Nathaniel Greene The Battle of Eutaw Springs September 8, 1781 Nathanael Greene was George Washington’s most trusted subordinate. Whenever Washington was away from the Continental Army, he left Greene in charge. After Horatio Gates suffered his humiliating defeat at Camden, Washington appointed Greene to take responsibility of the Continental Army’s southern operations. Greene faced a formidable challenge which went well beyond the military situation. Greene had to negotiate with the individual southern states to obtain horses, supplies and troops. He also had to deal with independent irregular units lead by Francis Marian (a.k.a. “The Swamp Fox”) and Thomas Sumter who would later have a famous fort named after him. Greene had to maneuver his forces over five states and keep the local Tories (British sympathizer irregular militias) in check. All of this required patience, perseverance and great diplomacy. Greene never won a battle, although he did come close at Eutaw Springs. Greene skillfully engaged the British by avoiding any big decisive battle that would have placed the American Army at risk. Over time the British lost men and materials that they could not replace. Greene’s strategy left the British isolated in their stronghold at Charleston, South Carolina. That prompted British General Cornwallis to move north to Yorktown, Virginia where the French and American forces won the decisive battle of the war. On October 29, 1781 Congress voted to award a gold medal to General Greene. Although the award was for his actions at Eutaw Springs, the medal was really in recognition of Greene’s entire southern campaign. The dies that the French used to strike the Greene gold medal and a few pieces in silver and copper, where sent to the Philadelphia Mint, but they were improperly stored. Mint employee and technological innovator, Franklin Peale, discovered the Greene dies at the mint, circa 1840. He struck at least one impression on an oversized planchet. That piece, which still exists, showed that the dies were rusted and close to failure. Peale made electrotypes from that piece that he sold to collectors. Later, circa 1887, Charles Barber made a new set of dies at the Philadelphia Mint. Nineteenth century impressions from those dies, which have the classic mahogany finish, are the best examples of the Greene medal that are available to most collectors. I present this piece as a caution to would-be buyers. This piece is a modern mint medal that was fooled with to make it look older. It is worth only fraction of the U.S. Mint 19th century strikes with the mahogany finish. I bought this piece in an auction. About four years later I learned that it was not to be what the auction had said that it was. Much to the auction house’s credit, they refunded by money. Unfortunately the market had gone up considerably since that sale, and it cost me a great deal more to purchase the piece I presented at the top of this essay. Not that this medal is a sandblasted, matte finish, not the lustrous mahogany colored surfaces that appeared on the 19th century U.S. Mint piece.
Although Morgan did at cowpens. If not for Morgan, the southern theatre would have been extremely at risk.
Nice write up! Greene was a true genius, a master of the fighting retreat, who really bled out the British when his army was "defeated" at Guilford Courthouse.
Great article and medal! Greene was a great figure in American history. His monument is my favorite equestrian statue in Washington, DC.
Thanks for the continuing story... My first undergraduate school was the College of Charleston. Francis Marion National Park is outside of that city. We had a different view of Greene and Marion. For us, Greene's political pull in Congress brought him the commands that Marion deserved. As you note, Greene never won a battle, whereas The Swamp Fox and his irregulars were success in harrying the British. That being as it may, Charleston itself was strongly loyalist throughout the Revolution, even though South Carolina's representatives to Congress served the nation admirably.
Francis Marian bothered the British; Nathanial Greene sucked them almost dry. Marian was a great patriot, but Greene made the far greater contribution.
