NJ, USA
Nathanael Greene
1742–1786 · Major General · Quartermaster General
1742–1786
Major General · Quartermaster General
Nathanael Greene was born on August 7, 1742, in Potowomut (now Warwick), Rhode Island, into a prosperous Quaker family that operated an iron foundry and anchor forge. Despite limited formal education, Greene was an avid reader who taught himself military science from books purchased from Henry Knox's London Book Store in Boston. His interest in military matters led to his expulsion from the Quaker meeting, but it prepared him for a career that would make him one of the most capable officers in the Continental Army.
Greene was appointed brigadier general by the Continental Congress in June 1775 and quickly earned Washington's trust through his organizational ability and tactical judgment. He participated in the siege of Boston, the New York campaign, and the battles of Trenton and Princeton. By the time the Continental Army arrived in Morristown for its first winter encampment in January 1777, Greene had established himself as one of Washington's most reliable subordinates.
During the first Morristown encampment (January-May 1777), Greene oversaw critical logistical operations, including the establishment of supply lines and the organization of camp defenses. His administrative skills proved as valuable as his battlefield abilities. In March 1778, Washington persuaded a reluctant Greene to accept the position of quartermaster general, a role he filled while retaining his line command. This dual responsibility placed Greene at the center of the army's survival during the brutal second Morristown encampment (December 1779-June 1780), when he struggled to feed and supply troops through conditions that soldiers described as worse than Valley Forge.
Greene's quartermaster tenure during the Morristown winters exposed the systemic failures of the Continental supply system. Currency depreciation had rendered Continental dollars nearly worthless, farmers refused to sell provisions for paper money, and state governments failed to meet their requisition quotas. Greene wrote repeatedly to Congress describing the army's desperate condition and warning that without immediate relief, the army would dissolve. His frustrations with the quartermaster role eventually led to his resignation from the position in August 1780, but not before he had kept the army intact through its most difficult period.
In October 1780, Washington appointed Greene to command the Southern Department, where he conducted a campaign of strategic retreats and calculated engagements that exhausted the British army under Lord Cornwallis and contributed to the conditions that led to the siege of Yorktown.
Greene died on June 19, 1786, at Mulberry Grove plantation near Savannah, Georgia, likely of sunstroke, at the age of 43.
WHY HE MATTERS TO MORRISTOWN
Nathanael Greene's role at Morristown was not the stuff of battlefield glory but of grinding administrative labor that kept an army alive. As quartermaster general during the second encampment, he bore direct responsibility for feeding, clothing, and sheltering troops through the worst winter of the eighteenth century. His correspondence from Morristown provides some of the most detailed accounts of the army's suffering and the government's failures. Without Greene's logistical management, the Continental Army might not have survived to fight another campaign.
- 1742: Born August 7 in Potowomut (Warwick), Rhode Island - 1775: Appointed brigadier general; participated in siege of Boston - 1777: Present at first Morristown encampment; oversaw logistics and camp organization - 1778: Appointed quartermaster general while retaining line command - 1779-1780: Managed supply operations during second Morristown encampment - 1780: Appointed commander of the Southern Department - 1786: Died June 19 near Savannah, Georgia
SOURCES - Golway, Terry. "Washington's General: Nathanael Greene and the Triumph of the American Revolution." Henry Holt, 2005. - Carbone, Gerald M. "Nathanael Greene: A Biography of the American Revolution." Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. - Morristown National Historical Park. "The Hard Winter: The Encampment of 1779-1780." National Park Service interpretive materials.
In Morristown
- Jan 1777First Winter Encampment at Morristown(Senior officer overseeing logistics and camp organization)
After his victories at Trenton and Princeton, Washington marched the Continental Army to Morristown in January 1777 for winter quarters. The choice was strategic: Morristown sat behind the Watchung Mountains, which provided a natural defensive barrier against British advance from New York, while the surrounding iron industry could supply the army. The army that arrived was in desperate condition. Many soldiers had marched barefoot through snow. Enlistments were expiring. Smallpox was spreading through the ranks faster than any British advance. Washington established his headquarters at Jacob Arnold's Tavern on the town green and dispersed troops among local homes and farms. The encampment lasted until May 1777. During these months, Washington reorganized his battered forces, recruited new enlistments, and made the fateful decision to inoculate his entire army against smallpox — a procedure that was controversial, medically risky, and strategically brilliant. The army that emerged in spring was healthier and more organized than the one that had stumbled into town.
- Jan 1777Continental Army Arrives in Morristown(Senior general accompanying the army)
After victories at Trenton and Princeton, Washington led the Continental Army into Morristown for its first winter encampment. The town was chosen for its defensible position in the Watchung Mountains, its access to supply routes, and its distance from British-held New York. Approximately 3,000 troops established camp in and around the town, marking the beginning of Morristown's role as a military capital of the Revolution.
- May 1777Continental Army Departs Morristown (First Encampment)(Senior officer departing with the army)
Washington led the Continental Army out of Morristown at the end of May 1777, moving to Middlebrook, New Jersey, to observe British movements and prepare for the summer campaign. The first encampment had lasted approximately five months, during which the army had recovered from the winter, received new recruits, and conducted the smallpox inoculation program. The departure marked the end of Morristown's first period as a military capital, though the army would return two and a half years later.
- Dec 1779The Hard Winter: Second Encampment at Morristown(Quartermaster general responsible for supply operations)
The winter of 1779-80 at Morristown was the worst the Continental Army endured — worse than Valley Forge by nearly every measure. Washington chose Morristown again for the same strategic reasons, establishing his headquarters at the Ford Mansion while approximately 10,000 troops built a vast encampment of over 1,000 log huts at Jockey Hollow. The weather was unprecedented. Twenty-eight blizzards struck between November and April. Snow reached six feet in places. New York Harbor froze solid — something that had not happened in living memory. The supply system, already strained, collapsed entirely. Soldiers survived on half-rations, then quarter-rations, then nothing at all. Private Joseph Plumb Martin recorded eating birch bark and roasted shoe leather. Morale disintegrated. Soldiers had not been paid in months. Their clothing was in rags. Some units threatened mutiny. On May 25, 1780, two Connecticut regiments paraded under arms and refused orders, demanding food and pay. Officers suppressed the uprising, but the incident revealed how close the army was to dissolution. The fact that most soldiers stayed through this nightmare — without pay, without adequate food, without certainty that the cause would succeed — remains one of the most remarkable acts of collective endurance in American military history.
- Dec 1779Continental Army Returns to Morristown for Second Encampment(Quartermaster general responsible for camp logistics)
Washington selected Morristown for a second winter encampment, bringing approximately 10,000 troops to the area. The army established its main camp at Jockey Hollow, south of the town, where soldiers began constructing over 1,000 log huts. Washington again took up residence at the Ford Mansion. The encampment was far larger than the first, and the strain on local resources and civilian property was correspondingly greater.
- Jan 1780Supply Crisis and Starvation at Jockey Hollow(Quartermaster general who managed the failing supply system)
The Continental Army at Morristown faced a supply crisis more severe than Valley Forge. The collapse of Continental currency made it impossible to purchase provisions, and states failed to meet their requisition quotas. For days at a time, soldiers received no food at all. Washington wrote to Congress warning that the army was on the verge of dissolution. Officers resorted to forced requisitions from local farms, issuing promissory notes that many farmers suspected would never be honored. The supply crisis persisted throughout the encampment and was a primary cause of the subsequent Pennsylvania Line mutiny.
- Jan 1780Great Snowstorms of January 1780(Quartermaster general struggling to maintain supply lines)
A series of severe snowstorms struck the Morristown area in early January 1780, burying the camp under four to six feet of snow and cutting supply lines for days. The storms were part of the broader pattern that made the winter of 1779-1780 the coldest of the eighteenth century. Roads became impassable, wagons could not deliver provisions, and soldiers who were already on reduced rations faced the prospect of starvation. Diarists in the camp recorded temperatures well below zero Fahrenheit and described the suffering of men who lacked blankets, shoes, and adequate firewood.
- Mar 1780Continental Currency Collapse(Quartermaster general who could not purchase supplies with worthless currency)
By early 1780, Continental currency had depreciated to the point that it took approximately $40 in paper to equal $1 in coin, a ratio that would worsen to $100-to-$1 by year's end. The currency collapse was felt acutely at Morristown, where the army could not purchase supplies from local farmers who had no use for paper money that was losing value by the day. The phrase "not worth a Continental" entered the American lexicon during this period. The crisis forced Washington to rely on forced requisitions and highlighted the fundamental weakness of the Continental government's fiscal structure.
- Jun 1780Battle of Springfield(Commanded Continental forces at the battle)
A British and Hessian force of approximately 6,000 troops under General Wilhelm von Knyphausen advanced from Elizabethtown toward Morristown in June 1780, seeking to destroy Continental Army supply depots and possibly the army itself. American forces, including Continental regulars and New Jersey militia, met them at Springfield, approximately 15 miles east of Morristown. The Americans repulsed the British advance in sharp fighting, and the British withdrew to Staten Island. The Battle of Springfield was the last significant British offensive in the northern theater and confirmed that the Continental Army, despite its suffering at Morristown, remained a viable fighting force.