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Chad Farris
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Analytical Paper #2
In 1775, a thirty three year old man that goes by the name of Nathanael Greene became the youngest general officer and commander in the American army. The group of men he was in charge of faced the challenge of confining the soldiers that King George III sent to Boston. The Americans were to cut off all food and supply sources being supplied to the British soldiers all while keeping them from gaining any more “elbow room”, as a Britain general named Burgoyne once stated. (McCullough, page 49) Nathanael Greene, Being the youngest American general officer to command an army, knew very little about war. Being that this was the first time Greene had ever severed in a campaign and that he had never actually stepped foot onto a battle field himself, he was immensely under qualified for the job at hand. Many leading factors suggested the American patriot forces would ultimately be defeated in the war between Great Britain and the thirteen colonies.
With Britain in rule of the American colonies, the development of the American army did not happen quickly. The American soldiers were hardly deemed capable to fight and were not exactly given the proper tools needed to do so. With extreme limitations on weapons, gun powder, and ammunition, the British soldiers would heavily outweigh the Americans at war. Even with these limitations at hand, to the bigger of Nathanael Greene’s concerns was the overall lack of discipline the army showed itself. In a letter written to a man named Samuel Ward, a member of the Continental Congress, Greene wrote that, “the prospect was deeply disturbing, when you consider how raw and undisciplined the troops are in general, and what war-like preparations are going on in England.” (McCullough, page 70) The American army was far from a fully established organization at the beginning of the siege. The lack of artillery, uniforms, and discipline overall was a clear indication that the American patriots were simply unprepared for the batt...
