Guest blogger Janet Tuhlar shares Part Two of her research on Nathanael Greene, giving us insight to the founding of our country and the South. (Part One, click here.)
Properties gifted to General Greene
The tragic, premature death
of General Nathanael Greene robbed the fledgling nation of an outstanding
leader. His enormous debt for the supply
of his troops now fell on Caty, his thirty-two year old widow, as she struggled
to raise five young children.
At the close of the War,
properties had been given to General Greene in appreciation for his delivery of
the South from British occupation.
Before his death, Nathanael had decided what would be done with the
properties.
North Carolina had given
25,000 acres upon its frontier (now Maury County, Tennessee). This property was sizeable indeed, but of no
use to the general at the time. He did
nothing with it, but stated in his will that it was to be divided among his
children.
South Carolina presented a 2,500 acre plantation, which had been
abandoned by its Tory owner. Nathanael
quickly sold this property, using the money to temporarily sooth his creditors.
Georgia also gifted the
general with a 2,500 acre plantation along the Savannah River, known as the
Mulberry Grove Plantation. He moved his
young family to Savannah, Georgia, to begin his new life as a gentleman farmer
-- hoping for success with the plantation and the petition he was attempting to
present before the United States Congress to have the debt for the supply of
the troops in the Southern Campaign paid.
Mulberry Grove is where
Nathanael Greene fell victim to a stroke and died at the age of
forty-four. It is where President George
Washington twice paid a visit to Widow Caty Greene, to pay his respects, and,
in all likelihood to counsel her in the preparation of her own petition to
Congress -- for, Congress had ignored Nathanael’s attempt. Caty, with the help of the Secretary of the
Treasury Alexander Hamilton (who drafted the twenty page petition), Congressman
(General) Anthony Wayne (who argued the case vehemently before Congress), and
President Washington (behind the scene, no doubt) by a very narrow margin, was
success in receiving the indemnity of her late husband’s estate. (It was also
at Mulberry Grove Plantation that, with Caty Greene’s help, Eli Whitney would
invent the Cotton Gin.
Her name is on
the original patent).
Susan Jones - artmajeur.com/susanejonesart
