Greene, Nathanael (1742–1786)

American military leader. During the American Revolution 1775–83 he was commander of the Rhode Island regiments and later brigadier general in the Continental Army, seeing action at the siege of Boston 1775, the Battle of Long Island 1776, and Washington's New Jersey campaigns 1777. He commanded the successful American offensive in the South that ended the war.

Greene was born in Warwick, Rhode Island. Although a member of a Quaker family, he showed an exceptional interest in military affairs. At the end of the war he was offered the post of secretary for war, but he refused, and in 1785 settled on his Georgia estate, Mulberry Grove, where he died.