In 1773, he visited Connecticut, attended several of its militia “trainings,” and studied their methods of instruction and drill. In 1774, he visited Boston, to examine minutely the drill, quarters, and commissary arrangements of the British regular troops. Incidentally, he met one evening, at a retired tavern on India wharf, a British sergeant who had deserted. He persuaded him to accompany him back to Rhode Island, where he made him drill-instructor of the “Kentish Guards,” a company with which Greene was identified. Such was the proficiency in arms, deportment, and general drill realized by this company, through their joint effort, that more than thirty of the members became commissioned officers in the subsequent war. The character of the men of that period, as in the American Civil War, supplied the military service with soldiers of the best intelligence and of superior physical capacities. Very much of the energy and success which attended the progress of the American army was traceable to these qualities, as contrasted with those of the British recruits and the Hessian drafted men. Greene himself, unconsciously but certainly, was preparing himself and his comrades for the impending struggle which already cast its shadow over the outward conditions of peace. Modest, faithful, dignified, undaunted by rebuffs or failure, and as a rule, equable, self-sacrificing, truthful, and honest, he possessed much of that simple grandeur of character which characterized George H. Thomas and Robert E. Lee, of the American conflict, 1861–5. His patriotism, as he announced his propositions to the officers assembled before Cambridge, was like that of Patrick Henry, of Virginia, who shortly after made this personal declaration: “Landmarks and boundaries are thrown down; distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more;” adding, “I am not a Virginian, but an American.” By the middle of June, and before the Battle of Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill), the Colonies were substantially united for war. During the previous month of March, Richard Henry Lee had introduced for adoption by the second Virginia Convention, a resolution that “the Colony be immediately put in a state of defence,” and advocated the immediate reorganization, arming, and discipline of the militia.