But no commander played a greater role than Nathanael Greene in securing American independence, for it was his daring campaign in 1781 that thwarted Cornwallis and sent him on his fateful errand into Virginia, and it was rebel forces under Greene that liberated South Carolina and Georgia while the allies gathered at Yorktown. John Adams understood that, and nearly his first words on learning of Yorktown were: “General Greenes last Action… is quite as glorious for the American Arms as the Capture of Cornwallis.”19
