Celebrations Today – August 7
Holidays and observances
- Christian feast day:
- Assyrian Martyrs Day (Assyrian community)
- Battle of Boyacá Day (Colombia)
- Emancipation Day (Saint Kitts and Nevis)
- Republic Day (Ivory Coast)
- Youth Day (Kiribati)
Celebrations Today – USA: August 7
Purple Heart Day
National Lighthouse Day
National Raspberries N’ Cream Day
National Beach Party Day
National Sea Serpent Day
National Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day
National Professional Speakers Day
National Raspberries ‘n Cream Day
Today in US History: August 7
Nathanael Greene
Gen. N. Greene,
Between 1800 and 1850 (?),
From the original painting by C. W. Peale in the Philadelphia Museum.
Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
Revolutionary war hero Nathanael Greene was born on August 7, 1742, at Potowomut in Warwick, Rhode Island. Before the Revolution, Greene managed his father’s iron foundries and is said to have served in the Rhode Island colonial legislature. Self-trained in military tactics and science, he was instrumental in the formation of a unit known as the Kentish Guards in October 1774, serving as a private until his commission in May 1775 as a brigadier general in the Rhode Island Army of Observation. In June of the same year he was commissioned with the same rank in the Continental army with command of troops during the siege of Boston in 1775 and 1776.
A view of the lines thrown up, on Boston Neck, by the Ministerial Army,
B. Romans,
1775.
Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
After taking command of the troops on Long Island in 1776, he was commissioned by George Washington as major general in August 1776, but saw little action due to a severe illness. For the next four years, General Greene participated in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, endured the winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge, and served as quartermaster general while continuing to serve in the field.
Prior to taking command of the southern campaign of 1780-82, General Greene was commander of West Point, replacing the disgraced Benedict Arnold. During this period, he presided over the trial and execution of Major John André.
In January 1781, Greene contributed significantly to the defeat of British General Lord Cornwallis at Cowpens, South Carolina. Greene forced Cornwallis, whose army far outnumbered the Americans, to divide his troops and defend his territory on two fronts. The British subsequently retreated to Charleston, where they remained until Cornwallis surrendered to Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781.
Statue of Nathanael Greene in Stanton Park II,
Theodor Horydczak, photographer,
circa 1920-1950.
Washington as it Was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak, 1923-1959
Greene and Washington remained close friends after the Revolutionary War. Upon Greene’s death in 1786, Washington expressed his deep admiration and affection for Greene by offering to raise his son, George Washington Greene:
I would fain hope…that upon a final settlement of his affairs there will be a handsome competency for Mrs. Greene and the Children. But should the case be otherwise, and Mrs. Greene, yourself, and Mr. Rutlidge would think proper to entrust my namesake G: Washington Greene to my care, I will give him as good an education as this Country (I mean the United States) will afford and will bring him up to either of the genteel professions that his frds. may chuse, or his own inclination shall lead him to pursue, at my own cost and expence.George Washington to Jeremiah Wadsworth partial manuscript,
October 22, 1786.
George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799
After the war, Greene returned to Rhode Island to find his foundry business neglected and his general financial situation precarious. When the state of Georgia honored him for his service to the state with the gift of a plantation, Mulberry Grove, the retired general moved his family south. He also built a cottage at Cumberland Island in Camden County, Georgia. General Greene died of a stroke, after walking in the hot sun, on June 19, 1786.
- Read more of Washington’s correspondence with and about Nathanael Greene. Search the George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799 on Nathanael Greene.
- Additional correspondence is located in The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress.
- Search all titles under Nathanael Greene for exchanges and messages to Congress during Greene’s tenure as quartermaster general in A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1785.
- Search the Today in History Archive on Revolutionary War to read more about events in America’s fight for independence.
- Visit the timeline America during the Age of Revolution, 1764-1775 featured in the American Memory collection Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789.
- Images of General Greene, including a copy of the oath of allegiance to the United States signed on May 23, 1778, are accessible in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. Search on individual battles and events for additional images.
- Browse by place in The Rochambeau Map Collection for maps of the various campaigns.
Today in History – August 7-External Links
Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia