Nathanael Greene
Born: Rhode Island
Age in 1775: 32
Profession: Businessman, forge owner
Principal Contribution: Major General, Quartermaster General, commander who bested British General Cornwallis in the South, 1781.
Personal characteristics: Lame, asthmatic, analytical, brilliant strategist.
Quote: 1781 “We fight get beat rise and fight again.”
Later life: Struggled against debt, suffered a stroke.
Died: 1786
John Stark
Born: Londonderry, New Hampshire
Age in 1775: 46
Profession: Farmer, lumber mill owner
Principal Contribution to the Revolution: Led troops at Bunker Hill, Trenton. Commanded at the important victory in the Battle of Bennington, 1777.
Personal characteristics: Flinty veteran of the French & Indian War.
Quote: “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.”
Later life: Farmer.
Died: 1822
Anthony Wayne
Born: Chester County, Pennsylvania
Age in 1775: 30
Profession: Tanner, farmer, surveyor
Principal Contribution to the Revolution: The Patton of the Revolution, aggressive commander at Monmouth Courthouse, Stony Point and other battles.
Personal characteristics: He could “fight as well as brag.” “Mad Anthony.”
Quote: “I have an insuperable bias in favor of an elegant uniform and a soldierly appearance.”
Later life: Farmer, led a military expedition and defeated an Indian force in Ohio in 1794.
Died: 1796
Daniel Morgan
Born: New Jersey, settled in Winchester, Va.
Age in 1775: 40
Profession: Farmer
Principal Contribution to the Revolution: Leader of a rifle corps in the invasion of Canada and the Battle of Saratoga; commander at the important victory at Cowpens.
Personal characteristics: A large frontiersman. “The Old Wagoner.”
Quote: 1781 “They give us the British haloo, boys. Give them the Indian whoop.”
Later life: Farmer, one term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Died: 1802
Henry Knox
Born: Boston
Age in 1775: 24
Profession: Bookseller
Principal Contribution to the Revolution: Commander of patriot artillery, advisor to the commander in chief.
Personal characteristics: Highly intelligent, obese.
Quote: 1776 “As the army now stands, it is only a receptacle for ragamuffins.”
Later life: Secretary of War 1785-95
Died: 1806
“Poor food – hard lodging – Cold Weather – fatigue – Nasty Cloaths – nasty Cookery – Vomit half my time – smoak’d out my senses – the Devil’s in’t – I can’t Endure it – Why are we sent here to starve and Freeze.”
-The Valley Forge winter described by Doctor Albigence Waldo of the Continental Army, 1777.
These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. –Thomas Paine
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