Hello, everyone, and welcome back to then again the podcast of the northeast Georgia history center. I am Marie bartland, and I'm the director of education here. And today I have with me a very special guest who time traveled to be with us today, major general Nathaniel green. Thank you so much for being with us today.

Well, thank you for inviting me. I look forward to speaking with you.

Now, you were a major general in the revolutionary war, but you were born into a quaker family who are known pacifists. So how did you end up as a soldier?

Well, I was first, I have a family. Secondly, my family has owned and run a forge, an ironworks, for many, many years. And we are affected and were affected by some of the laws, the taxation, and the tariffs passed by the crown. We knew that the other citizens in Kent county were being affected the same way. We also knew that armed revolt was on the horizon. And as this started, I could not stand by and have my fellow citizens help defend myself and my family. Therefore, I stepped forward to do my part in fighting this unjustified taxation and attack on our country.

So, of course, you are most well known as a revolutionary war major general, and I was wondering perhaps if you knew some of these things that we say about you in history today. You are known as general washington's, head man and one of his most able generals in the revolutionary war. Are you aware of how good you are as a major general? And what is your response to some of these epitaphs that have been attached to your legacy?

Well, I'm unaware of such comments. I do report directly to his excellency, general washington. We have a long, very close relationship between his family and my family. Our wives are very close. In fact, our families are very close. And I know I have his confidence in my being assigned to the southern battlefront, and I'm hoping that that assignment will in turn come to fruition. As far as success, we have already had a few successes, and I'm looking for even more. But as far as accolades on my part, I can tell you that congress does not think very highly of me.

Oh, what does congress think?

Well, in one of my past positions within the army, I was in charge of communicating back and forth with congress, being the quartermaster general. This position that I did not ask for. Excellency requested me to take over the quartermaster corps. Because of its failures, I had to deal with congress on a routine basis and requesting supplies and monetary reimbursements to be able to buy the proper supplies, the tintage arms, food for our troops. And congress was very hard to deal with. You see, I do not like dealing with bureaucrats. I find myself I am an officer in the army. In supporting those causes, I do not like dealing with politicians, so therefore, my accolades may be very small in the political field. I only do this to support my country and to support my commanding officer.

Who is George Washington, correct?

Correct.

Now, George Washington, he has assigned you to the Southern Theater. So can you tell us a little bit about your work there and especially with the colony of Georgia?

Well, I haven't quite made it to Georgia yet. I have just recently made headroads into coming into North Carolina and being introduced to the command in that area. I will tell you that there are a number of battles that have happened in recent which gives me great hope that there is a firm, strong, patriotic support here in the south that we can draw upon. We've just had a wonderful victory back this last fall at a small rise. They call it King's Mountain in North Carolina, where a thousand North Carolinians have chased the British and caught them on top of this hill. A wonderful victory and other victories. In fact, I haven't made it to Georgia yet. But there was another victory in Georgia as well at a small battle. It caused Kettles Creek. There. It was a substantial win for the Patriot cause as well, which tells me that we do have the support here in the south. They're not all loyalists, and it tells me that we can draw from those wins to be able to rally our cause and to be able to fight further into cause of freeing the south as well.

Thank you again so much for being with us, major General Nathaniel Green, it has been a wonderful pleasure talking to you today. And I'm excited that our listeners and our members of the Northeast Georgia History Center and anyone else who would like to attend will get to hear more from you this coming Tuesday, August Eigth. As you are coming to the Northeast Georgia History Center to talk to us more, what are your hopes for people to come and hear you and what do you hope that they will learn about you and the Patriot cause?

Well, there's much to learn. I'm hoping to pass along some stories on myself and about my upbringing and what led me to this cause. And I'm hoping that they will understand more how important the battles were here in the south. We were pivotal here in the south in turning the tide of the war.

So, of course, Major General Nathaniel Green will be portrayed by our living history interpreter, Dan McMichael of Revolutionary days. So thank you again for being with us, Dan, and for portraying. Major General Nathaniel Green. How did you get into living history?

Well, it started approximately close to 40 years ago, over 40 years ago and participating in reenactments. And from that learning basically learning the.

History in which the area that I.

Was portraying and it's going from that portrayal in just basically portraying at a campsite, having the right gear on, having.

The right accoutrements in the camp, the.

Right tentage, trying to stay accurate to the time period and then relating those items to the general public that would come to the different programs that I.

Was in, generally in a larger encampment.

So I was not the program.

I was just one of many participants there.

And I learned from that standpoint that people enjoy listening to stories. They enjoy listening to the history of things that they're not aware of. This gives them the chance to touch and feel and see and hear history in real time, not just reading it or watching something on a video. They can see all these type things along with the black powder, shooting, cooking around a campfire, all those type things. And my journey through that was learning and evolving from just simply having a display and discussing it with people into transforming into a storytelling activity which they can come then and learn from direct contact with someone, their story and passing that history on that way. And that's how all of our histories began in the world, was passing those stories on to the next generation before there was a written word. We're a long civilization of storytellers. We all tell stories, and I enjoy telling historical stories in first person.

So how did you decide on really two stories to focus on? And that is Major General Nathaniel Green and George Washington. So out of all of the people in history, how did you decide on these two individuals to really focus on your betrayal?

First of all, Nathaniel Green was a.

Very unsung hero in the history books, not so much here in the south, but in the major history books of this country contributions. And his strategy that he used in the south was far beyond what was tried elsewhere. They were trying to fight the war in the south with typical strategies that you would use in the north in open fields. And we had very few open fields.

Here in the south.

So it was more of a hit and run strategy you had to deal with here. And he was able to change and adapt his techniques on the fly where the other generals that had been sent to the south was not.

And this story, along with his family.

Story, I feel is a very important story to bring out to people so.

They can perpetuate the history of him and his contributions.

And that was the main reason for picking Nathaniel Green.

I was seen and asked to portray.

Him at different times, and that's what led to my interest in going after Green and being able to promote his history and his wonderful history of how he supported this country. As far as George Washington.

There is no second to George Washington.

Some of that adapted. They were during the Revolutionary War. Their upbringing was totally different. Two different states, two different upbringings. What their route and what their journey was in life and what led them to the war.

Washington, on the other hand, he had.

Been brought up in a family that had history in supporting Britain, was employed by the British Army, not himself, but technically he was because he was in the militia in Virginia. But he had a long history and involvement in the military.

So he fit the place in history.

Exactly where he needed to be at the time. Everyone knows George Washington. But what I try to do with portraying George Washington is bring those stories to light that people are unaware of and bring that knowledge to people so they can have a deeper understanding of how well suited Washington was.

For not just being the commander in.

Chief of our Continental Army, but also in turn, being able to be appointed.

As our first President. So both of them are very deep characters.

It takes a lot of study on my part to be able to portray them accurately. And with that, I'm hoping I can pass along that history and a lot.

Of that knowledge to people where they.

Can enjoy it and be able to have images in their brain of how.

History developed and that's quantum one.

And both of them were intertwined for that eight to ten year period during the war. They were very much working side by.

Side and intertwined with so much of the same history.

I can relate both in referring to both, but both of them had totally different responsibilities during the war, but they were very close during that time period. I'm hoping that will answer both of.

Your questions kind of emerging into one.

Yes, absolutely. We're very excited to have you portraying Major General Nathaniel Green for our August chautauqua. And then also we're very excited to have you portray George Washington for our September Homeschool Day about the Revolutionary War. And I was wondering to conclude this podcast if you would like to tell people a little bit more about your business revolutionary days.

Well, basically it's historical storytelling where I go out into private groups. I say private genealogical societies have asked me to come and speak to them. Historical organizations such as yourself have asked me to come and speak.

Also libraries.

I've been to schools. I've even done some churches. So the program that I attempt and that I produce and put out is one that can go from school kids to retirees and everyone in between. It's open. It's a very family friendly program that no matter what the generation is, I talk to the crowd and I get the crowd involved in my presentations, so therefore they have something to relate to. So no matter what your age, I have something in my program for that, and that's what I've attempted to do, to try to have something that's open for all ages.

Well, thank you so much for speaking with us today. And I hope people get a little taste of what your performances at the History Center will be like. And we really hope that they will come out. All of our listeners will come out to those programs and get to see you in person because I don't think the audio just does it justice of seeing you with all of your truly accurate historical props and garb. It's an impressive sight to behold and I hope that all of our listeners will come on out and be able to partake in that historical storytelling with us.

I'm looking forward to both visits. There to Northeast Georgia Historical Center. Looking forward to visiting with all your guests there.

All right, so you heard it here first, folks. Come on out to the Northeast Georgia History Center for some wonderful historical storytelling. Until next time, take care.

Then again is a production of the Northeast Georgia History Center in Gainesville, Georgia. Our podcast is edited by media producer Guada Rodriguez. Our digital and on site programs are made possible by the Ada May Ivester Education Center. Please join us next week for another episode of Then Again. Close.