William B. Greene
| William Batchelder Greene | |
|---|---|
William B. Greene
|
|
| Born |
4 April 1819 Haverhill, MA |
| Died | 11 March 1878 (aged 58) Somerset, England |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Harvard (1841) |
William Batchelder Greene (April 4, 1819 – May 30, 1878) was a 19th-century individualist anarchist, Unitarian minister, soldier and promotor of free banking in the United States.
Greene was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, he was the son of the Democratic journalist and Boston postmaster Nathaniel Greene. He was appointed to the U. S. Military Academy from Massachusetts in 1835, but left before graduation. He was made 2nd lieutenant in the 7th infantry in July, 1839, and, after serving in the second Seminole War, resigned in November 1841. Subsequently, he was connected with George Ripley's utopian movement at Brook Farm, after which he met several transcendentalists including Orestes Brownson, Elizabeth Peabody and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He studied theology at Harvard Divinity School, graduating in 1845. He was a pastor at a Unitarian church in Brookfield, Massachusetts before leaving to Europe.
Greene returned in 1861 to serve in the American Civil War. Although a Democrat, he was a strong abolitionist, and at the beginning of the Civil War became colonel of the 14th Massachusetts Infantry, afterward the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. In 1862, while stationed with his regiment in Fairfax, Virginia, he was recalled and assigned by Gen. George McClellan to the command of an artillery brigade in Gen. Whipple's division. He resigned his commission in October 1862, to continue his travels and writings.
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