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"G" is for Greene, Nathanael

“G” is for Greene, Nathanael [1742-1786]. Soldier. Early in the Revolution, Rhode Islander Nathaniel Greene became close to George Washington and served on his staff. After the battle of Camden, Washington personally selected him to command the southern army. Taking command in December 1780, he devised a strategy that led to the victory at Cowpens and caused Cornwallis to chase him to the Dan River. At Guilford Court House, Greene’s forces badly damaged the British who limped off to Virginia. Returning to South Carolina, he developed a strategy using his army and partisan raiders to capture isolated outposts one by one. During 1781, he forced the British into a small perimeter around Charleston. Simultaneously, Nathanael Greene aided in the restoration of civil government by protecting legislative meetings and restoring order in the interior in South Carolina.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.