I have been reading the Biography of Nathanael Greene. "Washington's General" by Terry Golway.

Nathanael Greene - Biography

Greene was one of Washington's most trusted advisors through the revolution....although not without flaws...as I have read this book he has come to be one of my favorite characters of the Revolution.

At the second winter in Morristown, (the 4th winter of the war) Greene was the Quartermaster General. The army was half naked and starving and he was unable to get Congress to approve any funding for supplies. He had come to the conclusion that Congress was as much an enemy to the army as the British. He was quoted in a letter to a friend to say:

"Truth and righteousness is of no account with these [people]."



Somethings never change.

This is a great book by the way....highly recommended!

I think they didn't approve because they simply didn't have the cash. You see, back then, they actually tried not to spend money they didn't have. In that sense, things certainly have changed. I doubt they had much credit either.
From where would they have borrowed then money? Foreign banks?

We would also do well to note that those members of congress had signed their names to documents that, if the revolution failed, would have ensured them a trip to the gallows.

consider reading the book to understand fully why he made the statement.

Shockingly, the book you are reading is not the only one ever written that has information regarding the life and times of Nathaniel Greene, the revolution, the first congresses and the financial state of the nation, that is, the nation to be.

We can approach this one of two ways. We could ingnore what either has to say until we have each all read the same books on the issue or we could share the knowledge both of us have accumulated from whatever sources and go from there.

Back to the original post and my point.....it is still true today, "Truth and righteousness is of no account..." when it comes to politics.

I have never been good at these Internet Thread Post Pissing contest debates....(which was not my intent in this thread) I much prefer friendly face to face conversation over a cold beverage.

Anyway...

To continue the conversation on Greene....

tenny sent me an interesting PM....regarding Greene and some of the problems he had with Congress and Washington. what i like about this current book is that the writer shows not only the positive side of Greene and his maticulous planning and leadership through the Southern battles but also all of his self pity and lack of self confidence. It is a good book that shows all sides of his character including what some today would call "Halliburton'esque" supplier contracts he developed.

the root of his comments from my original post are based on his personality conflicts Thomas Mifflin. Who originally held the position of QMG and ran the Army into the ground during the winter at Valley Forge.

He indicates that the people who disliked Greene were willing to destroy the entire main army based on their dislike for Greene rather than consider the best interests of many....even if it meant allowing the British to conquer.

My favorite character of the Revolution has to be Thomas Knowlton. At age... I think it was 36... he became a Lt. Col, one of the highest ranking soldiers at the time (Aaron Burr said of him: "It was impossible to promote such a man too rapidly"), and formed the Knowlton's Rangers, the forbear to today's Army Rangers, and served as the chief intelligence/recon officer for the army.

I lived (note: I did not say that I "grew up" heh heh) in the town he came from. And with such varied terrain in that town, combined with a Yankee practicality that thrives there to this day, it's not surprising that he left his farm to go on to such heroism. The regiment from the town was the first support to arrive at Lexington and Concord --- about 60 miles away --- in 2 days, I believe. He was the one who sent Nathan Hale (another local man, a schoolteacher iirc) on the mission where he was caught. Knowlton was killed at Harlem Heights and is buried there, but there are two (count 'em 2) grave markers in old cemeteries in town. I lived nearby one of them and would often pass it when walking my dog, and I'd think about what he'd say about us today, and it always went something like, "Exactly what did I fight for? To have a different word used for the title of the despot? King or President, as so much power has shifted to the Executive Branch, what is the difference?"

I've tried finding out more about him online, but at most, it's a few paragraphs. There's more to be read in the town anniversary book and even that's not much. That's a shame b/c his life seems like it was fascinating even in its brevity.

OTR, it's pretty interesting to read through all of the town meeting minutes from that era as well. That is mainly what the anniversary book consisted of, and you'd be surprised how much the town contributed to the soldiers. They were not paid with federal funds. The people were asked to sacrifice and pay higher taxes and to support the war materially. And it is like Mickey said, they paid for things and tried to preserve the ledgers, mostly b/c it was necessary to do so. Quite the contrary from our contemporary situation.

i am not suprised....afterall..."These are the times that try mens souls."

This book on Greene goes into great detail how the local citizens were required to sacrafice some or all of what they had.

When he went into the local communities during the Winter at Valley Forge and some locals refused to assist:

(from page 165)

"When patriotic appeals and promises of future payment failed, the lash would have the final word."

The ACLU would have been all over this guy...

Well, the sh-- of it is that when you look at what it was like, essentially it'd be like knocking on doors in New Orleans, Gulfport, etc. and asking them to fund a war. Not surprising that people might start sighing when the army was requisitioning a goodly portion of what they did and made. But by and large, from the town minutes, (to read some of the wording and to try and decipher the handwriting, and you question whether this was really written ~250 years ago and not in the Bronze Age, but I digress...) when the soldiers needed or asked for something, the townspeople tried their best to provide it. To wit:

"April 7, 1777 -- Voted in sd meeting that the Selectmen shall provide 3 blankits for ye 3 men now ready to march into ye Conentall service & deliver ye same.

December 8, 1777 -- Voted to supply the families of those non comm. officers and soldiers now in Contin. Service."

Those are just two of numerous entries, just that I don't want to be typing all day. Other entries for "20 pounds lawful money" paid to each man for three years of service. There's additional provisions later on too.

A quartermaster complaining about not having enough supplies for his troops? Perish the thought! That comes with the job no matter what period of human history warfare you're talking about. Just the same as a farmer will complain about bad soil and no rain, and a banker will complain about robbers and interest rates. This ain't a perfect world, and ain't nobody gets everything of what they ask for.

thats a pretty good analogy.