Nathanael Greene played in the American Revolution. You will wonder why he isn't more well known and we probably would not have won the Revolution without his knowledge of military tactics and his devotion to the cause of Liberty.

washington's general review

I have recently finished this book and I thought it was the best book on Nathaniel Greene I have ever read.If you ever need or want to read or research a book on Nathaniel Greene I advise this book. By Graham sharkey

A great read about a little-known national hero.

After learning for the first time about Nathanael Greene's prominence in the American Revolution while reading David McCullough's fine book, "1776", I sought out a biography on Greene, and I'm glad I selected this one. Although I was not previously familiar with Golway, I found his writing very enjoyable. This book is on a par with McCullough's "1776" as well his "Truman" and the wonderful "John Adams", and is also of comparable readability to Joseph J. Ellis' "Founding Brothers", "The American Sphinx", and "His Excellency". Since those six books by McCullough and Ellis are among my alltime favorites, those reading this review should recognize the comparison as a high compliment to Terry Golway. I can recommend "Washington's General: Nathanael Greene ..." without reservation. Lee Steers Scottsdale, Arizona

An excellent book about a truly underapppreciated American hero

Why a magazine columnist from New Jersey would choose to write about Rhode Island's unsung Revolutionary War hero is beyond me, but I'm sure glad he did. To me, it's quite clear that Greene was never adequately recognized for his wartime accomplishments because he died unexpectedly in 1786 of a stroke at age 44 and never had the chance to participate and obtain fame in the founding of the new nation. Who knows where events would have lead had he lived. He clearly had Washington's utmost respect and gratitude, and he demonstrated the highest integrity, leadership, dedication, competency, determination, and ability to get things done during times of great stress and deprivation. Nathanael Greene's "Southern Campaign" is probably the most under appreciated aspect of the War in the books coming out today. The recent best sellers "1776" by McCullough and Pulitzer Prize-winning "Washington's Crossing" by Fisher seem to imply that after the surprise victories at Trenton and Princeton the war was all over, but this couldn't be further from the truth. The next several years were dismal (the winter at Valley Forge was 1777-8), and it wasn't until the war later moved into the South and Greene assumed control that the colonialist learned how to defeat the British--inflict punishment, lead the British away from their supplies, and then retreat into the woods. This was Greene's strategy, and he executed it with utmost ability and skill. This is why a battered Cornwallis headed to Yorktown, to get desperately needed supplies. Washington had the personal touch, but Greene got things done, and Washington knew it and appreciated it. Everyone knew that if Washington was injured, Greene would take over. The book read very quickly, especially the exciting section on the Southern Campaign. It also presented the more human side of Greene very well--his fondness for his very attractive wife Caty, his fierce loyality to Washington, his weakness for needing to receive recognition for his accomplishments from Washington, his determination to derive personal profit from the war, and his strict aesthetic Quaker upbringing against which he rebelled. Earlier this year I visited the Greene homestead in Coventry, Rhode Island. It's a very simple home, set on roughly ten acres of land that is amazingly just now being cleared of overgrown brush. I'd definitely recommend a visit. The curators mentioned that there were more visitors from the South than the North. I still have a hard time believing it, but at least now I understand this better. Apparently, down south, Greene is getting his due. It's kind of a shame for the Rhode Island home boy. The Sept 7, 2005 reviewer mentions that the two maps in the front of the book, indicating where battles were fought, could have been better. I'd have to agree.

Greene Gets His Due.........

Terry Golway's "Washington's General" is a marvelous piece of history written in the same manner as McCullough's "1776", in which Golway pays tribute to the most important figure in American history behind Washington. In Golway's arousing and commanding writting style we are transported through history to a time that seemed as if there was little hope for the vision of independence held by Washington and Greene. Through Greene's Quaker religious upbringing and sparse education, we see the developing stages of a man who would go on to lead the American Republic through the trials and tribulations of a new political idealogy. Though Greene was stigmatised by critical condemnation, his unyielding dedication to Washington and the cause of liberty elavated him above those who espoused the elements of a new republic but lacked the self sacrifice that requires victory. Greene accomplished and sacrificed much for the new Republic from his assigned duties as Quarter Master General of the Contental Army, which he lothed, saving the starving army of Valley Forge and Jocky Hollow with his adminstrative skills and underming the Conway cable who sought to undermine Washington at a time that questioned his abilities to lead the army to the victories it so strived to achieve. Greene lead the victory with brilliant hit and run strategy of the southern campaigns that brought an end to Cornwallis's expedition through the Carolina's and his eventual surrender at Yorktown. There is much to learn about a true unsung hero of the American Republic and with Golway's exuberant storytelling Nathanel Greene's historic legacy has been brought to its rightful forefront of American History. Brilliant, rewarding and insightfull.............

smart and readable american history

This book is a compelling and highly readable account of one of the most important and underappreciated figures in American military history. The author has managed to present a nuanced look at Greene's professional and personal life that humanizes him in a way not seen among the many dry and uncritical books on this period. And Golway obviously knows how to tell a story, as evidenced by the way that the book is larded with historical detail -- culled from recently collected volumes of Greene's personal correspondence -- without ever slowing down the narrative.