10:22 AM EDT on Monday, June 12, 2006

BY GERALD M. CARBONE
Journal Staff Writer

When Gen. George Washington settled his army at Morristown, N.J., for the winter of 1777, his wife, Martha, came to camp. Her camp visit was not unusual; wherever they traveled, 18th-century armies trailed behind them a train of camp followers -- wives, girlfriends, prostitutes and "sutlers," who sold goods, mostly hard liquor, to the soldiers.

Caty Greene, the wife of Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene, could not hazard a mid-winter carriage trip to camp from her native Rhode Island; she was five months' pregnant with their second child.

Nathanael Greene worried about this pregnancy, fearing that something was not right. From his headquarters in Morristown he wrote to Caty in March:

The great distance there is between us and the few opportunities I have to hear from [you] leaves me in a very disagreeable suspence. Eight long months have past amidst fatigue and toil since I have tasted the pleasures of domestick felicity.

Lots had happened in those eight months -- the deaths of friends; the rout at Fort Washington to the revenge at Trenton and Princeton; and most recently Greene had been in Philadelphia, where Washington sent him to give a report to Congress on the state of the army.

One subject Washington wanted Greene to discuss with Congress was prisoners of war, particularly the treatment of Maj.Gen. Charles Lee, who had been captured in December. Congress, fearing harsh treatment of Lee, was on the verge of retaliating against British prisoners of war. But Lee's treatment was far from harsh: he had spacious quarters in New York, one of his dogs, food, wine and occasional liberty to entertain guests.

In those days, enemy armies would negotiate swaps of their prisoners, an officer for an officer, or five lesser officers for one general, etc. Washington wanted all matters concerning prisoners to be conducted on the "principles of justice and humanity." Greene agreed. He felt it was good public policy to treat prisoners humanely:

The mild and gentle treatment the Hessian Prisoners have receivd since they have been in our possession has produced a great alteration in their disposition, Greene wrote to John Adams.

Desertion prevails among them. One whole Brigade refusd to fight or do duty and were sent prisoners to New York. . . . For these and many other reasons that will readily occur to you I would wish the resolution concerning Retalliation might be suspended for a time at least especially as General Lees confinement is not strict.

For the most part, Greene did not like his brief stay in Philadelphia. He never had been a fan of cities, once likening them to storms as a necessary evil: A Storm is a State of Confusion so is a City; a Storm often Changes the Face of things so are the face of things Often Changed in a Cities by the tumults and uproars which they are Subject to. . . .

Although he had served in Rhode Island's General Assembly, Greene was also no fan of politicians, a trait that would later get him into trouble. After enduring four hours of interviews with congressional committees, he wrote to Washington: There is so much deliberation and waste of time in the execution of business before this assembly that my patience is almost exhausted.

Ever the tactician, Greene spent his free time in Philadelphia reconnoitering the city to determine how he could defend it in the face of an expected British attack. He wrote to Washington:

I have road round the City and up the Scuylkill [Schuylkill River]and give it as my oppinion that it cannot be fortified to advantage. The approaches may be made so many ways that it would take a greater number of Troops to defend the Works than would be prudent to have shut up in the City.

While in Philadelphia, Greene also took a survey of the local women, reporting back to his wife: The young ladies of Philadelphia appeared angelick. A few months Seperation more will put my virtue to a new tryal. If you don't wish to put my resolution to the torture, bless me with your company; that is, providing your health and other circumstances favors my wishes.

On the day Greene wrote that letter, March 30, 1777, Caty's health and circumstances did not favor his wishes for a New Jersey visit. Unbeknownst to Greene, she had delivered their second baby sometime around March 14, this time a girl. Greene got the news on April 8:

I was most agreeably surprisd by a letter from brother Kitt with an account of your being in Bed. Thank God for your safe delivery. I read the letter with a trembling hand. Some supersticious fears had been hovering round me for some time that something would happen to you. What gave rise to this troublesome train of visitants I cannot tell unless it was the extream anxiety I felt for you in your critical situation. Heaven be praisd for this second pledge of conjugal affection. When I shall see the poor little beggar God only knows.

Greene wrote from comfortable quarters, something he rarely enjoyed throughout the eight years of fighting in the American Revolution. He stayed at the Basking Ridge estate of William Alexander, a fellow major general who preferred to be called Lord Stirling. Alexander, as most historians now call him, laid claim to being an English Earl of Stirling, though England never recognized that claim.

Alexander married a woman -- Lady Stirling -- who hailed from one of New York's most patrician families, the Livingstons. The couple poured so much into their country estate at Basking Ridge with its fruit orchards and deer parks that it later bankrupted the family. But while Greene stayed there in the spring of 1777, it was a nice place. For companions he had three young ladies, the Alexanders' daughters: Their manners are soft and exaggerated, he wrote to Caty. They wish much to see you here, and I wish so too. . . . Pray my dear are you determined to Suckle your baby or not? On that depends your liberty.

While Greene was faring well in Basking Ridge, Caty was miserably off at the Greene family homestead on Potowomut. Even if she was not determined to nurse their baby, she was not at liberty to leave; she was seriously ill.

Word of Caty's illness filtered back to Basking Ridge, but Greene could not learn any of the particulars for weeks. She probably suffered from pneumonia, though Greene's brother, Jacob (who capitalized nearly every word he wrote), provided this 18th-century diagnosis:

I Was Much Mortified To Find Caty Poorly With A Soar Brest. If thiss Misfortune Had Not Befell Her She Would Have Been out in four Weaks. She Was A Little Two Much In A Hury in Drying away Her Milk, Did Not Have Her Breast Sufficiently Drawn, which Occasioned Her Milk to Cake In Her Breast But Happily She is Likely To Get Well Soon Without Her Breast Breaking Which is Contrary To All the old Womens Expectations And of Her own Likewise. This Misfortune Will Protract Her Intended Journey To The Camp A Considerable Time.

It would be months before Caty could travel; Greene wrote to commiserate with her -- My dear creature, my Heart mourns the Absence of its counterpart-- then turned his thoughts to their new baby. I am happy to hear you have such a fine daughter. As to her name I must beg to be excused from giveing her any name: that falls more immediately under your province. Mrs. Washingtons Christian name is Martha. I shall have no objection to that or any other name you think proper to give her.

Caty settled on the name Martha Washington Greene, baby sister to George Washington Greene.

gcarbone@projo.com / (401) 277-7434

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