As the first troops of the Continental army to enter Georgia in more than a year, they boosted the morale of the Georgia residents. With their help, Augusta was back under American control within two weeks.
Greene not only fought to secure the freedom of Georgia but also worked with the state to revive its government. He had gained the respect and trust of its residents during the war, and they were eager to have his help in reorganizing their government.
Greene encouraged the creation of an official Georgia Brigade, giving the state a symbol that its residents could look to with pride and patriotism. He also oversaw the organization of a new constitutional government and worked closely with the leaders of Georgia. Greene advocated the end of violence against British Loyalists, called Tories, in favor of peace and stability rather than revenge. With his help Georgia reinstated a secure civil government worthy of its independence.
Greene willingly gave much of his personal wealth to help support the war, even sacrificing his Rhode Island home. To thank him for his service during the war, the Georgia government gave Greene a plantation named Mulberry Grove, outside Savannah in Chatham County. He lived on the Mulberry Grove estate for less than a year, troubled by insecure finances; the plantation did not become profitable.
Greene died unexpectedly of sunstroke in , at the age of forty-four. The remains of his son, George Washington Greene, are buried there as well. Saba, Natalie. Saba, N. Nathanael Greene. In New Georgia Encyclopedia. As commander of…. Nathanael Greene was one of the most respected generals of the Revolutionary War and a talented military strategist. As commander of the Southern Department of the Continental army, his leadership was the catalyst that turned the tide toward American victory in Georgia.
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On July 20, , he married Catherine Littlefield. In the growing conflict between England and its American colonies, there was no question where Greene's sympathies lay. He was on the side of the Colonies, and when, in , Rhode Island raised three regiments to join the fight against England, he was named commander with the rank of brigadier general. At once he marched his troops to Cambridge, Mass. George Washington. When the British evacuated that city in the spring of , Greene moved with Washington's army to New York, where a campaign was under way to save that strategic area from the enemy.
Taken with a sudden illness, Greene missed the Battle of Long Island but fought in the later, autumn engagements in and around New York. Retreating with Washington to New Jersey, at Trenton he commanded the left wing in the surprise attack on the Hessian mercenaries on the British side. In January Greene was in the Battle of Princeton.
For the remainder of the year he was at Washington's side in every encounter. At Brandywine and at Germantown his superb generalship helped keep small defeats from becoming total routs. In February , when Washington was seeking to replace the quartermaster general with an officer who would bring greater efficiency to the task of supplying the army, he chose Greene. Following the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of Germantown in the Pennsylvania campaign in , the Continental Congress appointed him Quartermaster General under the condition that he retain the right to command troops in the field.
He performed his duties as Quartermaster brilliantly, skillfully supplying Continental troops while dealing with logistical and bureaucratic challenges. Washington selected Greene. Greene stepped in just as the British moved to re-annex Georgia and the Carolinas.
Soon after he took command, the tide of war began to turn in favor of the Patriots. Greene decided to divide his troops in the hopes that the British would be forced to follow suit. After the British victory at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse , the much depleted British force under Charles Cornwallis withdrew to Wilmington while Greene and his men turned south to reconquer the South Carolina backcountry, a crucial move that helped to isolate the British on the coast and, eventually, to force them out of the south completely.
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