Nathaniel Greene (August 7, 1742-June 19, 1786) was a major general of the Continental Army. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Greene held the lowest rank of a militia private, but the War's end, he was considered George Washington's most gifted and dependable officer. He served in the Rhode Island Legislature, 1770-72, 1775.
On January 4, 1776, while at Camp Prospect Hill, General Nathaniel Greene wrote to Samuel Ward, delegate from Rhode Island to Samuel Ward, Rhode Island's Representative in the Continental Congress:
<Permit me, then, to recommend from the sincerity of my heart, ready at all times to bleed in my country's cause, a declaration of independence; and call upon the world, and the great God who governs it, to witness the necessity, propriety and rectitude thereof...
Let us, therefore, act like men inspired with a resolution that nothing but the frowns of Heaven shall conquer us.> 1742NG001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1742NG001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Nathaniel Greene, January 4, 1776, in a letter to Samuel Ward while serving as a general in the Revolutionary Army. Henry Steele Commager, ed., The Great Declaration-A Book for Young Americans (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1958), p. 43.