1742, in Warwick, Rhode Island, into a founding family of that colony. His father is a successful businessman, owner of an ironworks, and a Quaker minister of limited tolerance, who despises books and any source of education for his children beyond the teachings of his religion. It is not a doctrine Greene can follow, and in 1773, after outspoken protest against the strict tenets he is expected to observe, Greene is dismissed from the Quaker community.
Greene manages his father’s business until 1771, when the senior dies. Leaving the ironworks to the care of his brothers, Greene moves to Coventry, Rhode Island, develops friendships with men who are active politically, and begins to understand the seriousness of the issues swirling around the colony. Though Greene serves in the Rhode Island Assembly, he is rarely outspoken and shows no inclination toward a career in politics. In 1774, he marries Catharine “Kitty” Littlefield, who is twelve years his junior.
He is an avid reader, and makes great efforts to secure books of all types. Books, he writes, “inspire the mind to action and direct the passions.” As events around Boston grow more incendiary, Greene follows many of those from Rhode Island who accept the responsibility of lending assistance to their neighboring colony. He and his friends establish the “Kentish Guards,” but Greene is afflicted with a slight deformity, a permanently stiff leg, and his friends consider that a disqualification from any sort of command. Embarrassed, he serves as a private.
He travels to Boston and witnesses the first great influx of British soldiers, but his mission is more personal than business. He has been told of a noted bookseller, and so, because of his voracious appetite for new reading material, he makes the acquaintance of the man who shares his literary passion. The bookseller is Henry Knox.
Greene returns to Rhode Island, where he receives news of the bloodshed at Lexington and Concord. He is one of two men chosen by the Committee of Safety to organize their colony’s contribution to the rapidly growing continental forces forming around Boston. Authorized by the colonial assembly, the newly organized body is called the “Army of Observation.” Greene is surprised to be elected brigadier general, attributes the selection to prominent members of the assembly who are longtime friends of his well-known family. He accepts reluctantly, knowing full well he has no qualifications for command. By the end of May 1775, he is marching to Boston.
His Rhode Islanders do not participate in the action at Breed’s Hill, yet the troops make a favorable impression by their discipline and willingness to train. When Washington arrives to assume command, Greene writes him a letter of welcome and is invited to meet the new commander at Washington’s headquarters. The commanding general has already endured the slights and insults from those who refuse to acknowledge his authority, but Greene has no pretensions about his own rank, and welcomes the guiding hand of an experienced soldier. Greene’s cordiality is a pleasant surprise to Washington, and a friendship is born. Upon Washington’s recommendation, Greene receives a commission as one of the first brigadiers in the Continental army. At thirty-three, he is also the youngest.
Though Rhode Island is threatened severely by British raids, Greene insists his men remain at their posts near Boston. “ We must expect to make partial sacrifices for the public good. I love the colony of Rhode Island . . . but I am not so attached as to be willing to injure the common cause.”
Greene becomes more visible at headquarters as a man who both understands and proposes sound strategy, and when the British evacuate Boston, Washington grants him command of the city. When news of the Declaration reaches Greene, he is one of the first to suggest to Washington that a war can only be won if the colonies are aligned with a foreign power, notably