Today we briefly pay tribute to one of the bravest women of the Revolutionary War era, who risked her personal safety to follow her husband into battle, and who spent the war years supporting the troops led by her husband, General Nathanael Greene. It was on this day in 1814 that Catherine Littlefield Greene passed away in Cumberland Island, Georgia at the age of 59. Born and raised in Rhode Island, she married Nathanael in 1774, as tensions were rising between the colonists and Parliament over the imposition of taxes that were hurting the people of New England. When the war commenced in 1775, Nathanael participated in most of the major battles over the next few years, and Catherine was there at his side—and gave birth to four children while there! Her oldest son, George Washington Greene, was born in February 1776, followed by Martha (b. 1777), Cornelia (b. 1779) and Nathanael (b. 1780). She became close friends with the wives of other military leaders, most prominently Martha Washington and Lucy Knox, and corresponded frequently with Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Famously, she was at Valley Forge during the winter of 1776, where one evening she is said to have danced with General Washington for three hours. After the war, she and Nathanael moved to a plantation in Georgia, “Mulberry Grove.” Nathanael died the following year, and Catherine took on the responsibility of running the plantation. It was there that her children’s tutor, Eli Whitney, lived, and it was there that Whitney perfected his invention, the cotton gin. In 1796, Catherine remarried; the wedding took place at the home of now-President George Washington. She then sold the plantation, and moved with her new husband to Cumberland Island, Georgia, where she lived until her death on September 2, 1814. We remember her this day for the patriot that she was, and the support she gave her husband, who emerged as one of the greatest generals of the American Revolution.
