Janet Uhlar
Nathanael Greene: Savior of the Continental Army
Nathanael Greene was the strategist of the American Revolution and his role in the War for Independence was second only to General George Washington. Born and reared a Quaker, with no military experience, he was promoted from private to brigadier general literally overnight. Greene quickly became Washington’s confidant and close friend. He was chosen by the Commander in Chief to lead the Continental Army should Washington be killed, injured, or taken captive. It was Brigadier General Nathanael Greene who petitioned Congress for a Declaration of Independence. It was Major General Greene who saved the army from being decimated at the Battle of Brandywine. It was Quartermaster General Greene who pulled the Continental Army from the throes of certain death at Valley Forge. It was Commander Greene who was given the desperate task of leading the Southern Department of the Continental Army after other commanders had failed. It was Greene who drove British General Cornwallis to surrender at Yorktown. Unable to participate or witness the victorious battle, he was forced to immediately return south with his troops and subdue the remaining British forces. Greene led his troops in battle and laid siege for a year after the victory at Yorktown. His persistence finally forced the British to evacuate the South. Greene’s persistence with Congress that the Army be properly supplied and that foreign officers be appropriately appointed generated antagonism from certain political figures. He was denied monetary support for the Southern forces during the last year of their service and forced into debt to personally cover the expenses. Three years after the official end of the war, Nathanael Greene was dead at the age of forty-four. His premature death was not only a result of the intense hardships of the War, but the hardships and cruelty inflicted on him by members of the United States Congress.
Janet Uhlar (janetuhlar@comcast.net) imparts accurate history through biographical-fiction for those unlikely to read a work of non-fiction and those wanting to bring history to life. Her research on Joseph Warren and Nathanael Greene began in 1985, culminating in her book and screenplay Liberty’s Martyr, and the book Freedom’s Cost. Janet teaches “The American Revolution: A Different Perspective” at the Cape Cod Community College. She has been interviewed three times by Dr. Bob Allison for the Rev250 Boston podcast and has been published in the Journal of the American Revolution and The Encampment. Janet presents lectures extensively including at the Adams and Bunker Hill National Historical Parks; The Battle of Rhode Island Association; Rhode Island Historical Association; and Friends of Valley Forge. Her keynote address on Greene to the General Society of the Sons of the Revolution, which emphasized his forgotten role in saving the Continental Army at Valley Forge, inspired the creation and placement of a statue at the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge. Janet supervised the Joseph Warren Sash DNA Project, is pursuing a second DNA project pertaining to Warren, and imminently anticipates a co-authored article’s publication which answers the question of Warren’s great enigma. She served on the Board of Trustees of the Nathanael Greene Homestead, and on the advisory board of the Mulberry Grove Foundation (General Greene’s home in Savannah, Georgia). She continues to research, publish, and lecture on overlooked aspects of Warren and Greene’s lives and refutations, supported with documentation, false narrative in contemporary writings. She is beginning her research for a book on the Quincy family’s impact on the American Revolution.
