nathaniel greene was a quaker furthermore. he was a quaker with a bad limp because of a childhood accident and all he found the profession and arms and shoulders of an iron worker but about a fifth reeducation at most. but he also never stopped reading books and all he knew about the military, all that he could boast to understand and his role as a general at 33-years-old plus from what he had read in books. yon henry knox was only 25. he had blown off part his hand in a hunting accident. he was a big velo, a bookseller in washington who became the commander in artillery and all he knew about the military, all that he ever could claim to know is what he had read in books. but we have to keep in mind this was a period, 18th-century, age of enlightenment when people believed reading books was a good way to learn things. [laughter] and they are -- they are splendid dix samples of that faith. washington had this capacity to spot talent and he also had great capacity to see things as they were and not as he wished they were. this i

thank you so much. >> guest: nathaniel greene was from rhode island. the green family was very powerful politically and rhode island in the late colonial period. he was not related to the green mountain boys. we usually think of ethan allen as the commander of the green mountain boys. they were from what we think of as vermont and western new hampshire at the time. i am not aware of the russian navy coming over at all during the revolutionary war. the british decided early on, if they did not have a large standing army and they were in the habit when they went to war of hiring mercenaries at the very outset of the war the british prime minister attempted to hire rush of mercenaries and made contact with catherine the great and she refused and wanted no part of it so the lord turned to the german principalities and concluded treaties with several principalities which we usually mistakenly lumps them together and called them german soldiers who served over here as british mercenaries. >> host: this is an e-mail from nevada california. first of all, about

thank you so much. >> host: nathaniel greene was from rhode island. the green family was very powerful politically as a matter of fact in the late colonial period. he was not related to the green mountain boys. we usually think of ethan allen as the commander of the green mountain boys. they were from what we think of of vermont and western new hampshire at this time. i am unaware of the russian navy coming over at all during the revolutionary war. the british decided early on they did not have a large standing army and they were in the habit when they went to war hiring mercenaries at the very outset the british prime minister attempted to hire brescia mercenaries and made contact with catherine the great and she refused and wanted no part of it so the board turned to the german principalities and concluded treaties with several principalities which we usually mistakenly but nevertheless a duet from a lump them together and call them the german soldiers who served over here as british mercenaries. >> host: this is any real watching us in california fi

you have in sight as to the personal relationship if they had any or did washington just use nathaniel green based upon his record? thank you. >> guest: sure. let me try to -- because there are two questions there and let me try an answer both of those -- and take the question first of the opposition to washington if i could. washington made a lot of mistakes in the campaign of 1776 in new york. but i think most people were willing to overlook those mistakes. he was new in command, an amateur soldier, and then, in the campaign of 1777, there were nor mistakes made by washington, at brandywine, and following brandywine, washington was largely inactive, in his efforts to finally take philadelphia and at the same time general horatio gates was scoring an amazing victory at saratoga, an entire british army was lost, at saratoga, nearly 7,000 british soldiers is your opinion soldiers surrendered in october of 1777 and the second campaign of mistakes by washington and afghanistan an alternative commander, somebody who had succeeded in the case of general gates, led to a good deal of opposition to

i think, toward, the nathaniel green of 1780 might have been able to have done a job as well as washington did or perhaps even better, but greene was not prepared for that kind of position in 1775 and people like charles lee or horatio gates, they were just out of the picture altogether because they have been professional the british officers and congress wasn't going to go there. congress wanted a native-born american to be the commander. and you look at who is around, people like john sullivan hugh had been a lawyer in new hampshire and, i just don't see anyone who would it fit the bill. i think too, you have to look to the total picture of washington. he is a pretty good minister of the army. the officer corps was blindly loyal by and large to washington. he worked extraordinarily well with state governors and with congress, so that, i think made up for some of his deficiencies from lack of experience as a soldier with other qualities, and salote in the event, i think the country was fortunate to have had him. in fact, i sometimes say that i think the country was fortunate to have had w

but finally, at the very end of 1780, general nathaniel greene was named the commander of the continental army in the south. in fact, at that point after the battle of camden and the defeat of our ratio gauge, congress went to general washington and asked washington if he would select the commander of the continental army in the south. washington had always through the war declined to do that, naming commanders was to get into a political minefield. and he wanted to stay out of that. but the situation was desperate in late 1780. and washington at that point did name somebody, and he named general green. washington early on in the war had seen qualities in greene who ironically had a soldier before the war. he had never been in a military unit until a few weeks, in fact, before the war broke out. but he was a bright guy. he was an extraordinary leader. and washington, who was i think almost unequaled in his ability to judge other people and to judge them very quickly, came to see greene as perhaps his best to general. and in fact, as early as 1776, washington had indicated that if somethin

he hoped to certainly in the end 1780 he was sent, washington sent him with nathaniel greene to resurrect the basically dead army in the carolinas. steuben never made it that far. he and green stopped in virginia and saw what imminent threat of invasion there is a the end of 1780 and greenup left steuben to organize defenses and raise troops. so he played a major role in terms of keeping virginia largely british free throughout 1781 and keeping the state open until such time as lafayette and the french could come down to stave off cornwallis invasion so in that sense, yes, and he did do a fair amount, not as much as he had hoped increasing supply and the continental line flight in the carolinas against cornwallis. so there is an influence. certainly it's not the same kind of

nathaniel. >> they are trying to green wash the image and we all have to hold the pieces of fire. for being the most polluting company to being a green energy company. >> the most polluting company in the world?d? how about the company that helps us achieve so many things in this country and all over the world and helps us to drive and power. >> these are not incompatible things. the product they produce, we burn it and we have to cook in the planet. they are trying to get ahead of that curve. this is a good exchange here. >> green washing. that's a new word. i'm impressed. >> i thought he had you on the hydro carbon biofuels. i thought he had you. >> going to take a quick break and talk about the marks of course and the president set to give a big speech in just over an hour from now. back in 20 minutes and nancy pelosi will be holding a news conference. all of that straight ahead. closeout is here; hurry to get the pontiac you want before they're gone. the price on the tag is the price you pay. get a 2009 pontiac vibe for $13,708 after all offers. or get 0% apr for 60 months on