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“G” is for Greene, Nathanael (1742-1786)

“G” is for Greene, Nathanael (1742-1786). Soldier. A native of Rhode Island, when the Revolutionary War broke out, Greene was selected to command the Rhode Island brigade. In 1775 the Continental Congress confirmed his rank, making him the youngest general in the Continental army. After the American defeat at Camden, General Washington personally selected Green to be the commander of Continental forces in the South. At Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk Hill, and Eutaw Springs, the British technically “won” the battles but they were pyrrhic victories Over the last year of campaigning (1781), Greene aided the restoration of civil government in South Carolina, limited the British occupation to a small coastal enclave, and used the army to restore order to the interior. As army commander Nathanael Greene never won a battle… but did win the war

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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.