|
3. Provenance 5. Inventory 6. Subjects |
Major Nathanael Greene Collection Military official, Rhode Island Papers, 1768-1786 Size: 1 ft. Catalog number: MSS 464 Processed by: Elizabeth Delmage, September 2005 ©Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division |
Historical note:
Major Nathanael Greene was born in Potowomut, Warwick, RI on July 27, 1742. He was the fourth of eight sons born to Nathanael Greene (1707-1765) and his second wife, Mary (Mott) Greene (1708-1753). Greene's father was a Quaker preacher, a large landed proprietor, and an owner of a grist-mill, flour-mill, saw-mill and a forge. His father did not believe that his sons needed any type of formal education besides knowing how to read and write. Therefore, this left Nathanael Greene to pursue his own education from various tutors and reading books of interest to him. By the time he was married, he had collected a large library and developed a particular interest in military science.
On July 20, 1774, Nathanael Greene married Catharine Littlefield (1753-1814), with whom he had five children: George Washington (c.1775-), Martha Washington (1777-), Cornelia Lott (1779-), Nathanael Ray (1780-1859), and Louisa Catharine(1782-). The couple lived in Coventry, R.I. where Greene had supervised one of his father's farms and businesses since 1770. In addition to working for his father, Greene became involved with the Kentish Guards as a private. The Kentish Guards were a militia group that formed in East Greenwich, R.I. to protect the town from British attacks as tensions grew among the American colonists. With the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, Greene tried to lead the Kentish Guards to Massachusetts to assist his fellow colonists, but they were disbanded at the R.I. border by a messenger from the R.I. governor, Joseph Wanton (1705-1780). Greene and three others persisted and went on to Boston to offer their services.
Following these battles, the General Assembly of R.I. ordered a force of fifteen hundred in men to be called in service as an army of observation. Nathanael Greene was made commander of this army with the rank of Major General. As fighting continued, all of the individual colony armies were placed under continental control under George Washington demoting Greene to Brigadier-General of the Continental Army. Greene soon became second in command to Washington as well as a close friend.
Greene enjoyed a successful military career, becoming Quarter Master General in 1778 and taking part in the battles of Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown and Valley Forge. In 1780, he was put in command of the Army of the South and was integral in driving the British out of the southern states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Following the end of the war, Greene divided his time between his estate in Newport, R.I. and his Mulberry Grove plantation in Savannah, Georgia. Major General Nathanael Greene died June 19, 1786 of sunstroke in Georgia and is remembered as a great military strategist and a loyal patriot.
Scope and content:
This collection includes Major General Nathanael Greene's personal correspondence and documents during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) and the years prior to the war, 1768-1774. Also included is an order book from the Continental Army, which has many of the orders Major Greene made from July 31 to September 29, 1775 while the army was stationed in Boston.
Provenance:
This collection arrived in several accessions, some as gifts and others were purchased by the RIHS. The following are the accession numbers of the documents that were acquired by donation: #1838. 1. 1, #1891. 12. 2, #1896. 7, #1905. 23, #1913. 27. 1-, #1927. 39. 7, #1956. 12, #1977. 118. 1, #1986. 84 / 1986. 27.
The documents that were purchased by the RIHS are: #1945. 10. 1. 1-, #1952. 15. 1, #1959. 57, #1961. 12. 1, #1961. 12. 2, #1961. 12. 3, #1962. 41. 8, #1962. 42 .1, #1962. 42. 2, #1962. 64, #1963. 36. 1, #1963. 44, #1964. 53, #1964. 67, #1965. 57, #1966. 52. 1, #1966. 52. 2, #1967. 81, #1968. 53. 2, #1968. 53. 3, #1969. 34. 1, #1969. 34. 2, #1969. 34. 3.
Where the provenance is known, the accession number is written on the item's folder.
There are also documents regarding Nathanael Greene that can be found in other collections, such as the Ward Family Papers (Mss 776) and the Society of the Cincinnati Records (Mss 724).
Processing note:
Many documents within this collection were transcribed and had conservation work done on them in the past. This includes the majority of the letters from Nathanael Greene to Samuel Ward, Jr. which were previously conserved and most likely bound together into one volume, but were disbound at an unknown date. These documents along with the rest of the collection were rehoused into archival boxes and folders in August 2005.
Inventory:
Box 1, Folder 2. Indenture of Samuel Holley, Jr. as Nathanael 24 Sep 1768
Greene's apprentice.
Box 1, Folder 3. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 24 Sep 1770
Box 1, Folder 4. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 5 Mar 1771
Box 1, Folder 5. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 21 May 1771
Box 1, Folder 6. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 26 Sep 1771
Box 1, Folder 7. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 1772
Box 1, Folder 8. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 4 Jul 1772
Box 1, Folder 9. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 20 Jul 1772
Box 1, Folder 10. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 29 Aug 1772
Box 1, Folder 11. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 9 Oct 1772
Box 1, Folder 12. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 25 Jan 1773
Box 1, Folder 13. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 2 Mar 1773
Box 1, Folder 14. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 21 Jul 1773
Box 1, Folder 15. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. n.d. [c. 1774]
Box 1, Folder 16. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 17 Jan 1774
Box 1, Folder 17. Letter to Unidentified. n.d. [Feb 1774]
Box 1, Folder 18. Letter from Nathaniel Greene of Coventry. 7 Mar 1774
Box 1, Folder 19. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. n.d. [30 May 1774]
Box 1, Folder 20. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 10 Jul 1774
Box 1, Folder 21. Letter to Col. James M. Varnum. 2 Jun 1775
Box 1, Folder 22. Letter to Unidentified. 21 Jun 1775
Box 1, Folder 1. Orderly Book of the Continental Army at 31 Jul-29 Sep 1775
Prospect Hill (Mass.)
Box 1, Folder 23. Requisition by Nathanael Greene. 9 Sep 1775
Box 1, Folder 24. Letter to Henry Ward. 30 Sep 1775
Box 1, Folder 25. Letter to [Joseph Nightengale]. 24 Mar 1776
Box 1, Folder 26. General order by Greene following the 25 Mar 1776
evacuation of Boston by the British.
Box 1, Folder 27. Letter to Nicholas Cooke. 20 May 1777
Box 1, Folder 28. Letter from Nicholas Cooke. 13 Jan 1778
Box 1, Folder 29. Letter to William Greene. 7 Mar 1778
Box 1, Folder 30. Letter to William Smith. 24 Oct 1778
Box 1, Folder 31. Letter to Ephraim Bowen. 27 Oct 1778
Box 2, Folder 1. Letter to Nehemiah Hubbard. 20 Jan 1779
Box 2, Folder 2. Letter to Nehemiah Hubbard. 7 Mar 1779
Box 2, Folder 3. Letter to Christopher Greene. 5 Aug 1779
Box 2, Folder 4. Letter to William Greene. 8 Oct 1779
Box 2, Folder 5. Letter to James M. Varnum. 16 Oct 1779
Box 2, Folder 6. Letter to William Greene. 29 Oct 1779
Box 2, Folder 7. Letter to William Greene. 3 Dec 1779
Box 2, Folder 8. Letter to Catharine L. Greene. 1780
Box 2, Folder 9. Inventory of Books belonging to Gen. Greene. n.d. [c. 1780]
Box 2, Folder 10. Letter to Samuel Webb. (Copy) 11 Feb 1780
Box 2, Folder 11. Letter to William Greene. 27 May 1780
Box 2, Folder 12. Letter to Nehemiah Hubbard. 30 Jun 1780
Box 2, Folder 13. Letter to Joseph Reed. 3 Jul 1780
Box 2, Folder 14. Letter to William Greene. n.d. [26 Jul 1780]
Box 2, Folder 15. Letter to Samuel Huntington (Copy) 26 Jul 1780
Includes Letter from George Washington (Copy) 15 Aug 1780
Box 2, Folder 16. Circular letter from Nathanael Greene. 11 Aug 1780
Box 2, Folder 17. Letter to Samuel Webb. (Copy) 12 Aug 1780
Box 2, Folder 18. Letter from George Washington. (Copy) 15 Aug 1780
Box 2, Folder 19. Circular letter from Nathanael Greene. 16 Sep 1780
Box 2, Folder 20. Letter to William Greene. 19 Oct 1780
Box 2, Folder 21. Letter to Jethro Sumner. 5 May 1781
Box 2, Folder 22. Letter to Richard H. Lee. 4 Jul 1781
Box 2, Folder 23. Nathanael Greene's Account against his brother, 1782
John Greene's estate.
Box 2, Folder 24. Letter to George Baylor. 4 Apr 1782
Box 2, Folder 25. Transmittal of resolutions of the Georgia 1 May 1782, 10 Jan
Assembly regarding Nathanael Greene. 1799
Box 2, Folder 26. Letter from Louis Morris, Jr. 4 Sep 1782
Box 2, Folder 27. Letter to Catharine L. Greene. 5 Dec 1782
Box 2, Folder 28. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 21 Dec 1782
Box 2, Folder 29. Letter from Catharine L. Greene. 23 Dec 1782
Box 2, Folder 30. Transcript of Inscription on captured artillery 18 Oct 1783
awarded to Greene.
Box 2, Folder 31. Letter to William Greene. 5 Dec 1783
Box 2, Folder 32. Letter to William Greene. 19 Jan 1784
Box 2, Folder 33. Letter to William Greene. 24 Feb 1784
Box 2, Folder 34. Letter from William Greene. 1 Mar 1784
Box 2, Folder 35. Letter to William Greene. 10 Mar 1784
Box 2, Folder 36. Letter to Jeremiah Olney. 15 Apr 1784
Box 2, Folder 37. Deed to Henry Banks. n.d. [1785]
Box 2, Folder 38. Letter to James Hunter. 20 Aug 1785
Box 2, Folder 39. Copies of Nathanael Greene's Last Will 11 Oct 1785
and Testament.
Box 2, Folder 40. Letter to Samuel Ward, Jr. 4 Apr 1786
Subjects:
Banks, Henry, fl. 1785.
Baylor, George, 1752-1784.
Cooke, Nicholas, 1717-1782.
Greene, Catharine Littlefield.
Greene, Nathanael, 1742-1786.
Greene, William, 1731-1809.
Hubbard, Nehemiah.
Huntington, Samuel, 1731-1796.
Morris, Lewis, 1754-1824.
Nightengale, Joseph, 1749-1790
Olney, Jeremiah, 1749-1812.
Reed, Joseph, 1741-1785.
Sumner, Jethro, 1833?-1785.
United States. Continental Army.
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783.
Ward, Henry, 1732-1797.
Ward, Samuel, 1756-1832.
Washington, George, 1732-1799.
Webb, Samuel Blachley, 1753-1807.
Varnum, James M. (James Mitchell), 1748-1789.
End of finding aid - return to top
RIHS1822