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LIFE 
 
 ISRAEL PUTNAM, 
 
 JIAJOK-GENERAL IN TlIK ARMY OF THE 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 ON THE BASIS OF THE MEMOIRS BT 
 COLONEL DAVID HUMPHREYS, 
 
 HIS COMPAXION IN ARMS. 
 
 I5EW YORK: 
 
 SHELDON, LAMPORT & BLAKEMAN, 
 No. 115 Nassau Street. 
 1855. 
 
1 
 
^ A Montgomery County Public Ubn»y 
 
 LIFE 
 
 ISRAEL PUTNAM, 
 
 XAJOR-GENESAL IN THK ARM? OF THS 
 DNITED STATES. 
 
 ON THE BASIS OF THE MEMOIRS BY 
 COLONEL DAVID HUMPHREYS, 
 
 HIS COMPANION IX ARMS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 SHELDON, LAMPORT & BLAKEMAN, 
 i No, 115 Nassau Street. 
 
 I 1855. 
 
9^0,-. 
 
 rr 
 
 <{'\ 
 
 Entered according to an Act of Congrem, ia 
 
 the year 1847, by 
 
 NAFIS ic CORMSH, 
 
 in the Clerk's OtTice of tlie District Court of 
 
 lUe Southern District of New York. 
 
 Ho. 9 SprT».-». ytppet. y T 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 General Putnam is deservedly 
 considered one of the ablest and 
 bravest officers to which this country 
 has ^iven birth. His services in 
 the French and Indian wars, which 
 preceded the Revolution, were so 
 remarkable, and his character for 
 courage and ability so well known, 
 that immediately on the commence- 
 ment of hostilities between the 
 American colonies and the mother 
 country, he was placed in the fore- 
 most rank of generals. His con- 
 duct at the battle of Bunker Hill 
 was questioned by General Dear- 
 born, nearly half a century after 
 that celebrated event ; but a host of 
 defenders instantly started up, and 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 living witnesses were found in abun- 
 dance to justify the truth of history | 
 and vindicate the character of the 
 veteran commander. 
 
 Duriui? all the early part of the 
 Revolution, he was intrusted by 
 Washington with the most difficult 
 and important commands ; but his 
 constitution was so broken by a 
 series of hardships encountered dur- 
 ing his military life, that an attack 
 of palsy rendered him incapable of 
 further duty, and deprived the coun- 
 try of his services during the latter 
 years of the Revolution. 
 
 The following biography is based 
 upon the best memoir of him which 
 has ever appeared, written by 
 Colonel Humphreys, his companion 
 in arms, and clclivered as an address 
 to the Society of the Cincinnati. But 
 slight alterations from the original 
 work have been made, and those 
 generally in the way of curtailment. 
 
 HU»M 
 
LIFE OF 
 GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 Israel Putnam was born at Sa- 
 lem, in the province (now state) of 
 Massachusetts, on the 7th day of 
 January, 1718. His father. Cap- 
 tain Joseph Putnam, was the son 
 of Mr. John Putnam, who, with two 
 brothers, came from the south of 
 England, and were among the first 
 settlers of Salem. 
 
 His early instruction was not 
 considerable, and the active scenes 
 of life in which he was afterwards 
 engaged, prevented the opportunity 
 of great literary improvement. His 
 
6 LIFE OF 
 
 numerous original letters, though 
 deficient in scholastic accuracy, 
 always display the goodness of his 
 heart, and frequently the strength 
 of his native genius. He had a 
 certain laconic mode of expression, 
 and an unafiected epigrammatic 
 turn, which characterized most of 
 his writings. 
 
 To compensate partially for the 
 deficiency of education (though no- 
 thing can remove or counterbal- 
 ance the inconveniences experienc- 
 ed from it in public life) he derived 
 from his parents the source of in- 
 numerable advantages in the sta- 
 mina of a vigorous constitution. 
 
 Courage, enterprise, activity, and 
 perseverance were the first charac- 
 teristics of his mind. There is a 
 kind of mechanical courage, the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 offspring of pride, habit, or disci- 
 pline, that may push a coward not 
 only to perform his duty, but even 
 to venture on acts of heroism. Put- 
 nam's courage was of a different 
 species. It was ever attended with 
 a serenity of soul, a clearness of 
 conception, a degree of self-posses- 
 sion, and a superiority to all the 
 vicissitudes of fortune, entirely dis- 
 tinct from anything that can be 
 produced by the ferment of blood, 
 and flutter of spirits ; which not 
 unfrequently precipitate men to ac- 
 tion, when stimulated by intoxica- 
 tion or some other transient exhila- 
 ration. The heroic character, thus 
 founded on constitution and animal 
 spirits, cherished by education and 
 ideas of personal freedom, confirm- 
 ed by temperance and habits of ex- 
 
LIFE OF 
 
 ercise, was completed by the dictate 
 of reason, the love of his country, 
 and an invincible sense of duty. 
 Such were the qualities and prin- 
 ciples that enabled him to meetunap- 
 palled the shafts of adversity, and 
 to pass in triumph through the fur- 
 nace of affliction. 
 
 His disposition was as frank and 
 generous as his mind was fearless 
 and independent. He disguised 
 nothing ; indeed he seemed incapa- 
 ble of disguise. Perhaps in the in- 
 tercourse he was ultimately obliged 
 to have with an artful world, his 
 sincerity, on some occasions, out- 
 went his discretion. Although he 
 had too much suavity in his nature 
 to commence a quarrel, he had too 
 much sensibility not to feel, and 
 too much honour not to resent an 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 intended insult. The first time he 
 went to Boston he was insulted for 
 his rusticity by a boy of twice his 
 size and age ; after bearing the sar- 
 casms until his patience was worn 
 out, he challenged, engaged, and 
 vanquished his unmannerly antago- 
 nist, to the great diversion of a 
 crowd of spectators. While a strip- 
 ling, his ambition was to perform 
 the labour of a man, and to excel 
 in athletic diversions. In that rude, 
 but masculine age, whenever the 
 village youth assembled on their 
 usual occasions of festivity, pitch- 
 ing the bar, running, leaping, and 
 wrestling were favourite amuse- 
 ments. At such gymnastic exer- 
 cises (in which, during the heroic 
 times of ancient Greece and Rome, 
 conquest was considered as the pro- 
 
10 
 
 LIFE or 
 
 misc offuture military fame) ho bore 
 the palm from almost every ring. 
 
 Mr. Putnam, before he attained 
 the twenty-first year of his age, 
 married Miss Pope, daughter of Mr. 
 John Pope of Salem, by whom he 
 had ten children. He lost the wife 
 of his youth in 1764. Some time 
 after he married Mrs. Gardiner, wi- 
 dow of Mr. Gardiner of Gardiner's 
 Island, by whom lie had no issue. 
 She died in 1777. 
 
 THE WOLF. 
 
 In the year 1739 he removed 
 from Salem to Pomfret, an inland 
 fertile town in Connecticut, forty 
 miles east of Hartford : having here 
 purchased a considerable tract of 
 land, he applied himself success- 
 fully to agriculture. 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 11 
 
 The first years, on a new farm, 
 are not, however, exempt from dis- 
 asters and disappointments, which 
 can only be remedied by stubborn 
 and patient industry. Our farmer, 
 sufficiently occupied in building a 
 house and barn, felling woods, mak- 
 ing fences, sowing grain, planting 
 orchards, and taking care of his 
 stock, had to encounter, in turn, the 
 calamities occasioned by drought 
 in summer, blast in harvest, loss of 
 cattle in winter, and the desolation 
 of his sheepfold by wolves. In 
 one night he had seventy fine sheep 
 and goats killed, besides many lambs 
 and kids wounded. This havoc was 
 committed by a she wolf, which, 
 with her annual whelps, had for 
 several years infested the vicinity. 
 The young were commonly destroy- 
 
12 LIFE OF 
 
 ed by the vigilance of the hunters, 
 but the old one was too sagacious 
 to come within reach of gunshot: 
 upon being closely pursued, she 
 would generally fly to the west- 
 ern woods, and return the next 
 winter with another litter of whelps. 
 This wolf, at length, became 
 such an intolerable nuisance, that 
 I\!r. Putnam entered into a combi- 
 nation with five of his neighbours 
 to hunt alternately until they could 
 destroy her. Two, by rotation, were 
 to be constantly in pursuit. It was 
 known, that, having lost the toes 
 from one foot, by a steel-trap, she 
 made one track shorter than the 
 other. By this vestige, the pursu- 
 ers recognised, in a light snow, the 
 route of this pernicious animal. 
 Having followed her to Connecticut 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 13 
 
 river and found she had turned back 
 in a direct course towards Pornfret, 
 they immediately returned, and by 
 ten o'clock the next morning, the 
 blood-hounds had driven her into a 
 den, about three miles distant irom 
 the house of Mr. Putnam. The 
 people soon collected, with dogs, 
 guns, straw, fire and sulphur, to at- 
 tack the common enemy. With 
 this apparatus several unsuccessful 
 efforts were made to force her from 
 the den. The hounds came back 
 badly wounded and refused to re- 
 turn. The smoke of blazing straw 
 had no effect. Nor did the fumes 
 of burnt brimstone, with which the 
 cavern was filled, compel her to quit 
 the retirement. 
 
 Wearied with such fruitless at- 
 tempts (which had brought the time 
 
14 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 to ten o'clock at night), Mr. Putnam 
 tried once more to make his dog 
 enter, but in vain ; he proposed to 
 his negro man to go down into the 
 cavern and shoot the wolf: the ne- 
 gro declined the hazardous service. 
 Then it was that the master, angry 
 at the disappointment, and declaring 
 that he was ashamed to have a cow- 
 ard in his family, resolved himself 
 to destroy the ferocious beast, lest 
 she should escajx? through some un- 
 known fissure of the rock. His 
 neighbours strongly remonstrated 
 against the perilous enterprise : but 
 he, knowing that wild animals were 
 intimidated by fire, and having pro- 
 vided several strips of birch-bark, 
 the only combustible material which 
 he could obtain that would afford 
 light in this deep and darksomecave, 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 15 
 
 prepared for his descent. Having, 
 accordingly, divested himself of his 
 coat and waistcoat, and having a 
 long rope fastened round his legs, 
 by which he might be pulled back, 
 at a concerted signal, he entered 
 head foremost, with the blazing 
 torch in his hand. 
 
 The aperture of the den, on, the 
 east side of a very high ledge of 
 rocks, is about two feet square ; 
 from thence it descends obliquely 
 fifteen feet, then running horizon- 
 tally about ten more, it ascends gra- 
 dually sixteen feet towards its ter- 
 mination. The sides of this sub- 
 terraneous cavity are composed of 
 smooth and solid rocks, which seem 
 to have been divided from each 
 other by some former earthquake. 
 The top and bottom are also of stone, 
 
16 LIFE OF 
 
 and the entrance, in winter, being 
 covered with ice, is exceedingly 
 sHppery. It is in no place high 
 enough for a man to raise himself 
 upright, nor in any part more than 
 three feet in width. 
 
 Having groped his passage to the 
 horizontal part of the den, the most 
 terrifying darkness appeared in 
 front of the dim circle of light af- 
 forded by his torch. It was silent 
 as the house of death. None but 
 monsters of the desert had ever be- 
 fore explored this solitary mansion 
 of horror. He, cautiously proceed- 
 ing onward, came to the ascent ; 
 which he slowly mounted on his 
 hands and knees until he discover- 
 ed the glaring eye-balls of the wolf, 
 who was sitting at the extremity of 
 the cavern. Startled at the sight 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 17 
 
 of fire, she gnashed her teeth, and 
 gave a sullen growl. As soon as 
 he had made the necessary discov- 
 ery, he kicked the rope as a signal 
 for pulling him out. The people at 
 the mouth of the den, who had lis- 
 tened with painful anxiety, hearing 
 the growling of the wolf, and sup- 
 posing their friend to be in the most 
 imminent danger, drew him forth 
 with such celerity that his shirt was 
 stripped over his head, and his skin 
 severely lacerated. 
 
 After he had adjusted his clothes, 
 and loaded his gun with nine buck- 
 shot, holding a torch in one hand 
 and the musket in the other, he de- 
 scended the second time. When 
 he drew nearer than before, the 
 wolf, assuming a still more fierce 
 and terrible appearance, howling. 
 
18 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 rolling her eyes, snapping her teeth, 
 and dropping her head between her 
 legs, was evidently in the attitude, 
 and on the point of springing at 
 him. At the critical instant he 
 levelled and fired at her head. 
 Stunned with the shock, and suffo- 
 cated with the smoke, he immedi- 
 ately found himself drawn out of 
 the cave. But having refreshed 
 himself, and permitted the smoke 
 to dissipate, he went down the third 
 time. Once more he came within 
 sight of the wolf, who appearing 
 very passive, he applied the torch 
 to her nose, and perceiving her 
 dead, he took hold of her ears, and 
 then kicking the rope (still tied 
 round his legs) the people above 
 with no small exultation dragged 
 them both out together. 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM, 21 
 
 Prosperity, at length, began to 
 attend the agricultural affairs of 
 Mr. Putnam. He was acknow- 
 ledged to be a skilful and indefati- 
 gable manager. His fields were 
 mostly enclosed with stone walls. 
 His crops commonly succeeded, 
 because the land was well tilled 
 and manured. His pastures and 
 meadows became luxuriant. His 
 cattle were of the best breed, and 
 in good order ; bis garden and 
 fruit-trees prolific. With the avails 
 of the surplusage of his produce, 
 foreign articles were purchased. 
 Within doors he found the com- 
 pensation of his labours in the 
 plenty of excellent provisions, as 
 well as in the happiness of domes- 
 tic society. 
 
22 
 
 SERVICES IN THE CAMPAIGN OP 
 1755. 
 
 But the time had now arrived 
 which was to turn the instruments 
 of husbandry into weapons of hos- 
 tility, and to exchange the hunting 
 of wolves, who had ravaged the 
 sheepfolds, for the pursuit after 
 savages, who had desolated tho 
 frontiers. Mr. Putnam was about 
 37 years old, when the war bt^tween 
 England and France, which pre- 
 ceded the revolution, broke out in 
 America. His reputation must 
 have been favourably known to tho 
 government, since among the first 
 troops that wore levied by Conneoti- 
 cut, in 1755, he was appointed to 
 the command of a company in Ly« 
 man's regiment of Provincials, 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 23 
 
 As he was extremely popular, 
 he found no difficulty in enlisting 
 his complement of recruits from 
 the most hardy, enterprising, and 
 respectable young men of his 
 neighbourhood. The regiment join- 
 ed the army, at the opening of the 
 campaign, not far distant from 
 Crown Point. Soon after his arri- 
 val at camp, he became intimately 
 acquainted with the famous parti- 
 san Captain, afterwards Major 
 Rogers, with whom he was fre- 
 quently associated in traversing 
 the wilderness, reconnoitring the 
 enemy's lines, gaining intelligence, 
 and taking straggling prisoners, as 
 well as in beating up the quarters 
 and surprising the advanced pick- 
 ets of their army. For these oper- 
 ations a corps of rangers was 
 
24 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 formed from the irregulars. The 
 first time Rogers and Putnam were 
 detaclicd with a party of these 
 light troops, it was the fortune of 
 the latter to preserve, with his own 
 hand, the life of the former, and to 
 cement their friendship with the 
 blood of one of their enemies. 
 
 The ohject of this expedition was 
 to obtain an accurate knowledge of 
 the position and state of the worlds 
 at Crown Point. It was impracti- 
 cable to approach with tlieir party 
 near enough for this purpose, with- 
 out being discovered. Alone, the 
 undertaking was sufficiently haz- 
 ardous, on account of the swarms 
 of hostile Indians who infested the 
 woods. Our two partisans, how- 
 ever, left all their men at a conve- 
 nient distance, with strict orders to 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 25 
 
 continue concealed until their re- 
 turn. Having thus cautiously 
 taken their arrangements, they 
 advanced with the profoundest 
 silence in the evening; and lay, 
 during the night, contiguous to the 
 fortress. 
 
 Early in the morning they 
 approached so close as to be able 
 to give satisfactory information to 
 the general who had sent them, 
 on the several points to which their 
 attention had been directed; but 
 Captain Rogers, being at a little 
 distance from Captain Putnam, for- 
 tuitously met a stout Frenchman, 
 who instantly seized his fusee with 
 one hand, and with the other 
 attempted to stab him, while he 
 called to an adjacent guard for 
 assistance. The guard answered. 
 
26 LIFE OF 
 
 Putnam, perceiving the imminent 
 danger of his friend, and that no 
 time was to be lost, or further 
 alarm given by firing, ran rapidly 
 to them, while they were yet strug- 
 gling, and with the but-end of his 
 piece laid the Frenchman dead at 
 his feet. The partisans, to elude 
 pursuit, precipitated their flight, 
 joined the party, and returned with- 
 out loss to the encampment. Not 
 many occasions occurred for parti- 
 sans to display their talents in the 
 course of this summer. 
 
 The war was chequered with 
 various fortune in different quarters 
 — such as the total defeat of Gene- 
 ral Braddock, and the splendid vic- 
 tory of Sir William Johnson over 
 the French troops, commanded by 
 the Baron Dieskau. The brilliancy 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 27 
 
 of this success was necessary to 
 console the Americans for the dis- 
 grace of that disaster. The time 
 for which the colonial troops en- 
 gaged to serve terminated with the 
 campaign. Putnam was reappoint- 
 ed, and again took the field in 
 1756. 
 
 §8RVICES IN THE CAMPAIGN OF 
 1756. 
 
 Few are so ignorant of war as 
 not to know, that military adven- 
 tures, in the night, are always ex- 
 tremely liable to accidents. Cap- 
 tain Putnam, having been com- 
 manded to reconnoitre the enemy's 
 camp at the Ovens near Ticonde~ 
 roga, took the brave Lieutenant 
 Robert Durkee as his companion. 
 In attempting to execute these or- 
 
LIFE OP 
 
 ders he narrowly missed being 
 taken himself in the first instance, 
 and killinsz his friend in the second. 
 It was customary for the British 
 and Provincial troops to place their 
 fires round their camp, which fre- 
 quently exposed them to the ene- 
 my's scouts and patroles. A con- 
 trary practice, then unknown in the 
 Enp;lish army, prevailed among the 
 French and Indians. The plan was 
 much more rational ; they kept 
 their fires in the centre, Iodised their 
 men circularly at a distance, and 
 posted their sentinels in the sur- 
 rounding darkness. 
 
 Our partisans approached the 
 camp, and supposini!; the sentries 
 M'ere within the circle of fires, crept 
 upon their hands and Knees with 
 the greatest possible caution, until, 
 
GE>fllIiAL PUTNAM. 29 
 
 to their uttef astonishment, they 
 found themselves in the thickest of 
 the enemy. The sentinels, disco- 
 vering them, fired and slightly 
 wounded Durkee in the thigh. He 
 and Putnam had no alternative. 
 They fled. The latter, being fore- 
 most and scarcely able to see his 
 hand before him, soon plunged in- 
 to a clay-pit. Durkee, almost at 
 the identical, moment, came tum- 
 bling after. Putnam, by no means 
 pleased at finding a companion, and 
 believing him to be one of the ene- 
 my, lifted his tomahawk to give 
 the deadly blow, when Durkee 
 (who had followed so closely as to 
 know him) inquired, whether he 
 had escaped unhurt. Captain Put- 
 nam instantly recognising the voice, 
 dropped his weapon: and both. 
 
30 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 springing from the pit, made good 
 their retreat to the neiiilibouring 
 ledges, amidst a shower of random 
 shot. There they betook themselves 
 to a large log, by the side of which 
 they lodged the remainder of the 
 night. Before they lay down. Cap- 
 tain Putnam said he had a little 
 rum in his canteen, which could 
 never be more acceptable or ne* 
 cessary ; but on examining the 
 canteen, which hung under his arm, 
 he found the enemy had pierced it 
 with their balls, and that there was 
 not a drop of liquor lelh The next 
 day he found fourteen bullet holes 
 in his blanket. 
 
 In the same summer a body of 
 the enemy, consisting of 600 men, 
 attacked the baggage and provision 
 wagons at a place called the Half- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 31 
 
 Way-Brook ; it being equidistant 
 from Fort Edward and the south 
 end of Lake George. Having kill- 
 ed the oxen and plundered the wa- 
 gons, they retreated with their booty 
 without having met with such re- 
 sistance as might have been expect- 
 ed from the strength of the escort. 
 General Webb, upon receiving intel- 
 ligence of this disaster, ordered Cap- 
 tains Putnam and Rogers " to take 
 100 volunteers in boats, with two 
 wall-pieces and two blunderbusses, 
 and to proceed down Lake George 
 to a certain point: there to leave 
 the batteaux under a proper guard, 
 and thence to cross by land, so as 
 to harass, and, if practicable, inter- 
 cept the retreating enemy at the 
 narrows." 
 
 These orders were executed with 
 
32 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 SO much punctuality, that the party 
 arrived at the destined place halt' an 
 hour berore the hostile boats came in 
 view. Here they waited, under 
 cover, until the enemy (ignorant of 
 these proceedings) entered the nar- 
 rows with their batteaux loaded with 
 plunder. Then the volunteers pour- 
 ed upon them volley after volley, 
 killed many of the oarsmen, sunk 
 a number of their batteaux, and 
 would soon have destroyed the 
 whole body of the enemy, had not 
 the unusual precipitancy of their 
 passage (favoured by the wind) car- 
 ried them through the narrows into 
 th'j wide part of South Bay, where 
 they were out of the reach of mus- 
 ket-shot. 
 
 The shattered remnant of the lit- 
 tle fleet soon arrived at Ticondero- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 33 
 
 ga, and gave information that Put- 
 nam and Rogers were at the nar- 
 rows. A fresh party was instantly 
 detached to cut them in pieces, on 
 their return to Fort Edward. Our 
 partisans, sensible of the probabili- 
 ty of such an attempt, and being 
 full twenty miles from their boats, 
 strained every nerve to reach them 
 as soon as possible ; which they ef- 
 fected the same night. 
 
 Next day, when they had return- 
 ed as far as Sabbath-Day Point, they 
 discovered, on shore, the beforemen* 
 tioned detachment of 300 men, who 
 had passed them in the night, and 
 who now, on perceiving our party, 
 took to their boats with the greatest 
 alacrity, and rowed out to give bat- 
 tle. They advanced in line, main- 
 taining a good mien, and felicitating 
 
34 
 
 LITK OF 
 
 themselves upon the prospect of an 
 easy conquest, from llie great supe- 
 riority of their numbers. Flushed 
 with these eX|K?ctations, they were 
 permitted to come within pistol-shot 
 before a gun was fired. At once, 
 tlie wall-pieces and blunderbusses, 
 which had been brought to rake 
 them in the most vulnerable point, 
 were discharged. As no such recep- 
 tion had been foreseen, the assail- 
 ants were thrown into the utmost dis- 
 order. Their terror and confusion 
 were greatly increased by a well-di- 
 rected and most destructive fire of 
 thesmallarms. The larger pieces he* 
 ing reloaded, without annoyance, 
 continued alternately with the mus- 
 ketry to make dreadful havoc, until 
 the rout was completed and the ene- 
 my driven back to Ticondcroga. 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 35 
 
 In this action, one of the bark 
 canoes contained twenty Indians, 
 ofwhom fifteen were killed. Great 
 numbers, from other boats, both of 
 French and Indians, were seen to 
 fall overboard : but the amount of 
 their total loss could never be as- 
 certained. Rogers and Putnam had 
 but one man killed, and two slightly 
 wounded. They now landed on 
 the point, and having refreshed their 
 men at leisure, returned in good or- 
 der to the British camp. 
 
 Soon after these rencounters, a 
 singular kind of race was run by 
 our nimble-footed Provincial and an 
 active young Frenchman. The 
 liberty of each was by turns at stake. 
 General Webb, wanting a prisoner 
 for the sake of intelligence, sent 
 Capt. Putnam with five men to pro- 
 
36 
 
 LIFE OY 
 
 cure one. The caj3tain concealed 
 himself near the road which leads 
 from Ticonderoga to the Ovens. 
 His men seemed fond of showing 
 themselves, which unsoldier-Iike 
 conduct he prohibited with the se- 
 verest reprehension. This rebuke 
 they imputed to unnecessary fear. 
 The observation is as true as vul- 
 gar, that persons distinguishable for 
 temerity, when there is no apparent 
 danger, are generally poltroons 
 whenever danger approaches. 
 
 They had not Iain long, in the 
 high grass, before a Frenchman and 
 an Indian passed — the Indian was 
 considerably in advance. As soon 
 as the former had gone by, Putnam, 
 relying on the fidelity of his men, 
 sprang up, ran, and ordered them 
 to follow. After running about 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 37 
 
 thirty rods, he seized the French- 
 man by the shoulders, and forced 
 him to surrender : But his prisoner, 
 looking round, perceiving no other 
 enemy, and knowing the Indian 
 would be ready in a moment to as- 
 sist him, began to make an obsti- 
 nate resistance. Putnam, finding 
 himself betrayed by his men into a 
 perilous dilemma, let go his hold, 
 stepped back and snapped his piece, 
 which was levelled at the French- 
 man's breast. It missed fire. Upon 
 this he thought it most prudent to 
 retreat. The Frenchman, in turn, 
 chased him back to his men, who? 
 at last, raised themselves from the 
 grass ; which his pursuer espying 
 in good time for himself, made his 
 escape. 
 
 Putnam, mortified that these men 
 
38 LIFE OF 
 
 1 
 
 had frustrated his success, dismiss. 
 ed them witli disgrace; and not 
 long after accomplished his ohject. 
 Such httle feats as the capture of 
 a single prisoner, may be of infi- 
 nitely moixi consequence than some 
 who are unac(juainted with milita- 
 ry aifairs would be apt to imagine. 
 In a country covered with woods, 
 like that part of America then the 
 seat of war, the difficulty of procu- 
 ring, and the importance of possess- 
 ing good intelligence, can scarce- 
 ly be conceived even by European 
 commanders. They, however, who 
 know its value, will not appreciate 
 lightly the services of an able par- 
 tisan. 
 
 Nothing worthy of remark hap- 
 pened during this campaign, ex- 
 cept the loss of Oswego. That 
 
GENERAI< PUTNAM. 39 
 
 fort, which had been built by Gen- 
 eral Shirley, to protect the peltry 
 trade, cover the country on the 
 Mohawk River, and facilitate an 
 invasion of Canada, by Frontenac 
 and Niagara, fell into the hands of 
 the enemy, with a garrison of six- 
 teen hundred men, and one hun- 
 dred pieces of cannon, 
 
 The active services of Captain 
 Putnam on every occasion attract- 
 ed the admiration of the public, 
 and induced the Legislature of 
 Connecticut to promote him to a 
 majority in 1757. 
 
 Lord Loudon was then Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the British 
 forces in A^merica. The expedi- 
 tion against Crown Point, which 
 from the commencement of hostili. 
 ties had been in contemplation, 
 
40 
 
 WFE OP 
 
 seemed to give place lo a more 
 important operation that was medi- 
 tated against Louisbourg. But 
 the arrival of the Brest squadron 
 at that place prevented the attempt: 
 and the loss of Fort William Henry 
 served to class this with the two 
 former unsuccessful campaigns. 
 It was rumoured, and partially 
 credited at the time, that General 
 Webb, who commanded in the 
 northern department, had early 
 intimation of the movement of the 
 French army, and might have 
 effectually succoured the garrison. 
 The subscnuent facts will place 
 the affair in its proper light. 
 
 A few days before the siege, 
 Major Putnam, with two hundred 
 men, escorted General Webb from 
 Fort Edward to Fort William 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 41 
 
 Henry. The object was to exam- 
 ine the state of this fortification, 
 which stood at the southern ex- 
 tremity of Lake George. Several 
 abortive attempts having been 
 made by Major Rogers and others 
 in the night season, Major Putnam 
 proposed to go down the lake in 
 open daylight, land at Northwest 
 Bay, and tarry on shore until he 
 could make satisfactory discovery 
 of the enemy's actual situation at 
 Ticonderoga and the adjacent posts. 
 The plan (which he suggested) of 
 landing with only five men, and 
 sending back the boats, to prevent 
 detection, was deemed too hazard- 
 ous by the general. 
 
 At length, however, he was 
 permitted to proceed with eighteen 
 volunteers in three whale boats ; 
 
r 
 
 42 I,IFE OF 
 
 but before he arrived at Northwest 
 Bay he discovered a body of men 
 on an island. Immediately upon 
 this, he left two boats to fish at a 
 distance, that they might not occa- 
 sion an alarm, and returned him- 
 self with the information. The 
 general, seeing him rowing back 
 with groat velocity, in a single 
 boat, concluded the others were 
 captured, and sent a skiff', with 
 orders for him alone to come on 
 shore. After advising the general 
 of the circumstances, he urged the 
 expediency of returning to make 
 further discoveries, and bring off* 
 the boats. Leave was reluctantly 
 given. He found his people, and, 
 passing still onward, discovered 
 (by the aid of a good perspective 
 glass) a large army in motion. 
 
GENERAJ- PUTNAM. 43 
 
 By this time several of the ad- 
 vanced canoes had nearly sur- 
 rounded him ; but by the swiftness 
 of his whale boats, he escaped 
 through the midst of them. On 
 his return, he informed the general 
 minutely of all he had seen, and 
 intimated his conviction that the 
 expedition must obviously be des- 
 tined against Fort William Henry. 
 That commander, strictly enjoining 
 silence on the subject, directed him 
 to put his men under an oath of 
 secresy, and to prepare, without 
 loss of time, to return to the head- 
 quarters of the army. Major Put- 
 nam observed, " he hoped his 
 Excellency did not intend to neglect 
 so fair an opportunity of giving 
 battle, should the enemy presume 
 to land." " What do you think 
 
44 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 we should do here?" replied the 
 general. Accordingly, the next 
 day he returned, and the day after 
 Colonel Monro was ordered IVom 
 Fort Edward, with his regiment, to 
 reinforce the garrison. That offi- 
 cer look with him all his rich 
 baggage and camp equipage, not- 
 withstanding Major Putnam's ad- 
 vice to the contrary. The day 
 following his arrival, the enemy 
 landed and besieged the place. 
 
 The Marquis de Montcalm, j 
 Commander-in-Chief for the French | 
 in Canada, intending to take ad- | 
 vantage of the absence of a large I 
 proportion of the British force, 
 which he understood to be employ- 
 ed under Lord Loudon against 
 Louisbourg, had assembled what- 
 ever men could be spared from 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 45 
 
 Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and 
 the other garrisons : with these he 
 had combined a considerable corps 
 of Canadians, and a larger body of 
 Indians than had ever before been 
 collected ; making in the whole an 
 army of nearly eight thousand 
 men. Our garrison consisted of 
 twenty -five hundred, and was com- 
 manded by Colonel Monro, a very 
 gallant officer, who found the 
 means of sending express after 
 express to General Webb, with an 
 account of his situation, and the 
 most pressing solicitation for suc- 
 cour. In the meantime, the army 
 at Fort Edward, which originally 
 amounted to about four thousand, 
 had been considerably augmented 
 by Johnson's troops and the militia. 
 On the 8th or 9th day after the 
 
46 
 
 LlFli OF 
 
 landing of the French, General \ 
 Johnson (in consequence of repeat* | 
 ed applications) was suffered to | 
 march for the relief of the garri- I 
 son, with all the* Provincials, 
 Militia, and Putnam's Rangers ; 
 but before they had proceeded 
 three miles, the order was counter- j 
 manded, and they returned. M. de 
 Montcalm informed Major Putnam, 
 when a prisoner in Canada, that 
 one of his running Indians saw 
 and reported this movement : and, 
 upon being questioned relative to 
 the numbers, answered in their 
 figurative style, " If you can 
 count the leavca on the trees, you 
 can count them.'''' In effect, the 
 operations of the siege were sus- 
 pended, and preparations made for 
 re-embarking, when another of the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 47 
 
 runners reported that the detach* 
 ment had gone back. The Marquis 
 de Montcalm, provided with a good 
 train of artillery, meeting with no 
 annoyance fi*om the British army, 
 and but inconsiderable interruption 
 from the garrison, accelerated his 
 approaches so rapidly, as to obtain 
 possession of the fort in a short 
 time after completing its investiture. 
 An intercepted letter from General 
 Webb, advising the surrender, was 
 sent into the fort to Colonel Monro 
 by the French general. 
 
 The garrison engaged not to 
 serve for eighteen months, and 
 were permitted to march out with 
 the honours of war. But the 
 savages regarded not the capitula- 
 tion ; nor could they be restrained 
 by the utmost exertion of the ! 
 
48 LIFE OF 
 
 commandin;L^ officer, from commit- 
 ting the most outrageous acts of 
 cruelty. They stripped and plun- 
 dered all the prisoners, and mur- 
 dered great numbers in cold blood. 
 Those who escaped by flight, or 
 the protection of the French, 
 arrived in a forlorn condition at 
 Fort Edward. Among these was 
 the commandant of the garrison. 
 
 The day succeeding this deplora- 
 ble scene of carnage and barbarity. 
 Major Putnam having been dis- 
 patched with his Rangers to watch 
 the motions of the enemy, came to 
 the shore, when their rear was 
 scarcely beyond the reach of 
 musket shot. They had carried 
 off all the cannon, stores, and 
 water craft. The fort was demol- 
 ished. The barracks, tho out- 
 
I 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 51 
 
 houses and sutlers' booths were 
 heaps of ruins. The fires, not 
 yet extinct, and the smoke, offen- 
 sive from the mucilaginous nature 
 of the fuel, but ill concealed 
 innumerable fragments of human 
 skulls and bones, and, in some 
 instances, carcasses half consumed. 
 Dead bodies, weltering in blood, 
 were every where to be seen, 
 violated, with all the wanton muti- 
 lations of savage ingenuity. More 
 than one hundred women, some 
 with their brains still oozing from 
 the battered heads, others with 
 their whole hair wrenched collec- 
 tively with the skin from the 
 bloody skulls, and many (with 
 their throats cut) most inhumanly 
 stabbed and butchered, lay stripped 
 entirely naked, with their bowels 
 
62 LIFE OF 
 
 torn out, and afluided a spectacle 
 too horrible for description. 
 
 Not long after this misfortune, 
 General Lyman succeeded to tlie 
 command of Fort Edward. He 
 resolved to strengthen it. For this 
 purpose one hundred and fifty 
 men were employed in cutting 
 timber. To cover them, Captain 
 Little was posted (with fifty British 
 regulars) at the hcatl of a thick 
 swamp about one hundred rods 
 eastward of tlic fort — to which 
 his communication lay over a 
 tongue of land, formed on the one 
 side by the swamp, and by a creek 
 on the other. 
 
 One morning, at daybreak, a 
 sentinel saw indistinctly several 
 birds, as he conceived, come from 
 the swamp and fly over him with 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 53 
 
 incredible swiftness. While he 
 was ruminating on these wonderful 
 birds, and endeavouring to form 
 some idea of their colour, shape 
 and size, an arrow buried itself in 
 the limb of a tree just above his 
 head. He now discovered the 
 quality and design of these winged 
 messengers of fate, and gave the 
 alarm. Instantly the working 
 party began to retreat along the 
 defile, A large body of savages 
 had concealed themselves in the 
 morass before the guard was posted, 
 and were attempting in this way 
 to kill the sentinel without noise, 
 with design to surprise the whole 
 party. Finding the alarm given, 
 they rushed from the covert, shot 
 and tomahawked those who were 
 nearest at hand, and pressed hard 
 
54 LIFE OF 
 
 on tlie remaindur of tlie unarmed 
 fugitives. Captain Little flew to 
 their relief, and, by pouring on the 
 Indians a well timed fire, checked 
 the pursuit, and enabled such of the 
 fatigue-men as did not fall in the 
 first onset, to retire to the fort. 
 Thither he sent for assistance, his 
 little party being almost overpowered 
 by numbers. But the commandant 
 imagining that the main body of 
 the enemy were approaching for a 
 general assault, called in his out- 
 posts and shut the gates. 
 
 Major Putnam lay, with his 
 Rangers, on an island adjacent to 
 the fort. Having heard the mus- 
 ketry, and learned that his friend 
 Captain Little was in the utmost 
 peril, he plunged into the river at 
 the head of his corps, and waded 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 55 
 
 through the water towards the 
 place of engagement. This brought 
 him so near to the fort, that Gen- 
 eral Lyman, apprised of his design, 
 and unwilling that the lives of a 
 few more brave men should be 
 exposed to what he deemed inevi- 
 table destruction, mounted the 
 parapet and ordered him to pro- 
 ceed no further. The major only 
 took time to make the best short 
 apology he could, and marched on. 
 This is the only instance in the 
 whole course of his military service 
 wherein he did not pay the strictest 
 obedience to orders; and in this 
 instance his motive was highly 
 commendable. But when such 
 conduct, even if sanctified by suc- 
 cess, is passed over with impunity, 
 it demonstrates that all is not right 
 
56 LIFE OF 
 
 in the military system. In a j 
 disciplined army, such as that of j 
 the United States lx.'came under ! 
 General Washington, an officer i 
 guilty of a slighter violation of or- I 
 ders, however elevated in rank or j 
 meritorioiBB in service, would have 
 been brought before the bar of a 
 court-martial. 
 
 The Rangers of Putnam soon 
 opened their way for a junction 
 with the little handful of regulars, 
 who still obstinately maintained 
 their ground. By his advice the 
 whole rushed impetuously with 
 shouts and huzzas into the swamp. 
 The savages fled on every side, 
 and were chased, with no incon- 
 siderable loss on their part, as 
 long as the daylight lasted. On 
 ours only one man was killed in ; 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 57 
 
 the pursuit. His death was im- 
 mediately revenged by that of the 
 Indian who shot him. This In- 
 dian was one of the runners — a 
 chosen body of active young men, 
 who are made use of not only to 
 procure intelligence and convey 
 tidings, but also to guard the rear 
 on a retreat. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1757. 
 
 We come to the campaign when 
 General Abercrombie took the 
 command at Fort Edward. That 
 general ordered Major Putnam, 
 with sixty men, to proceed by land 
 to South-Bay, on Lake George, 
 for the purpose of making dis- 
 coveries, and intercepting the ene- 
 my's parties. The latter, in com- 
 pliance .with these orders, ^ posted 
 
^ 
 
 himself at Wood Creek, near its 
 entrance into South -Bay. On this 
 bank, which forms a jutting preci- 
 pice ten or twelve feet above the 
 water, he erected a stone parapet 
 thirty feet in length, and masked it 
 with young pine trees, cut at a 
 distance, and so artfully planted as 
 to imitate the natural growth. 
 From hence he sent back fifteen of 
 his men, who had fallen sick. Dis- 
 tress for want of provisions, occa- 
 sioned by the length of march, and 
 time spent on this temporary forti- 
 fication, compelled him to deviate 
 from a rule he had established, 
 never to permit a gun to be fired 
 but at an enemy while on a scout. 
 He was now obliged himself to 
 shoot a buck, which had jumped 
 into tho creek, in order to eke out 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 59 
 
 their scanty subsistence until the 
 fourth day after the completion of 
 the works. 
 
 About ten o'clock that evening, 
 one of the men on duty at the 
 margin of the bay, informed him 
 that a fleet of bark canoes, filled 
 with men, was steering towards the 
 mouth of the oreek. He imme- 
 diately called in "vU his sentinels, 
 and ordered every man to his post. 
 A profound stillness reigned in the 
 atmosphere, and the full moon 
 shone with uncommon brightness. 
 The creek which the enemy entered, 
 is about six rods wide, and the bank 
 opposite to the parapet above twenty 
 feet high. It was intended to per- 
 mit the canoes in front to pass — 
 they had accordingly just passed, 
 when a soldier accidentally struck 
 
60 LIFE OF 
 
 his firelock against a stone. The 
 commanding officer in the van 
 canoe lieard tlie noise, and repeated 
 several times the savage watch- 
 word, — Owisir! Instantly the ca- 
 noes huddled together, with their 
 centre precisely in front of the 
 WQrks, covering the creek for a 
 considerable distance above and 
 below. 
 
 The officers appeared to be in 
 deep consultation, and the fleet on 
 the point of returning, when Major 
 Putnam, who had ordered his men 
 in the most peremptory inanner not 
 to fire until he should set the ex- 
 ample, gave the siirnal by discharg- 
 ing his piece. They fired. No- 
 thing could exceed the inextricable 
 confusion and apparent consterna- 
 tion occasioned by this well-con- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 61 
 
 certed attack. But, at last, the 
 enemy finding, from the unfrequen- 
 cy (though there was no absolute 
 intermission) in the firing, that the 
 number of our men must be small, 
 resolved to land below and surround 
 them. Putnam, apprehensive of 
 this from the movement, sent Lieu- 
 tenant Robert Durkee, with twelve 
 men, about thirty rods down the 
 creek, who arrived in time to re- 
 pulse the party which attempted to 
 land. Another small detachment 
 under Lieutenant Parsons, was or- 
 dered up the creek to prevent any 
 similar attempt. In the mean time 
 Major Putnam kept up, through the 
 whole night, an incessant and dead- 
 ly fire on the main body of the 
 enemy, without receiving any thing 
 in return but shot void of effect, 
 
62 LIFE OF 
 
 accompanied with dolorous groans, i 
 miserable shrieks, and dismal sa- j 
 age yells. After day-break he | 
 was advised that one part of the 
 enemy had effected a landing con- 
 siderably below, and were rapidly 
 advancing to cut off his retreat. 
 Apprised of the great superiority 
 still opposed to him, as well as of the 
 situation of his own soldiers, some 
 of whom were entirely destitute of 
 ammunition, and the rest reduced 
 to one or two rounds per man, he 
 commanded them to swing their 
 packs. By hastening the retreat, 
 in good order, they had just time to 
 retire far enough up the creek to 
 prevent being enclosed. During 
 this long-continued action, in which 
 the Americans had slain at least 
 five times their own number, only 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 63 
 
 one Provincial and one Indian were 
 wounded on their side. These un- 
 fortunate men had been sent off for 
 camp in the night, with two men 
 to assist them, and directions to 
 proceed by Wood-Creek as the 
 safest, though not the shortest route. 
 But having taken the nearest way, 
 they were pursued and overtaken 
 by the Indians, who, from the blood 
 on the leaves and bushes, believed 
 that they were on the trail of our 
 whole party. The wounded, de- 
 spairing of mercy, and unable to 
 fly, insisted that the well soldiers 
 should make their escape, which, 
 on a moment's deliberation, they 
 effected. The Provincial, whose 
 thigh was broken by a ball, upon 
 the approach of the savages fired 
 his piece, and killed three of them ; 
 
64 LIFE OF 
 
 after which he was quickly hacked 
 in pieces. The Indian, however, 
 was saved alive. This man Major 
 Putnam saw afterwards in Canada, 
 where he likewise learned that his 
 enemy, in the rencounter at Wood- 
 Creek, consisted of five hundred 
 French and Indians, under the 
 command of the celebrated partisan 
 Molang, and that no party, since 
 the war, had suffered so severely, 
 as more than one-half of those who 
 went out never returned. 
 
 Our brave little company, re- 
 duced to forty in number, had pro- 
 ceeded along the bank of the creek 
 about an hour's march, when Ma- 
 jor Putnam, being in front, was 
 fired upon by a party just at hand. 
 He, rightly appreciating the advan- 
 tage often obtained by assuming a 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 65 
 
 bold countenance on a critical oc- 
 casion, in a stentorophonic tone, 
 ordered his men to rush on the en- 
 emy, and promised that they should 
 soon give a good account of them. 
 It proved to be a scout of Provin- 
 cials, who conceived they were 
 firing upon the French ; but the 
 commanding officer, knowing Put- 
 nam's voice, cried out, " tliat they 
 were all friends." — Upon this the 
 major told him abruptly, " that, 
 friends or enemies, they all de- 
 served to be hanged for not killing 
 more when they had so fair a shot." 
 In fact, but one man was mortally 
 wounded. While these things were 
 transacted, a faithful soldier, whose 
 ammunition had been nearly ex- 
 hausted, made his way to the fort, 
 and gave such information, that 
 
66 LIFE OF 
 
 General Lyinan was detachod with 
 five hundred men to cover the re- 
 treat. Major Putnam met them at 
 only twelve miles distance from 
 the fort, to which they returned the 
 next day. 
 
 In the winter of 1757, when 
 Colonel Haviland was command- 
 ant at Fort Edward, the barracks 
 adjoining to the north-west bastion 
 took fire. They extended within 
 twelve feet of the magazine, which 
 contained three hundred barrels of 
 powder. On its first discovery, 
 the fire raged with great violence. 
 The commandant endeavoured, in 
 vain, by discharging some pieces 
 of heavy artillery against the sup- 
 porters of this flight of barracks, 
 to level them to the ground. Put- 
 nam arrived from the island where 
 
GENERAL PtJTNAM. 67 
 
 he was* stationed at the moment 
 when the blaze approached that 
 end which was contiguous to the 
 magazine. Instantly a vigorous 
 attempt was made to extinguish the 
 conflagration. A way was opened 
 by a postern gate to the I'iver, 
 and the soldiers were employed in 
 bringing water ; which he, having 
 mounted on a ladder to the eaves of 
 the building, received and threw 
 upon the flame. It continued, not- 
 withstanding their utmost efforts, 
 to gain upon them. He stood, en- 
 veloped in smoke, so near the sheet 
 of fire, that a pair of thick blanket 
 mittens were burnt entirely from 
 his hands ; he was supplied with 
 another pair dipped in water. Col. 
 Haviland, fearing that he would 
 perish in the flames, called to him 
 
68 LtFE OF 
 
 to come down. But he entreated 
 that he miglit be sufTered to remain, 
 since destruction must inevitably 
 ensue if their exertions should be 
 remitted. The gallant comman- 
 dant, not less astonished than 
 charmed at the boldne^ss of his 
 conduct, forbade any more effjcts 
 to be carried out of the fort, ani- 
 mated the men to redoubled dili- 
 gence, and exclaimed, " If we must 
 be blown up, we will go all to- 
 gether." At last, when the bar- 
 racks were seen to be tumbling, 
 Putnam descended, placed himself 
 at the interval, and continued from 
 an incessant rotation of replenished 
 buckets to j)our water upon the 
 magazine. The outside planks 
 were already consumed by the 
 proximity of the fire, and as only 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 69 
 
 one thickness of timber intervened, 
 the trepidation now become general 
 and extreme. Putnam, still un- 
 daunted, covered with a cloud of 
 cinders, and scorched with the in- 
 tensity of the heat, maintained his 
 position until the fire subsided, and 
 the danger was wholly over. He 
 had contended for one hour and q. 
 half with that terrible element. 
 His legs, his thighs, his arms, and 
 his face were blistered ; and when 
 he pulled off his second pair of 
 mittens, the skin from his hands 
 and fingers followed them. It was 
 a month before he recovered. The 
 commandant, to whom his merits 
 had before endeared him, could not 
 stifle the emotions of gratitude, due 
 to the man who had been so in- 
 strumental in preserving the 
 
70 
 
 I,IFE OF 
 
 magazine, the fort, and the gar- 
 rison. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1758. 
 
 The repulse before Ticonderoga 
 took place in 1758. General 
 Abercrombie, the British com- 
 mander-in-chief in America, con- 
 ducted the expedition. His army, 
 which amounted to nearly sixteen 
 thousand Regulars and Provincials, 
 was amply supplied with artillery 
 and military stores. This well- 
 appointed corps passed over Lake 
 George, and landed without oppo- 
 sition at the point of destination. 
 The troops advanced in columns. 
 Lord Howe, having Major Putnam 
 with him, was in front of ihc cen- 
 tre. A body of about five hundred 
 men (the advance or pickets of 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 71 
 
 the French army), which had fled 
 at first, began to skirmish with our 
 left. " Putnam,'' said Lord Howe, 
 " what means that firing ?" *' I 
 know not, but with your Lord- 
 ship's leave will see," replied the 
 former. " I "wdll accompany you," 
 rejoined the gallant young noble- 
 man. In vain did Major Putnam 
 attempt to dissuade him by say- 
 ing — " My Lord, if I am killed, 
 the loss of my life will be of little 
 consequence, but the preservation 
 of yours is of infinite importance 
 to this army." The only answer 
 was, " Putnam, your life is as 
 dear to you as mine is to me ; I 
 am determined to go." One hun- 
 dred of the van, under Major Put- 
 nam, filed off with Lord Howe. 
 They soon met the left flank of 
 
72 LIFE or 
 
 the enemy's advance, by \vhc£;o j 
 first firc his Lordship fell. It was i 
 a loss indeed ; and particularly | 
 felt in the operations which oc- i 
 currcd three days afterwards. His I 
 manners and his virtues had made '■ 
 him the idol of the army. From ! 
 his first arrival in America, he had ( 
 accommodated himself and his ' 
 rsgiment to the peculiar nature of i 
 Ute service. Exemplary to the \ 
 officer, a friend of the soldier, the ; 
 model of discipline, he had not i 
 fhiled to encounter every hardship j 
 and hazard. Nothing could bo j 
 more calculated * > inspii-c men f 
 with the rash anmiation of rage, ! 
 or to temper it with the cool per^ f 
 severance of revenge, than the [ 
 sight of such a hero, so beloved, : 
 fallen in his country's cause. It j 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 73 
 
 had the effect. Putnam's party, 
 having cut their way obliquely 
 through the enemy's ranks, and 
 having been joined by Captain 
 D'Ell, with twenty men, together 
 with some other small parties, 
 charged them so furiously in rear, 
 that nearly three hundred were 
 killed on the spot, and one hun- 
 dred and forty-eight made pris- 
 oners. 
 
 In the mean time, from the un- 
 skilfulness of the guides, some of 
 our columns were bewildered. 
 The left wing, seeing Putnam's 
 party in their front, advancing 
 over the dead bodies towards them, 
 commenced a brisk and heavy 
 fire, which killed a sergeant and 
 several privates. Nor could they, 
 by sounds or signs, be convinced 
 
74 LIFE OF 
 
 of their mistake, until Major Put- 
 nam, preferring (if heaven had 
 thus ordained it) the loss of his 
 own life to the loss of the lives of 
 his brave associates, ran through 
 the midst of the flying balls, and 
 prevented the impending catastro- 
 phe. 
 
 The tender feelings which Ma- 
 jor Putnam possessed taught him 
 to respect an unfortunate Toe, and 
 to strive, by every lenient art in 
 his power, to alleviate the miseries 
 of war. For this purpose he re- 
 mained on the field until it l3egan 
 to grow dark, employed in col- 
 lecting such of the enemy as were 
 left wounded, to one place ; he gave 
 them all the liquor and little re- 
 freshments which he could procure; 
 he furnished to each of them a 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 7?) 
 
 blanket ; he put three blankets un- 
 der a French serjeant v/ho was 
 badly wounded through the body, 
 and placed hjm in an easy posture 
 by the side of a tree : the poor 
 fellow could only squeeze his hand 
 with an expressive grasp. " Ah," 
 said Major Putnam, " depend upon 
 it, my brave soldier, you shall be 
 brought to the camp as soon as 
 possible, and the same care shall 
 be taken of you as if you were 
 my brother." The next morn- 
 ing Major Rogers was sent to re- 
 connoitre the field, and to bring 
 off the wounded prisoners ; but 
 finding the wounded unable to help 
 themselves, in order to save trouble, 
 he despatched every one of them 
 to the world of spirits. Putnam's 
 was not the only heart that bled. 
 
76 LIFE OP 
 
 The Provincial and British oflicers, 
 who became acquainted with the 
 fact, were struck with inexpressible 
 horror 
 
 Ticonderoga is* surrounded on 
 three sides by water; on the 
 fourth, for some distance, extends 
 a dangerous morass ; the remain- 
 der was then fortified with a line 
 eight feet high, and planted with 
 artillery. For one hundred yards 
 in front the plain was covered with 
 great trees, cut for the purpose of 
 defence, whose interwoven and 
 sharpened branches projected out- 
 wards. Notwithstanding these im- 
 pediments, the engineer who had 
 been employed to reconnoitre, re- 
 ported as his opinion, that the 
 works might be carried with mus. 
 kctry. The difficulty and delay 
 
 J 
 
GENERAL PUtNAM. 7t 
 
 of dragging the battering cannon 
 over ground almost impracticable, 
 induced the adoption of this fatal 
 advice ; to which, however, a rumour 
 that the garrison, already consist^ 
 ing of four or five thousand men, 
 was on the point of being aug- 
 mented with three thousand more, 
 probably contributed. The attack 
 was as spirited in execution as ill- 
 judged in design. The assailants, 
 after having been for more than 
 four hours exposed to a most fatal 
 fire, without making any impres- 
 sion by their reiterated and obsti- 
 nate proofs of valour, w^ere ordered 
 to retreat. Major Putnam, who 
 had acted as an aid in brinmnfr 
 the Provincial regiments succes- 
 sively to action, assisted in pre- 
 serving order. It was said that a 
 
78 
 
 great number of the enemy were 
 shot in the head, every otiicr part 
 having been concealed behind their 
 works. The loss on our side was 
 upwards of two thousand killed 
 and wounded. Twenty -five hun- 
 dred stand of arms were taken by 
 the French. Our army, after sus- 
 taining this havock, retreated with 
 such extraordinary precipitation, 
 that they regained their camp at 
 the southward of Lake George the 
 evening after the action. 
 
 The successes in other parts of 
 America made ''n v-.ds for this de- 
 feat. Louisbouig, after a vigorous 
 siege, was reduced by Gener- 
 als Amherst and Wolf: Fron- 
 tenac, a post of importance on 
 the communication between Lake 
 Ontario and the St. Lawrence, 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 79 
 
 surrendered to Colonel Bradstreet : 
 and Fort Du Quesne, situated at 
 the confluence of the Monongahela 
 with the Ohio (the possession of 
 which had kindled the flame of 
 war that now spread through the 
 four quarters of the globe), was 
 captured by General Forbes. 
 
 ADVENTURES WITH THE INDIANS. 
 
 A few adventures, in which the 
 public interests were little concerned, 
 but which, from their peculiarity, 
 appear worthy of being preserved, 
 happened before the conclusion of 
 the year. As one day Major Put- 
 nam chanced to lie with a batteau 
 and five men, on the eastern shore 
 of the Hudson, near the Rapids, 
 contiguous to which Fort Miller 
 stood, his men on the opposite bank 
 
80 LIFK OF 
 
 had given him to understand, that 
 a large body of savages were in 
 his rear, and would be upon him 
 in a moment. To stay and be 
 sacrificed — to attempt crossing and 
 be shot — or to go down the falls, 
 with an almost absolute certainty 
 of being drowned, were the sole 
 alternatives that presented them- 
 selves to his choice. So instanta* 
 neously was the latter adopted, 
 that one man who had rambled a 
 little from the party, was, of neces- 
 sity, left, and fell a miserable victim 
 to savage barbarity. 
 
 The Indians arrived on the shore 
 soon enough to fire many balls on 
 thejDatteau before it could be got 
 under way. No sooner had our 
 batteau-men escaped, by favour of 
 the rapidity of the current, beyond 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 81 
 
 the reach of musket-shot, than 
 death seemed only to have been 
 avoided in one form to be encoun- 
 tered in another not less terrible. 
 Prominent rocks, latent shelves, 
 absorbmg eddies, and abrupt de- 
 scents, for a quarter of a mile, af- 
 forded scarcely the smallest chance 
 of escaping without a miracle, 
 Putnam, trusting himself to a good 
 Providence, whose kindness he had 
 often experienced, rather than- to 
 men, whose tenderest mercies are 
 cruelty, was now seen to place 
 himself sedately at the helm, and 
 afforded an astonishing specta- 
 cle of serenity. His companions, 
 with a mixture of terror, admi- 
 ration, and wonder, saw him inces- 
 santly changing the course, to 
 avoid the jaws of ruin, that seemed 
 
82 LIFK OF 
 
 expanded to swallow the whirling 
 boat. 
 
 Twice he turned it fairly round 
 to shun the rifts of rocks. Amidst 
 these eddies, in which there was 
 the greatest danger of its founder- 
 ing, at one moment the sides were 
 exposed to the fury of the waves ; 
 then the stem, and next the how 
 glanced obliquely onward, with 
 inconceivable velocity. With not 
 less amazement the savages beheld 
 him sometimes mounting the bil- 
 lows, then plunging abruptly down, 
 at other times skilfully veering from 
 the rocks, and shooting through 
 the only narrow passage ; until, 
 at last, they viewed the boat safely 
 gliding on the smooth surface of 
 the stream below. 
 
 At this sight, it is asserted, that 
 
^ 1 
 
 GENERAL PUTNAM. 85 
 
 these rude sons of nature were 
 affected with the same kiod of 
 superstitious veneration which the 
 Europeans, in the dark ages, en- 
 tertained for some of their most 
 valorous champions. They deemed 
 the man invulnerable, whom their 
 balls, on his pushing from shore, 
 could not touch ; and whom they 
 had seen steering in safety down 
 the rapids that had never before 
 been passed. They conceived it 
 would be an affront against the 
 Great Spirit to attempt to kill this 
 favoured mortal with powder and 
 ball, if they should ever see and 
 know him again. 
 
 In the month of August, five 
 hundred men were employed, un- 
 der the orders of Majors Rogers, 
 and Putnam, to watch the motions 
 
86 LIFE OF 
 
 of the enemy near Ticonderoga. 
 At South-Bay they separated the 
 party into two equal divisions, and 
 Rogers took a position on Wood- 
 Creek, twelve miles distant from 
 Putnam. 
 
 Upon being, some time after- 
 wards, discovered, they formed a 
 reunion, and concerted measures 
 for returning to Fort Edward. 
 Their march through the woods 
 was in three divisions by files : 
 the right commanded by Rogers, 
 the left by Putnam, and the centre 
 by Captain D'EIl. The first night 
 they encamped on the banks of 
 Clear River, about a mile from 
 old Fort Ann, which had been for- 
 merly built by General Nicholson. 
 Next morning Major Rogers, and 
 a British officer named Irwin, in- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 87 
 
 cautiously suffered themselves, from 
 a spirit of false emulation, to be 
 engaged in firing at a mark. No- 
 thing could have been more repug- 
 nant to the military principles of 
 Putnam than such conduct, or rep- 
 robated by him in more pointed 
 terms. As soon as the heavy dew 
 which had fallen the preceding 
 night would permit, the detachment 
 moved in one body, Putnam being 
 in front, D'Ell in the centre, and 
 Rogers in the rear. The impervi- 
 ous growth of shrubs and under- 
 brush that had sprung up, where 
 the land had been partially cleared 
 some years before, occasioned this 
 change in the order of march. 
 
 At the moment of moving, the 
 famous French partisan Molang, 
 who had been sent with five hun- 
 
88 LIFE OF 
 
 drcd men to intercept our party, 
 was not more than one mile and a 
 half distant from them. Having 
 heard the firing, he hastened to lay 
 an ambuscade precisely in that part 
 of the wood most favourable to his 
 project. Major Putnam was just 
 emerging from the thicket, into the 
 common forest, when the enemy 
 rose, and with discordant yells and 
 whoops, commenced an attack up- 
 on the right of his division. Sur- 
 prised, but undismayed, Putnam 
 halted, returned the fire, and passed 
 the word for the other divisions to ad- 
 vance for his support. D'Ellcame. 
 The action, though widely scatter- 
 ed, and principally fought between 
 man and man, soon grew general 
 and intensely warm. It would be 
 as difficult as useless to describe 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 89 
 
 this irregular and ferocious mode 
 of fighting. 
 
 Rogers came not up ; but, as he 
 declared afterwards, formed a cir- 
 cular fde between our party and 
 Wood-Creek, to prevent their being 
 taken in rear or enfiladed. Suc- 
 cessful as he commonly was, his 
 conduct did not always pass with- 
 out unfavourable imputation. Not- 
 withstanding, it was a current say- 
 ing in the camp, " that Rogers al- 
 ways sent^ but Putnam led his men 
 to action," yet, in justice, it ought 
 to be remarked here, that the lat- 
 ter has never been known, in rela- 
 ting the story of this day's disaster, 
 to affix any stigma upon the con- 
 duct of the former. 
 
 Major Putnam, perceiving it 
 would be impracticable to cross 
 
90 LIFE OF 
 
 the creek, determined to maintain 
 his ground. Inspired by his exam- 
 ple, the officers and men behaved 
 with great bravery ; sometimes 
 they fought aggregately in open 
 view, and sometimes individually 
 under cover ; taking aim from be- 
 hind the bodies of trees, and acting 
 in a manner independent of each 
 other. For himself, having dis- 
 charged his fusee several times, at 
 length it missed fire, while the 
 muzzle was pressed against the 
 breast of a large and well propor- 
 tioned savage. This warrior, 
 availing himself of the indefensible 
 attitude of his adversary, with a 
 tremendous war-whoop, sprang for- 
 waru, with his lifted hatchet, and 
 compelled him to surrender ; and 
 havina disarmed and bound him 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 91 
 
 fast to a tree, returned to the 
 battle. 
 
 The intrepid Captains D'Ell and 
 Harman, who now commanded, 
 were forced to give ground for a 
 little distance; the savages, con- 
 ceiving this to be the certain 
 harbinger of victory, rushed impet- 
 uously on, with dreadful and 
 redoubled cries. But our two 
 partisans, collecting a handful of 
 brave men, gave the pursuers so 
 warm a reception as to oblige them, 
 in turn, to retreat a little beyond 
 the spot at which the action had 
 commenced. Here they made a 
 stand. This change of ground 
 occasioned the tree to which Put- 
 nam was tied to be directly between 
 the fire of the two parties. Hu- 
 man imagination can hardly figure 
 
92 LIFE OF 
 
 to itself a more 'deplorable situation. 
 The balls flew incessantly from 
 either side, many struck the tree, 
 while some passed through the 
 sleeves and skirts of his coat. In 
 this state of jeopardy, unable to 
 move his body, to stir his limbs, or 
 even to incline his head, he re- 
 mained more than an hour — so 
 equally balanced, and so obstinate 
 was the fight ! 
 
 At one moment, while the battle 
 swerved in favour of the enemy, a 
 young savage chose an odd way 
 of discovering his humour. He 
 found Putnam bound. He might 
 have dispatched him at a blow. 
 But he loved better to excite the 
 terrors of the prisoner, by hurling 
 a tomahawk at his head ; or rather 
 it should seem his object ^vas to 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 93 
 
 see how near he could throw it 
 without touching him — the weapon 
 struck in the tree a number of times 
 at a hair's breadth distance from the 
 mark. When the Indian had fin- 
 ished his amusement, a French bas- 
 officer (a much more inveterate 
 savage by nature, though descend- 
 ed from so humane and polished 
 a nation) perceiving Putnam, came 
 up to him, and, levelling a fuzee 
 within a foot of his breast, attempt- 
 ed to discharge it — it missed fire. 
 Ineffectually did the intended victim 
 solicit the treatment due to his situa- 
 tion, by repeating that he was a 
 prisoner of war. The degenerate 
 Frenchman did not understand the 
 language of honour or of nature : 
 deaf to their voice, and dead to 
 sensibility, he violently, and re- 
 
94 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 pcatedly, pushed the muzzle of his 
 gun against Putnam's ribs, and 
 finally gave him a cruel blow on 
 the jaw with the but-end of his 
 piece. After this dastardly deed 
 he left him. 
 
 At length the active intrepidity 
 of D'Ell and Harman, seconded 
 by the persevering valour of their 
 followers, prevailed. They drove 
 from the field the enemy, who left 
 about ninety dead behind them. 
 As they were retiring, Putnam was 
 untied by the Indian who had made 
 him prisoner, and whom he after- 
 wards called master. Having been 
 conducted for some distance from 
 the place of action, he was stripped 
 of his coat, vest, stockings, and 
 shoes ; loaded with as many of the 
 packs of the wounded as could be 
 I . 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 95 
 
 piled upon him ; strongly pinioned, 
 and his wrists tied as closely to- 
 gether as they could be pulled with 
 a cord. 
 
 After he had marched, through 
 no pleasant paths, in this painful 
 manner, for many a tedious mile, 
 the party (who were excessively 
 fatigued) halted to breathe. His 
 hands were now immoderately 
 swelled from the tightness of the 
 ligature ; and the pain had become 
 intolerable. His feet were so much 
 scratched, that the blood dropped 
 fast from them. Exhausted with 
 bearing a burden above his strength, 
 and frantic with torments exquisite 
 beyond endurance, he entreated 
 the Irish interpreter to implore, as 
 the last and only gra%e he desired 
 of the savages, that they would 
 
96 
 
 LIFE or 
 
 knock him on the head and take 
 his scalp at once, or loose liis hands. 
 A French officer, instantly inter- 
 posing, ordered his hands to be 
 unbound, and some of the packs 
 to be taken off. By this time the 
 Indian who captured him, and had 
 been absent with the wounded, 
 coming up, gave him a pair of moc- 
 casins, and expressed great indig- 
 nation at the unworthy treatment 
 his prisoner had suffered. 
 
 That savage chief again return- 
 ed to the care of the wounded, and 
 the Indians, about two hundred in 
 number, went before the rest of 
 the party to the place where the 
 whole were that night to encamp. 
 They took with them Major Put- 
 nam, on whom, besides innumer- 
 able other outrages, they had the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 97 
 
 barbarity to inflict a deep wound 
 with the tomahawk in the left cheek. 
 His sufferings were in this place to 
 be consummated. A scene of horror, 
 infinitely greater than had ever 
 met his eyes before, was now pre- 
 paring. It was determined to roast 
 him alive. For this purpose they 
 led him into a dark forest, stripped 
 him naked, bound him to a tree, 
 and piled dry brush, with other 
 fuel, at a small distance, in a circle 
 round him. They accompanied 
 their labours, as if for his funeral 
 dirge, with screams and sounds in- 
 imitable but by savage voices. Then 
 they set the piles on fire. A sud- 
 den shower damped the rising flame. 
 Still they strove to kindle it, until, 
 at last, the blaze ran fiercely round 
 the circle. Major Putnam soon 
 
98 LIFE OP 
 
 beiran to feci the scorchiiii; heat. 
 His hands were so tied that he 
 could mave his body. He often 
 shifted sides as the fire approached. 
 This sight, at the very idea of 
 which all but savages must shud* 
 der, aftbi'dcd the highest diversion 
 lo his inhuman tormentors, who 
 demonstrated the delirium of their 
 joy by correspondent yella, dances^ 
 and gesticulations. He saw clearly 
 that his fmal hour was inevitably 
 come. He summoned all his re- 
 solution, and composed his mind^ 
 as far as the circumstances could 
 admit, to bid an eternal farewell to 
 all he held most dear. To quit 
 the world would scarcely have cost 
 a single pang ; but for the idea of 
 home, but for the remembrance of 
 domestic endearments, of the af- 
 
GENEllAL PUTNAM. 99 
 
 fectionate partner of his soul, and 
 of their beloved offspring* His 
 thought was ultimately fixed on a 
 happier state of existence, beyond 
 the tortures he was l)eginning to 
 endure. The bitterness of death, 
 even of that death which is accom- 
 panied with the keenest agonies, 
 was, in a manner, past — nature, 
 with a feeble struggle, was quitting 
 its last hold on sublunary things — 
 when a French officer rushed 
 through the crowd, opened a way 
 by scattering the burning brands, 
 and unbound the victim. It was 
 Molang himself-^to whom a savage, 
 unwilling to see another human 
 sacrifice immolated, had rui\ and 
 communicated the tidings. That 
 commandant spurned and severely 
 reprimanded the barbarians, whose 
 
100 LIFE OF 
 
 nocturnal powwas and hellish or- 
 gies he suddenly ended. Putnam 
 did not want for feeling or gratitude. 
 The French commander, fearing 
 to trust him alone with them, re- 
 mained until he could deliver him 
 in safety into the hands of his 
 master. 
 
 PUTNAM A PRISO>'Ell. 
 
 The savage approached his 
 prisoner kindly, and seemed to 
 treat him with particular affection. 
 He offered him some hard biscuit ; 
 but finding that he could not chew 
 them, on account of the blow he 
 had received from the Frenchman, 
 this more humane savage soaked 
 some of the biscuit in water, and 
 made him suck the pulp-like part. 
 Determined, however, not to loose 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 101 
 
 his captive (the refreshment being 
 finished) he took the moccasins 
 from his feet, and tied them to one 
 of his wrists : then directing him 
 to he down on his back upon the 
 bare ground, he stretched one arm 
 to its full length, and bound it fast 
 to a young tree; the other arm 
 was extended and bound in the 
 same manner — his legs were 
 stretched apart and fastened to two 
 saplings. Then a number of tall, 
 but slender poles were cut down, 
 which, with some long bushes, 
 were laid across his body from 
 head to foot : on each side lay as 
 many Indians as could conveniently 
 find lodging, in order to prevent 
 the possibility of his escape. In 
 this disagreeable and painful pos- 
 ture he remained until morning. 
 
102 
 
 LIFE or 
 
 Durinir this night, the longest and 
 most dreary conceivable, our hero 
 used to relate that he felt a ray of 
 cheerfulness come casually across 
 his mind, and could not even re- 
 frain from smiling when he reflect- 
 ed on this ludicrous group for a 
 painter, of which he himself was 
 the principal figure. 
 
 The next day he was allowed 
 his blanket and moccasins, and 
 permitted to march without car- 
 rying any pack, or receiving any 
 insult. To allay his extreme 
 hunger, a little bear's meat was 
 given, which he sucked through 
 his teeth. At night the party 
 arrived at Ticonderoga, and the 
 prisoner was placed under the 
 care of a French guard. The 
 savages, who had been prevented 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 103 
 
 from glutting their diabolical thirst 
 for blood, took other opportunity 
 of manifesting their malevolence 
 for the disappointment, by horrid 
 grimaces and angry gestures ; but 
 they were suffered no more to offer 
 violence or personal indignity to him. 
 After having been examined by 
 the Marquis de Montcalm, Major 
 Putnam was conducted to Montreal 
 by a French ofl^icer, who treated 
 him with the greatest indulgence 
 and humanity. 
 
 At this place were several 
 prisoners. Colonel Peter Schuy- 
 ler, remarkable for his philanthropy, 
 generosity, and friendship, was of 
 the number. No sooner had he 
 heard of Major Putnam's arrival, 
 than he went to the interpreter's 
 quarters, and inquired whether he 
 
104 
 
 had a Provincial major in his cus- 
 tody? He found Major Putnam 
 in a comfortless condition — with- 
 out coat, waistcoat, or hose — the 
 remnant of his clothing miserably 
 dirty and ragged — his beard long 
 and squalid-— his legs torn by 
 thorns and briers — his face gashed 
 with wounds and swollen with 
 bruises. Colonel Schuyler, irri- 
 tated beyond all sufTerance at such 
 a sight, could scarcely restrain his 
 speech within limits, consistent 
 with the prudence of a prisoner 
 and the meekness of a Christian. 
 Major Putnam was immediately 
 treated according to his rank, 
 clothed in a decent manner, and 
 supplied with money by that liberal 
 and sympathetic patron of the dis. 
 tressed. 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 105 
 
 The capture of Frontignac by 
 General Bradstreot afibrded occa- 
 sion Ibr an exchange of prisoners. 
 Colonel Schuyler was comprehend- 
 ed in the cartel. A generous 
 spirit can never be satisfied with 
 imposing tasks for its generosity to 
 accomplish. Apprehensive if it 
 should be known that Putnam v/as 
 a distinguished partisan, his libera- 
 tion might be retarded, and know- 
 ing that there were officers who, 
 from the length of their captivity, 
 had a claim of priority to exchange, 
 he had, by his happy address, in- 
 duced the governor to offer, that 
 whatever officer he might think 
 proper to nominate should be inclu- 
 ded in the present cartel. With 
 great politeness in manner, but 
 seeming indifference as to object, 
 
106 LIFE OF 
 
 he expressed his warmest acknow- 
 ledgments to the governor, and 
 said, " There is an old man here, 
 who is a provincial major, and 
 wishes to be at home with his wife 
 and children ; he can do no good 
 here or anywhere else ; I believe 
 your Excellency had better keep 
 some of the young men, who have 
 no wife or children to care for, and 
 let the old fellow go home with me." 
 This justifiable finesse had the 
 desired eflect, and Putnam was 
 liberated and returned home. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1760. 
 
 We now arrive at the period 
 when the prowess of Britain, vic- 
 torious alike by sea and by land, 
 in the new and in the old world, 
 had elevated that name to the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM, 107 
 
 zenith of national glory. The con- 
 quest of Quebec opened the way 
 for the total reduction of Canada. 
 On the side of the lakes, Amherst 
 having captured the posts of Ticon- 
 deroga and Crown Point, applied 
 himself to strengthen the latter. 
 Putnam, who had been raised to 
 the rank of lieutenant-colonel, mid 
 present at these operations, v/as 
 employed the remainder of this and 
 some part of the succeeding rea- 
 son, in superintending the parties 
 which were detached to procure 
 timber and other materials fo>' the 
 fortification. 
 
 In 1760, General Amherat, a 
 sagacious, humane, and experienced 
 commander, planned the termina- 
 tion of the war in Canada, by a 
 bloodless conquest. For this pur- 
 
108 
 
 pose, three armies were destined to 
 co-operate, by difiercnt routes, 
 against Montreal, the only remain- 
 ing place of strength the enemy 
 held in that country. The corps 
 formerly commanded by General 
 Wolfe, now by General Murray, 
 was ordered to ascend the river St. 
 Lawrence ; another, under Colonel 
 Haviland, to penetrate by the Isle 
 aux Noix ; and the third, consist- 
 ing of about ten thousand men, 
 commanded by the grncral himself, 
 aAer passing up the Mohawk river, 
 and taking its course by Lake 
 Ontario, was to form a junction by 
 fallinc[ down the St. Lawrence. In 
 this progress, more than one occa- 
 sion presented itself to manifest 
 the intrepidity and soldiership of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam. Two 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 109 
 
 armed vessels obstructed the pass- 
 age, and prevented the attack on 
 Oswegatchie. Putnam, with one 
 thousand men, in fifty batteaiix, 
 undertook to board them. This 
 dauntless officer, ever as sparing of 
 the blood of others as prodigal of 
 his own, to accomplish it with the 
 less loss, put himself, with a cho- 
 sen crew, a beetle and wedges, in 
 the van, with a design to wedge 
 the rudders, so that the vessels 
 should not be able to turn their 
 broadsides, or perform any other 
 manceuvre. All the men in his 
 little fleet were ordered to strip to 
 their waistcoats, and advance at 
 the same time. He promised, if he 
 lived, to join and show them the 
 way up the sides. Animated by 
 so daring an example, they moved 
 
no 
 
 LIFE Ot 
 
 swiftly, in profound stillness, as to 
 certain victory or death. The 
 people on board the ships, beholdinijr 
 the good countenance with which 
 they approached, ran one of the 
 vessels on shore, and struck the 
 colours of the other. Had it not 
 been for the dastardly conduct of 
 the ship's company in the latter, 
 who compelled the captain to haul 
 down his ensign, he would have 
 given the assailants a bloody recep- 
 tion ; for the vessels were well 
 provided with spars, nettings, and 
 every customary instrument of an- 
 noyance as well as defence. 
 
 It now remained to attack the 
 fortress, which stood on an island, 
 and seemed to have been rendered 
 inaccessible by a high abattis of 
 black ash, that everywhere project- 
 
GiENERAL PUTNAM* 111 
 
 ed over the water. Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Putnam proposed a mode of 
 attack, and offered his services to 
 carry it into effect. The general 
 approved the proposal. Our par* 
 tisan, accordingly, caused a suffi- 
 cient number of boats to be fitted 
 for the enterprise. The sides of 
 each boat were surrounded with 
 fascines, musket proof, which co- 
 vered the men completely. A wide 
 plank, twenty feet in length, was 
 then fitted to every boat in such 
 manner, by having an angular 
 piece sawed from- one extremity, 
 that, when fastened by ropes on 
 both sides of the bow, it might be 
 raised or lowered at pleasure. The 
 design was, that the plank should 
 be held erect while the oarsmen 
 forced the bow with the utmost ex- 
 
112 LIFE OF 
 
 ertion against the abattis ; and that 
 afterwards being dropped on the 
 pointed brush, it should serve as a 
 kind of bridge to assist the men in 
 passing over tliem. 
 
 Licutenant*-Colonel Putnam hav- 
 ing made his dispositions to attempt 
 the escalade in many places at the 
 same moment, advanced with his 
 boats in admirable order. The 
 garrison perceiving these extraordi- 
 nary and unexpected machines, 
 waited not the assault, but capitu- 
 lated. Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam 
 was particularly honoured by Gen- 
 eral Amherst, lor his ingenuity in 
 this invention, and promptitude in 
 its execution. The three armies 
 arrived at Montreal within two 
 days of each other ; and the con- 
 quest of Canada became complete 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 113 
 
 without the loss of a single drop of 
 blood. 
 
 At no great distance from Mon- 
 treal stands the savage village 
 called Cochnawaga. Here our 
 partisan found the Indian chief who 
 had formerly made him prisoner. 
 The Indian was highly delighted 
 to see his old acquaintance, whom 
 he entertained in his own well-built 
 stone house with great friendship 
 and hospitality ; while his guest did 
 not discover less satisfaction in an 
 opportunity of shaking the brave 
 savage by the hand, and proffering 
 him protection in this reverse of 
 his military fortunes. 
 
 EXPEDITION TO HAVANA. 
 
 When the belligerent powers 
 were considerably exhausted, a 
 
114 LIFE OF 
 
 rupture took place between Great 
 Britain and Spain, in the month of 
 January, 1762, and an expedition 
 was formed that campaign, under 
 Lord All)cmarle, against the Ha- 
 vana. A body of Provincials, com- 
 posed of five hundred men from 
 the Jerseys, eight hundred from 
 New York, and one thousand from 
 Connecticut, joined his lordship. 
 General Lyman, who raised the 
 regiment of one thousand men in 
 Connecticut, being the senior officer, 
 coirimanded the whole : of coui-se, 
 the immediate command of his 
 regiment devolved upon Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Putnam. The fleet that 
 carried these troops sailed from 
 New York, and arrived safely on 
 tlie coast of Cuba. There a ter- 
 rible storm arose, and the transport 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 1 15 
 
 in which Lieutenant- Colonel Put- 
 nam had embarked with five hun- 
 dred men, was wrecked on a rift 
 of craggy rocks. The weather 
 was so tempestuous, and the surf, 
 which ran mountain-high, dashed 
 with such violence against the ship, 
 that the most experienced seamen 
 expected it would soon part asunder. 
 The rest of the fleet, so far from 
 being able to afford assistance, with 
 difficulty rode out the gale. In 
 this deplorable situation, as the 
 only expedient by which they could 
 be saved, strict order was main- 
 tained, and all those people who 
 best understood the use of tools, 
 were instantly employed in con- 
 structing rafts from spars, plank, 
 and whatever other materials could 
 be procured. 
 
116 LIFE OF 
 
 There happened to be on board 
 a large quantity of strong cords 
 (the same that arc used in the 
 whale fishery), which, being fasten- 
 ed to the raits, after the lirst had 
 with inconceivable hazard reached 
 the shore, were of infinite service 
 in preventing the others from dri- 
 ving out to sea, as also in dragging 
 them athwart the billows U) the 
 beach ; by which means every 
 man was finally saved. ^V'ith the 
 same presence of mind to take 
 advantage of circumstances, and 
 the same precaution to prevent 
 confusion on similar occasions, how 
 many valuable lives, prematurely 
 lost, niight have been preserved as 
 blessings to their families, their 
 friends, and their country ! 
 
 As soon as all were landed, 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 117 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam fortified 
 his camp, that he might not be ex- 
 posed to insult from the inhabitants 
 of the neighbouring districts, or 
 from those of Carthagena, who 
 were but twenty- four miles distant. 
 Here the party remained unmolest- 
 ed several days, until the storm 
 had so much abated as to permit 
 the convoy to take them off. They 
 soon joined the troops before the 
 Havana, who, having been several 
 weeks in that unhealthy climate, 
 already began to grow extremely 
 sickly. The opportune arrival of 
 the Provincial reinforcement, in 
 perfect health, contributed not a 
 little to forward the works, and 
 hasten the reduction of that impor- 
 tant place. But the Prcwincials 
 suffered so miserably by sickness 
 
118 LIFE OF 
 
 afterwards, that very few ever re- 
 turned to their native land again. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OP 1764. 
 
 Although a general peace among 
 the European powers was ratified 
 in 1763, yet the savages on our 
 western frontiers still continued their 
 hostilities. After they had taken 
 several posts. General Bradstreet 
 was sent, in 1764, with an army, 
 against them. Colonel Putnam, 
 then, for the first time, appointed 
 to the command of a regiment, was 
 on the expedition, as was the Indian 
 chief whom I have several times 
 had occasion to mention as his 
 capturcr, at the head of one hun- 
 dred Cochnawaga warriors. 
 
 Before General Bradstreet reach- 
 ed Detroit, which the savages in- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 119 
 
 vested, Captain D'Ell, the faithful 
 friena and intrepid felloM-soldier 
 r^^ Colonel Putuam, had been slain 
 in a desperate sally. He having 
 been detacitGd with five hundred 
 men, in 1763, by General Amherst, 
 to raise the siege, found means of 
 throwing succour into the fort. But 
 the garrison, commanded by Major 
 Gladwine, a brave and sensible 
 officer, had been so much weakened 
 by the lurking and insidious mode 
 of war practised by the savages, 
 that not a man could be spared to 
 co-operate in an attack upon them. 
 The commandant would even 
 have dissuaded Captain D'Ell from 
 the attempt, on account of the great 
 disparity in numbers ; but the lat- 
 ter, relying on the discipline and 
 courage of his men, replied, " God 
 
120 LIFE OF 
 
 forbid that I should ever disobey 
 the orders of my general," and 
 immediately disposed thorn for 
 action. It was obstinate and 
 bloody ; but the vastly superior 
 number of the savages enabled 
 them to enclose Captain D'Ell's 
 party on every side, and compelled 
 him, finally, to fight his way, in 
 retreat from one stone house to 
 another. Having halted to breathe 
 a moment, he saw one of his 
 bravest sergeants lying at a small 
 distance, wounded through the 
 thi^h, and wallowing in his blood. 
 Whereupon he desired some of the 
 men to run and bring the sergeant 
 to the house, but they declined it. 
 Then declaring, " that he never 
 would leave so brave a soldier in 
 the field to be tortured by the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 121 
 
 savages," he ran and endeavoured 
 to help him up — at the instant a 
 volley of shot dropped them both 
 dead together. The party con- 
 tinued retreating from house to 
 house until they regained the fort ; 
 vv'here it was found the conflict had 
 been so sharp, and lasted so long, 
 that only fifty men remained alive 
 of the five hundred who had 
 sallied. 
 
 Upon the arrival of General 
 Bradstreet, the savages saw that 
 all further efforts, in arms, would 
 be vain, and accordingly., after 
 many fallacious proposals for a 
 peace, and frequent tergiversations 
 in the negotiation, they concluded 
 a treaty, which ended the war in 
 America. 
 
 Colonel Putnam, at the expi- 
 
122 LIFE OF 
 
 ration of ten years from his first 
 receiving a commission, after 
 having seen as much service, en- 
 dured as many hardships, encoun- 
 tered as many dangers, and 
 acquired as many laurels as any 
 officer of his rank, with great sat- 
 isfaction laid aside his uniform, 
 and returned to his plough. The 
 various and uncommon scenes of 
 war in which he had acted a re- 
 spectable part, his intercourse with 
 the world, and intimacy with some 
 of the first characters in the army, 
 joined with occasional reading, 
 had not only brought into view 
 whatever talents he possessed from 
 nature, but, at the same time, had 
 extended his knowledge, and pol- 
 ished his manners, to a consider- 
 able degree. Not having bec<tme 
 
GENERAL PUTNA 
 
 M. 123 1 
 
 inflated with pride, or forgetful o 
 his old connexions, he had the 
 good fortune to possess entirely 
 the good will of his fellow citizens. 
 No character stood fairer in the 
 public eye for integrity, bravery, 
 and patriotism. He was employed 
 in several offices in his own town, 
 anl not unfrequently elected to 
 reprpsent it in the General Assem- 
 bly. The year after his return to 
 private life, the minds of men 
 were strangely agitated by an at- 
 tempt of the British Parliament tj 
 n reduce the memorable Stamp 
 Act in America. This germ of 
 policy, whose growth was repressed 
 by the moderate temperature in 
 which k 'ras kept by some admin- 
 istrations did not fully disclose its 
 fruit unti\ nearly eleven years af- 
 
124 LIFE OF 
 
 terwards. AH the world knows 
 how it then ripened into a civil 
 war. 
 
 THE STAMP .ACT. 
 
 On the twenty-second day of 
 March, 1705, the Stamp Act re- 
 ceived tlie royal issent. It was to 
 take place in Aniorica on the first 
 day of November following. This 
 innovation s{)read a sudden and 
 universal alarm. The political 
 pulse in the provinces, from Maine 
 to Georgia, throbbed in sympathy. 
 The Assemblies, in most of these 
 colonics, that they might oppose it 
 legally and in concert, appointed 
 delegates to confer together on the 
 subject. This first Congress met, 
 early in October, at New York. 
 They agreed upon a Declaration of 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 125 
 
 Right* and Grievances of the 
 Colonists ; together with separate 
 Addresses to the King, Lords and 
 Commons of Great Britain. In 
 the meantime, the people had de- 
 termined, in order to prevent the 
 stamped paper from being distribu- 
 ted, that the stamp-masters should 
 not enter on the execution of their 
 office. That office was conferred 
 on Mr. Ingersol, of New Haven, 
 who was compelled by an insur- 
 rection of the people to resign. 
 
 Colonel Putnam, who instigated 
 the people to this measure, was 
 prevented from attending by acci- 
 dent. But he was deputed soon 
 after, with two other gentlemen, 
 to vv^ait on Governor Fitch on the 
 same subject. The questions of the 
 governor, and answers of Putnam, 
 
126 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 will sorve to indicate the spirit of 
 the times. After some conversa- 
 tion, the governor asked, " What 
 he should do if the stamped paper 
 should be sent to him by the king's 
 authority ?" Putnam replied, " Lock 
 it up until we shall visit you again." 
 " And what will you do then ?" 
 " We shall expect you to give us 
 the key of the room in which it is 
 deposited ; and, if you think fit, in 
 order to screen yourself from blame, 
 you may forewarn us, upon our 
 peril, not to enter the room." 
 "And what will you do afterwards?" 
 " Send it safely back again." " But 
 if I should refuse admission ?" " In 
 such a case, your house will be 
 levelled with the dust in five min- 
 utes." It was supposed that a re- 
 port of this conversation was one 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 127 
 
 reason why the stamped paper was 
 never sent from New York to 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Such unanimity in the Provincial 
 Assemblies, and decision in the 
 yeomanry, carried beyond the At- 
 lantic a conviction of the inexpe- 
 diency of attempting to enforce the 
 new revenue system. The Stamp 
 Act being repealed, and the mea- 
 sures in a manner quieted, Colonel 
 Putnam continued to labour with 
 his own hands, at farming, without 
 interruption, except, for a little time, 
 by the loss of the first joint of his 
 right thumb from one accident, and 
 the compound fracture of his right 
 thigh from another: that thigh, 
 being rendered nearly an inch 
 shorter than the left, occasioned 
 him ever to limp in his walk. 
 
128 
 
 The Provincial officers and sol- 
 diers from Connecticut, who sur- 
 vived the conquest of the Havana, 
 appointed General Lyman to re- 
 ceive the remainder of their prize 
 money, in England. A company, 
 composed partly of military, and 
 partly of other gentlemen, whose 
 object was to obtain from the crown 
 a grant of land on the Mississippi, 
 also committed to him the negotia- 
 tion of their affairs. When several 
 years had elapsed in applications, 
 a grant of land was obtained. In 
 1770, General Lyman, with Co- 
 lonel Putnam, and two or three 
 others, went to explore the situation. 
 After a tedious voyage, and a la- 
 borious passage up the Mississippi, 
 they accomplished their business. 
 
 General Lvman came back to 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 129 
 
 Connecticut with the explorers, but 
 soon returned to Natchez: there 
 formed an establishment and laid 
 his bones. Colonel Putnam placed 
 some labourers with provisions and 
 farming utensils upon his location ; 
 but the increasing troubles shortly 
 after ruined the prospect of deriving 
 any advantage from that quarter. 
 
 OPENING OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 The Revolution now broke forth ; 
 and all eyes were turned to find 
 the men who, possessed of military 
 experience, would dare, in the ap- 
 proaching hour of severest trial, to 
 lead their undisciplined fellow-citi- 
 zens to battle. For none were so 
 stupid as not to comprehend, that 
 want of success would involve the 
 leaders in the punishment of re- 
 
130 LIFE OF 
 
 bellion. Putnam was among the 
 first and most conspicuous wlio 
 stepped forth. Although the 
 Americans had been, by many 
 who wished their subjugation, in- 
 discreetly as indiscriminately stig- 
 matized with the imputation of 
 cowardice — he felt — he knew for 
 himself, he was no coward ; and 
 from what he had seen and known, 
 he believed that his countrymen, 
 driven to tlie extremity of defending 
 their rights by arms, would find 
 no difficulty in wiping away the 
 ungenerous aspersion. 
 
 As he happened to be often at 
 Boston, lie hold many conversa- 
 tions, on these subjects, with 
 General Gage, the British Com- 
 mander in Chief, Lord Percy, 
 Colonel Sheriir, Colonel Small, 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 13 1 
 
 and many officers with whom he 
 had formerly served, who were 
 now at the head-quarters. Being 
 often questioned, " in case the dis- 
 pute should proceed to hostilities, 
 what part he would really take ?" 
 he always answered, " with his 
 country; and that, let whatever 
 might happen, he was prepared to 
 abide the consequence." Being 
 interrogated, " whether he, who 
 had been a witness to the prowess 
 and victories of the British fleets 
 and armies, did not think them 
 equal to the conquest of a country 
 which was not the owner of a 
 single ship, regiment, or maga- 
 zine ?" he rejoined, that " he could 
 only say, justice would be on our 
 side, and the event with Provi-^ 
 dence : but that he had calculated, 
 
132 LIFE or 
 
 if it required six years for the 
 combined forces of England and 
 her colonies to conquer such a 
 feeble country as Canada, it would, 
 at least, take a very long time for 
 England alone to overcome her own 
 widely extended colonies," which 
 were much stronger than Canada : 
 That wlien men fought for every- 
 thing dear, in what they believed 
 to be the most sacred of all causes, 
 and in their own native land, they 
 would have great advantages over 
 their enemies who were not in the 
 same situation; and that, having 
 taken into view all circumstances, 
 for his own part, he fully believed 
 that America would not be so 
 easily conquered by England as 
 those gentlemen seemed to expect." 
 Being once, in particular, asked, 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 133 
 
 L 
 
 " whether he did not seriously be- 
 lieve that a well appointed British 
 army of five thousand veterans 
 could march through the whole 
 continent of America 1" he replied 
 briskly, " No doubt, if they be- 
 haved civilly, and paid well for 
 everything they wanted ; — but" — 
 after a moment's pause added — 
 " if they should attempt it in a 
 hostile manner (though the Ameri- 
 can men were out of the question), 
 the women, with their ladles and 
 broomsticks, would knock them all 
 on the head before they had got 
 half way through." This was 
 the tenor, our hero often said, 
 of these amicable interviews ; and 
 thus, as it commonly happens in 
 disputes about future events which 
 depend on opinion, they parted 
 
134 
 
 LIFE OP 
 
 without conviction, no more to nneet 
 in a iViendly manner, until after 
 the appeal should have been made 
 to Heaven, and the issue confirmed 
 by the sword. Jn the mean time, 
 to provide against the worst con- 
 tingency, the militia in the several 
 colonics was sedulously trained ; 
 and those select companies, the 
 flower of our youth, which were 
 denoininatcd minute-men, agreeably 
 to the indication of their name, 
 held themselves in readiness to 
 march at a moment's warning. 
 
 BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 
 
 At length the fatal day arrived, 
 when hostilities commenced. Gen- 
 eral Gai];c, in the evening of the 
 
 \1 
 
 18th of April, 1775, detached from 
 Boston the grenadiers and light 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 137 
 
 infantry of the army, commanded 
 by Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, to 
 destroy some military and other 
 stores deposited by the province at 
 Concord. About sunrise the next 
 morning, the detachment, on march- 
 ing into Lexington, fired upon 
 a company of militia who had 
 just reassembled ; for having been 
 alarmed late at night, with reports 
 that the regulars were advancing 
 to demolish the stores, they collect- 
 ed on their parade, and were dis- 
 missed with orders to reassemble 
 at beat of drum. It is established 
 by the affidavits of more than thirty 
 persons who were present, that the 
 first fire, which killed eight of the 
 militia, then beginning to disperse, 
 was given by the British without 
 provocation. The spark of war, 
 
138 LIFE OF 
 
 thus kindled, ran with unexampled 
 
 rapidity, and raged with unwonted 
 violence. To repel the aggression, 
 the people of the bordering towns 
 spontaneously rushed to arms, and 
 poured their scattering shot from 
 every convenient station upon the 
 regulars, who, after marching to 
 Concord and destroying the maga- 
 zine, would have found their retreat 
 intercepted, had they not been re- 
 inforced by Lord Percy, with the 
 battalion companies of three regi- 
 ments, and a body of ii)arines. 
 Notwithstanding the junction, they 
 were hard pushed, and pursued 
 until they could find protection from 
 their ships. Of the British, two 
 hundred and eighty-three were 
 killed, wounded, and taken. The 
 Americans had thirty-nine killed, 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 139 
 
 nineteen wounded, and two made 
 prisoners. 
 
 PUTNAM A MAJOR-GENERAL. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the celerity 
 with which the intelligence flew 
 everywhere, that blood had been 
 shed by the British troops. The 
 country, in motion, exhibited but 
 one scene of hurry, preparation, 
 and revenge. Putnam, who was 
 ploughing when he heard the news, 
 left his plough in the middle of the 
 field, unyoked his team, and with- 
 out waiting to change his clothes, 
 set off for the theatre of action. 
 But finding the British retreated to 
 Boston, and invested by a sufficient 
 force to watch their movements, he 
 came back to Connecticut, levied 
 a regiment, under authority of the 
 
140 LIFE OF 
 
 legisl.iture, and speedily returned 
 to Cambridge. He was now pro- 
 moted to bo a major-general on the 
 Provincial staff, by his colony ; and, 
 in a little time, confirmed by Con- 
 gress, in the same rank on the 
 Continental establishment. Gen- 
 eral Ward, of Massachusetts, by 
 common consent, commanded the 
 whole ; and the celebrated Dr. 
 Warren was made a major-general. 
 Not long after this period, the 
 British commander-in-chief found 
 the means to convey a proj)osal, 
 privately, to General Putnam, that 
 if he would relinquish the rebel 
 party, he might rely upon being 
 made a mapr-gcneral on the 
 British establishment, and receiving 
 a great pecuniary compensation for 
 his services. General Putnam 
 
GENEHAL PUTNAM. 141 
 
 spurned at the offer ; which, how- 
 ever, he thought prudent at that 
 tuTie to conceal from pubHc notice. 
 
 Thou oh the commandinoj officers 
 from the four colonies of New-Eng- 
 land were in a manner independent, 
 they acted harmoniously in concert. 
 The first attention had been pru- 
 dently directed towards forming 
 some little i*edoubts and intrench- 
 ments ; for it was well known that 
 lines, however slight or untenable, 
 were calculated to inspire raw 
 soldiers with a confidence in them- 
 selves. The next care was to bring 
 the live stock from the islands in 
 Boston bay, in order to prevent 
 the enemy (already surrounded by 
 land) from making use of them 
 for fresh provisions. 
 
 In the latter end of IMay, be- 
 
142 LIFE OF 
 
 twccn two and three hundred men 
 were sent to drive off the stock from 
 IJog and Noddle islands, which are 
 situated on the north-east side of 
 Boston harbour. Advantage liaving 
 been taken of the ebb-tide, when 
 the water is fordable between the 
 main and Hog island, as it is be- 
 tween that and Noddle island, the 
 design was effected. But a skirmish 
 ensued, in which some of the ma- 
 rines, who had been stationed to 
 guard them, were killed : and as 
 the firing continued between the 
 British water-craft and our party, 
 a reinforcement of three hundred 
 men, with two pieces of artillery, 
 was ordered to join the latter. 
 General Putnam took the command, 
 and having himself gone down on 
 the beach, within conversing dis- 
 
j GENERAL PUTNAM. 143 
 
 j tance, and ineffectually ordered the 
 I people on board an armed schooner 
 I to strike, he plied her with shot so 
 j furiously that the crew made their 
 escape, and the vessel was burnt. 
 An armed sloop was likewise so 
 much disabled as to be towed ofF 
 by the boats of the fleet. Thus 
 ended this affair, in which several 
 hundred sheep, and some cattle 
 were removed from under the 
 muzzles of the enemy's cannon, 
 and our men accustomed to stand 
 fire, by being for many hours ex- 
 posed to it without meeting with 
 any loss. 
 
 BATTLE OP BUNKER HILL. 
 
 The Provincial generals having 
 received advice that the British 
 commander-in-chief designed to 
 
144 LIFE OF 
 
 take possession of tlie heights on 
 thft peninsula of Chfirlestown, de- 
 tached a thousand men in the night 
 of the 16th of June, under the 
 orders of General Warren, to in- 
 trench themselves upon one of these 
 eminences, named Bunker Ilill. 
 Though retarded by accidents from 
 beginning the work until nearly 
 midnight, yet, by dawn of day, 
 they had constructed a redoubt 
 about eight rods square, and com- 
 menced a breast- work from the lell 
 to the low grounds ; which an in- 
 suficrablo fire from the shipping, 
 floating batteries, and cannon on 
 Copp's Hill, in Boston, prevented 
 them from completing. 
 
 At mid-day four battalions of 
 foot, ten companies of grenadiers, 
 and ten companies of light-infantry, 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 147 
 
 with a proportion of artillery, com- 
 manded by Major- General Howe, 
 landed under a heavy cannonade 
 from the ships, and advanced in 
 three lines to the attack. The 
 light-infantry being formed on the 
 right, was directed to turn the left 
 flank of the Americans; and the 
 grenadiers, supported by two bat- 
 talions, to storm the redoubt in 
 front. Meanwhile, on application, 
 these troops were augmented by 
 the 47th regiment, the first batta- 
 lion of marines, together with some 
 companies of light-infantry and 
 grenadiers, which formed an ag- 
 gregate force of between two and 
 three thousand men. But so dif- 
 ficult was it to reinforce the Ameri- 
 cans, by sending detachments 
 across the Neck, which was raked 
 
148 LIFE OF 
 
 by the cannon of the shipping, 
 that not more than fifteen hundred 
 men were brought into action. 
 
 Few instances can be produced 
 in the annals of mankind, where 
 soldiers, who never had before 
 faced an enemy, or heard the 
 whistling of a ball, behaved with 
 such deliberate and persevering 
 valour. It was not until after the 
 grenadiers had been twice repulsed 
 to their boats. General Warren 
 slain, his troops exhausted of their 
 ammunition, their lines in a man- 
 ner enfilftded by artillery, and the 
 redoubt half filled with British 
 regulars, that the word was given 
 to retire. In that forlorn condition, 
 the spectacle was astonishing as 
 new, to behold these undisciplined 
 men, most of them without bayo- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 149 
 
 nets, disputing with the but-end of 
 their muskets against the British 
 bayonet, and receding in sullen 
 despair. Still the light-infantry on 
 their left would certainly have 
 gained their rear, and exterminated 
 this gallant corps, had not a body 
 of four hundred Connecticut men, 
 with Captains Knowlton and Ches- 
 ter, after forming a temporary 
 breast-work, by pulling up one 
 post-and-rail fence and putting it 
 upon another, performed prodigies 
 of bravery. They held the enemy 
 at bay until the main body had re- 
 linquished the heights, and then 
 retreated across the Neck with 
 more regularity, and less loss, than 
 could have been expected. The 
 British, who effected nothing but 
 the destruction of Charlestown by 
 
150 LIFE or 
 
 a wanton conflagration, had more 
 than one-half of their whole num- 
 ber killed and wounded : the Ameri- 
 cans only three hundred and firty- 
 five killed, wounded, and missing. 
 In this battle, the presence and ex- 
 ample of General Putnam, who 
 arrived with the reinforcement, 
 were not less conspicuous than 
 useful. He did everything that 
 an intrepid and experienced ofRcer 
 could accomplish. 
 
 SIEGE OF BOSTON. 
 
 After this action, the British 
 strongly fortified themselves on 
 the peninsulas of Boston and 
 Charlestown ; while the Provin- 
 cials remained posted in the cir- 
 cumjacent country in such a man- 
 ner as to form a blockade. In the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 151 
 
 beginning of July, General Wash- 
 ington, who had been constituted 
 by Congress commander-in-chief 
 of the American forces, arrived at 
 Cambridge, to take the command. 
 Having formed the army into three 
 grand divisions, consisting of about 
 twelve regiments each, he appoint- 
 ed Major- General Ward" to com- 
 mand the right wing, Major-Gene- 
 ral Lee the left wing, and Major- 
 General Putnam the reserve. 
 General Putnam's alertness in ac- 
 celeratmg the construction of the 
 necessary defences was particularly 
 noticed and highly approved by 
 the commander-in-chief. 
 
 About the 20th of July, the de- 
 claration of Congress, setting forth 
 the reasons of their taking up arms, ' 
 was proclaimed at the head of the 
 
152 LIFE OF 
 
 several divisions. As soon as this 
 memorable paper was read to Gene- 
 ral Puntam's division, which he had 
 ordered to be paraded on Prospect- 
 Hill, they shouted in three huzzas 
 aloud. Amen ! whereat (a cannon 
 from the fort being fired as a sig- 
 nal) the new standard lately sent 
 from Connecticut, was suddenly 
 seen to rise and unroll itself to the 
 wind. On one side was inscribed, 
 m large letters of gold, "Ax ap- 
 peal TO HEAVEX," and on the 
 other were delineated the armorial 
 bearings of Connecticut, which, 
 without supporters or crest, consist, 
 unostentatiously, of three Vines; 
 with this motto, " Qui transtulit^ 
 sustinct;^^ alluding to the pious con- 
 fidence our forefathers placed in 
 the protection of Heaven, on those 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 153 
 
 three allegorical scions — know- 
 ledge LIBERTY RELIGION 
 
 I which they had been instrumental 
 I in transplanting to America. 
 ' The strength of position on the 
 , enemy's part, and want of ammu- 
 i nition on ours, prevented operations 
 of magnitude from being attempted. 
 Such diligence was used in forti- 
 I fying our camps, and such precau- 
 tion adopted to prevent surprise, as 
 to ensure tranquillity to the troops 
 during the winter. In the spring, 
 a position was taken so menacing 
 to the enemy, as to cause them, on 
 the 17th of March, 1776, to aban- 
 don Boston, not without considerable 
 precipitation and dereliction of royal 
 stores. 
 
154 
 
 PUTNAM IN COMMAND AT NEW 
 YORK. 
 
 As a part of the hostile fleet 
 lingered for some time in Nantas- 
 ket-Road, about nine miles below 
 Boston, General Washington con- 
 tinued himself in Boston, not only 
 to see the coast entirely clear, but 
 also to make many indispensable 
 arrangements. His Excellency, 
 proposing to leave Major-General 
 Ward, with a few regiments, to 
 finish the fortifications intended as 
 a security against an attack by 
 water, in the mean time despatched 
 the greater part of the army to 
 New York, where it was most 
 probable the enemy would make a 
 descent. Upon the sailing of a 
 fleet with troops in the month of 
 
GENEnAL PUTNAM. 155 
 
 January, Major- General Lee had 
 been sent to the defence of that 
 city ; who, after having caused 
 some works to be laid out, proceed- 
 ed to follow that fleet to South- 
 Carolina. The commander-in- 
 chief was now exceedingly solici- 
 tous that these works should be 
 completed as soon as possible, and 
 accordingly gave orders to General 
 Putnam to proceed to New York 
 and resume the command. 
 
 Invested with these commands, 
 General Putnam travelled by long 
 and expeditious stages to New York. 
 His first precaution, upon his arri- 
 val, was to prevent disturbance, or 
 surprise in the night season. With 
 these objects in view, after posting 
 the necessary guards, he issued 
 his orders. He instituted, likewise. 
 
156 LIFE OF 
 
 other whulosome regulations to nie- 
 lioratp tho police of the troops, and 
 to preserve the good agreement that 
 subsisted between tliem and the 
 citizens. 
 
 Notwithstanding the war had 
 now raged, in other parts, with un- 
 accustomed severity for nearly a 
 year, yet the British ships at New 
 York, one of which had once fired 
 upon the town to intimidate the 
 inhabitants, found the means of 
 being supplied with fresh water and 
 provisions. General Putnam re- 
 solved to adopt eflectual measures 
 for putting a period to this inter- 
 course, and accordingly expressed 
 his prohibition in the most pointed 
 terms. 
 
 Nearly at the same moment, a 
 detachment of a thousawd Conti- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 157 
 
 nentals was sent to occupy Gover- 
 nor's Island, a regiment to fortify 
 Red Hook, and some companies of 
 riflemen to the Jersey shore. Of 
 two boats, belonging to two armed 
 vessels, which attempted to take on 
 board fresh water from the watering 
 place on Staten-Island, one v.as 
 driven off by the riflemen, with 
 two or three seamen killed in it, 
 and the other captured with thirteen. 
 A few days afterwards, Captain 
 Vandeput, of the Asia man of war, 
 the senior officer of the ships on 
 this station, finding the intercourse 
 with the shore interdicted, their 
 limits contracted, and that no good 
 purposes could be answered by re- 
 maining there, sailed, with all the 
 armed vessels, out of the harbour. 
 These arrangements and transac- 
 
158 LIFE OF 
 
 tion.s, joined to an unremitting at- 
 tention to the completion of the 
 delences, gave full scope to the 
 activity of General Putnam, until 
 the arrival of General Washington, 
 which happened about the middle 
 of April. 
 
 The commander-in-chief, in his 
 first j)ublic orders, " complimented 
 the oj/iccrs ivho had successfiilhj 
 commanded at New York^ and 
 returned his thanks to them as well 
 as to the officers and soldiers under 
 their command, for the many works 
 of defence which had been so ex- 
 peditiously erected : at the same 
 time he expressed an expectation 
 that the same spirit of zeal for the 
 service would continue to animate 
 their future conduct." Putnam, 
 who was then the only major- | 
 1 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 159 
 
 general with the main army, had 
 still a chief agency in forwarding 
 the fortifications, and, with the 
 assistance of Brigadiers Spencer 
 and Lord Stirling, in assigning to 
 the different corps their alarm posts. 
 Congress having intimated a de- 
 sire of consulting with the com- 
 mander-in-chief, on the critical 
 posture of affairs, his Excellency 
 repaired to Philadelphia according- 
 ly, and was absent from the twenty- 
 first of May until the sixth of June. 
 General Putnam, who commanded 
 in that interval, had it in charge to 
 open all letters directed to General 
 Washington, on public service, and 
 if important, after regulating his 
 conduct by their contents, to for- 
 ward them by express ; to expedite 
 the works then erecting ; to begin 
 
160 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 Others which were specified ; to 
 establish signals for communicating 
 an alarm ; to guard against the 
 possibility of surprise ; to secure 
 well the powder magazine ; to aug- 
 ment, by every means in his power, 
 the quantity of cartridges ; and to 
 send Brigadier-General Lord Stir- 
 ling to put the posts in the High- 
 lands into a proper condition of 
 defence. He had also a private 
 and confidential instruction, to 
 afibrd whatever aid might be re- 
 quired by the Provincial Congress 
 of New York, for apprehending 
 certain of their disaffected citizens : 
 and as it would be most convenient 
 to take the detachment for this 
 service from the troops on Long- 
 Island, under the command of Bri- 
 gadier-General Greene, it was re- 
 
OENEHAL PUTNAM. 161 
 
 commended that this officer should 
 be advised of the plan, and that the 
 execution should be conducted with 
 secrecy and celerity, as well as 
 with decency and good order. In 
 the records of the army are pre- 
 served the daily orders which were 
 issued in the absence of the com- 
 mander-in-chief, who, on his re- 
 turn, was not only satisfied that the 
 works had been prosecuted with all 
 possible despatch, but also that the 
 other duties had been properly dis- 
 charged. 
 
 THE TORPEDO. 
 
 It was the latter end of June, 
 when the British fleet, which had 
 been at Halifax waiting for rein- 
 forcements from Europe, began to 
 arrive at New York. To obstruct 
 
 11 
 
162 
 
 Life of 
 
 its passage, some marine prepara- 
 tions had been made. General 
 Putnam, to whom the direction of 
 the whalo-boats, fire-rafts, flat-bot- 
 tomed boats, and armed vessels, 
 was committed, afforded his pa- 
 tronage to a project for destroying 
 the enemy's shipping by explosion. 
 A machine, altogether different from 
 any thing hitherto devised by the 
 art of man, had been invented by 
 Mr. David Bushnell, for submarine 
 navigation wiiich was found to 
 answer the purpose perfectly, of 
 rowing horizontally at any given 
 depth under water, and of rising 
 or sinking at pleasure. To this 
 machine, called the American Tur- 
 tle, was attached a magazine of 
 powder which was intended to 
 be fastened under the bottom of 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 163 
 
 a ship, with a driving screw, in 
 such sort, that the same stroke 
 which disengaged it from the ma- 
 chine, should put the internal clock- 
 work in motion. This being done, 
 the ordinary operation of a gun- 
 lock at the distance of half an hour, 
 an hour, or any determinate time, 
 would cause the powder to explode, 
 and leave the effects to the common 
 laws of nature. The simplicity, 
 yet combination discovered in the 
 mechanism of this wonderful ma- 
 chine, were acknowledged by those 
 skilled in physics, and particularly 
 hydraulics, to be not less ingenious 
 than novel. The inventor, whose 
 constitution was too feeble to per- 
 mit him to perform the labour ot 
 rowing the Turtle, had taught his 
 brother to manage it with perfect 
 
164 Liri: ov 
 
 dexterity; but, unfortunately his 
 brother fell sick of a fever just 
 before the arrival of the fleet. 
 Itecourse was therefore had to a 
 sergeant in the Connecticut troops ; 
 who, having received whatever in- 
 structions could be communicated 
 to him in a short time, went, too 
 late in the night, with all the 
 apparatus, under the bottom of the 
 Eagle, a sixty-four gun ship, on 
 board of which the Britisli admi- 
 ral. Lord Howe, commanded. In 
 coming up, the screw that had been 
 calculated to perforate the copper 
 sheathing, unluckily struck against 
 some iron plates wliere the rudder 
 is connected with the stern. 
 
 This accidi^nt, added to the 
 strength of the tid(? which prevailed, 
 and the want of adequate skill in the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 165 
 
 sergeant, occasioned such delay, 
 that the dawn began to appear, 
 whereupon he abandoned the ma- 
 gazine to chance, and after gaining 
 a proper distance, for the sake of 
 expedition, rowed on the surface 
 towards the town. General Put- 
 nam, who had been on the wharf 
 anxiously expecting the result, from 
 the first glimmering of light be- 
 held the machine near Governor's 
 Island, and sent a whale-boat to 
 bring it on shore. In about twenty 
 minutes afterwards the magazine 
 exploded, and blew a vast column 
 of water to an amazing height in 
 the air. As the whole business 
 had been kept an inviolable secret, 
 he was not a little diverted with 
 the various conjectures, whether 
 this stupendous noise was produced 
 
166 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 by a bomb, a meteor, a watcr-spout, 
 or an earthquake. Other opera- 
 tions of a most serious nature 
 rapidly succeeded, and prevented a 
 repetition of the experiment. 
 
 BATTLE OF LO>'G ISLAND. 
 
 On the 22d day of August 
 1776, the van of the British 
 landed on Long Island, and was 
 soon followed by the whole army, 
 except one brigade of Hessians, a 
 small body of British, and some 
 convalescents, left on Staten Island. 
 Our troops on Long Island had 
 been commanded during the sum- 
 mer by General Greene, who #as 
 now sick ; and General PujBam 
 took the command but two *ays 
 before the battle of Flatbush. The 
 instructions to him, pointing in the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 167 
 
 first place to decisive expedients for 
 suppressing the scattering, unmean- 
 ing, and wasteful fire of our men, 
 contained regulations for the service 
 of the guards, the brigadiers and 
 the field-officers of the day ; for 
 the appointment and encouragement 
 of proper scouts, as well as for 
 keeping the men constantly at their 
 posts; for. preventing the burning 
 of buildings, except it should be 
 necessary for military purposes, 
 and for preserving private property 
 from pillage and destruction. To 
 these regulations were added, ia a 
 more diffuse, though not less spirit- 
 ed and professional style, reflec- 
 tions on the distinction of an army 
 from a mob ; with exhortatipns for 
 the soldiers to conduct themselves 
 manfully in such a cause, and for 
 
168 LIFE OF 
 
 their commander to oppose the 
 enemy's approach with detach- 
 ments of his best troops ; while he 
 should endeavour to render tlieir 
 advance more difficult by construct- 
 ing abbatis, and to entrap their 
 parties by forming ambuscades. 
 General Putnam was within the 
 lines, when an engagement took 
 place on the 27th, between the 
 British army and our advanced 
 corps, in which we lost about a ! 
 thousand men in killed and missing, 
 with the Generals Sullivan and 
 Lord Stirling made prisoners. But 
 our men, though attacked on all 
 sides, fought with great bravery; 
 and the enemy's loss was not 
 light. , 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 169 
 
 EVACUATION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 The unfortunate battle of Long 
 Island, the masterly retreat from 
 thence, and the actual passage -of 
 part of the hostile fleet in the East 
 River, above the town, preceded 
 the evacuation of New York. A 
 promotion of four major-generals 
 and six brigadiers, had previously 
 been made by Congress. After the 
 retreat from Long Island, the main 
 army, consisting for the moment 
 of sixty battalions, of which twenty 
 were Continental, the residue levies 
 and militia, was, conformably to the 
 exigencies of the service rather 
 than to the rules of war, formed 
 into fourteen brigades. Major-Gen- 
 eral Putnam commanded the right 
 grand division of five brigades, Ma- 
 
170 LIFE OF 
 
 jor-Gc'iicrals Spencer and Greene 
 the centre of six brigades, and 
 Major-General Heaththo left, which 
 was posted near King's-Bridge, and 
 composed of two brigades. The 
 whole never amounted to twenty 
 thousand effective men : while the 
 British and German forces, under 
 Sir William Howe, exceeded twenty 
 two thousand : indeed, the minister 
 had asserted in parliament that 
 they would consist of more than 
 thirty thousand. Our two centre 
 divisions, both commanded by 
 General Spencer, in the sickness 
 of General Greene, moved to- 
 wards Mount Washington, Ilarlaem 
 Heights, and Horn's Hook, as soon 
 as the final resolution was taken in 
 a council of war, on the r-2th of 
 September, to abandon the city. 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 171 
 
 That event, thus circumstanced, 
 took effect a few days after. 
 
 BATTLE AND RETREAT. 
 
 On Sunday, the 15th, the British, 
 after sending three ships of war 
 up the North River to Bloom^ 
 ingdale, and keeping up, for some 
 hours a severe cannonade on our 
 lines, from those already in the 
 East River, landed in force at Tur- 
 tle Bay. Our new levies, com- 
 manded by a state brigadier-gen- 
 eral, fled without making resistance. 
 Two brigades of General Putnam's 
 division, ordered to their support, 
 notwithstanding the exertion of their 
 brigadiers, and of the commander- 
 in-chief himself, who came up at 
 the instant, conducted themselves 
 in the same shameful manner, 
 
172 UFE OF 
 
 His Excellency then ordered the 
 Heights of Harlacm, a strong posi- 
 tion, to be occupied. Thither the 
 forces in the vicinity, as well as 
 the fugitives, repaired. In the 
 meantime General Putnam, with 
 the remainder of his command, 
 and the ordinary out-posts, was in 
 the city. After having caused the 
 brigades to begin their retreat by 
 the route of Bloomingdale, in order 
 to avoid the enemy, who were then 
 in the possession of the main road 
 leading to King's-Bridgc, he galloped 
 to call off the pickets and guards. 
 Colonel Humphreys, who was a 
 volunteer in Putnam's division, 
 and acting adjutant to the last 
 regiment that left the city, says he 
 had frequent opportunities, that 
 day, of beholding him, for the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 173 
 
 purpose of issuing orders, and en- 
 couraging the troops, flying, on his 
 horse covered with foam, wherever 
 his presence was most necessary. 
 Without his extraordinary exertions, 
 the guards must have been inevit- 
 ably lost, and it is probable the 
 entire corps would have been cut 
 in pieces. When we were not far 
 from Bloomingdale, an aid-de- 
 camp came from him at full speed, 
 to inform that a column of British 
 infantry was descending upon our 
 right. Our rear was soon fired 
 upon, and the colonel of our re- 
 giment, whose order was just com- 
 municated for the front to file off 
 to the left, was killed on the spot. 
 With no other loss we joined the 
 army, after dark, on the Heights of 
 Harlaem. 
 
174 
 
 LIFE OV 
 
 Before our brigades came in, we 
 were given up (or lost by all our 
 Iriends. So critical indeed was our 
 situation, and so narrow the gap by 
 which we escaped, that the instant 
 we had i)assed, the enemy closed it 
 by extending their line from river 
 to river. Our men, who had been 
 fifteen hours under arms, harassed 
 by marching and countermarching, 
 rn consequence of incessant alarms, 
 exhausted as they were by heat 
 and thirst, (for the day proved in- 
 supportably hot, and few or none 
 had canteens, insomuch, that some 
 died at the brooks where they 
 drank) if attacked, could have 
 made but feeble resistance. 
 
 That night our soldiers, exces- 
 sively fatigued by the sultry march 
 of the day, their clothes wet by a 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 175 
 
 severe shower of rain that suc- 
 ceeded towards the evening, their 
 blood chilled by the cold wind that 
 produced a sudden change in the 
 temperature of the air, and their 
 hearts sunk within them by the 
 loss of baggage, artillery, and 
 works in which they had been 
 taught to put great confidence, lay 
 upon their arms, covered only by 
 the clouds of an uncomfortable 
 sky. To retrieve our disordered 
 affairs, and prevent the enemy 
 from profiting by them, no exertion 
 was relaxed, no vigilance remitted 
 on the part of our higher officers. 
 The regiments which had been 
 least exposed to fatigue that day, 
 furnished the necessary pickets to 
 secure the army from surprise. 
 Those whose military lives had 
 
176 LIFE OF 
 
 been short and unpractised, felt 
 enough besides lassitude of body 
 to disquiet the tranquillity of their 
 repose. Nor Jiad those who were 
 older in service, and of more ex- 
 perience, any subject for consola- 
 tion. The warmth of enthusiasm 
 seemed to be extinguished. The 
 force of disciplme had not suffi- 
 ciently occupied its place to give 
 men a dependence upon each other. 
 Wc were apparently about to reap 
 the bitter fruits of that jealous 
 policy, which some leading men, 
 with the best motives, had sown in 
 our federal councils, when they 
 caused the mode to be adopted, for 
 carrying on the war by detach- 
 ments of militia, from apprehen- 
 sion that an established continental 
 army, al\er defending the country 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 177 
 
 against foreign invasion, might 
 subvert its liberties themselves. 
 Paradoxical as it will appear, it 
 may be profitable to be known to 
 posterity, that while our very ex- 
 istence as an independent people 
 was in question, the patriotic jeal- 
 ousy for the safety of our future 
 freedom had been carried to such 
 a virtuous but dangerous excess as 
 well nigh to preclude the attain- 
 ment of our independence. Hap- 
 pily, that limited and hazardous 
 system soon gave room to one more 
 enlightened and salutary. This 
 may be attributed to the reiterated 
 arguments, the open remonstrances, 
 and the confidential communi- 
 cations of the commander-in-chief; 
 who, though not apt to despair of 
 the republic, on this occasion ex- 
 
 12 
 
178 LIFE OF 
 
 pressed himself in terms of un- 
 usual despondency. He declared, 
 in his letters, that he found, to his 
 utter astonishment and mortifica- 
 tion, that no reliance could be 
 placed on a great proportion of his 
 present troops, and that, unless 
 efficient measures for establishing 
 a permanent force should be spwd- 
 ily pursued, we had every reason 
 to fear the final ruin of our cause. 
 
 ANOTHER BATTLE. 
 
 Next morning several parties of 
 the enemy appeared upon the 
 plains in our front. On receiving 
 this intelligence, General Wash- 
 ington rode quickly to the out-posts, 
 for the purpose of preparing against 
 an attack, if the enemy should ad- 
 vance with that desii:n. Lieutcn- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 179 
 
 ant-Colonel Knowlton's rangers, a 
 fine selection from the eastern regi- 
 ments, who had been skirmishing 
 with an advanced party, came in, 
 and informed the general that a 
 body of British were under cover 
 of a small eminence at no consid- 
 erable distance. His Excellency, 
 willing to raise our men from their 
 dejection b}?- the splendour of some 
 little success, ordered Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Knowlton, with his rangers, 
 and Major Leitch, with three com- 
 panies of Weedon's regiment of 
 Virginians, to gain their rear; 
 while appearances should be made 
 of an attack in front. As soon 
 as the enemy saw the party sent 
 to decoy them, they ran precipi- 
 tately down the hill, took posses- 
 sion of some fences and bushes, 
 
180 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 and commenced a brisk firing at 
 long shot. Unfortunately Knowl- 
 ton and Leitch made their onset 
 rather in flank than in rear. The 
 enemy changed their front, and 
 the skirmisli at once became close 
 and warm. 
 
 Major Leitch having received 
 three balls through his side, was 
 soon borne from the field ; and 
 Colonel Knowlton, wlio had dis- 
 tinguished himself so gallantly at 
 the battle of Bunker Hill, was mor- 
 tally wounded immediately after. 
 Their men, liowcver, undaunted 
 by these disasters, stimulated with 
 the thirst of revenge for the loss of 
 their leaders, and, conscious of 
 acting under the eye of the com- 
 mander-in-chief, maintained the 
 conflict with uncommon spirit and 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 181 I 
 
 perseverance. But the general, 
 seeing them in need of support, 
 advanced part of the Maryland re- 
 giments of Griffith and Richardson, 
 together with some detachments 
 from such eastern corps as chanced 
 to be most contiguous to the place 
 of action. 
 
 Our troops this day, without ex- 
 ception, behaved with the greatest 
 intrepidity. So bravely did they 
 repulse the British, that Sir William 
 Howe moved his reserve, with two 
 field pieces, a battalion of Hessian 
 grenadiers, and a company of chas- 
 seurs, to succour his retreating 
 troops. General Washington, not 
 willing to draw on a general action, 
 declined pressing the pursuit. In 
 this engagement were the second 
 and third battalions of light infantry. 
 
182 LIFE OF 
 
 the forty-second British regiment, 
 .ind the German chasseurs, of 
 whom eight officers, and upwards 
 of seventy privates were wounded, 
 and our people buried nearly twenty, 
 who were left dead on the field. 
 We had about forty wounded : our 
 loss in killed, except of two valu- 
 able officers, was very inconsider- 
 able. 
 
 An advantage, so trivial in itself, 
 produced, in event, a surprising and 
 almost incredible effect upon the 
 whole army. Amongst the troops 
 not engaged, w ho, during the action, 
 were throwing earth from the new 
 trenches, with an alacrity that in- 
 dicated a determination to defend 
 them, every visage was seen to 
 brighten, and to assume, instead of 
 the gloom of despair, the glow of 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 183 
 
 animation. This change, no less 
 sudden than happy, left little room 
 to doubt that the men, who ran the 
 day before at the sight of an enemy, 
 would now to wipe away the stain 
 of that disgrace, and to recover the 
 confidence of their general, have 
 conducted themselves in a very 
 different manner. Some alteration 
 was made in the distribution of 
 corps, to prevent the British from 
 gaining either flank in the succeed- 
 ing night. General Putnam, who 
 commanded on the right, was di- 
 rected in orders, in case the enemy 
 should attempt to force the pass, to 
 apply for a reinforcement to Gen- 
 eral Spencer, who commanded on 
 the left. 
 
 General Putnam, who was too 
 good an husbandman himself not 
 
184 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 to hfivc a respect for the labours 
 and improvements of other?, stren- 
 uously seconded the views of the 
 commander-in-chief in preventing 
 the devastation of farms, and the 
 violation of private property. For, 
 under pretext that the property in 
 this quarter belonged to friends to 
 the British government, as indeed 
 it mostly did, a spirit of rapine and 
 licentiousness began to prevail, 
 which, unlcs's repressed in the be- 
 ginning, foreboded, besides the sub- 
 version of discipline, the disgrace 
 and defeat of our arms. 
 
 Our new defences now becoming 
 so strong as not to admit insult 
 with impunity, and Sir William 
 Howe, not choosing to place too 
 much at risk in attacking us in 
 front, on the 12th dny of October, 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 185 
 
 leaving Lord Percy with one Hes- 
 sian and two British brigades, in 
 his Hnes at Harlaem, to cover New 
 York, embarked with the main body 
 of his army, with an intention of 
 landing at Frog's Neck, situated 
 near the town of West Chester, and 
 little more than a league above 
 the communication called King's- 
 Bridge, which connects New York 
 Island with the main. There was 
 nothing to oppose him; and he 
 effected his debarkation by nine 
 o'clock in the morning. The same 
 policy of keeping our army as 
 compact as possible; the same 
 system of avoiding being forced to 
 action ; and the same precaution 
 to prevent the interruption of sup- 
 plies, reinforcements, or retreat, 
 that lately dictated the evacuation 
 
186 LIFE OF 
 
 of New York, now induced General 
 Washington to move towards the 
 strong grounds in the upper part 
 of West Chester county. 
 
 RETREAT TO JERSEY. 
 
 About the same time General 
 Putnam was sent to the western 
 side of the Hudson, to provide 
 against an irruption into the Jerseys, 
 and soon after to Philadelphia, to 
 put that city into a posture of de- 
 fence. Thither we will now fol- 
 low him, without attempting togivein 
 detail the skilful retrograde move- 
 ments of our commander-in-chief, 
 who, after detaching a irarrison for 
 Fort Washington, by pre-occupying 
 with extemporaneous redoubts and 
 cntrenclimcnts, the ridges fi-om 
 Mile-Square to White Plains, and by 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 187 
 
 folding one brigade behind another 
 in rear of those ridges that run par- 
 allel with the sound, brought off alU 
 his artillery, stores, and sick, in the 
 face of a superior foe; without 
 commenting on the partial and 
 equivocal battle fought near the last 
 mentioned village, or the cause why 
 the British, then in full force, (for 
 the last of the Hessian infantry and 
 British light-horse had just arrived) 
 did not more seriously endeavour 
 to induce a general engagement; 
 without journalizing their military 
 manoeuvres in falling back to King's- 
 Bridge, capturing Fort Washington, 
 Fort Lee, and marching through 
 the Jerseys; without enumerating 
 the instances of rapine, murder, 
 lust, and devastation, that marked 
 their progress, and filled our bosoms 
 
188 LIFE OF 
 
 with horror and indignation ; with- 
 out describing 'how a division of 
 %ir dissolving army, with (rfmeral 
 Washington, was driven Ix'fore 
 them beyond the Delav/are ; with- 
 out painting the naked and forlorn 
 condition of these much injured 
 men, amidst the rigours of an in- 
 clement season ; and without even 
 sketching the constcrnUtion that 
 seized the states at this perilous 
 period, when General Lee, in lead- 
 ing from the north a small rein- 
 forcement to our troops, was him- 
 self taken prisoner by surprise ; 
 when every thing seemed decidedly 
 declining to the last extremity, and 
 when every prospect but served to 
 augment the depression of despair 
 — until the genius of one man, in 
 one day, at a single stroke, wrested 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 189 
 
 from the vetei'an battalions of Bri- 
 tain and Germany the fruits ac- 
 quired by the total operations of a 
 successful campaign, and re-ani- 
 mated the expiring hope of a whole 
 nation, by the glorious enterprise 
 at Trenton. 
 
 While the hostile forces, rashly 
 inflated with pride by a series of 
 uninterrupted successes, and fondly 
 dreaniing that a period would soon 
 be put to their labours, by the com- 
 pletion of their conquests, had been 
 pursuing the wretched remnants of 
 a disbanded army to the banks of 
 the Delaware, General Putnam was 
 diligently employed in fortifying 
 Philadelphia, the capture of which 
 appearjed indubitably to be their 
 principal object. Here, by authority 
 and example, he strove to conciliate 
 
190 LIFE OF 
 
 contending factions, and to excite 
 the citizens to uncommon efTorts in 
 defence of every thing interesting 
 to freemen. His personal industry- 
 was unparalleled. His orders, with 
 respect to extinguishing accidental 
 fires, advancing the public works, 
 as well as in regard to other im- 
 portant objects, were perfectly 
 military and proper. But his 
 liealth was, for a while, impaired 
 by his unrelaxed exertions. 
 
 PUTNAM IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 The commander-in-chief having, 
 in spite of all obstacles, made good 
 his retreat over the Delaware, 
 wrote to General Putnam from his 
 camp above the Falls of Tronton, 
 on the very day he recrossed the 
 river to surprise the Hessians, ex- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 191 
 
 pressing his satisfaction at the re- 
 establishment of that general's 
 health, and informing, that if he 
 had not himself been well con- 
 vinced before of the enemy's in- 
 tention to possess themselves of 
 Philadelphia, as soon as the frost 
 should form ice strong enough to 
 transport them and their artillery 
 across the Delaware, he had now 
 obtained an intercepted letter, which 
 placed the matter beyond a doubt. 
 He added, that if the citizens of 
 Philadelphia had any regard for 
 the town, not a moment's time was 
 to be lost until it should be put in 
 the best possible posture of de- 
 fence ; but least that should not be 
 done, he directed the removal of 
 all public stores, except provisions 
 necessary for immediate use, to 
 
192 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 places of greater security. He 
 queried whether, if a party of 
 mihtia could be sent from Philadel- 
 phia to support those in the Jerseys, 
 about Mount-Holly, it would not 
 serve to save them from submis- 
 sion? At the same time he signi- 
 fied, as his opinion, the expediency 
 of sending an active and influential 
 officer to inspirit the people, to en- 
 courage them to assemble in arms, 
 as well as to keep those already 
 in arms from disbanding ; and con- 
 cluded by manifesting a wish that 
 Colonel Forman, whom he desired 
 to see for this purpose, might be 
 employed on the service. 
 
 BATTLES OF TRENTON AND PRINCE- 
 TON. 
 
 The enemy had vainly, as m- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 195 
 
 cautiously, imagined that to over- 
 Yun was to conquer. They had 
 even carried their presumption on 
 our extreme weakness and ex- 
 pected submission so far as to 
 attempt covering the country 
 through v/hich they had marched 
 with an extensive chain of can- 
 tonments. That link, which the 
 post at Trenton suppUed, consisted 
 of a Hessian brigade of infantry, 
 a company of chasseurs, a squad- 
 ron of light dragoons, and six field 
 pieces. 
 
 At eight o' clock in the morning 
 of the 26th of December, General 
 Washington, with twenty-four hun- 
 dred men, came upon them, after 
 they had paraded, took one thou- 
 sand prisoners, and repassed the 
 same day, without loss, to his en- 
 
196 LIFE OF 
 
 campment. As soon as the 
 troops were recovered from their 
 excessive fatigue, General Wash- 
 ington recrossed a second time to 
 Trenton. On the 2d of January, 
 Lord Cornwallis, with the bulk of 
 the British army, advanced upon 
 him, cannonaded his post, and offer- 
 ed him battle : but the two armies 
 being separated by the interposi- 
 tion of Trenton Creek, General 
 Washington had it in his option to 
 decline an engagement, which he 
 did for the sake of striking the 
 masterly stroke that he tlien medi- 
 tated. Having kindled frequent 
 fires around his camp, posted faith- 
 ful men to keep them burning, and 
 advanced sentinels, whoso fidelity 
 might be relied upon, he decamped 
 silently after dark, and by a circuit- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 197 
 
 ous route, reached Princeton at 
 nine o'clock the next morning. 
 The noise of the firing, by which 
 he killed and captured between five 
 and six hundred of the British bri-» 
 gade in that town, was the first no- 
 tice Lord Cornwallis had of this 
 stolen march. General Washing- 
 ton, the project successfully accom- 
 plished, instantly filed off for the 
 mountainous grounds of Morris- 
 town. Meanwhile his lordship, 
 who arrived by a forced march, 
 at Princeton, just as he had left it, 
 finding the Americans could not be 
 overtaken, proceeded without halt- 
 ing to Brunswick. 
 
 PUTNAM AT PRINCETON. 
 
 On the 5th of .January, 1777, 
 from Pluckemin, General Wash- 
 
198 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 ington despatched an account of 
 this second success to General Put- 
 nam, and ordered him to move im- 
 mediately, with all his troops, to 
 Croswick's, for the purpose of co- 
 operating in recovering the Jerseys; 
 an event which the present fortu- 
 nate juncture, while the enemy 
 were yet panic-struck, appeared to 
 promise. The general cautioned 
 him, however, if the enemy should 
 still continue at Brunswick, *to 
 guard with great circumspection a- 
 against a surprise ; especially as 
 they, having recently suficred by 
 two attacks, could scarcely avoid 
 being edged with resentment to at- 
 tempt retaliation. His Excellency 
 farther advised him to give out his 
 strength to be twice as great as it 
 was J to forward on all the bag- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 199 
 
 gage and scattering men belonging 
 to the divison destined for Morris- 
 town ; to employ as many spies as 
 he should think proper ; to keep a 
 number of horsemen, in the dress 
 of the country, going constantly 
 backward and forward on the same 
 secret service ; and, lastly, if he 
 should discover any intention or 
 motion of the enemy that could be 
 depended upon, and might be ^'f 
 consequence, not to fail in convey- 
 ing the intelligence, as rapidly as 
 possible, by express, to head-quar- 
 ters. 
 
 Major-General Putnam was di- 
 rected soon after to take post at 
 Princeton, where he continued un- 
 til the spring. He had never with 
 him more than a few hundred 
 troops, though he was only at fifteen 
 
i^OO 
 
 LIFE Of 
 
 miles distant from the enemy's 
 strong garrison ol Brunswick, At 
 one period, iVom a sudden diminu- 
 tion, occasioned by the tardiness of 
 the militia turning out to replace 
 those whose time of service was ex- 
 pired, he had fewer men for duty 
 than he had miles of frontier to 
 guard. Nor was the commander- 
 in-chief in a more eligible situation. 
 It is true, that while he had scarce- 
 ly the semblance of an army, un- 
 der the specious parade of a park of 
 artillery, and the imposing appear* 
 ance of his head-quarters, estab. 
 lished at Morristown, he kept up, in 
 the eyes of his countrymen, as well 
 as in the opinion of his enemy, the 
 appearance of no contemptible force. 
 Future generations will find diffi. 
 culty in conceiving how a handful 
 
 J 
 
GENBRAI/ PUTNAM. 201 
 
 of now-levied men and niilitia, who 
 were necessitated to be inoculated for 
 the small-pox in the course of the 
 winter, could be subdivided and 
 posted so advantageously, as effec- 
 tually to protect the inhabitants, 
 confine the enemy, curtail their 
 forage, and beat up their quarters, 
 without sustaining a single disaster. 
 
 CAPTAIN Jl'pHEBSOX. 
 
 In the battle of Princeton, Cap- 
 tain M'Pherson, of the 17th British 
 regiment, a very worthy Scotch- 
 man, was desperately wounded in 
 the lungs, and left with the dead, I 
 Upon General Putnam's arrival 
 there, he found him languishing in 
 extreme distress, without a surgeon, 
 without a single accommodation, 
 and without a friend to solace the 
 
202 
 
 I,1FE OF 
 
 1 
 
 sinking spirit in the gloc Dy hour 
 of death. He visited, nd im- 
 mediately caused every possible 
 comfort to be administered to him. 
 Captain M'Pherson, who, contrary 
 to all apj:)earances, recovered, after 
 I having demonstrated to General 
 Putnam the dignified sense of ob- 
 ligations which a generous mind 
 wishes not to conceal, one day in 
 familiar conversation, demanded, 
 *' Pray, sir, what countryman are 
 you?"-— " An American," answered 
 the latter. — " Not a Yankee ?" 
 said the other. — " A full-blooded 
 one," replied the general. " I am 
 sorry for that," rejoined M'Pher- 
 son, <' I did not think there could 
 be so much goodness and generosity 
 in an American, or, indeed, in any 
 body but a Scotchman." 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 203 
 
 PUTNAM S STRATAGEM. 
 
 While the recovery of Captain 
 M'Pherson was doubtful, he desired 
 that General Putnam would per- 
 mit a friend in the British army at 
 Brunsjvick to come and assist him 
 in making his will. General 
 Putnam, who had then only fifty 
 men in his whole command, was 
 sadly embarrassed by the propo- 
 sition. On the one hand, he was 
 not content that a British officer 
 should have an opportunity to spy 
 out the weakness of his post ; on 
 the other, it was scarcely in his 
 nature to refuse complying with a 
 idctate of humanity. He luckily 
 bethought himself of an expedient 
 which he hastened to put in prac- 
 tice. A flag of truce was despatched 
 
204 LIFE OP 
 
 with Captain M'Phcrson's request, 
 but under an injunction not to re- 
 turn with his friend until after dark. 
 In the evening lights were placed 
 in all the rooms of the College, and 
 in every apartment of the vacant 
 bouses throughout the town. Du- 
 ring the whole night, the fifty men, 
 sometimes all together, and some- 
 times in small detachments, were 
 marched from different quarters by 
 the house in which M'Pherson lay. 
 Afterwards it was known that the 
 oflicer who came on the visit, at 
 his return, reported that General 
 Putnam's army, upon the most 
 moderate calculation, could not 
 consist of less than four or five 
 thousand men. 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 205 
 
 BRtTTALITY OF THE ENGLISH IN 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 This winter's campaign, for our 
 troops constantly kept the field after 
 regaining a footing in the Jerseys, 
 has never yet been faithfully and 
 feelingly described. The sudden 
 restoration of our cause from the 
 very verge of ruin was interwoven 
 with such a tissue of inscrutable 
 causes and extraordinary events, 
 that, fearful of doing the subject 
 greater injustice, by a passing dis- 
 quisition than a proposed silence, I 
 leave it to the leisure of abler pens. 
 
 The ill policy of the British 
 doubtless contributed to accelerate 
 this event. For the manner, im- 
 politic as inhuman, in which they 
 managed their temporary conquests, 
 
206 LIFE or 
 
 tended evidently to alienate the 
 affections of their adherents, to 
 confirm the wavering in an opposite 
 interest, to rouse the supine into 
 activity, to assemble the dispersed 
 to the standard of America, and to 
 infuse a spirit of revolt into the 
 minds of those men who had, from 
 necessity, submitted to their power. 
 Their conduct in warring with fire 
 and sword against the imbecility of 
 youth, and the decrepitude of age ; 
 against the arts, the sciences, the 
 curious inventions, and the elegant 
 improvements in civilized life ; 
 against the melancholy widow, the 
 miserable orphan, the peaceable 
 professor of humane literature, and 
 the sacred minister of the gospel, 
 seemed to operate as powerfully, as 
 if purposely intended to kindle the 
 
GENERAL tUtNAM. 207 
 
 dormant s^ark of resistance into 
 an inextinguishable flame. If we 
 add to the black catalogue of provo- 
 cations already enumerated, their 
 insatiable rapacity in plundering 
 friends and foes indiscriminately ; 
 their libidinous brutality in viola- 
 ting the chastity of the female sex ; 
 their more than Gothic rage in 
 defacing private writings, public 
 records, libraries of learning, dwell- 
 ings of individuals, edifices for ed- 
 uc'ation, and temples of the Deity ; 
 together with their insufferable 
 ferocity, unprecedented indeed 
 among civilized nations, in mur- 
 dering on the field of battle the 
 wounded while begging hv mercy, 
 in causing their prisoners to famish 
 with hunger and cold in prisons 
 and prison-ships, and in carrying 
 
208 LIFE OF 
 
 their malice beyond death itself, by 
 denying the decent rites of sepulture 
 to the dead ; we shall not be aston- 
 ished that the yeomanry in the two 
 Jerseys, when the first glimmering 
 of hope began to break in upon 
 them, rose as one man, with the 
 unalterable resolution to perish in 
 the generous cause, or expel their 
 merciless invaders. 
 
 The principal officers, stationed 
 at a variety of well-chosen, and 
 at some almost inaccessible po- 
 sitions, seemed all to be actuated by 
 the same soul, and only to vie with 
 each other in giving proofs of vigi- 
 lance, enterprise, and valour. From 
 what has been said respecting the 
 scantiness of our aggregate force, 
 it will be concluded, that the num- 
 ber of men, under the orders of 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 209 
 
 each, was indeed very small. But 
 the uncommon alertness of the 
 troops, who were incessantly 
 hovering round the enemy in 
 scouts, and the constant communi- 
 cation they kept between the several 
 stations most contiguous to each 
 other, agreeably to the instructions 
 of the general-in-chief, together wi th 
 their readiness in giving, and confi- 
 dence of receiving such reciprocal 
 aid as the exigencies might require, 
 served to supply the defect of force. 
 
 THE FORAGERS DEFEATED. 
 
 This manner of doing duty not 
 only put our own posts beyond the 
 reach of sudden insult and surprise, 
 but so exceedingly harassed and 
 intimidated the enemy, that foragers 
 were seldom sent out by them, and 
 
 14 
 
210 LIFE OF 
 
 never except in very large parlies. 
 General Dickenson, who command- 
 ed on General Putnam's lert, dis- 
 covered, about the 20th of January, 
 a foraging party, consisting of about 
 four hundred men, on the opposite 
 side of Millstone, two miles from 
 Somerset Court-house. As the 
 bridge was possessed and def(Midcd 
 by three field-])ieccs, so that it could 
 not be passed, General Dickenson, 
 at the head of four hundred militia, 
 broke the ice, crossed the river 
 where the water was about three 
 feet deep, resolutely attacked, and 
 totally defeated the foragers. Upon 
 their abandoning the convoy, a few 
 prisoners, forty wagons, and more 
 than n hundred draught horses, 
 with a considerable booty of cattle 
 and sheep, fell into his hands. 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 211 
 
 SKIRMISHES, 
 
 Nor were our operations on 
 General Putnam's right flank less 
 fortunate. To give countenance to 
 the numerous friends of the British 
 government in the county of Mon- 
 mouth appears to have been a prin- 
 cipal motive with Sir William Howe 
 for stretching the chain of his can- 
 tonments, by his own confession, 
 previously to his disaster, rather 
 too far. After that chain became 
 broken, as I have already related, 
 by the blows at Trenton and 
 Princeton, he was obliged to collect, 
 during the rest of the winter, the 
 useless remains in his barracks at 
 Brunswick. In the meantime, 
 General Putnam was much more 
 successful in his attempts to protect 
 
LIFE OF 
 
 our dispersed and dispirited friends 
 in the same district ; who, environed 
 on every side by envenomed ad- 
 versaries, remained inseparal)ly 
 riveted in affection to Amei'ican 
 independence. He first detached 
 Colonel Gurney, and afterwards 
 Major Davis, with sucli parties of 
 militia as could be spared, for their 
 support. Several skirmishes en- 
 sued, in which our people had al- 
 ways the advantage. They took 
 at different times, many prisoners, 
 horses, and wagons from foraging 
 parties. In eff'ect, so well did they 
 cover the countiy, as to induce 
 some of the most respectable in- 
 habitants to declare, that the secu- 
 rity of the persons, as well as the 
 salvation of the property of many 
 friends to freedom was owing to the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM, 213 
 
 spirited exertions of these two de- 
 taciiments ; who, at the same time 
 that they rescued the country from 
 the tyranny of tories, afforded an 
 opportunity for the miUtia to recover 
 from their consternation, to embody 
 themselves in warlike array, and 
 to stand on their defence. 
 
 Duriog this period, General Put- 
 nam having received unquestionable 
 intelligence that a party of refugees, 
 in British pay, had taken post, and 
 were erecting a kind of redoubt at 
 Lawrence's Neck, sent Colonel 
 Nelson, with one hundred and fifty 
 militia, to surprise them. That 
 officer conducted with so much 
 secrecy and decision as to take the 
 whole prisoners. These refugees 
 were commanded by Major Stock- 
 ton, belonging to Skinner's bri- 
 
214 LIFE OF 
 
 gade, aiid amounted to sixty in 
 number. 
 
 A short time after this event, 
 Lord Cornwalhs sent out another 
 foraging party towards Bound- 
 Brook. General Putnam, having 
 received notice from his scouts, 
 detached Major Smith, with a Ccw 
 riflemen, to annoy the party, and 
 followed himself witli the rest of 
 his force. Before he could come 
 up, Major Smith, who liad formed 
 an ambush, attacked the enemy, 
 killed several horses, took a few 
 prisoners, and sixteen haggagc- 
 wa^ons, without sustaininir any 
 injury. By such operations, our 
 hero, in the course of the winter, 
 captured nearly a thousand priso- 
 ners. 
 
 In the latter part of February, 
 
GENERAL PUTKA M. 215 
 
 General Washington advised Gene- 
 ral Putnam, that, in consequence 
 of a large accession of strength 
 from Nevv York to the British army 
 at Brunswick, it was to be appre- 
 hended they would soon make a 
 forward movement towards the 
 Delaware : ift which case the lat- 
 ter was directed to cross the river 
 with his actual force, to assume 
 the command of the mihtia who 
 might assemble to secure the boats 
 I on^he west side of the Delaware, 
 I and to facilitate the passage of the 
 rest of the army. But the enemy 
 did not remove from their winter- 
 quarters until the season arrived 
 when green forage could be sup- 
 
 ^ In the intermediate period, the 
 correspondence on thepart^ 
 
216 LIFE OF 
 
 General Putnam with the com- 
 mandor-in-cliicf consisted princi- 
 pally of reports and inquiries con- 
 cerning the treatment ot* some of 
 the following descriptions of per- 
 sons : either of those who came 
 within our lines with flags and 
 pretended flags, or who had taken 
 protection from the enemy, or who 
 had been reputed disaffected to our 
 cause, or who were designed tf) be 
 comprehended in the American 
 proclamation, which required that 
 those who had taken protections 
 should give them to the nearest 
 American oflicer, or go within the 
 British lines. The letters of his 
 Excellency in return, generally 
 advisory, were indicative of con- 
 fidence and approbation. 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 217 
 
 PUTNAM OEDERED TO THE HIGH- 
 LANDS. 
 
 When the spring had now so 
 far advanced that it was obvious 
 the enemy would soon take the 
 field, the commander-in-chief, after 
 desiring General Putnam to give 
 the officer who was to relieve him 
 at Princeton, all the information 
 necessary for the conduct of that 
 post, appointed that general to the 
 command of a separate army in 
 the Highlands of New York. 
 
 It is scarcely decided, from any 
 documents yet published, whether 
 the preposterous plans prosecuted 
 by the British generals in the 
 campaign of 1777, were altogether 
 the result of their orders from 
 home, or whether they partly origi- 
 
218 LIKK OF 
 
 nated Irom the contingencies of the 
 moment. The system which, at 
 the time, tended to puzzle all 
 human conjecture, when developed, 
 served also to contradict all rea- 
 sonahlc calculation. Certain it is, 
 the American commander-in-chief 
 was, for a considerable time, so 
 perplexed with contradictory ap- 
 pearances, that he knew not how 
 to distribute liis troops, with his 
 usual discernment, so as to oppose 
 the enemy with equal prospect of 
 success in dilTerent parts. The 
 gathering tempests menaced the 
 northern frontiers, the posts in the 
 Highlands, and the city of Phila- 
 delphia ; but it was still doubtful 
 where the fury of the storm would 
 fall. At one time Sir William 
 Howe was forcing his way by 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 219 
 
 land to Philadelphia ; at anothei-, 
 relinquishing the Jerseys ; at a 
 third, facing round to make a sud- 
 den inroad ; then embarking with 
 all the forces that could be spared 
 from New York ; and then putting 
 out to sea, at the very moment 
 when Burgoyne had reduced Ti- 
 conderoga, and seemed to require 
 a co-operation in another quarter. 
 
 On our side, we have seen that 
 the old Continential army expired 
 with the year 1776; since which, 
 invention had been tortured with 
 expedients, and zeal with efforts to 
 levy another : for, on the success 
 of the recruiting service, depended 
 the salvation of the country. The 
 success was such as not to puff us 
 up to presumption, or depress us to 
 despair. 
 
220 LIFE OF 
 
 The army in the Jerseys, under 
 theorders ofthe general in chief, con- 
 sisted of all the troops raised south 
 of the Hudson ; that in the north- 
 ern department, of the New Hamp- 
 shire brigade, two brigades of Mas- 
 sachusetts, and the brigade of New 
 York, together with some irregular 
 corps ; and that in the Highlands, 
 of the remaining two brigades of 
 Massacliusetts, the Connecticut 
 line, consisting of two brigades, 
 the brigade of Rhode. Island, and 
 one regiment of New York. Upon 
 hearing of the loss of Ticon- 
 dcroga, and the progress of the 
 British towards Albany, General 
 Washington ordered the northern 
 army to be reinforced with the two 
 brigades of Massachusetts, then in 
 the Highlands; and, upon fmding 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 221 
 
 the army under his immediate 
 command out-numbered by that of 
 Sir William Howe, which had, by 
 the circuitous route of the Chesa- 
 peake, invaded Pennsylvania, he 
 also called from the Highlands one 
 of the Connecticut brigades, and 
 that of Rhode Island, to his own 
 assistance. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of General 
 Putnam there was no enemy capa- 
 ble of exciting alarms. The army 
 left at New York seemed only de- 
 signed for its defence. In it were 
 several entire corps, composed of 
 tories, who had flocked to the 
 British standard. There was, be- 
 sides, a band of lurking miscreants, 
 not properly enrolled, who staid 
 chiefly at West Chester ; from 
 whence they infested the country 
 
222 LIFE OF 
 
 between the two armies, piljjiged 
 the cattle, and carried ofT the peace- 
 able inhabitants. It was an un- 
 worthy policy in British generals 
 to patronize banditti. The whig 
 inhabitants on the edge of our lines, 
 and still lower down, who had been 
 plundered in a merciless manner, 
 delayed not to strip the tories in 
 return. People most nearly con- 
 nected and allied frequently became 
 most exasperated and inveterate in 
 malice. Then the ties of fellow- 
 ship were broken — then friendship 
 itself, being soured to enmity, the 
 mind readily gave way to private 
 revenge, uncontrolled retaliation, 
 and all the deforming passions that 
 disgrace humanity. Enormities, 
 almost without a name, were per- 
 petrated, at the description of which, 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 223 
 
 the bosom not frozen to apathy, 
 must glow with a mixture of pity 
 and indignation. 
 
 To prevent the predatory incur- 
 sions from below, and to cover the 
 county of West Chester, General 
 Putnam detached from his head- 
 quarters at Peek's-Kill, Meigs's 
 regiment, which, in the course of 
 the campaign, struck several parti- 
 zan strokes, and achieved the ob- 
 jects for which it was sent. He 
 likewise took measures, without 
 noise or ostentation, to secure him- 
 self from being surprised and 
 carried within the British lines by 
 the tories, who had formed a plan 
 for the purpose. The information 
 of this intended enterprise, convey- 
 ed to him through several channels, 
 was corroborated by that obtained 
 
224 LIFE OF 
 
 and transmitted by the commander- 
 in-chief. 
 
 It was not wonderful that many 
 of these tories were able, undis- 
 covered, to penetrate far into the 
 country, and even to go with letters 
 or messages from one British army 
 to another. The inhabitants who 
 were well affected to the royal 
 cause, afforded them every possible 
 support, and their own knowledge 
 of the different routes gave them a 
 farther facility in performing their 
 perigrinations. Sometimes the 
 most active loyalists, as the tories 
 wished to denominate themselves, 
 who had gone into the British posts, 
 and received promises of commis- 
 sions upon enlisting a certain num- 
 ber of soldiers, came back again 
 secretly with recruiting instructions. 
 
GJ3NERAL PUTNAM. 225 
 
 Sometimes these, and others who 
 came from the enemy within , the 
 verge of our camps, were detected 
 and condemned to death, in con- 
 formity to the usages of war. But 
 the British generals, who had an 
 unUmited supply of money at their 
 command, were able to pay with 
 so much liberality, that emissaries- 
 could always be found. Still, it is 
 thought that the intelligence of the- 
 American commanders was, at 
 least, equally accurate; notwifh- 
 standing the poverty of their mili- 
 tary chest, and the inabilities of 
 rewarding mercenary agents for 
 secret services in propojrtion to 
 their risk and merit. 
 
 15 
 
226 LIFE OF 
 
 PALMER THE SPY. 
 
 A person by the name of Pal- 
 mer, who was a lieutenant in the 
 tory new levies, was detected in 
 the camp at Peek's Kill. Gover- 
 nor Tryon, who commanded the 
 new levies, reclaimed him as a 
 British oflicer, represented the 
 heinous crime of condemning a 
 man commissioned by his majesty, 
 and threatened vengeance in case 
 he should be executed. General 
 Putnam wrote the following pithy 
 reply. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant 
 in your king's service, was taken 
 in my camp as a Spy — he was 
 tried as a Spy — he was condemned 
 as a Spy — and you may rest as- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 227 
 
 sured, sir, he shall be hanged as a 
 Spyr 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c. 
 " Israel Putnam. 
 " His Excellency Gov. Try on. 
 
 " P.S. Afternoon. He is hanged." 
 
 CAPTURE OF FORT MONTGOMERV. 
 
 Important transactions soon oc* 
 curred. Not long after the two 
 brigades had marched from Peek's 
 Kill to Pennsylvania, a reinforce- 
 ment arrived at New York from 
 Europe. Appearances indicated 
 that offensive operations would fol- 
 low. General Putnam having been 
 reduced in force to a single brigade 
 in the field, and a single regiment 
 in garrison at Fort Montgomery, 
 repeatedly informed the comman^ 
 der-in-chief, that the posts com* 
 
228 
 
 LIFl) OF 
 
 mittcd to his charge must in all 
 probability be lost in case an 
 attempt should be made upon them; 
 and that, circumstanced as he was, 
 he could not be responsible for the 
 consequences. His situation was 
 certainly to be lamented ; but it 
 was not in the power of the com- 
 mander-in-chief to alter it, except 
 by authorising him to call upon the 
 militia Cot aid — an aid always pre- 
 carious, and often so tardy, as, 
 when obtained, to be of no utility. 
 On the 5th of October, Sir Henry 
 Clinton came up the North River 
 with three thousand men. After 
 making many feints to mislead 
 attention, he landed, the next morn- 
 ing, at Stony Point, and commenced 
 his march over the mountains to 
 Fort Montgomery. Governor Clin- 
 
GENERAI, PUTNAM, 229 
 
 ton, an active, resolute, and inte\Ii- 
 gent officer, who commanded the 
 garrison, upon being apprised of 
 the movement, despatched a letter, 
 by express, to General Putnam for 
 succour. By the treachery of the 
 messenger, the letter miscarried. 
 General Putnam, astonished at hear- 
 ing nothing respecting the enemy, 
 rode, with General Parsons, and 
 Colonel Root, his adjutant general, 
 to reconnoitre them at King's Ferry. 
 In the meantime, at five o'clock 
 in the afternoon, Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton's columns, having surmounted 
 the obstacles and barriers of na- 
 ture, descended from Thunder Hill, 
 through thickets impassible but for 
 light troops, and attacked the difr 
 ferent redoubts. The garrison, in» 
 spired by the conduct of theip 
 
230 LIFE OF 
 
 leaders, defended the works with 
 distinguished valour. But, as the 
 post had been designed principally 
 to prevent the passing of ships, and 
 as an assault in rear had not been 
 expected, the works on the land 
 side were incomplete and untenable. 
 In the dusk of twilight, the British 
 entered with their bayonets fixed. 
 Their loss was inconsiderable. Nor 
 was that of the garrison great. 
 Governor Clinton, his brother Gen- 
 eral James Clinton, Colonel Dubois, 
 and most of the otHcers and men 
 eficcted their escape under cover 
 of the thick smoke and darkness 
 that suddenly prevailed. The cap- 
 ture of this fort by Sir Henry 
 Clinton, together with the conse- 
 quent removal of the chains and 
 booms that obstructed the naviga- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 231 
 
 tion, opened a passage to Albany, 
 and seemed to favour a junction of 
 his force with that of General 
 Burgoyne. But the latter having 
 been compelled to capitulate a few 
 days after this event, and great 
 numbers of militia having arrived 
 from New England, the successful 
 army returned to New York ; yet 
 not before a detachment from it, 
 under the orders of General 
 Vaughn, had burnt the defenceless 
 town of Esopus, and several scat- 
 tering buildings on the banks of the 
 river. 
 
 Notwithstanding the army in 
 the Highlands had been so much 
 weakened, for the sake of strength- 
 ening the armies in other quarters, 
 as to have occasioned the loss of 
 Fort Montgomery, yet that loss 
 
232 LIFE OF 
 
 was productive of no consequences. 
 Our main army in Pennsylvania, 
 after having contended with su- 
 perior Ibrce in two indecisive bat- 
 tles, still held the enemy in check ; 
 while the splendid success which 
 attended our arms at the north- 
 ward, gave a more favourable j 
 aspect to the American afFairs, at 
 the close of this campaign, than 
 they had ever before assumed. 
 
 When the enemy fell back to 
 New York by water, we HjI lowed | 
 them a part of the way by land, } 
 Colonel Meigs, with a detachment i 
 from the several rcgiments in 
 General Parson's brigade, having 
 made a forced march from Crom- 
 pond to West Chester, surprised 
 and broke up for a time the band 
 of freebooters, of whom he brought 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 283 
 
 off fifty, together with many cattle 
 and horses which they had recently 
 stolen. 
 
 UETALIATJON. 
 
 Soon after this enterprise, General 
 Putnam advanced towards the 
 British lines. As he had received 
 intelligence that small bodies of 
 the enemy were out, with orders 
 from Governor Tryon to burn 
 Wright's Mills, he prevented it by 
 detaching three parties, of one 
 hundred men in each. One of 
 these parties fell in with and cap- 
 tured thirty-five, and another forty 
 of the new levies. But as he could 
 not prevent a third hostile party from 
 burning the house of Mr. Van 
 Tassel, a noted whig and a com- 
 mittee man, who wqs foroed to go 
 
234 LIFE OF 
 
 along with them, naked and bare- 
 foot, on the icy ground, in a 
 freezing night, lie, for the professed 
 purpose of retaliation, sent Captain 
 Buchanan, in a whale-boat, to 
 burn the house of General Oliver 
 Delancy, on York Island. Bu- 
 chanan effected his object, and by 
 this expedition put a period, for the , 
 present, to that unmeaning and 
 wanton species of destruction. 
 
 While General Putnam quartered i 
 at New Rochelle, a scouting jjarty, j 
 which had been sent to West ' 
 Farms, below West Chester, sur- I 
 rounded the house in which Colonel . 
 James Delancy lodged, and, not- , 
 withstanding he crept under the , 
 bed the better to be concealed, \ 
 brought him to head-quarters be- 
 fore morning. This officer was ■ 
 
GENERAI, PUTNAM. 235 
 
 exclianged by the British general 
 without delay, and placed at the 
 head of the cow-boys, a licentious 
 corps of irregulars, who in the 
 sequel, committed unheard-of de- 
 predations and excesses. 
 
 STORY OP MISS SUTTON. 
 
 It was distressing to see so beau- 
 tiful a part of the country so bar- 
 barously wasted, and often to 
 witness some peculiar scene of 
 female misery : for most of the 
 female inhabitants had been 
 obliged to fly within the lines pos- 
 sessed by one army or the other. 
 Near our quarters was an affecting 
 instance of human vicissitude. Mr. 
 William Sutton, of Maroneck, an 
 inoffensive man, a merchant by 
 profession, who lived in a decent 
 
236 UFE OF 
 
 fasliion, and whose fajviily l»ad as 
 happy prospects as almost any in 
 the country, upon some imputation 
 of toryism, went to the enemy. 
 His wile, oppvess(!d with grief in 
 the disagreeable state of dereliction, 
 did not long survive. Betsey Sut- 
 ton, iheir eldest daughter, was a 
 modest and lovely young woman, 
 of about fifteen years old, when, at 
 the death of her mother, tlie care 
 of five or six younger children de» 
 volvcd upon her. Siie was dis* 
 creet and provident beyond her 
 years ; but when we saw her, she 
 looked to be feeble in licalth— . 
 broken inspirit-— wan, melancholy, 
 and dejected. She said " that their 
 last cow, which fiu'nished milk for 
 the children, had lately been taken 
 away — that they had frnquently 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 237 
 
 been plundered of their wearing 
 apparel and furniture, she believed 
 by both parties — that they had 
 little more to lose— ^and that she 
 knew not where to procure bread 
 for the dear little ones, who had no 
 father to pi'ovide for them" — no 
 mothers—she was going to have 
 said-— but a torrent of tears 
 choaked articulation. In coming 
 to that part of the country again^ 
 after some campaigns had elapsed, 
 I found the habitation desolate, and 
 the garden overgrown with weeds. 
 Upon inquiry, I learnt, that as 
 Soon as we left the place, some 
 ruffians broke into the house while 
 she lay in bed, in the latter part of 
 the night ; and that having been 
 terrified by their rudeness, she ran, 
 half naked, into a neighbouring 
 
238 LIFE OF 
 
 swamp, where she continued until 
 the nnorning — there the poor girl 
 caught a violent cold, which ended 
 in a consumption. It finished a 
 life without a spot — and a career 
 of sufferings commenced and con- 
 tinued without a fault. 
 
 Sights of wretchedness always 
 touched with commiseration the 
 feelings of General Putnam, and 
 prompted his generous soul to suc- 
 cour the afllicted. But the in- 
 dulgence which he showed, when- 
 ever it did not militate against his 
 duty, towards the deserted and 
 suffering families of the tories in 
 the State of New York, was the 
 cause of his becoming unpopular 
 with no inconsiderable class of 
 people in that State. On the other 
 side, he had conceived an uncon- 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 239 
 
 querable aversion to many of the 
 persons who were entrusted with 
 the disposal of tory property, be- 
 cause he believed them to have 
 been guilty of peculations and 
 other infamous practices. But al- 
 though the enmity between him 
 and the sequestrators was acrimo- 
 nious as mutual, yet he lived in 
 habits of amity with the most 
 respectable characters in public de- 
 partments, as well as in private 
 life. 
 
 His character was also respected 
 by the enemy. He had been ac- 
 quainted with many of the prin- 
 cipal officers in a former war. As 
 flags frequently passed between the 
 out-posts, during his continuance 
 on the lines, it was a common 
 practice to forward newspapers by 
 
240 LIFE OF 
 
 them ; and as those printed by 
 Rivington, the royal printer in 
 New York, were infamous for the 
 falsehoods with which they abound* 
 cd, General Putnam once scmt a 
 packet to his old friend General 
 Robertson, with this billet : " Ma- 
 jor-Gcneral Putnam presents his 
 compliments to Major-General 
 Robertson, and sends him some 
 American newspapers for his peru- 
 sal—when General Robertson shall 
 have done with them, it Is request- 
 ed they be given to Rivington, in 
 order that he may print some 
 truth." 
 
 FORTIFYING OF WEST POINT. 
 
 Lftte in the year we left the 
 lines and repaired to the High- 
 lands ; for upon the loss of Fort 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 241 
 
 Montgomery, the commander-in- 
 chief determined to build another 
 fortification for the defence of the 
 river. His excellency accord- 
 ingly wrote to General Putnam to 
 fix upon the spot. After reconnoi- 
 tering all the different places pro- 
 posed, and revolving in his own 
 mind their relative advantages for 
 offence on the water and defence 
 on the land, he fixed upon West 
 Point. It is no vulgar praise to 
 say, that to him belongs the glory 
 of having chosen this rock of our 
 military salvation. The position 
 for water batteries, which might 
 sweep the channel where the river 
 formed a right angle, made it the 
 most proper of any for com- 
 manding the navigation ; while the 
 rocky ridges that rose in awful 
 
 16 
 
242 LIFE ov 
 
 sublimity behind each other, ren- 
 dered it impregnable, and even in- 
 capable of being invested by less 
 than twenty thousand men. The 
 British, who considered this post as 
 a sort of American Gibraltar, 
 never attempted it but by the 
 treachery of an American officer. 
 All the world knows that this pro- 
 ject failed,* and that West Point 
 continues to be the receptacle of 
 everything valuable in military 
 preparations to the present day. 
 
 GENERAL PUTNAM AT READING 
 
 MUTINY QUELLED. 
 
 In order to cover the country 
 adjoining to the Sound, and to sup- 
 port the garrison of West Point, 
 in case of an attack, Major-Gene- 
 ral Putnam was stationed for the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 243 
 
 winter at Reading, in Connecticut. 
 He had under his orders the brigade 
 of New-Hampshire, the two bri- 
 gades of Connecticut, the corps of 
 infantry commanded by Hazen, 
 and that of cavalry by Sheldon. 
 
 The troops, who had been badly 
 fed, badly clothed, and worse paid, 
 by brooding over their grievances 
 in the leisure and inactivity of 
 winter-quarters, began to think 
 them intolerable. The Connecti- 
 cut brigades formed the design of 
 marching to Hartford, where the 
 General Assembly was then in 
 session, and of demanding redress 
 at the point of the bayonet. Word 
 having been brought to General 
 Putnam, that the second brigade 
 was under arms for this purpose, 
 he mounted his horse, galloped to 
 
246 LIFE OF 
 
 the cantonment, and by an appeal 
 to the patriotic feelings and soldierly 
 pride of the men, he succeeded in 
 completely suppressing the mutiny, 
 and restoring order in the camp. 
 
 ADVENTURE AT HORSENECK. 
 
 About the middle of winter, while 
 General Putnam was on a visit to 
 his out-post at Horseneck, he found 
 Governor Tryon advancing upon 
 that town with a corps of fifteen 
 hundred men. To oppose these 
 General Putnam had only a picket 
 of one hundred and fifty men, with- 
 out horses or drag-ropes. He, 
 however, planted his cannon on the 
 high ground, by the meeting-house, 
 and retarded their approach by 
 firing several times, until, perceiv- 
 ing the horse (supported by the 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 247 
 
 infantry) about to charge, he order- 
 ed the picket to provide for their 
 safety by retiring to a swamp in- 
 accessible to horse, and secured 
 his own, by plunging down the 
 steep precipice at the church upon 
 a full trot. This precipice is so 
 steep, where he descended, as to 
 have artificial stairs, composed ot 
 nearly one hundred stone steps, 
 for the accommodation ot toot 
 passengers. There the dragoons, 
 who were but a sword's length 
 from him, stopped short ; for the 
 declivity was so abrupt, that they 
 ventured not to follow ; and, before 
 they could gain the valley, by going 
 round the brow of the hill in the 
 ordinary road, he was far enough 
 beyond their reach. He continued 
 his route, unmolested, to Stanford ; 
 
348 LIFE or 
 
 from whence, haying strengthened 
 his picket by the junction of some 
 militia, he came back again, and, 
 in turn, pursued Governor Tryon 
 in his retreat. As he rode down 
 the precipice, one ball, of the many 
 fired at him, went through his 
 beaver : but Governor Tryon, by 
 way of compensation for spoiling 
 his hat, sent him soon afterwards, 
 as a present, a complete suit of 
 clothes. 
 
 In the retreat of the enemy, 
 though with a very inferior force. 
 General Putnam made about fifty 
 prisoners, part of whom were 
 wounded, and the whole were the 
 next day sent, under the escort of 
 an officer's guard, to the British 
 lines for exchange. It was for the 
 humanity and kindness of Putnam 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 249 
 
 to the wounded prisoners, that 
 Governor Tryon complimented him 
 with the "suit of clothes." 
 
 CAMPAIGN OP 1779. 
 
 In the campaign of 1779, which 
 terminated the career of General 
 Putnam's services, he commanded 
 the Maryland line, posted at But- 
 termilk Falls, about two miles be- 
 low West Point. He was happy 
 in possessing the friendship of the 
 officers of that line, and in living 
 on terms of hospitality with them. 
 Indeed, there was no family in the 
 army that lived better than his own. 
 The general, his second son, Major 
 Daniel Putnam, and the writer of 
 these memoirs, Col. Humphreys, 
 composed that family. This cam- 
 paign, principally spent in strength- 
 
250 LIFE OF 
 
 ening the works of West Point, was 
 only sifi^nalized for the storming of 
 Stony Point, by the light-infantry 
 under the conduct of General 
 Wayne, and the surprise of the 
 post of Powles Hook by the corps 
 under the command of Colonel 
 Henry Lee. When the army quitted 
 the field and marched to Morris- 
 town, into winter-quarters, General 
 Putnam's family went into Con- 
 necticut for a few weeks. In 
 December, the general began his 
 journey to Morristown. Upon the 
 road between Pom fret and Hart- 
 ford, he felt an unusual torpor 
 slowly pervading his right hand 
 and foot. The heaviness crept 
 gradually on, until it had deprived 
 him of the use of his limbs on that 
 side, in a considerable degree, i 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 251 
 
 before he reached the house of his 
 friend, Colonel Wadsworth. Slili 
 he was unwilling to consider his 
 disorder of the paralytic kind, and 
 endeavoured to shake it off by ex- 
 ertion. Having found that impos''- 
 sible, a temporary dejection, dis- 
 guised, however, under a veil of 
 assumed cheerfulness, succeeded. 
 But reason, philosophy, and religion, 
 soon reconciled him to his fate. 
 
 In that situation he remained 
 till the close of life, favoured with 
 such a portion of bodily activity 
 as enabled him to walk and to ride 
 moderately ; and retaining, unim- 
 paired, his relish for enjoyment, 
 his love of pleasantry, his streng'h 
 of memory, and all the faculties of 
 his mind. As a proof that his 
 powers of memory were not weak- 
 
252 LIFE OF 
 
 ened, it ought to be observed, that 
 just before his death he repeated, 
 from recollection, all the adven- 
 tures of his life, which are here 
 recorded, and which had formerly 
 been communicated to the compiler 
 in detached conversations. 
 
 In patient, yet fearless expecta- 
 tion of the approach of the King 
 of Terrors, whom he had full 
 often faced in the field of blood, 
 the .Christian hero now enjoyed, in 
 domestic retirement, the fruit of his 
 early industry. Having in youth 
 provided a competent subsistence 
 for old a2;e, he was secured from 
 the danger of penury and distress, 
 to which so many officers and 
 soldiers, worn out in the public 
 service, have been reduced. 
 
GENERAL. PUTNAM. 253 
 
 LAST DAYS OF PUTNAM. 
 
 The remainder of the life of 
 General Putnam was passed in 
 quiet retirement with his family. 
 He experienced few interruptions 
 in bodily health, (except the para- 
 lytic debility with which he was 
 afflicted) retained full possession of 
 his mental faculties, and enjoyed 
 the society of his friends until the 
 17th of May, 1790, when he was 
 violently attacked with an inflam- 
 matory disease. Satisfied from the 
 first that it would prove mortal, he 
 was calm and resigned, and wel- 
 comed the approach of death with 
 joy, as a messenger sent to call 
 him from a life of toil to everlast- 
 ing rest. 
 
254 LIKE OF 
 
 On the 19th of May, 1790, 
 General Putnam ended a Hfe 
 which had been spent in cultiva- 
 ting and defending the soil of his 
 birth. 
 
 Much of his life had been spent 
 in arms, and the military of the 
 neigh!)ourhood were desirous that 
 the rites of sepulture should be 
 accompanied with martial hon- 
 ours : they felt that this last tribute 
 of respect was due to a soldier, 
 who, from a patriotic love of coun- 
 try, had devoted the best part of 
 his life to the defence of her rights, 
 and the establishment of her in- 
 dependence — and who, through 
 long trying services, was never 
 once reproached for misconduct as 
 an officer ; but when disease com- 
 pelled him to retire from service, 
 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 255 
 
 left it beloved and respected by the 
 army and his chief, and with high 
 claims to the grateful remembrance 
 r^ his country. 
 
 Under these impressions, the 
 grenadiers of the 11th regiment, 
 the independent corps of artillerists, 
 and with the militia companies in 
 the neighbourhood, assembled each 
 at their appointed rendezvous early 
 on the morning of the 21st, and 
 having repaired to the late dwell- 
 ing house of the deceased, a suit- 
 able escort was formed, attended 
 by a procession of the Masonic 
 brethren present, and a large con- 
 course of respectable citizens, 
 which moved to the Congregational 
 meeting-house in Brooklyn ; and, 
 after divine service performed by 
 the Rev. Dr. Whitney, all that was 
 
256 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 earthly of a patriot and hero was 
 laid in the silent tomb, under the 
 discharge of vollies from the infan- 
 try, and minute guns from the 
 artillery. 
 
 THK KND. 
 
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