Nathanael Greene - The Financial Ruin of an American Hero

Hi Founder Fans, Jason here, and today we're going to be speaking about Major General Nathaniel Green. We're going to look at why he's perhaps the most important Major General of the Revolutionary War, and we're also going to look at why his finances were ruined by the Revolution. So let's get into it. Major General Nathaniel Green joined the Continental Army right after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and he participated in the Siege of Boston. After Boston was evacuated on St. Patrick's Day, 1775, which just so happens to be 245 years to the day right now. Happy St. Patrick's Day. When the British evacuated Boston, Major General Nathaniel Green was placed in charge of that city, and he demonstrated that he could not only lead men, but oversee the organization and administrative tasks that it took to run an army and oversee a city, which would come into play later for him. So Green would go down and join the rebels during the fighting in New York, but he did get sick and missed part of that battle. However, right before the British invaded Manhattan, Major General Nathaniel Green was appointed Major General. He was one of, I believe, four generals given that rank in August of 1776. So after this, Green bounces around from fort to fort for a while. You know, when there was a lull in battles, most of the generals would run this fort, run that fort. Eventually, Green is asked by Washington to serve as Quartermaster General of the Continental Army, and Green says, I don't know. I'd rather be in the field fighting wars, because Quartermaster General, traditionally as an administrative task, doesn't see any action. And Green wanted to get in the muck, for lack of a better term. And Washington said, okay, if you will be Quartermaster General, you can continue to lead men in the field. This was a great decision, because as years went by, the war in the South got kind of nasty, and most of the American generals kept losing battles, and they kept getting replaced. Until eventually, Washington says, Green, you're up. Go down there and win me a war. And this is essentially what Nathaniel Green did. He went to the South. Right as he gets there, the Patriots are already winning an important battle at King's Mountain, but Green decides, I'm going to split my army in half. And most war strategists would tell you this is a terrible idea, but Green did it anyway, and it sure worked out, because he gave almost half of his army, a little bit less than half, but almost half of his army to Daniel Morgan. Daniel Morgan left and went and won the Battle of Cowpens, which is a very important moment in revolutionary history, and I'm actually going to do a video tomorrow about Daniel Morgan, and I will go into depth on his strategy there, which is extraordinarily interesting. But continuing with Green, so he sends Morgan off one way, and Green retreats. I wanted to say runs away. He basically ran away, but it's called a retreat because he wasn't scared. He was being strategic. He was using wise tactics. So when he sent Morgan off, Cornwallis, leading the British, sent Bannister Tarleton and some of the British's best troops, a small group, but the best troops after Morgan, and the rest of them chased Nathaniel Green up across North Carolina. First of all, he covered North Carolina a few days. It was an amazing movement of soldiers, and when he got to the Dan River that separates Virginia from North Carolina, he had boats waiting for them. The Americans got on the boats and crossed the river, and the British couldn't follow. So eventually, Morgan makes his way back up, and Green waits for reinforcements, and when reinforcements come, they decide now's the time, and they go back down across the river and attack the British. Now, Green lost most of these battles, but he made the British suffer heavy casualties, which was exactly his plan. He kept demoralizing them, first of all, and second of all, you know, if you keep losing men, you got to keep patching things together, and eventually, Green was able to drive Cornwallis and the British army back to Charleston and trap them there, and after a few more quick maneuvers, eventually, it's Green's work in the South that convinces Washington the time is right to move the main army down and fight in the Battle of Yorktown, and the Revolution is won. And that is why Nathaniel Green is possibly the most underrated general of the American Revolution. Of course, you can make arguments for several other people, but from my personal perspective, I really feel that Nathaniel Green, he's respected, he has streets and counties and towns named after him, but he should be better known on the lips of most Americans. I assure you, he should. So, from there, Green goes down. During this time, Green was essentially the number two general in the Continental Army. Technically, he wasn't of that rank. I forget his exact rank. He was like six or seven. He was up there, but he wasn't actually number two, technically. But for all intents and purposes, he was the number two person in charge of the Continental Army. He was running this out. So, anyway, that's why he's a hero. Now, let's talk a little bit very quickly about why his life was destroyed. Now, we have to talk about a man named John Banks. After the Yorktown, the war didn't end for several years, so the Continental Army still came, was still there, because they had to send letters over to Europe and say, hey, the war's over, and then Europe had to send back a treaty, and then we had to sign a treaty and send it back, and then they had to sign a treaty and send it back. And all this was all done by boat, and it took a very long time. So, during this time, Nathaniel Green was actually sent to take charge of Charleston, South Carolina. While he's there, there's no money. There really was never any money. The Continental Congress was always kind of flying by the seat of their pants, so to speak, and never really had the money. So, Green's men in Charleston were starting to starve to death, and their clothes were in tatters, and they were about to mutiny. So, Green had been given a promise by Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, who was a financier of the revolution. I think I made a video of him a long time ago. I should make another one, but I'll put a link up here to see that. Robert Morris was a great man. This story doesn't necessarily make him out to be, but he was. Anyway, Robert Morris had promised Green, any bills you sign, we will pay for. The Continental Congress will pay for. So, he had a lot of trouble finding supplies for his men, because no one thought the Continental Congress could pay its bills. Eventually, Green finds a man named John Banks. Now, John Banks says, yeah, I'll sell you supplies, but I'll do it at... I'll give you a loan, but it's at 11% interest. And this is a really high number, but again, Banks was taking a huge risk, because there was no reason to believe that this money would ever be paid back. So, crossing his fingers, he does sell this on loan, on credit, I should say, to Nathaniel Green. And Green feeds his soldiers, and he thinks everything's fine. And then the war ends, and Green goes back home to Rhode Island. Unfortunately, shortly after the deal was made, John Banks dies. And no one knows where this money is. Green thinks that the money has been paid by Robert Morris, but John Banks's partners, who have now inherited his business, don't see the money ever being received. Now, we can speculate on where this money is. Maybe it was paid to John Banks, because maybe it was given to John Banks, and then he died with it on him, but he had never filed it in the right bills. It just was poor timing. Perhaps Robert Morris just never paid Banks, because the continental currency had no value anyway, so why bother paying him? Because it doesn't matter. Either way, Green is back in Rhode Island when he hears, hey, you owe this company a lot of money. Like, all of the soldiers in Charleston's And like, you know, Green wasn't the wealthiest guy. He wasn't poor. But, you know, as none of the major generals were really poor, some of the brigadier generals were a little poor, but not the major generals. But he didn't have this kind of money. So Green decides to try and repay his debt. Of course, he was a man of honor. So he ends up selling all his belongings to Rhode Island. Fortunately, the state of Georgia, to thank him for his service, had granted him land. So he sold his Rhode Island property, which was more valuable, and moved to Georgia on this new property, where a year later, apparently not used to the temperatures in the South, he dies of heat stroke at just 43 years old. And it's a humongous shame, because first of all, he was still trying to clear his name. And he should have had a crystal clear name, because he was just trying to do what was best for his men. And he did essentially win the American Revolution, from my perspective. Not everyone will agree with that. There were obviously thousands of soldiers and lots of other people involved. But from my perspective, Nathaniel Green's work in the South is probably the most important part of the warfare itself. Now, eventually, Banks' company does get paid back, because Green's widow gets help petitioning Congress after the Constitution is signed. Years later, his widow gets help from Alexander Hamilton, who petitions Congress on Green's behalf. And eventually, Congress bails out his wife and his estate, because he was Nathaniel friggin' Green, and he deserved the assistance. So this video is a little bit longer than most of them. I do want to thank a viewer by the name of King Charles I, who recommended in our live session this weekend, to do Nathaniel Green. And I have a lot more to say about him. I tried to cut it as tight as I could. Tomorrow I'm going to do Francis Marion. If you are new to this channel, please subscribe, because I have these live videos on Saturday, where I talk about the articles I wrote in the past week, and they're a lot of fun, and more and more people are joining. I would love to have you join. If you liked this video, because you've made it this far, you definitely liked it, please remember to hit like, because it really helps me, and it helps grow the channel. Google will tell other people about it, based on how many of you hit like right now. Thank you so much for watching. I am winded. I look forward to bringing you another, probably shorter video, tomorrow.