being for a year with the Russian army m the field. He was assistant to the engineer in charge of public works in the District of Columbia in 1879-'85, being made captain in January, 1888, instructor in practical engineering at West Point from 1 Sept., 1885, to January, 1886, and on 31 Dec. of the latter year resigned his commission. He has published "Deflections of the Plumb-Line along the 49th Parallel" (1876); "The Russian Army and its Campaigns in Turkey in 1877-8" (2 vols.. New York, 1879) ; " Army Life in Russia" (1880); "The Mississippi" (1882); and "General Greene," in "Great Commanders" series (1893).
GREENE, Nathanael, soldier, b. in Potowomut,
within the jurisdiction of Warwick, R. I.,
6 June, 1742; d. at Mulberry Grove, Ga., 19
June, 1786. He was the fifth in descent from
John Greene, a surgeon, who came over in the
next company after Roger Williams, and became
an original proprietor in both Providence and
Shawomet. Nathanael was the fourth son in a
family of eight boys and one girl, two being the
issue of Nathanael the elder's first marriage, and
the others of the second. The elder Nathanael
was a Quaker, exercising on Sunday his gift as a
preacher, and his sons were brought up according
to the strictest principles of that sect. Young
Nathanael was trained in common with the other
boys to work in the field, the mill and the forge.
Young Greene was of a robust nature, fond of
athletic sports, in which he excelled; but he was
also of a studious disposition. A chance meeting
with a young collegian named Giles aroused a
desire for more knowledge than the crude
educational materials in vogue in this Quaker
community afforded. His father was appealed to, to
enlarge his means of study; and shortly afterward
Nathanael, under the guidance of a Scotchman
named Maxwell, began Latin and geometry.
Euclid became an absorbing study, and a copy of
this treatise, purchased with his own earnings,
was his almost constant companion on his daily
round of duty. Between 1753 and 1755 he made
the acquaintance of President Stiles, then a clergyman
in Newport, and under his guidance acquired
a knowledge of such authors as Locke, Watts,
and Swift. The latter was his literary model,
and he shaped his ideas of history upon Ferguson's
“History of Civil Society.” About the same
time he met Lindley Murray, the “grammarian
of three generations of ungrateful school-boys,”
with whom he had many profitable discussions
on the subjects of his readings. In 1760 Nathanael
took a step that exhibited his independence of
judgment and action. At that time a strong
prejudice against inoculation prevailed, and the
practice of it had been forbidden by the assemblies
of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the latter
rejecting it as late as 1772. Greene, finding
the scourge of small-pox raging in New York on
one of his visits, submitted to inoculation, much
to the scandal, it is presumed, of his neighbors
and friends. In order to conduct intelligently a
lawsuit in which the family had become involved,
he made, in his twentieth year, a thorough study
of Blackstone's “Commentaries” and Jacob's
“Law Dictionary.” As the business of the Greene
forge, at Coventry, required the constant attention
of one of the partners, Nathanael removed
to that place in 1770. In April, 1765, he had
been admitted a freeman in Warwick, by virtue of
his proprietorship of an estate at West Greenwich.
Three years later he canvassed the county for
signatures to the association test, and shortly after
his removal to Coventry he sat in the general
assembly
as a representative from that place. The
disputes between the colonies and the British
government were commented upon by the young
legislator, and so well known were his sentiments that
the royal agents appointed to seek out the offenders
in the burning of the “Gaspé” at once fixed
their suspicions upon him, and for some time he
was in danger of being summoned to the court of
inquiry at Newport. He was convinced that war
would be the outcome of pending troubles, and
applied himself to the study of military science.
From Sharpe's “Military Guide,” Turenne's
“Memoirs,” Cæsar's “Commentaries,” and Plutarch,
he derived that theoretical military knowledge
which he so successfully put into practice in his
military career. In 1774 an independent
company, recruited from East Greenwich, Warwick,
and Coventry, was formed under the name of the
Kentish Guards, and Greene immediately enrolled
himself as a private, after failing of an election to
the office of lieutenant. Even his admission as a
private was some time in doubt, owing to a slight
limp in his gait. In securing his military equipment,
Greene showed his customary energy, making
a trip to Boston, and not only bringing back the
accoutrements concealed under straw in his wagon,
but also having with him a deserter from one of
the British regiments in Boston, whom he had
employed to act as drill-master. The Quakers
looked askance at Greene's interest in military
matters, and a conference resulted in the severance
of his formal connection with that fraternity;
but he never lost his attachment for this
simple religion. The news of the battle of Bunker
Hill aroused the Rhode Island assembly, and they
voted to raise a brigade of three regiments to join
the forces around Boston, commissioning Greene
as brigadier-general. This contingent joined the
American army at Jamaica Plain, on 3 June, 1776,
and the young officer at once proceeded with the
task of organizing the undisciplined men in his
command. Washington arrived at Cambridge on
2 July, and upon Greene devolved the duty of
welcoming the commander-in-chief in the name of
the soldiers, which task he performed in a dignified
and pleasing manner. During the siege of
Boston he was stationed at Prospect Hill, and in
the affair of Dorchester Heights he commanded a
brigade. On the evacuation of Boston he was
ordered to Long Island, but during the disastrous
operations in this campaign he lay at the point of
death. The American army made a stand at Harlem
in the retreat from Long Island; but the critical
situation induced Greene, who had been
promoted to major-general, to propose to Washington
the abandonment of New York, and the occupation
of the Westchester shore from King's Bridge,
and the council of war finally approved the plan.
Fort Washington was to be held, to obstruct the
passage of the Hudson; but its downfall soon
followed, and Greene, who advised its retention, has
suffered in reputation in consequence. The question
of his responsibility has been the subject of
controversy between Bancroft, the historian, and
George W. Greene. Cornwallis crossed the Hudson
on 18 Nov., 1776, and made a movement to
cut off the American retreat to the Hackensack;
but Greene engaged him at the head of the stream,
and held him until the troops had crossed. The
retreat through the Jerseys now began, and the
harassed army brought up at Trenton on 2 Dec.,
where Washington at once set about getting his
baggage and stores across the Delaware. On 25
Dec. the American army, with Greene in command
of the left wing and Sullivan of the right,
