#spellhall

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Happy Birthday General Greene! Gilbert Stuart portrait at Spell Hall; Militia firing demo led by actor portraying Greene; Continental bugler

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The Pats and a Patriot

7/26-27/2014 – After the excitement of my Mom’s birthday celebration, I settled into catching up on errands, appointments, shopping for her, and visiting family. A new discovery presented itself when my (great) nephew called to say he had VIP tickets and extended an invitation for a New England Patriots training camp day. I thought it would complement my first Pats game earlier in my journey, thanks to a friend with an extra ticket. What I most enjoyed about training camp was hanging out with my nephew and brother, but also appreciated the relaxed atmosphere (unlike the game) and getting pics of a few favorite players. The weather was great, warm but not hot. The free buffet didn’t hurt either.

While teams talk about “leaving it all on the field”, soldiers sometimes really do it. During the American Revolution, soldiers died, left their families for some or all of the conflict, were not treated well when captured, and I’m sure many did not live long healthy lives after the fighting was over. The day after I got to see the team called “Patriots” practice, I reconnected with a true Patriot by visiting his former Rhode Island homestead-in what is now Coventry-on his birthday. This Patriot only lived in the house he built with his brother for just over four years, with his wife in the house for less than a year before volunteering to fight, and returned after the war only to settle his affairs and move. While living in the house he gave up, he helped organize a Rhode Island militia but due to earlier injuries and lack of experience was not given command. He gave up his religion to do so-he was a Quaker, sworn to nonviolence-and they threw him out for his patriotism in war. He gave up his pride and marched to Boston with that militia when the fighting started. He gave up field command when asked to take over West Point after Benedict Arnold’s betrayal to repair its defenses. He gave up his health when Washington ordered him south, taking on malaria and the exhausting task of fixing a broken southern army. Most Americans think the Revolution ended at Yorktown, but this ragged army and local militia fought British and Loyalists until 1782. At the end of the war, he was cheated by a contractor and promised to pay suppliers out of his own pocket. With no property left in Rhode Island, he gave up land grants in North and South Carolina to supply his troops-can you imagine a general doing that today? Sick, weary, and injured but determined, he settled his wife and five children outside of Savannah Georgia, where he died in the heat in June of 1786, living only three years in the freedom he and so many others earned. Nathanael Greene, born in Warwick Rhode Island on this day in 1742, was honored by a too small group of rain soaked enthusiasts, one descendent, a detachment of the ceremonial but still active Kentish Guards, and me.