Author discusses Greensburg's namesake
May 30—GREENSBURG — The Greensburg-Decatur County Public Library recently hosted Gerald Carbone of Rhode Island for a lecture on Greensburg's namesake and Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene.
While Greensburg, Indiana was named after Greensburg, Pennsylvania, the original Greensburg was named in honor of Nathanael Greene.
Carbone was a journalist for 25 years, primarily for the Providence Journal. He's been recognized as an expert on the life of Nathanael Greene and has written a book on the subject. An unsung hero in the war, Greene was responsible for battering General Charles Cornwallis and his British forces until they were forced to seek reinforcements and resupply at Yorktown where Cornwallis surrendered.
"Without Nathanael Greene, there is no United States of America," Carbone said. "I can't conclusively prove that because there was a Nathanael Greene and there is a United States ... and about the only other person about whom you could reasonably say that without that person there is no United States is George Washington. I've written books about both men and I can say with certainty that of the two, Nathanael Greene was the better general."
On December 1, 1780, Washington had told Greene to head south towards North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The British had taken Savannah and Charleston. Their plan was to come up from the South, invade Virginia and sever the North to let it die off without the South's contributions. Greene was the fourth general to head south with the same mission and the only one who would not lose his army in the effort.
The battle had been raging for five years by this point. Benedict Arnold had been revealed as a traitor and morale was falling. General Greene was given what amounted to about 800 outfitted and equipped men.
Greene split his troops in two groups and used this strategy to keep the British troops extended. After Union General Daniel Morgan's victory at Cowpens, South Carolina in 1781, General Cornwallis reportedly ordered his troops to burn their tents and pour out their rum to lighten their load in order to hunt down Greene's forces. Cornwallis had an army six times the size of Greene's, but Greene had done his reconnaissance and was able to ferry his troops over the Dan River just hours before Cornwallis arrived, narrowly avoiding a fight.
Greene wrote at the time, "If Cornwallis perceives in his mad scheme to push through the country, we will ruin him. Here is a fine field for glory ahead."
Greene then sent his army to Guilford Courthouse and waited for the battle to come to him.
"Greene doesn't win this battle. In fact, Greene arguably never wins a battle, and I'm talking about him like he's a great general," Carbone said. "But he didn't care if he held that ground. He wanted to inflict maximum attrition to Cornwallis and keep his own army alive."
Cornwallis was so weakened by this victory that he abandoned his plan to reconquer the colony and marched north into Virginia. Cornwallis would later surrender at Yorktown. Greene threw away the rule book by turning his back on a superior force and marching his army into South Carolina to pick off the British outposts there.
This strategic weakening of the British forces led to the most vicious fighting of the American Revolution with the most casualties on both sides. Here, Greene fought Lt. Col. Alexander Stewart's forces at Eutaw Springs where the British were so weakened they withdrew to Charleston where Greene held them for the rest of the war.
"Greene kept his army in the field until he finally rode into Charleston in 1783 victorious, having saved not only the entire South, but the entire United States," Carbone said. "That's your guy. The bookish, gimp-kneed, asthmatic child of of a preacher becomes a general of genius on par with Scipio and Caesar and Alexander the Great — and you guys have the wisdom to name a city after him, in a roundabout way."
Contact Josie Clark at josie.clark@greensburgdailynews.com or 812-651-0873.
