Love Is In the Air – Especially for Catharine Greene!

Many of us may know Catharine Littlefield Greene as the wife of famed Revolutionary War hero, Nathanael Greene, and builder of Cumberland Island’s first Dungeness Mansion in the early 1800s. However, during her lifetime she was known for something else: her romances. Let us look at two of her most prominent loves, both of whom played important roles in American history and were even connected to Camden County.

Catharine (nicknamed Caty) was beautiful, quick, and vivacious and drew the attention of many men. Although Nathanael approved of her friendships with the opposite sex, rumors spread that perhaps they were more than just “friendships.”

Caty struck up one such relationship with gentlemanly and witty Captain Nathaniel Pendleton, Greene’s aide-de-camp during the Revolution. After the war, both the Greenes and Pendletons moved to Georgia – Caty and Nathanael to a Savannah River plantation the Georgia legislature had gifted them and Pendleton and his wife, Susan, to Savannah where he opened a law practice. Susan’s feelings toward Caty soon cooled as she witnessed Caty’s and Pendleton’s playfulness toward each other.

After Nathanael’s death of a heat stroke in 1786, Caty often envied the special attentions Pendleton paid his wife. For instance, Susan showed her a letter filled with expressions of love from her husband. Filled with jealousy, Caty wrote him a letter saying, “The strongest wish I have at this moment is that you were here in my room – we should have an uninterrupted tate a tate.” Pendleton professed his feelings for her, too, in a letter stating, “I can’t help wishing to be in the same place with you always.”

Years later, Pendleton and his wife moved to New York, where he became a federal judge and close friend of Alexander Hamilton’s. In fact, he was Hamilton’s second in his duel with Aaron Burr. Pendleton also had a connection to St. Marys; in 1788, St. Marys founder James Seagrove deeded him land on Osborne Street (where the General John Floyd House is today) for his infant son.

Caty carried on another “friendship” with the handsome and debonaire Brigadier General Anthony Wayne. They first met during the Revolution at Valley Forge, and like Greene himself, Wayne had been awarded a Savannah River plantation. He soon became the Greenes’ most frequent visitor; he and Caty often rode together after the day’s chores and fussed over their flower gardens.

In the weeks following Nathanael’s death, Caty and Wayne turned to each other for mutual consolation, but after that intimate period, Caty’s attitude toward him changed. Formerly understanding his need for sweethearts due to his estrangement from his wife, she now considered such dalliances transgressions upon their special friendship.

When Caty debated leaving Georgia after Nathanael’s death, this idea crushed Wayne, who begged her to stay. When she visited Rhode Island for the summer, he was ill with fear she would not return. Almost immediately upon her arrival north, she received a letter from him stating that after seeing her onto her vessel, “I sunk upon the arm of a kind protector who supported me to my chamber where I instantly fell into a state of torpidity.”

Although their relationship had cooled, Wayne, who became U.S. Representative from the first Georgia district, was her ardent supporter in Congress, where she requested they repay her money Nathanael had lost outfitting his troops during the war. However, a movement led by her own friend, Nat Pendleton, was unfolding to unseat Wayne because of the fraudulent nature of his election.

In fact, this voting fraud occurred in Camden County. Here, Henry Osborne, a St. Marys founder and head of local elections for U.S. Representative, added over 50 fake votes to Wayne’s ticket without his knowledge. Wayne’s election is still regarded as one of the most fraudulent in history.

Catharine Greene’s relationships with these prominent Americans illustrate not only how outstanding a person she must have been but also how important a hub St. Marys was. Let us enjoy a Valentine’s chocolate in honor of Caty and of the storied history of Camden County!

Learn more about Caty Greene on our Cumberland Island Walking Tour! Also, check out our St. Marys tours!