A pause in the conversation was broken by a request from Elsie Raymond.
“Papa, won’t you tell us about another of the Revolutionary officers?”
“I am very willing to do so, daughter, but which shall it be?” the captain asked.
“I should like to hear about General Greene, if the rest of the folks here would,” she answered, glancing from one to another.
“I think we would all be pleased to hear about him,” said Grandma Elsie, “for surely he was next to Washington in bravery, talent for the work in hand, and success in using it.”
So the captain began.
“I think he had no other superior than Washington in the art and practice of war. He was a native of Rhode Island, the son of Quaker parents, brought up to be industrious and painstaking, and managed to get a good education largely by his own determined efforts in private study of ancient and English history, law, geometry and moral and political science; he was also fond of reading books upon war.
“Some few years before the Revolutionary War he was chosen a member of the Rhode Island Assembly, and was one of those who engaged in military exercises as a preparation for the coming struggle with England for the freedom which belonged of right to the people of this land.
“In 1774 he enlisted as private, and in 1775 was appointed to the command of the Rhode Island contingent of the army at Boston, with the rank of brigadier-general. He was with Montgomery and Arnold in their invasion of Canada. He was made a major-general in 1775, and distinguished himself in the battles of Trenton and Princeton.
“He commanded a division at the battle of Brandywine and did great service there. It is said that by his skilful movements then and there he saved the American army from utter destruction. He had part in the battle of Germantown also, commanding the left wing.