Nathanael Greene

George Washington's most talented and dependable officer, Nathanael Greene, emerged from the conflict. He is well known for being one of the Continental Army's top strategists, among other things. After the American Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, the Rhode Island government organized an army and gave Nathanael Greene leadership of the army. He was promoted to general in the recently formed Continental Army the same year. Under General Washington, Greene served with distinction during the campaigns in Boston, New York and New Jersey, and Philadelphia. He was also chosen to lead the Continental Army in the southern theater in October 1780, after the Americans had suffered a string of severe setbacks there while being led by Benjamin Lincoln and Horatio Gates.

Under his command, Nathanael Greene successfully used guerrilla warfare techniques to defeat the numerically superior British forces commanded by Charles Cornwallis. At the battles of Guilford Court House, Hobkirk's Hill, and Eutaw Springs, he causes heavy losses to the British. He thus played a crucial role in the Continental Army's victory in the southern theater. Greene remained a member of the Continental Army after the successful Siege of Yorktown until the end of 1783.