#122: General Nathanael Greene, Revolutionary War "Lunch & Learn," and The Demon of Unrest
For South Carolina history lovers far and wide! Published weekly on Monday mornings. Enjoy weekly SC history articles, interviews w/ experts, book recommendations, and upcoming SC historical events.
Dear reader,
Welcome to SC History Newsletter #122!
Today we’ll be diving back into Revolutionary War history with the story of General Nathanael Greene. :)
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And now, let’s learn some South Carolina history!
Yours truly,
Kate
(Writing from Greenville, SC)
➳ Featured SC History Events
Please note our featured SC History Event below, and click here to visit my SC History Events Calendar that organizes all the upcoming SC history events I have discovered.
Please let me know if you’d like to add an event to the calendar! Reply to this email to send me your events.
Event Recommendation of the Week:
Thursday, November 21st at 12:00 pm | “Lunch & Learn: Nathanael Greene” | Revolutionary War Visitor Center | Camden, SC | Tickets are $35
“Author Salina Baker comes to the Revolutionary War Center for a special Lunch & Learn to share her expertise on American General Nathanael Greene and promote her book, The Line of Splendor.”
➳ SC History Book, Article, & Movie Recommendations
“The Demon of Unrest” by Erik Larson
Publisher’s description:
“A feast of historical insight and narrative verve . . . This is Erik Larson at his best, enlivening even a thrice-told tale into an irresistible thriller.”—The Wall Street Journal
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.
Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”
At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between them. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous secretary of state, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.
Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.’”
Have you read this book? Tell us your review! Leave a comment below!
➳ SC History Topic of the Week:
How did General Nathanael Greene help America win the Revolution?
(A note from Kate: Greenville, SC (where I live) is named after Major-General Nathanael Greene and I am a member of Daughters of the American Revolution Nathanael Greene chapter. With these things in mind, I thought it was about time I learn about this historical hero!)
Major-General Nathanael Greene was one of the most important military figures in the American Revolution. He would come to be known as “The Savior of the South” and “The Fighting Quaker.” He was one of George Washington’s most “talented and dependable officers.”
But where did General Greene’s story begin? He grew up in a Quaker household in Warwick, Rhode Island. His father was a prosperous Quaker merchant and farmer.
As he grew older, Greene was keenly interested in military history books and enjoyed learning about military strategy. These interests went against his Quaker religion, which preached pacifism. When Greene attended a military parade and publicly endorsed war against Great Britain, he was expelled from his Quaker church.
On June 9th 1772, on Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, a group of 60 armed American colonists “disguised with black-smeared faces or Indian headdresses” deliberately attacked a British government ship The Gaspee on duty. It would later be known as The Gaspee Affair. Greene’s family was accused of being involved in the incident, and the aftermath of the event emboldened Greene to join the military.
When the American Revolution began, Greene helped assemble a local militia who called themselves the “Kentish Guards.”
At some point during his childhood, Greene had acquired a limp, which was a “disqualification for a soldier in the ranks” but nonetheless, he was quickly recognized as a leader in spite of his physical infirmity.
Greene quickly in the ranks. According to the National Parks Service:
“In May 1775, Greene was commissioned as a brigadier general of militia commanding the three regiments raised in Rhode Island for service with Washington’s army at Boston. The following June Greene received his Continental commission and two months later was promoted to major general. His innate military skill soon made him Washington’s most trusted subordinate.”
Greene served during the “difficult and deadly” winter at Valley Forge. He was also assigned to replace the former commander and traitor, Benedict Arnold at the defenses of the upper Hudson River.
Meanwhile down south, the American forces were in bad shape. In 1780, the British forces had captured Charles Town and “the entire South Carolina Provincial Army, along with all their armaments and supplies.” In August that same year, Americans suffered a disastrous blow by British Lt. Gen. Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Camden, also in South Carolina. George Washington knew that if South Carolina fell, the other colonies “would fall like dominoes.”
Congress asked George Washington to name a new commander for the Southern Army to help turn the tide. Washington immediately recommended Greene, who took over command in October 1780. Greene was 38 years old.
Greene examined the situation in South Carolina and made a plan. First, he recognized that that the forces he would lead into the South were not nearly big enough to vanquish the enemy. Second, there was not enough food in the backcountry forests of South Carolina to feed his men and their horses. So he planned for the unthinkable: he divided his troops and sent them in different directions to confuse and separate the British enemy. Furthermore, Greene believed his troops would have more of a fighting chance against a smaller contingent of the British army (once split).
Greene called upon his friend and the “grizzled war fighter” Daniel Morgan to come out of retirement to help him with his plan against Cornwallis and the British troops.
Greene’s plan worked. Cornwallis split his troops. One British faction went to North Carolina, and the other remained in South Carolina to protect the British fort at Ninety-Six, SC.
General Daniel Morgan and his “Overmountain Men” captured a “glorious victory” at King’s Mountain and then they scored a decisive win at the Battle of Cowpens.
At Cowpens, General Morgan apparently told his troops: “On this ground I will defeat the British of lay my bones.”
Shortly thereafter, General Greene dealt a “punishing blow” to Cornwallis at Guilford Court House in North Carolina, “killing or capturing a quarter of the British army.”
These decisive victories would lead the way to American victory and the eventual British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781. Greene secured his place in the pantheon of heroes of the American Revolution.
Here is an informative video that goes into even more detail on the various battles mentioned above:
When the city of Greenville, SC (originally spelled “Greeneville” with the extra “e” like Nathael Greene) received its charter in 1786, they were quick to name the area after General Greene. There are also 21 cities, towns, and counties around the country named for Nathanael Greene including Greensboro, North Carolina, Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
There is a statue of Nathanael Greene outside of Greenville, SC’s Upcountry History Museum and there are statues for him also in the cities of Washington, DC, Rhode Island, and Savannah.
➳ Sources — Nathanael Green History
Chastain, Dennis. "Why Greenville Was Named for Nathanael Greene." Greenville Journal, https://greenvillejournal.com/history/why-greenville-was-named-for-nathanael-greene-field-notes-with-dennis-chastain/. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
"Nathanael Greene." Battlefields.org, American Battlefield Trust, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/nathanael-greene. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
"Nathanael Greene and the Southern Continental Army." Americana Corner, https://www.americanacorner.com/blog/nathanael-greene-southern-continental-army. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
National Museum of the United States Army. "Nathanael Greene." The National Museum of the United States Army, https://www.thenmusa.org/biographies/nathanael-greene/#:~:text=Numerous%20towns%2C%20cities%2C%20and%20counties,%2C%20Rhode%20Island%2C%20and%20Savannah. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
National Park Service. "Nathanael Greene." National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/people/nathanael-greene.htm#:~:text=A%20childhood%20affliction%20forced%20him,with%20Washington's%20army%20at%20Boston. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
Simms, William Gilmore. The Life of Nathanael Greene, Major-General in the Army of the Revolution. G.F. Cooledge & Bro, 1849.
Warwick History. "The Gaspee Affair of 1772." Warwick History, https://www.warwickhistory.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277:the-gaspee-affair-of-1772&catid=40:introduction-to-warwick-history&Itemid=130. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
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So glad you reviewed Demon of Unrest! Like all of Erik Larson's books, this is history that reads like a novel, with vibrant characters, startling plot twists, and a deep dive into the history you thought you knew. Loved the South Carolina connection with this book!