The Papers of General Nathanael Greene, vol. 13, 22 May 1783-13 June 1786, with Additions to the Series (review)

This volume of correspondence opens in May 1783 with Nathanael Greene arranging the final dissolution of his southern command. Although hostilities had ceased, Greene is determined to keep his army intact until his men are officially discharged. In July 1783, Greene was finally able to send his northern regiments home aboard vessels chartered by Robert Morris and the following month he departed by land for his home. Greeted as a hero by scores of communities along the way, Greene, after reporting to Congress in Princeton, New Jersey, finally arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, in November 1783. For Greene the burdens of command were shed, but the legacy of the Revolutionary War shadowed him to his grave.

Until his untimely death in 1786 at the age of forty-three, Greene dealt with a steady stream of correspondence related to his Revolutionary War service—officers seeking recommendation for the peacetime army, accounts of his subordinates that required clarification, Loyalists asking Greene to vouch for their character, and historian William Gordon seeking his recollections regarding several battles. Some subordinates wanted to use the cessation of hostilities to settle old scores—one former officer, James Gunn, in 1785 continued to nurse a grudge over Greene's decision to discipline him for misappropriating a horse and demanded an apology from the retired commander. Not only did Greene refuse to apologize, but declined to fight a duel to settle the matter, citing the bad precedent it would establish.

One legacy of the Revolutionary War would haunt Greene until his death and later burden his widow—his decision in 1782 to guarantee the debts of contractors who supplied clothing to his army. Much of the correspondence in this volume centers around Greene's efforts to prevent financial ruin by having to pay the debts incurred by John Banks and his partners. In the end, Greene's efforts to resolve them failed and Congress refused to act on his petition seeking relief. Only after Greene's death would his widow eventually receive compensation from Congress, in large measure due to the support of Alexander Hamilton.

A Quaker who took up arms during the Revolution, Greene, upon leaving the army, embraced the institution of slavery with little angst. Granted significant plantations by both South Carolina and Georgia as a reward for his service, Greene was determined to gain financial security by developing them, as well as his other holdings. He would meet reverses virtually everywhere. Despite the assistance of Robert Morris, he could not obtain a loan from Dutch bankers for badly needed capital. Buyers could not be found for his northern landholdings in New York and New Jersey. Investors could not be found to develop his holdings on Cumberland Island, Georgia. Rice production lagged in 1785 and 1786 and creditors were demanding payments.

Greene's ultimately unsuccessful efforts to achieve financial security in this period left time for little else. Despite George Washington's pleas to attend the first national meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1784, Greene begged off, citing ill health. Offered an appointment by Congress as Indian Commissioner, Greene demurred, citing the press of business. Just before his death, Greene moved to his plantation in Georgia and even declined a minor judicial appointment offered him by state officials, declaring "my own private affairs claim too great a proportion of my time to embark in any public business" (p. 683). In contrast to his wartime service, Greene's brief life as a civilian would be marked by anxiety, frustration...