WHO DOESN'T ADMIRE A BIG BOOK-LOVING BUDDY?:

Now a general under Washington, Greene gets a taste of war (GERALD M. CARBONE, 6/02/06, Providence Journal)

Greene's Rhode Island camp must have been a welcome sight for Washington. Because of his clean camp and the deportment of his troops, Greene's stock began to rise among the other generals.

My task is hard and fatigue great, Greene confessed in a letter to his brother, Jacob. I go to bed late and rise Early. . . . But hard as it is if I can discharge my Duty to my own Honor and to my country['s] satisfaction, I shall go through the Toil with Chearfulness. My own officers and Soldiers are generally well Satisfied, nay I have not heard one complaint.

The General officers of the Neighbouring Camps treat me with the greatest Respect much more than my Station or Consequence entitle me to.

Greene's diligence earned him a commission as brigadier general in the Army of the United Colonies; months after being deemed unsuitable as officer material by the Kentish Guards, he was now at 32 the youngest general in the United Colonies.

Washington had a few battle-hardened generals in his camp: Col. William Prescott, a hero of the recent battle at Bunker Hill; Col. John Stark, an Army Ranger in the French and Indian War; and Israel Putnam, or "Old Put," a 5-foot-6-inch dynamo. At 57 years old, Putnam was already a legend. He too served as a Ranger in the French and Indian War, had survived a shipwreck and supposedly was once rescued while tied to a stake just as tribal warriors were setting him afire.

Washington was a shrewd observer of character. As he looked over the officers at his command he favored two young, unseasoned men with increasing responsibilities -- Nathanael Greene and his big book-loving buddy Henry Knox.