Greene, Christopher
Greene, Christopher
GREENE, CHRISTOPHER. (1737–1781). Continental officer. Rhode Island. Born in Warwick, Rhode Island, on 12 May 1737, Greene was a businessman engaged in the operation of forges, anchor works, dams, and sawmills on the south branch of the Pawtuxet River. He represented Warwick in the Rhode Island legislature in 1771 and 1772. In 1774 he was made a lieutenant in the Kentish Guards, marching with them to Boston on the day of the battles at Lexington and Concord. He was appointed major of James Mitchell Varnum's Rhode Island Regiment on 3 May 1775, and shortly thereafter he moved with them to participate in the siege of Boston.
Volunteering for Benedict Arnold's march to Quebec (September through November 1775), Greene was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel and given command of the first battalion. He was captured during the assault on Quebec on 31 December 1775–1 January 1776, and held prisoner until August 1777. While in captivity he was promoted to the position of colonel of the First Rhode Island Regiment, on 27 February 1777.
Given command of strategic Fort Mercer on the Delaware River, near Philadelphia, Greene conducted its defense and then supervised its evacuation when it was no longer tenable. Congress voted to present him with a sword in recognition of his achievements. Commanding a newly raised regiment of African American troops who had been recruited from slaves freed to serve in the army, he played a prominent and highly commended part in the battle of Rhode Island on 29 August 1778. In both the Fort Mercer and Newport operations he was under the command of his famous kinsman, General Nathanael Greene. After continuing to serve with General George Washington's main army, Greene took command of the lines in Westchester County, New York, in the spring of 1781. He was killed at Croton River on 14 May 1781.
SEE ALSO Boston Siege; Croton River, New York; Fort Mercer, New Jersey; Newport, Rhode Island (29 July-31 August 1778).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Greene, G. S., and Louise B. Clarke. The Greenes of Rhode Island. New York: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1903.
Greene, Lorenzo J. "Some Observations on the Black Regiment of Rhode Island in the American Revolution." Journal of New York History 37 (1952): 142-172.
revised by Michael Bellesiles