P9 P92 
 
 I Copy I 
 
 A SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM 
 
 BY 
 
 ALFRED P. PUTNAM, D.D. 
 
 ^ 
 
 SALEM, MASS. : 
 
 EBEN PUTNAM. 
 
 1893. 
 
A SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM 
 
 ALFRED P. PUTNAM, D.D. 
 
 SALEM, MASS. : 
 
 EBKN rUTxVAM 
 
 1S93. 
 
E^Zo7 
 
 :fQ'po2j 
 
 printed at 
 The Salem Press. 
 
 .^ 
 
A SKETCH 
 
 GEN. ISRAEL PUTKAM. 
 
 ALFRED P. PUTNAM, D.D. 
 
 Major General Israel Putnam^ was born , January 7 , 1 7 18 , in a house 
 which is still standing on its original site, near the eastern base of Ha- 
 thorne or Asylum hill, in Dan vers. It has several times been enlarged 
 and is still in an excellent state of preservation. Its first proprietor was 
 his grandfather Thomas, whose second wife was Mary Veren, widow 
 of Nathaniel Veren, a wealthy merchant of Salem. Their only child 
 was Joseph, who inherited the homestead. Joseph wedded Elizabeth 
 Porter, daughter of Israel and Elizabeth (Hathorne) Porter, and grand- 
 daughter of John and Mary Porter, the emigrant progenitors of the 
 Porters of Essex county. From this marriage sprang the soldier whose 
 history we are to trace. Elizabeth Hathorne was a daughter of Major 
 William and Ann Hathorne, whose country seat was where the Dan- 
 vers Asylum now stands, on the hill above mentioned. Nathaniel Haw- 
 thorne, the celebrated novelist, was also a lineal descendant. John 
 Porter, likewise, was of " Salem Village, "now Danvers. For many 
 
 'Major-General Israel {Joseph, Thomas, John), born in Salem Village, now 
 Danvers, 7 Jan., 1717-18; baptized 2 Feb., 1718; died Brooklyn, Conn., after an 
 illness of two days, 29 May, 1790; married, first, at Danvers, 19 July, 1739, Hannah, 
 daughter of Joseph and Mehitable (Putnam) Pope of Danvers, born there; bap- 
 tized 3 Sept., 1721; died Brooklyn, Conn., 6 Sept., 1765, in the 44th year of her age; 
 married, second, 3 June, 17G7, the widow Deborah (Lothrop) Gardiner. Madame Gar- 
 diner was daughter of Samuel and Deborah (Crow) Lothrop of Norwich, Conn., and 
 widow of John Gardiner, fifth proprietor of Gardiner's Island, who died 19 May, 1764. 
 She died at Putnam's Headquarters at Fishkill on the Hudson, 14 Oct., 1777, and was 
 interred in Beverly Robinson's family vault. Mr. Gardiner she had married as his 
 
4 ISKAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 years he was deputy in the General Court, first from Hingham and then 
 from Salem ; and, as the Colonial Records testify, he was a man " of 
 good repute for piety, integrity and estate." 
 
 The ancestry of the future soldier- patriot, in various lines, is thus 
 seen to have been of Essex County stock. His later boyhood was prob- 
 ably spent in Boxford at the home of his step-father, Capt. Thomas 
 Perley, while yet he would be a frequent visitor at the Putnam homes 
 in Dauvers. His early education was defective, partly because school 
 advantages were then very meagre in the rural district in which he passed 
 his youth, and partly, no doubt, because his strong natural inclinations 
 were for farming and active out-of-door life, rather than for books and 
 sedentary occupations. Robust and full of energy, he was as a boy given 
 to sports, and to feats of strength and daring ; and numerous trustworthy 
 traditions of his courageous exploits in those days have been handed 
 down in the old home from then until now, somewhat prophetic of his 
 more extraordinary prowess and achievements in maturer years. Having 
 attained an age when he would care for a share of his father's farm, he 
 returned to Dauvers and settled upon the portion set otf to him, and 
 here built a small house, the cellar of which yet remains. On the 19th 
 of July, 1739, he married Hannah, daughter of Joseph and Mehitable 
 (Putnam) Pope. The spot is still pointed out, not far from that of his 
 nativity, where stood the humble habitation in which for a brief period 
 the young couple dwelt, and in which their first child, Israel, was born. 
 Shortly afterward, they removed to Pomfret, Conn., boi'ue on by the 
 continued tide of emigration that had already carried a large number of 
 settlers into the eastern part of that state from towns about Massachu- 
 setts bay. There at length he was the head of a numerous family of chil- 
 dren, some of whom removed to other parts of New England or to the 
 west, their descendants being now widely scattered abroad through the 
 
 second wife, 21 Nov., 1755, being then the widow of Eev. Ephraim Avery of Pomfret. 
 The children of Mr. Gardiner by Deboi-ah (Lothrop) Avery were //are?m/i, born 31 Dec, 
 1757; married Samuel Williams of Brooklyn; died s. p. Septimus, b. 28 Dec, 1759; 
 died unmarried 1 June, 1777. He was with General Putnam during many of his cam- 
 paigns. 
 Children, all by his first wife : 
 
 Israel, b. Danvers, 28 Jan. ; bapt. there 8 June, 1740. 
 
 David, b. Pomfret, Conn., 10 Mar., 1742; d. y. 
 
 Hannah, b. " " 25 Aug., 1744. 
 
 Elizabeth, b." " 20 Mar., 1747; d. y. 
 
 MEHiTABLE.b." " 21 Oct., 1749. 
 
 Mary, b. " " 10 May, 1753. 
 
 Eunice, b. " " 10 Jan., 1756. 
 
 Daniel, b. " " 18 Nov., 1759. 
 
 David, b. " " 14 Oct., 1761. 
 
 Peter Schuyler, b. Pomfret, Conn., 31 Dec, 1764. 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 country. The ancient homestead in Danvers has heen occupied by suc- 
 cessive generations of his brother David, "the lion-hearted Lieutenant 
 of the King's troops," as he has well been called. 
 
 In 1739, Israel, and his brother-in-law, John Pope, bought of Gov. 
 Jonathan Belcher, a tract of land of about five hundred acres, of which 
 he became sole owner in 1741. It was part of a large district known as 
 the"Mortlake Manor," which, while it had special privileges of its own, 
 was included in the territory that in 1786 was detached from Pomfret 
 and erected into a separate and distinct township under the name of 
 Brooklyn. Certain foundation stones, and a well and pear tree, have 
 long marked the place where our brave pioneer built for himself his first 
 house in Connecticut. Here was the family home, until larger accom- 
 modations were required, when he built the plain, but more commodious 
 and comfortable house to which the domestic scene was transferred and 
 in which many years afterward the old hero died. This, with its narrow 
 cham1)er in which he l)reathod his last, is still standing and is an object 
 of great interest with patriot-pilgrims who year after year visit it from 
 afar. From the outset, his fondness for agriculture and horticultural 
 pursuits was conspicuously shown in the vigorous way in which he sub-' 
 dued and cultivated his land, and introduced into Pomfret and its neigh- 
 borhood all its best varieties of fruit trees, while it is chiefly due to his 
 taste, sagacity, and enterprising spirit that were planted the long lines 
 of ornamental trees which have graced the streets and added so much to 
 the beauty of Brooklyn. Although at first the exemptions which the 
 owner of Mortlake Manor enjoyed created a jealousy among the inhabi- 
 tants of Pomfret and rather estranged him from participation in their 
 affairs, yet his sterling worth was early recognized and his public spirit 
 became more and more manifest. He was among the foremost in es- 
 tablishing good schools in the town and did not fail to ensure to his 
 sons and daughters a higher education than he had received himself. 
 Before he entered upon his military career, he joined other leading 
 settlers in a library association which had a marked efi'ect in developing 
 a love of reading among the people and in elevating their general char- 
 acter.' He was not only a thrifty and highly prosperous farmer, but, 
 from first to last, he was also an earnest and helpful friend of all the best 
 interests of the little, but growing colony. 
 
 The familiar story of his entering the wolf-den, together with the 
 accounts of his many other bold adventmes in his earlier manhood, 
 needs not to be repeated in this brief sketch of his life. The late Hon. 
 Samuel Putnam, a native of Danvers and judge of the Supreme Court ot 
 ISIassachnsetts, Avrote, in a letter to Col. Perley Putnam of Salem, July 
 16, 1834 : — "I was once in his house in Brooklyn where he treated me 
 
b ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 with great hospitality. He showed me the place where he followed a 
 wolf into a cave and shot it, and he gave me a great many anecdotes 
 of the war in which he had been engaged before the Revolution, trac- 
 ing the remarkable events upon a map." 
 
 In 1755, there was a call upon the New England colonies and New 
 York for a large military force for the relief of Crown Point and the 
 regions about Lake George, where the French had gained a strong foot- 
 hold. The quota from Connecticut was to consist of a thousand soldiers. 
 Though it would require him to leave behind a large property and a 
 numerous family, Putnam was prompt and quick to respond to the sum- 
 mons. Brave, energetic and popular, he was at once appointed to the 
 command of a company, which he soon succeeded in recruiting for Ly- 
 man's regiment, under the supreme command of Gen. William Johnson 
 of New York. He received his "first baptism of fire and blood" in the 
 unsuccessful encounter of Col. Ephraim Williams and his twelve hun- 
 dred men with the enemy under Baron Dieskau, in the forests between 
 Fort Edward and Lake George. This defeat of the provincials was soon 
 followed by a brilliant victory, in honor of which Johnson built a fort, 
 named Fort William Henry, on the spot where it was won. The autumn 
 of 1755 was spent in constructing defences and in opening means of com- 
 munication between difierent parts of the immediate country. As win- 
 ter approached, most of the men returned to their homes, but enough 
 remained to garrison the fortresses. Putnam's regiment was disbanded 
 with the rest, and he himself returned to Pomfret to spend the season 
 with his family. The next year witnessed a renewal of the campaign, 
 the entire forces being under the command of General Abercrombie. 
 Putnam was reappointed as captain, to serve as before in Lyman's regi- 
 ment. During the service which he rendered in all this war against the 
 French and their Canadian and Indian allies, he acquired a great reputa- 
 tion as a soldier and hero, by his dauntless spirit and marvellous deeds. 
 These, taken in connection with his many perilous exposures, severe 
 hardships, and hairbreadth escapes, gained for him swift and repeated 
 honors from the Legislature of his adopted state, and made him immense- 
 ly popular with all classes of his countrymen. The accounts of them, 
 as given more or less fully by his biographers, Humphreys, Peabody, 
 Cutter, Hill and various others, are no doubt exaggerated in some par- 
 ticulars. ^ But enough is true to warrant the fame and distinction that 
 were then and subsequently accorded to him in abundant measure. In 
 1757, he was promoted to be major. He had previously connected him- 
 self with the famous baud of rangers, whose chief was the notorious 
 
 iQen. Rufus Putnam, who was a soldier in the Massachusetts contingent, kept a diary which has 
 been printed and which corroborates Humphreys' narrative. 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 7 
 
 M.'ijor Robert Rogers. Near the time of tlie oiit1)rcak of the revolution, 
 this remarkable hunter, scouter and roving adventurer, notwithstanding 
 all his ardent promises and professions of loyalty and devotion to the 
 cause of the colonies, went over to the Briti.sli and received from them 
 an appointment as colonel. His volume of "Journals" makes but very 
 few and slight allusions to Putnam, who on one occasion had saved his 
 life and who had borne so conspicuous a part with him in their hard and 
 hazardous campaigning; and this circumstance, together with tlio fact 
 that some of his friends and apologists grew to be virulent defamers of 
 his gallant comrade, makes it quite evident that no very strong tie of 
 trust or affection united the two. Putnam could hardly have had much 
 confidonce in such a strange and lawless man as Rogers, and Rogers 
 must have found little that was congenial to him in such a true-hearted 
 and straightforward man as Putnam, whatever they may have had in com- 
 mon as free and fearless rangers. Here, in this capacity, they were still, 
 as Colonel Humphreys says, "associated in traversing the wilderness, 
 reconnoitering the enemy's lines, gaining intelligence and taking strag- 
 gling prisoners, as well as in beating up the quarters and surprising the 
 advanced pickets of their army." 
 
 On the 3d of August, 1757, Montcalm, the French commander, ar- 
 riving with a large force from Ticonderoga, laid siege to Fort "William 
 Henry, whose, surrender after six days was followed by a dreadful mas- 
 sacre of the garrison. Putnam had vainly endeavored to procure rein- 
 forcements from Fort Edward. His saving the powder magazine of 
 Fort Edward, amidst the teri'ible conflagration that visited it, was one of 
 the numerous daring deeds which he accomplished. . His descent of the 
 falls of the Hudson, at Fort Miller, and his happy escape from a strong 
 party of Indians who fired at him incessantly as he skilfully steered his 
 bateau down the dangerous rapids, was another of his characteristic 
 achievements, which made his savage foes think that he was under the 
 special protection and smile of the Great Spirit. Yet he was not so 
 successful in escaping their barbarities, when once he w^^s in their power. 
 For it was about the same time, in 1758, that, in one of the forest ex- 
 peditions in which he and Rogers and five hundred men were engaged, 
 they took him prisoner and subjected him to the most brutal treatment. 
 Judge Putnam's letter, which we have already quoted, states that they 
 tied him to a tree to be put to death according to their custom under such 
 circumstances, and then goes on to say : "They threw their tomahawks 
 into the tree by the side of his head, and after amusing themselves in 
 this way for some time, they lighted up the fire, and danced and yelled 
 around him. When they were thus engaged, one of the tribe, a chief, 
 who had been once a prisoner of Putnam and treated kindly by him, ar- 
 
8 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 rived on the spot, and, recognizing his friend in their intended victim, 
 immediately released him from impending slaughter. Gen. Putnam said 
 that their gestures in the dance vrere so inexpressibly ridiculous that 
 he could not forbear laughing. I expressed some surprise that he could 
 laugh under such circumstances, at which he mildly replied that his 
 composure had no merit, that it was constitutional ; and said that he had 
 never felt bodily fear. I can as easily credit that assertion as the one 
 Gouverneur Morris made of himself, viz. : that heneverfelt embarrassed 
 hy the 'presence of any one whomsoever, in his life; and I am inclined to 
 think that both of them spoke the truth concerning their own sensations.'* 
 The wounds which these cowardly savages inflicted upon the fearless but 
 helpless sufierer left scars which he long afterward carried Avith him 
 to the grave. The almost incredible outrages and tortures which they 
 perpetrated upon him were not brought to an end by the cutting of the 
 cord that bound him to the tree, but were still continued, in other forms, 
 all the while they marched him through a rugged country to Ticonderoga 
 and thence to Montreal. There Col. Peter Schuyler, who had been held 
 a prisoner in that city, hearing of his miserable condition, hastened to his 
 rescue, supplied him with clothing and other necessities, and managed 
 to procure his release. Putnam's tenth and last child was born after- 
 ward and he named it in grateful honor of this noble friend and bene- 
 factor. Nor was this the only kindness which the generous man rendered 
 at this juncture. Among those whom the Indians had made captives 
 Avas a Mrs. Howe, whose first and second husbands the redmen had 
 murdered and the story of whose wretched lot under her inhuman mas- 
 ters is familiar to Aii^srican readers. Schuyler paid the price of her 
 raqsom and entrusted her to the care of Putnam, who, on his return, 
 safely conducted her beyond the reach of her persecutors. 
 
 In pursuance of a plan of 1759, to expel the French from their Ameri- 
 can possessions. General Wolfe was to lead an expedition against Que- 
 bec, General Prideaux one against Fort Niagara, and General Amherst 
 another against Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Putnam, who had now 
 been raised to the rank of lieutenant colonel, was with Amherst and 
 assisted him in the reduction of both the objects or places of his med- 
 itated attack, being subsequently employed at Crown Point in strength- 
 ,ening its defences. In 1760, the British having captured Quebec, Am- 
 jherst projected another expedition against Montreal, in which Putnam 
 again accompanied him and rendered important service. The city, with- 
 out resistance, capitulated at the formidable approach, and Canada was 
 soon lost forever to the French. In 1762, the conquerors turned their at- 
 tention to the French and Spanish possessions in the West Indies, 
 France and Spain having entered into a coalition with each other. Mar- 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 9 
 
 tinique cand the Ciiril)])ees were taken, and a naval force often thousand 
 men landed on the island of Cuba. Presently a reinforcement of two thou- 
 sand menarrived, half of the number being a regiment from Connecticut 
 ^nder the command of General Lyman. Putnam was with him as on 
 previous occasions, and was ere long placed at the head of the regiment 
 from his own state, Lyman being appointed to take charge of the whole 
 body of these provincial troops. The former had been cool and courage- 
 ous during a fearful gale which had been encountered at sea, and on 
 reaching shore he was busy and efficient in constructing accommodations 
 for the soldiers. In due time the British Commander, Albemarle, be- 
 sieged one of the strong fortresses of Havana and stormed the city, 
 which finally surrendered, and with it a large part of Cuba temporarily 
 became a possession of the power that had now well-nigh gained the mas- 
 tery of the continent. In 1 7G3 a Treaty of Peace was concluded between 
 France and England. On the northein frontier there was still some 
 trouble from the Indians under Pontiac, the great chief of the Otta- 
 was. The next year, Amherst sent forces to occupy several of the 
 more important posts and avert the threatened danger. Under Colonel 
 Bradistreet, Putnam, who had himself now been promoted to the rank 
 of colonel, marched to Detroit with a Connecticut regiment of four 
 hundred men. The savages soon dispersed, and all sounds or signs of 
 war were finally at an end. 
 
 The year 1764 fcnmd the veteran again at home. Nearly a whole 
 decade he had spent in fighting the enemies of his country. Forest, 
 mountain, valley, river, lake and sea had witnessed his arduous service. 
 It had given him a very wide, varied and valuable experience. It had 
 been full of heroic deeds and romantic adventures and incidents ; full of 
 duties and responsibilities faithfully discharged, and of dangers and trials 
 nobly met and overcome. After his original appointment as captain, he 
 had been three times promoted. He had been under the command of 
 some of the ablest and most celebrated generals of his time, and had 
 been intimately associated with officers and patriots of high distinction. 
 He had seen many parts of the land, and much of Indian as Avell as 
 colonial life, and his activities had extended from .Montreal to Havana. 
 At every stage of his service, from first to last, he enjoyed the absolute 
 confidence of his superiors and of his state, and was always in demand. 
 How, under all these circumstances, his quick eye, his sagacious mind, 
 his superabundant energies and his natural soldierly qualities and apti- 
 tudes, were trained for other and greater military trusts and perfor- 
 mances, coming events were destined to show. What has thus far been 
 written of him may well be remembered, as he appears before us in 
 more momentous scenes. 
 
10 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 More than smother decade was to follow, however, before his advent 
 there. Shortly after he exchanged the sword for the ploughshare and 
 once more began to engage in his peaceful agricultural pursuits, the be- 
 loved wife of his youth and the devoted mother of his large family of 
 children, died; and it was in the same year, 1765, that the husband 
 and father, who had always, like his ancestors, been a sincere and faith- 
 ful attendant upon public worship, united with the church at Brooklyn 
 which was then under the pastoral care of Eev. Josiah Whitney, and 
 made a formal profession of his Christian faith. It was during this year, 
 also, that the news of the passage of the infamous Stamp Act reached the 
 colonies and aroused them to stern protest and resistance. Putnam was 
 foremost in making its execution impossible in Connecticut, and from 
 that hour he stood forth as a ready and resolute defender of the im- 
 perilled liberties of the people. In 1767, two years after the death of 
 his first wife, he married INIrs. Deborah Gardiner, who was the widow of 
 John Gardiner, Esq., the fifth proprietor of Gardiner's Island, and who 
 accompanied him in most of his campaigns of the Revolution, until her 
 death in 1777 at his head -quarters in the Highlands. For a time he 
 threw open his house for the accommodation of the public, and one of 
 his biographers says ; "The old sign, which swung before his door, as a 
 token of good cheer for the weary traveller, is now to be seen in the 
 Aluseum of the Historical Society of Connecticut, at Hartford." During 
 the interval of time from the close of the French and Indian war to the 
 outbreak of hostilities between England and her American colonies, he 
 received many marks of confidence from his fellow citizens, attesting 
 what they thought of his capacity, judgment and good sense, for muni- 
 cipal or civil functions also. He was placed on important committees ; 
 was elected moderator of the town meeting ; was thrice chosen a mem- 
 ber of the board of selectmen, the last time in 1771 ; and was deputy to 
 the General Assembly. In the winter of 1772-73, he went with Gen- 
 eral Lyman and others to examine a tract of land on the Mississippi, 
 near Natchez, which the British government had given to the men of 
 Connecticut who had suffered greatly from exposures and hardships 
 during the West India campaign, of which a brief account appears above. 
 They also visited the Island of Jamaica and the harbor of Peusacola. 
 There is still extant, in the possession of one of his descendants, a curi- 
 ous diary, "probably the longest piece of writing that he ever executed," 
 which Putnam kept in his absence, and in which he jotted down, hastily 
 and imperfectly, many of his own and the party's experiences by the 
 way. 
 
 Immediately prior to the Revolution, Putnam held various conversa- 
 tions in Boston with General Gage, the British commander-in-chief. Lord 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 11 
 
 Percy and other officers of the royal troops, quartered in that cit}-, and 
 told them phiinly his opinion, that, in the event of war between England 
 and her American colonies, the former could not subjugate the latter, 
 while he gave them to understand, clearly, that he himself should side 
 with the cause of the patriots. In 1774, the enemy were strengthening 
 their forces there and were thus subjecting the inhabitants to manifold 
 privations and embarrassments. Bancroft relates how Putnam rode to 
 Boston with one hundred and thirty sheep as a gift from the Parish of 
 Brooklyn, and "became Warren's guest and every one's favorite." Soon 
 after his return to Connecticut, an exaggerated rumor reached him of de- 
 predations of the British in the neighborhood he had just quitted, where- 
 upon he aroused the citizens of his state to a fiery determination to 
 avenge the attack. Thousands were quickly on their way to Massachu- 
 setts for this purpose, but the extraordinary excitement sul)sided when 
 it was ascertained that only a powder magazine between Cambridge and 
 Med ford had been captured. 
 
 The news of the l)attle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, arrived at Pom- 
 fret by express on the morning of the twentieth. The intelligence reached 
 Putnam as he was ploughing in the field, with his son Daniel, who was 
 then but sixteen years of age, and who afterward wrote ; "He loitered 
 not, but left me, the driver of his team, to unyoke it in the furrow, 
 and not many days aft6r to follow him to camp." Having doubtless 
 made haste to consult with the authorities, the old soldier received in the 
 afternoon the tidings of the fight at Concord and at once set out on 
 horseback for the scene of hostilities, riding a distance of well nigh a 
 hundred miles. He was in Caml)riclge on the following morning, and 
 also in Concord, writing from the last-named place under date of April 
 21, the second day after the battle, to Col. Ebenezer Williams of Pom- 
 fret :— 
 
 "Sir, I have waited on the Committee of the Provincial Congress, and 
 it is their determination to have a standing army of 22,000 men from 
 the New England Colonics, of which, it is supposed, the Colony of 
 Connecticut must raise GOOO." And he urges that these troops shall be 
 "at Cambridge as speedily as possible, with Conveniences ; together with 
 Provisions, and a Sufficiency of Amnmnitiou for their own use." From 
 Cambridge he wrote again, on the 22nd, for troops and supplies to be 
 forwarded without delay. On the next day the Provincial Congress 
 took definite action for raising a New England army, having already 
 sent delegates to Rhode Island, New IIami)shire and Connecticut to re- 
 quest their cooperation, and having now alreadv established a Cam}) at 
 Cambridge, with Gen. Artemas Ward as commander-in-chief. On the 
 26th, the Committee of Safety issued a circular letter appealing to the 
 
12 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 colonies to iiid in the common defence ; and on the third of May, the 
 immortal Warren, as President of the Provincial Congress, wrote to 
 the Continental Congress, earnestly pleading the great peril and need 
 of Massachusetts, saying that she had resolved to raise a force of her own 
 of 13,600 men and was now to propose corresponding action by the 
 other New England colonies, and suggesting an American Army "for 
 supporting the common cause of the American colonies." No effort was 
 wanting to give to what some writers have called an "army of allies," a 
 truly patriotic spirit and a most eflfective and consolidated union. Any 
 suggestion or indication, that, under such circumstances, Massachusetts, 
 who appealed so piteouslyfor help, was to arrogate to herself privileges 
 and honors that might not be shared as well by the colonies which she 
 called to her assistance, would have made the mustering army but "a 
 rope of sand." 
 
 The appeal was of a nobler character and it was not in vain. New 
 England responded to it with alacrity. Stark and Reed came with their 
 New Hampshire regiments and fixed their head-quarters at Medford, the 
 whole forming substantially the left wing. Troops arrived from Rhode 
 Island under the command of General Greene and were stationed at 
 Jamaica Plain, while General Spencer with his First Connecticut regi- 
 ment and with two thousand Massachusetts men was posted at Roxbury 
 and Dorchester, the whole constituting the right wing, under Gen. John 
 Thomas. Putnam, with his Second Regiment from Connecticut and 
 with Sargeant's Regiment from New Hampshire and Patterson's from 
 Massachusetts, was assigned to Cambridgeport, where he and his men 
 formed a part of the centre, whose main body, composed of numerous 
 Massachusetts regiments, was under the immediate command of General 
 Ward at old Cambridge. Our Pomfret hero, soon rfthis prompt ar- 
 rival on tlie 21st of April, had been called back to Connecticut to assist 
 in raising and organizing the quota from that state, whose legislature 
 now appointed him to be Brigadier General. He was absent only one 
 week, and, as he set forth again to join the new army, he gave instruc- 
 tions that the troops should follow him as quickly as possible. His post 
 at the centre, where he occupied the Inman House as his head-quarters, 
 was an exposed one, and was deemed to be of special importance from 
 the apprehension that the British might there make their first or chief 
 attack. While he was here, he served at one time as commander-in- 
 chief, during a temporary absence of General Ward in Roxbury. On 
 another occasion he led a large body of the troops which had then gath- 
 • ered in Cambridge, numbering a])out 2,200 men from Massachusetts 
 and New Hampshire, to Charlestown, marching them over Bunker Hill 
 and Breed's Hill, and into the main street of the town, and then back 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 13 
 
 again to the encampment, so as to inspiro them with more conficlciico 
 and courage. He himself thus came to know still belter the ground 
 where he was soon to be a conspicuous actor. 
 
 ' Oil the 27th of jNIay, he commanded a party of Provincials sent to 
 Chelsea to drive off the live stock on Hogls.land and Noddle's Island in 
 the harbor, so as to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enein\-. 
 They were attacked by a force of the British marine appearing with a 
 schooner and sloop, but were completely successful in the hot engage- 
 ment that ensued, oidy one of the Americans being killed and four 
 wounded, while the loss on the other side, it is said, was twenty killed 
 and fifty wounded. The victors seized the abandoned schooner, and, 
 . having taken possession of her guns, rigging and other valuables, set her 
 on fire. In this expedition, General Putnam was accompanied by Dr. 
 Warren, who went as a volunteer. On the sixth of June, these two pa- 
 triot friends, under the escort of Captain Chester's Connecticut company, 
 proceeded to Charlestown to effect an exchange of prisoners taken in one 
 or more encounters. Having acconiplished their object in a manner 
 highly creditable to all concerned, they returned to Camln'idge. Put- 
 nam was now more popular than ever. The Continental Congress caught 
 the enthusiasm of the people and soon raised him to the rank of Major 
 General. It conferred the honor upon Artcmas "Ward and Charles Leo 
 on the 17th of June, the day of the battle of Bunker Hill, and upon 
 Israel Putnam and Philip Schuyler, on the 19th, two days after it, not 
 knowing at the time about the great conflict at Charlestown, even as such 
 of these ofl5cers as were cnijiiijcd in the strife were not aware of their 
 promotion until the eventful day was quite of the past. 
 
 On the 15th of June, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety recom- 
 mended to the Council of War, that "Bunker Hill be maintained by suf- 
 ficient force being posted there," as it was supposed that the encm}' were 
 about to make a movement in that direction. The Council of War met 
 on the following day and approved the plan, though Ward and Warren 
 opposed itas a rash and perilous measure. Among those of the council 
 who strongly favored it, Putnam was foremost and Gen. Seth Pomeroy 
 was also prominent, the former believing it to be necessary as a means 
 of drawing the enemy out from Boston and bringing on an engagement, 
 the people being impatient for action. On the evening of that day, the 
 16th, a detachment of about 1000 men, comprising three regiments under 
 Colonels Prescott, Frye and Bridge respectively, and nearly 200 Con- 
 necticut troops taken principally from General Putnam's regiment at 
 Cambridgeport, together with Capt. Samuel Gridley's artillery company 
 of forty-nine men and two field-pieces, was sent forth to occiqiy Bun- 
 ker Hill and there intrench. Col. Samuel Swett's Ilistor}- of the Battle, 
 
14 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 which was first published in 1818, and which, as the fullest and best of 
 all the earlier accounts of it, came to be regarded as of "classical author- 
 ity" and to serve as the "basis" of all reputable subsequent sketches, 
 says : "General Putnam, having the general superintendence of the ex- 
 pedition, and the chief engineer, Colonel Gridle}^^ accompanied the 
 detachment." After they had passed the Neck and reached the peninsula, 
 a halt was made at Bunker Hill, when a consultation of the officers was 
 held, and it was decided to push on to Breed's Hill and intrench there 
 instead. Arriving at the summit of that eminence, the ground haviug 
 been laid out by Putnam, Gridley and Prescott, the men began at mid- 
 night to throw up a redoubt, eight rods square and six feet high, with a 
 breastwork extending from its northeast angle a hundred yards or more 
 over the brow and down to a point near the base of the hill, in the direc- 
 tion towards the Mystic river. As soon as the British discovered at 
 sunrise what the Provincials had done during the night, they at once 
 opened fire on the small fort from their ships in the harbor and from 
 Copp's Hill in Boston. Putnam, who had readily divined the need, 
 had proceeded at earliest dawn to Cambridge for reinforcements and pro- 
 visions, but, hearing the first firing of the guns, he immediately started 
 back for Charlestown. Perhaps it was about this time during the day, 
 that he wrote to the Committee of Safety the following message, of which 
 the original copy is in the possession of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain : 
 "By the bearer I send you eighteen barrells of powder which I have 
 received from the Gov. and Council of Connecticut for the use of the 
 army ;"-— a much needed and most timely gift which his energy had pro- 
 cured for the emergency. The men at the redoubt had toiled long and 
 hard, and wanted rest as well as refreshments, while yet the breast- 
 work was not completed. The authorities at headquarters had promised, 
 on the previous evening, that the detachment should be relieved in the 
 morning, and, in fact, early on that next morning General Ward had 
 accordingly ordered another detachment of regiments o take its place, 
 with three new colonels, Nixon, Little and Mansfield, to command them, 
 instead of Prescott, Frye and Bridge ; but, what with the well-known 
 dilatoriness that then marked the conduct of affiurs at Cambridge, these 
 fresh troops were not required to parade and march until late in the 
 afternoon. Meantime there was growing discontent at Breed's Hill. Thp 
 soldiers applied to some of their officers, who in turn appealed to Pres- 
 cott. The Colonel refused to send for the promised relief, but on a 
 second appeal he consented to send for reinforcements, and dispatched 
 
 1 Colonel Richard Gridley, who was a veteran of the French wars, was Chief Engineer of the army 
 and planned the works on Breed's Hill. He afterward rendered distinguished service and received 
 thei;ank of Major.Geueral from the Continental Congress. 
 
ISRAEL rUTNAM. 15 
 
 Mnjor, afterward Governor, Joliu Brooks, to Cambridge to procure 
 them, Putnam himself hastening thillicr again about the same time, or 
 earlier, to eflect the result. Ward hesitated, from fear that the prin- 
 cipal attack would yet be made nearer at hand, in which case all avail- 
 able forces would be needed there. Finally, though reluctantly, lu; 
 ordered a third part of Stark's regiment, or about 200 men under Colonel 
 Lyman, to march to Charlestown. Afterward, through the strong in- 
 fluence of Richard Devens, in the Committee of Safety which was then 
 in session, he was prevailed upon to order the remainder of the Now 
 Hampshire troops to the scene of action. Putnam's post was at Bunker 
 Hill. He had seen from the start, as others did not then, but as all see 
 now, how imperatively necessary it was to fortify that eminence as well 
 as Breed's Hill, as the former was situated nearer the Mystic and the 
 Neck than the latter, and so might be made instrumental in preventing- 
 the enemy from flanking the redoubt, or might serve as a safe retreat 
 in case the fort itself should have to be abandoned. He saw the chief 
 point of danger and the one key of the situation. There he could best 
 survey the whole scene and superintend its general operations. Under 
 his command, various parties which he took from Prescott's detach- 
 ment, and from the New Hampshire forces as they arrived, Avere soon 
 employed in throwing up on Bunker Hill the intrenchments he was so 
 anxious to construct. In anticipation of an aggressive movement on the 
 part of the enemy, whose barges had landed several thousand troops at 
 Moulton's Point, at the eastern end of the peninsula, the Americans were 
 set to work in constructing the famous rail-fence which forms so impor- 
 tant a feature in any satisfactory account of the battle. It extended 
 about 600 feet, in a northwesterly direction, from near the northern end of 
 the breastwork, at the base of Breed's Hill, towards the eastern slopes of 
 Bunker Hill, and thence for about yOO feet northward to the Mystic river. 
 It was especially the latter section of it that was now sought to l)e made 
 a barricade against the foe, as it came to be evident to Putnam that there 
 was not time to complete his intrenchments on the hill in the rear. It 
 was formed by placing portions of fence-work near each other in parallel 
 lines and by stuffing between them and capping them wilh new-mown 
 hay from the immediate vicinity, the work being chioily wrought by 
 the men from New Hampshire and Connecticut, who with others were 
 to line it in the hour of action. Stark and his men wore at the ex- 
 treme left of the lines, by the Mystic ; Reed was at his right ; and next 
 to him, at the right again, were Captain Knowlton and his Connecticut 
 braves, while still further towards Breed's Hill were parts of Massachu- 
 setts regiments and companies, Prescott being in immediate command 
 of the redoubt, at the extreme right. With the more extended tiold as 
 
16 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 just indicated, he had nothing to do. As Mr. Eiohard Frothingham, 
 the historian, candidly admits : "Colonel Prescott was left in uncon- 
 trolled possession of his post. Nor is there any proof that he gave an 
 order at the rail fence or on Bunker Hill." Of the supreme command, 
 the late Mr. W. W. Wheildon, who w^as exceptionally familiar with all 
 these local history matters, writes : "Of course, this could only be as- 
 sumed by a superior officer, and this officer, beyond all question, would 
 be General Putnam," who "necessarily became commander of the Battle 
 and very sensibly and satisfactorily left Colonel Prescott in full com- 
 mand of the redoubt." 
 
 Soon after three o'clock. General Howe, the British commander, led 
 on his formidable double column of grenadiers and light infantry solidly 
 against the rail -fence and the yeomanry who were there, while the fire 
 of his left wing under Pigot was kept up on the fort as a feint to divert 
 the attention of the Provincials from the more serious point of attack. 
 Putnam, who had charged his men "not to fire until they saw the white 
 of the enemy's ej'es, " and to take good care to pick off the officers by 
 aiming at their waistbands, was now, as in all the action, at the front, 
 assigning fresh troops their places as they arrived, riding back and forth 
 along the lines, encouraging his soldiers to be valiant and faithful, and 
 exposing himself to the greatest peril. Tremendous as was the onset, 
 it was in vain. The proud foe w%as hurled back with fearful confusion 
 and destruction. Again the British General rallied his forces and made 
 another and most vigorous and determined assault. Putnam, during 
 ;the lull, had ridden over Bunker Hill to urge on the expected, but tardy 
 re-info rcements, yet wnth little eflfect. He returned to be once more 
 conspicuous in the fight, and again there was a gallant and eflTective 
 repulse, "as murderous as the first." Here, along these more exposed, 
 unsheltered lines, was the most protracted and terrible fighting of the 
 day. Said Stark, "The dead lay as thick as sheep in a fold." Then it 
 was that the enraged enemy, who had thus twice been foiled in their 
 efibrts to flank the redoubt, directed their main force against the redoubt 
 itself, enfilading the breastwork, storming the height, rushing into the 
 little enclosure and furiously assailing the greatly reduced garrison. It 
 became a hand-to-hand and bloody, but unequal contest. Prescott soon 
 ordered a retreat, and the escape of his surviving heroes was followed 
 by the flight of the cowardly "reinforcements" who had kept aloof from 
 the strife and had rendered no service during the day. The colonel pur- 
 sued his sad way to Cambridge to report to Ward that the battle was lost. 
 Seeing that the redoubt had been taken, Putnam and what was left of the 
 main body of the army, who had been so brave and stubborn, were also 
 obliged to retreat from the rail-fence. In vain he passionately besought 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 17 
 
 and sternly commanded his men to make one stand more on Bunker 
 Hill. Finding this impossible, he led them forth to Prospect Hill, ^vhere 
 he intrenched that same day in full sight of the eneniy. There he was 
 still recognized by the central authority as the leader of the host. Im- 
 mediately and repeatedly. General Ward sent him reinforcements from 
 Massachusetts regiments, until he had in a short time not less than four 
 or five thousand men under him, at that impcn-tant point. ^ 
 
 Though compelled to surrender his post, Prescott was an admirable 
 soldier. His only military distinction, previous to the Revolution, had 
 been that he bad served as lieutenant under General Winslow in the 
 conquest of Nova Scotia and had been urged by British officers to accept 
 a commission in the royal army. But this latter he had declined to do. 
 His experience in war had been quite limited. As General Heath, w^ho 
 praised him highly, said, he was "unknown to fame." However merit- 
 orious his conduct as the immediate local commander at the redoubij 
 comparatively little contemporaneous or subsequent mention was made 
 of him in connection with the battle of Bunker Hill. He Avas never pro- 
 moted, but continued for two years to serve in the army, for a part of 
 the time at least under Putnam himself. He then retired to his home 
 in Pepperell, where among old friends and neighbors he was still hon- 
 ored and useful to the end of his days. That such an unknown and 
 inexperienced man should have been singled out for the supreme com- 
 mand of so hazardous an enterprise, when there w^ere on the ground a 
 half dozen or more generals who ranked him, and who were quite as brave 
 and competent and far more trained and distinguished, and that he should 
 have been charged with the responsible trust instead of Putnam, who 
 was not only his superior in office and service both, but who was first to 
 suggest and the most strenuous to urge the movement, is to the last de- 
 gree improbable. 2 
 
 Owing to the secrecy wnth which the original detachment and expe- 
 dition w^ere partially veiled, and to the fact that Warren had been recently 
 'appointed Major General and was actually in the battle, it was for some 
 
 1 stark and his brave New Hampshire men had withdrawn to Winter mil. 
 
 '(;ol. Sanniel Adams Drake, tlie eminent historian, in his admirable pamphlet, entitled. General 
 Israel Putnam, the Commander at Bunker FIUl, says: ''He (Putnam) was a veteran of the arni^ cam- 
 paigns. Beyond question he was the foremost man of that army in embryo which assembled at Cam- 
 bridge after the Battle of Lexington. Not Ward, or Thomas, or Pomoroy, or even the lamented 
 Warren, possessed its coufldence to the degree that Putnam did. Mr. Frothingham truly says he 'had 
 the confidence of the whole army.' Nature formed him for a leader; and men instinctively felt it." 
 And with reference to the Cattle of Charles^towu Heights, he adds: "He alone, showed the genius 
 and grasp of a commander there. In posting his troops, in his orders during the action, and in his A-uit- 
 less endeavor to create a new position on Hunker Hill;" and "in estimating tlie services of General 
 Putnam and Colonel Prescott, from a military view, the former must receive the award as tlie com- 
 manding officer of the field." In connection with this matter of the Bunker Hill controversy, the very 
 able and keen discussion of the subject by Rev. Increase N. Tarbox, D.D., embraced in his Life of 
 General Putnam, also deserves special mention. His argument, like Drake's, seems to us unau« 
 swerable. 
 
18 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 time supposed by many that he, the illustrious patriot-martyr, must have 
 led the American forces. As he came on the ground, Putnam offered 
 him the command, which he refused, not having yet received his com- 
 mission and having come only as a volunteer. He repaired to the re- 
 doubt where Prescott tendered him his own command, but this also he 
 declined. The erroneous impression, as to his supremacy, gradually 
 wore away as the facts became more and more known. Not Prescott, 
 but Putnam, was hailed far and near as the hero of the hour.'/ At home 
 and abroad, toasts were drunk to his honor, and engravings and other 
 pictures of him appeared in American and European cities, represent- 
 ing liim as chief; and as such he i)as3ed into history, as numberless 
 'newspapers, poems, orations, school-books and chroniclers have borne 
 witness. As never before, he was now the idol of the people. Yet it was 
 this "unbounded popularity" and the high promotion that accompanied 
 it, which he never meanly sought for himself or begrudged to othei-s, 
 that inspired with a feeling of envy and jealousy certain military officers 
 whose unfriendly spirit was never wholly repressed or .concealed while 
 yet he lived, but broke forthwith peculiar violence long after his death 
 and when most of those who knew him best and loved him most were in 
 their graves. We shall have occasion to refer to this matter again, at 
 the conclusion of our story. 
 
 What Washington thought of General Putnam and what he probably 
 thought of his action and preeminence in the battle of Bunker Hill, he 
 that runs may read, in the events which it remains to outline. On the 
 2d of July, the "Father of his Country" arrived at Cambridge, as the 
 commander-in-chief of the American Army. He brought with him the 
 commissions for the four distinguished officers who have been mentioned 
 as having been promoted by the Continental Congress to be Major Gen- 
 erals. They occasioned much "dissatisfaction" and "disgust" among 
 those who thought that their own claims to honor had been overlooked. 
 The commissions of Ward, Lee and Schuyler were withheld for a time 
 in consequence. But Putnam's, which alone had received the unani-' 
 mous vote of Congress, was presented at once by Washington's own 
 hand. Some of the offended officers threw up their commissions in the 
 army by reason of tUe fancied slight, but were ere long persuaded to 
 return to the service. 
 
 In the reorganization of the army, which was to carry on the siege 
 of Boston, Washington gave to Putnam the command of the centre, near 
 himself at Cambridge ; to General Ward the command of the right 
 wing at Roxbury and Dorchester ; and to General Lee that of the left 
 wino-, toward the Mystic river. In the autumn Putnam fortified Cobble 
 Hill and Lechmere's Point. In March, 1776, Washington appointed 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 19 
 
 him to head a formitlable force of 4,000 men in an attack on the British 
 lines, but the plan was frustrated by a most violent storm, which pre- 
 vented the boats from landing the troops. During the night of the 16th 
 of the same month. Nook's Hill, a Dorchester height nearest Boston 
 and commanding it, was fortified, and such was the advantage which 
 was thus gained by the ])eleaguering host, that the next morning the enemy 
 evacuated the city, and, boarding their vessels, put to sea. Putnam, 
 with a strong force, immediately entered the town and took possession of 
 all its important posts amidst the exultant shouts and cheers of its long- 
 suffering people. 
 
 Washington, having previously learned that the British meditated an 
 attack on New York, had already sent General Lee thither to construct 
 a system of defences for the protection of that city. These works, after 
 the departure of General Lee for the south, were pushed forward by Lord 
 Stirling, a brigadier in the American army. Under the apprehension 
 that the British fleet, which had sailed from Boston, would soon appear 
 in New York harbor, Washington forwarded his troops with all possible 
 despatch to that point, ordering Putnam to go on and temporarily take 
 the command while he himself was to follow shortly after. Putnam, 
 on the 7th of April, sent Colonel Prescott's Bunker IIIU regiment and 
 otiier parties to take possession of Governor's Island and erect on it a 
 breastwork, and also a regiment to fortify Red Hook on the Long Island 
 shore, directly across the narrow channel, so as to hinder more effect- 
 ually any operations of the enemy's ships in that quarter. The battle 
 of Long Island took place a few months later. In the latter part of 
 June, the British landed in great numbers on Staten Island, and in 
 Auijust crossed over to Lonof Island and advanced towards the American 
 lines that extended across the Brooklyn peninsula from Wallabont Bay 
 to Gowanus Creek. General Sullivan had been in command on that 
 side of the East river, but was now superseded by Putnam, to whom 
 Washington thus again gave proof of his trust and confidence. Putnam 
 retained Sullivan at the centre to guard the passes and fight the Hessians. 
 Both of them accompanied Washington as, having come over from New 
 York for a brief visit, he rode towards evening on the 26th of August 
 down to the outposts and examined the situation of affairs. The fierce 
 eniragement came on duringr the iiextraorninsr, and it was while the two 
 armies were in deadly conflict, that General Clinton, who during the 
 niirht had led a column of 10,000 British soldiers by a long, circuitous 
 and lonely road at the distant left, where be was guided by a few lo- 
 ries, suddenly appeared at the rear of the Americans and overwhelmed 
 them with disaster, Stirlino' who was fiiihtinc: Grant far at the riffht 
 sharing: in the common misfortune. The wonderful retreat to New York 
 
20 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 of Washington and his shattered army amidst the darkness and fog of 
 the succeeding night, is too well known to call for details in this connec- 
 tion. Certain writers, without just warrant, have blamed Putnam for 
 the defeat because he did not anticipate and prevent Clinton's move- 
 ment. The most exact, thorough and impartial, and altogether the 
 best account of the battle, is that of Mr. Henry P. Johnston, as con- 
 tained in his " Campaign of 1776," published in 1878, as Vol. iii of the 
 "Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society." That careful and 
 conscientious writer says that such au accusation against Putnam is "both 
 unjust and unhistorical." . . . "No facts or inferences justify the 
 charge. No one hinted it at the time ; nor did Washington in the least 
 withdraw confidence from Putnam during the remainder of the cam- 
 paign." He adds that the responsibility cannot be fastened upon Put- 
 nam, who had just taken the command, "any more than upon Washington, 
 who, when he left the Brooklyn lines on the evening of the 26th, must 
 have known precisely what dispositions had been made for the night at 
 the hills and passes." He then proceeds to show how the responsi- 
 bility, if it falls on any one, falls on Sullivan, and on Colonel Miles and 
 his regiment, whose duty it was to guard the left. 
 
 In occupying New York after the retreat, Washington assigned to Put- 
 nam the command of the city as far up as Fifteenth street, while Spen- 
 cer and Heath were to guard the island from that point to Harlem and 
 King's Bridge. On the 15th of September, five British frigates appeared 
 and took position in Kip's Bay, on the east side, opening a tremendous 
 fire upon the breast-work and lines of Colonel Douglas with his 300 Con- 
 necticut militia and his battalion of levies. The Colonel's panic-stricken 
 forces fled in all directions, nor could the desperate and almost super- 
 human exertions of Washington and Putnam, who were soon on the 
 ground, avail to stay their flight. Other New England troops quickly 
 joined in the stampede, and from all points the Americans were soon 
 flying in wild disorder towards Harlem Heights, except that General 
 Putnam "was making his way towards New York when all were going 
 from it," his object being to rescue Sullivan's Brigade and some artillery 
 corps that were still in the city and conduct them to the place of safety. 
 This was successfully accomplished, and Col. David Humphreys, who 
 was the earliest biographer of Putnam and who was in the army and saw 
 him frequently during that day, says : "Without his extraordinary exer- 
 tions, the guards must have been inevitably lost and it is probable the 
 entire corps would have been cut in pieces." 
 
 The battle of Harlem Heights took place on the next day, the fugi- 
 tives having been vigorously pursued by the British. The advantage 
 was with the Americans, and General Greene, referring to the engage- 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. ^1 
 
 ment, said that Putnam was "in the action and behaved nobly." In the 
 battle of White Plains, Washington sent Putnam with a detachment to 
 the support of McDougall, but not in season to succor him before his 
 safe retreat. Subsequently he sent him to command 5,000 troops on the 
 west side of the Hudson river, for the protection of Gen. Greene who 
 was there at Fort Lee, and who it was feared might be attacl^ed by the 
 enemy. The speedy capture of Fort Washington on the east side by 
 the British, was the direst calamity to the American cause in all the 
 Revolutionary War. As the commander-in-chief led his wasted army 
 across the Jerseys, hotly pursued by the foe, he sent Putnam forward 
 to take command of Philadelphia which was supposed to be in danger, 
 and construct fortifications for its defence. Colonel Humphreys, who 
 was still with Putnam, gives a glowing account of his herculean labors 
 and <rreat success in this work, attended as it was with manifold obsta- 
 cles °and discouragements. While he was thus engaged, Washmgton 
 crossed the Delaware and soon won his brilliant victories at Trenton and 
 Princeton, which electrified the country and raised the spirits of the 
 tired and dejected army. As the loss of Philadelphia was now no longer 
 feared, Putnam was stationed for the winter at Princeton, whence he 
 made various expediti6ns against foraging parties of the enemy, taking 
 nearly a thousand prisoners, more than 120 baggage wagons and large 
 quantities of provisions and other booty. 
 
 It was now of prime importance to seize and hold the Highlands on the 
 Hudson. In May, 1777, a commission, consisting of Generals Greene, 
 Knox, McDougall, Wayne and George Clinton, Governor of New York, 
 were directed to proceed thither, examine the defences, see what was 
 needed, and report accordingly. This they did, and among the various 
 works which they recommended was an enormous boom or cham across 
 the river at Fort Montgomery, with other obstructions at that point, to 
 bar the ascent of the enemy's ships. Washington gave the command of 
 the region to General Putnam, who fixed his headquarters at Peeks- 
 kill, on the east side of the Hudson, and whose troops were from New 
 York and New England. But on the 12th of June, just as he began to 
 execute the plan of the commission, he was ordered to forward most of 
 his men to Philadelphia which was now again threatened by General 
 Howe. At the same time he was obliged to hold various regiments in 
 readiness to march against Burgoyne, who was expected at any moment 
 to come down from the north. Again and again Washington called upon 
 him for detachments for the Delaware, directing him to reinforce himself 
 by militia recruits from the neighborhood or from Connecticut. What 
 with these many changes, the presence around him of watchful foes, in- 
 cessant marches and countermarches, and the miserable condition of his 
 
22 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 soldiers, so many of whom were new and raw, Putnam's situation was 
 painfully perplexing. Some of his men deserted and others he deemed 
 it advisable to dismiss from the service which they wished to abandon 
 and for which they were unfit. He wrote to Washington, representing 
 to him the danger he apprehended from his weakened condition and say- 
 ing to him that he could not be. held responsible for whatever serious 
 consequences might ensue. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton saw his opportunity. Sailing up the river from 
 New York with three or four thousand troops, he appeared in Tarry- 
 town Bay on the 5th of October, and after much manoeuvering landed 
 his forces at Verplanck's Point, just below Peekskill, transferred a large 
 body of his men to the west side, and filed them off amidst a dense fog 
 behind the high banks until they reached the rear of Forts Montgomer}' 
 and Clinton, whence they stormed these strongholds which soon fell into 
 their possession, though the commission of generals in their report had 
 declared them to be inaccessible from that quarter, owing to the very 
 mountainous character of the region. The river was now open to the 
 enemy, who at once proceeded to ravage the country. Putnam, with the 
 advice of a council of officers, removed his headquarters to Fishkill, a 
 few miles north of Peekskill, for the safety of^ his little army. The 
 immediate commander of Fort Montgomery was Governor Clinton, who, 
 as danger was imminent, had been summoned from the legislature at 
 Kingsbury by Putnam and was urged to bring a body of militia with 
 him. Here, also, Putnam was subsequently blamed for the defeat, but 
 Clinton nobly demanded that the censure should fall on himself and not 
 on others, and a later court of inquiry decided that the disaster was due 
 to a lack of men and not to the neglect or incompetency of those who 
 were in command. Says Washington Irving : "The defences of the High- 
 lands on which the security of the Hudson depended, were at this time 
 weakly garrisoned, some of the troops having been sent off to reinforce 
 the armies on the Delaware and in the north." 
 
 Sir Henry returned to New York and Putnam reoccupied Peekskill 
 and the neighboring passes. The latter shortly wrote to Washington, 
 announcing to him the sad intelligence of his wife's death, but with it, 
 also, the glorious news of the surrender of Burgoyne. Five thousand 
 men now came to Putnam from the northern army. Washington had 
 previously suggested to him a descent upon New York and he now rec- 
 ommended it again, but afterward, hearing that Sir Henry was in New 
 York and fearing he might join General Howe, he despatched Alexan- 
 der Hamilton to Putnam at Peekskill and to General Gates at Albany, 
 with orders to them to forward large bodies of troops to the vicinity of 
 Philadelphia, the British being in possession of that city. Putnam de- 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 23 
 
 liiycd compliance with Hamilton's instructions, being perhaps too intent 
 on the long-meditated attack upon New York. The youthful martinet, 
 scarcely out of his teens, wrote a bitter letter to Washington in conse- 
 quence and also an insolent one to the old scarred veteran himself, who 
 very properly sent the missive he had received to the commander-in- 
 chief, alleging that it contained "unjust and ungenerous reflections," men- 
 tioning some of the reasons for the delay, and saying, "I am conscious 
 of having done everything in my power to succor you as soon as possi- 
 ble." But the order had been a peremptory one, and Washington for 
 the first and only time in his life reprimanded his old, trusted compan- 
 ion-in-arms, even as he once reprimanded Hamilton himself for an act of 
 tardiness by saying to him, "You must change your watch, or I must 
 change my aid." Putnam was now unpopular in New York. The peo- 
 ple of the state Vere strongly prejudiced against New Englanders, and 
 the feeling had notably manifested itself at the time of the "cowardly'' 
 and " disgraceful" flight of Connecticut and Massachusetts soldiers at 
 Kip's Bay, while it was but natural that this dislike should be warmly 
 reciprocated. "Yorkers" and "Yankees" were epithets which were 
 freely bandied between the two parties. Hamilton and other leading 
 men of his state wanted their Governor to be placed in command. Many 
 of them held Putnam responsible for all the misfortunes on the Hudson, 
 accused him of being too lenient with the tories in the neighborhood, 
 and were unwilling to support the cause of their country so long as he 
 retained his position. Colonel Humphreys, whose testimony here is very 
 significant, avers that the chief cause of the animosity in question is to be 
 referred to Putnam's determined opposition to the dishonesty and selfish 
 greed of influential men who were charged with the care of the seques- 
 trated property of tory families. But it seemed to Washington all-im- 
 portant to hold the state of New York to the support of the army and 
 the government, and this was the only reason he presented for the 
 change, when, some months after Hamilton's mission to Albany and 
 Peekskill, he gave the command to General McDougall. As we shall 
 see, Washington still regarded Putnam with unabated friendship and 
 afiection, and still honored him with high trusts. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the latter part of the year 1777, Putnam had set on foot 
 several expeditious which were more or less successful. During the 
 winter he was at the Highlands, Avhence he wrote to Washington, who 
 was with his suffering army at Valley Forge ; — "Dubois' regiment is 
 unfit to be ordered on duty, there being not one blanket in the regiment ; 
 very few have either a shoe or a shirt, and most of them have neither 
 stockings, breeches nor overalls." In company with Governor Clinton 
 and others, he selected West Point as the site of the chief fortress, and 
 
24 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 began vigorously to put the defences of the Hudson on a respectable 
 footing. About this time he made a visit to Pomfret to attend to his 
 private affairs. After his return and his removal from the command 
 of the Highlands, he again went to Connecticut, in obedience to orders, 
 to hasten on the new levies of militia from that state for the coming: cam- 
 paign. Subsequent to the battle of Monmouth, we find him in charge 
 of the right wing of the army, in place of General Lee who was under 
 arrest. In the early autumn of 1778, he was again in the neighborhood 
 of AVest Point for the defence of the North river. In the winter he was 
 posted at Danbury with three brigades, to protect the country lying 
 along the Sound, to cover the magazines on the Connecticut river, and 
 to reinforce the Highlands in case of need. It was while he was here, 
 that he very successfully quelled a serious mutiny that arose among 
 some of the troops who had endured much hardship and received no 
 pay, and who were preparing to march in a body to Hartford and de- 
 mand redress fiom the General Assembly at the point of the bayonet. 
 It was in this region, also, that he posted himself with 150 men on the 
 brow of a high, steep eminence at Greenwich, or Horse Neck, and, as 
 General Tryon advanced towards him with ten times the force, dashed 
 on his steed down the precipice to the amazement of his pursuers and 
 escaped unharmed, bidding his little company to secure their own safety 
 by retiring to a neighboring swamp which was inaccessible to cavalry. 
 He immediately collected a party of militia, joined with them his original 
 handful, and hung on the rear of Tiyon in his retreat, taking forty or 
 fifty of his men as prisoners. These he treated with so much kindness 
 that Tryon, as the biographers tell us, addressed to him a handsome note 
 in acknowledgment, accompanied with a present of a complete suit of 
 clothes, though it does not appear that there was any attempt again to 
 supersede the General for such manifest and highly appreciated "aid and 
 comfort" to the enemy ! 
 
 General Putnam's military career was now hastening to its close. In the 
 spring of 1779, Sir Henry Clinton was preparing for a campaign up the 
 North river. Late in May, Washington moved his army towards 
 the Highlands from Middlebrook. Putnam crossed the river and joined 
 the main body in the Clove, one of the deep defiles, where in the latter 
 part of June he was left in immediate command, while Washington took 
 up his headquarters at New Windsor, and then, about a month later 
 or a few days after the brilliant capture of Stony Point by Wajaie, at 
 West Point. Putnam's post was at Buttermilk Falls, two miles below. 
 As if it was determined by his great chief, that he should not be sac- 
 rificed to the enmity of his foes, he was here given the command of the 
 right wing of the army, having under him troops from Pennsylvania, 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 25 
 
 Maryland and Virginia. It was from July to December, of tliis year, 
 that the most important worlcs at AVest Point and in its vicinity were 
 chiefly constructed. One of his biographers says ; "Experienced in this 
 department, he took an active and efficient part in completing the forti- 
 fioiitions which had been laid out under his own eye and the site for which 
 had been selected throufjh his aijencv. He had the honor of jrivinj; his 
 own name to the principal fort." Sir Henry contented himself with 
 depredations in other quarters. 
 
 While the army Avas in winter quarters, Putnam again visited his 
 family in Pomfret. On returning to the camp, he was attacked with 
 paralysis, which seriously aflfected the use of his limbs on one side and 
 which obliged him to retrace his steps and pass the remainder of his days 
 at home. He had strong hopes that he might yet be well enough to 
 join once more his comrades and engage in active service, but this was 
 not to be. Yet he lived for ten years more, was able to take a moderate 
 amount of exercise in walking and riding, retained full possession of his 
 mental fticulties, was an object of great interest and veneration on the 
 part of his neighbors and the people generally, was fond of relating 
 stories of the wars in which he had been engaged to groups of young 
 and old who were wont to gather around him, and was quick and eager to 
 learn all he could about the campaigns in which he could not now par- 
 ticipate and ihe affairs of the country he could no longer serve. When 
 n 1783 the Treaty of Peace had been concluded between England and 
 America and the cause he loved had gloriously triumphed, he sent his 
 congratulations to -Washington, from whom he received in reply a beau- 
 tiful and touching letter, full of grateful recollections and of the old 
 undying friendship. 
 
 "In 1786," says the letter of Hon. Samuel Putnam from which we 
 have already twice quoted, "he rode on horseback from Brooklyn to 
 Danvers and paid his last visit to his friends there. On his way home, 
 he stopped at Cambridge at the college, where tho governor of the col- 
 lege paid him much attention. It was in my junior year ; he came into 
 my room. His speech was much affected by palsy." 
 
 In the month of May, 1790, he was violently attacked with an inflam- 
 matory disease, which from the first he was satisfied would prove mor- 
 tal. It was of short duration, continuing but a few days. On the 
 29th he passed to his rest, "calm, resigned, and full of cheerful hope." 
 And the narrator adds : "The grenadiers of the 11th Regiment, the In- 
 dependent Corps of Artillerists and the militia companies in the neigh- 
 borhood, assembled each at their appointed rendezvous early on the 
 morning of June 1st, and having repaired to the late dwelling house of 
 the deceased, a suitable escort was formed, attended by a procession of 
 
26 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 Masonic brethren present and a large concourse 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 
 earthly of a patriot and hero was laid in the silent tomb, under the dis- 
 charge of volleys from the infantry, and minute guns from the artillery." 
 INIr. Whitney's funeral sermon, afterward published, dwelt touchingly 
 upon the exalted virtues and merit of his departed parishioner whom 
 he had known intimately for many years, rendering the highest testimony 
 to his character as a Christian man, as an ardent lover and noble defen- 
 der of his country, and as a most faithful, excellent and beloved citizen, 
 husband, father and friend. In due time a monument was erected over 
 his grave, bearing an epitaph which was written by the celebrated Rev. 
 Timothy Dwight, D.D., President of Yale College, who also knew him 
 well, and whose marble inscription states that "he dared to lead where 
 any dared to follow," that his "generosity was singular and his honesty 
 was proverbial," and that "he raised himself to universal esteem, and 
 offices of emitient distinction, by personal worth and a useful life." 
 
 In 1818, long years after the old warrior had sunk to his rest and a 
 grateful country had recorded his name high on the roll of her noblest de- 
 fenders, the malignant feeling which has been adverted to on a previous 
 page and which had all the while lain smothered and rankling in the 
 l)reasts of a few surviving officers of the Revolution, at leng'th found 
 vent in a published "Account of the Battle of Bunker Hill," by Gen- 
 eral Henry Dearborn. It denied to Putnam, not only the command, but 
 also any active participation in that engagement ; represented him as 
 cowardly, unfaithful, and base in his conduct on the occasion ; and other- 
 wise sought to blacken his memory. The public was stung to indigna- 
 tion and rage. The press denounced the calumny and its author. 
 Notable men came forward to voice the righteous anger of the people, 
 and confute the statements and allegations of the accuser. Col. Daniel 
 Putnam, the able and highly esteemed sou of the departed veteran, 
 whom we have seen with his father at the plow in Pomfret, on the 
 arrival of the news from Lexington, April 20, 1775, wrote and pub- 
 lished an eloquent and triumphant answer, of which, with another letter 
 from the same source, John Adams said ; "Neither myself nor my family 
 have been able to read either with dry eyes ;" they "would do honor to 
 the pen of Pliny." Other distinguished sons of Connecticut, like Thomas 
 Grosvenor and John Trumbull, confirmed the manly and telling reply 
 with their weighty words. Hon. John Lowell, of Boston, gave to the 
 press a series of trenchant articles in which he exposed the envious and 
 vindictive spirit of the attack and effectually riddled the attempted falsi- 
 fication of history. Daniel Webster appeared on the scene and in his 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 27 
 
 own masterful way vindicated the character of the slandered dead. Col. 
 Samuel Swett issued his fresh and full account of the battle already 
 mentioned, in which he set forth, in detail, the patriotic and heroic part 
 which Putnam had taken in it, as the chief of the contending provincial 
 forces. Aged soldiers, who were perhaps supposed to have also passed 
 away, but who were still lingerers on the stage in many a section of New 
 England, rose on every side as from their graves, to testify anew their 
 love and loyalty to their lamented leader, and to stamp as false histradu- 
 cer's charges and declarations. And the state of Massachusetts had not 
 long to wait for an opportunity to set its formal and final seal to the just 
 and general verdict. 
 
 Yet Dearborn was not alone in his bitterness at" what he repeatedly and 
 ruefully refers to as the "extraordinary popularity," the "universal popu- 
 larity," or the "ephemeral and unaccountable popularity" of Putnam ; 
 nor was he alone responsible for the groundless and wicked aspersions 
 which he made. The substance of these first appeared, as early as the 
 year 1810, in a sketch of General Stark, published in a New Hampshire 
 paper which was not less hostile to Putnam than it was favorable to the 
 "hero of Beiniington," the editor's personal friend. Stark, who was an" 
 able officer and a very brave man in battle, was the reputed author or 
 source of the accusations. He was a person of strong passions and preju- 
 dices, was sensitive to slights and had on several occasions during his 
 military career thrown up his command when he had thought that his 
 own claims to preferment had been overlooked, or when others had been 
 promoted and he had not. He was one of those who had been made 
 unhappy by Putnam's high honors and great popularity ; and the annoy- 
 ance yras not a little intensified by the circumstance that he had been 
 worsted in a court trial, at which a case of Putnam's interference with 
 certain irregularities among the New Hampshire troops was brought 
 forward for examination and decision. The enmity seems never to have 
 died out. It was shared not only by Dearborn, who was a captain in 
 Stark's regiment at Bunker Hill, but also by Major Caleb Stark, the 
 colonel's or general's son. One of these, at least, was at length busy in 
 seeking supports for their strange story of the battle and in privately 
 disseminating it abroad as he found opportunity. During the 3'ear 
 following the great event, Stark, the father, appears to have given his 
 version of it to the infamous General James Wilkinson. "When, in 
 1815, the latter was preparing for publication what McMaster, in his new 
 History of the people of theUnited /States, justly describes as his "three 
 ponderous volumes of memoirs, as false as any yet written by man," — 
 he wrote to Major Stark for fuller information about the occurrences of 
 June 17, 1775, asking him for aid in procuring subscriptions for his work. 
 
28 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 and informing him of his desire or purpose to correct certain prevalent 
 misconceptions concerning matters of Revolutionary history ! He had 
 already heard from Dearborn. 
 
 The bait took. The major was pleased, sent him some things that he 
 wanted, referred him to Dearborn for more, and wished him abundant 
 success in his literary enterprise. And then it was, that Wilkinson em- 
 braced in his "false" and "ponderous" volumes an account of the battle 
 as wiitten by himself, and as based upon the testimony of this little 
 coterie of Putnam's enemies. It is with reference to these memoirs, 
 published in 1816, that Richard Frothingham himself says, in his Siege 
 of Boston; "This work contains the earliest reflections on General Put- 
 nam's conduct on this occasion, either printed or in manuscript, that 
 I have met." The historian had not seen the New Hampshire paper of 
 1810. Its detraction had died an early death. Wilkinson's renewal of 
 it, six years later, also produced no particular efiect on the public mind. 
 It was left to Dearborn to stir it into life again, and it was only when one 
 who had creditably filled so many prominent positions as he had held, 
 dragged it forth once more, two years later yet, for wider notice, charged 
 with a still more venomous spirit, that it received any general attention, 
 or that it was deemed worth the while to brand it as it deserved. And 
 now it remains to be added, that it is just these perversions and falsifi- 
 cations of the truth, which were prompted by such unworthy motives 
 and had such ignoble beginnings, and which were then brought forward in 
 their more amplified and ofiensive form forty-three years after the battle 
 of Bunker Hill and more than a quarter of a century after General Put- 
 nam and the vast majority of his contemporaries had passed from earth, 
 but only a few months after the death of Colonel Humphreys, his old 
 personal friend, his intimate companion in war, and up to the time of 
 this juncture his sole biographer — a circumstance, of which Mr. W^eb- 
 ster makes mention — that, in lack of better material, were seized upon 
 by partisans of Prescott as props for their new theory of his supreme 
 command on the ever memorable day. Whoever will read attentively 
 what these friends and eulogists of the Pepperell soldier have written 
 about the battle cannot fail to see what eager and extensive use they 
 have made of the discredited testimony, and with what painstaking and 
 disingenuous skill they have woven it into their narratives for the end 
 in view. Certain Stark men, of New Hampshire, in their antipathy to 
 Putnam, feel that they can safely enough extol Prescott, his suppositi- 
 tious rival, while yet they labor to lift to proud preeminence their own 
 hero and essay to remove the one fatal obstacle by alleging that the 
 army in the field, as a whole, was without an actual and responsible 
 tead. The Prescott men regard the latter contention with compla- 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 2d 
 
 cency, so long as their own favorite is exalted, and common cause is 
 made against Pntnam. Whatever jealousy exists between the two 
 parties is held in abeyance, as both alike are made to realize that there 
 is another commander whose claims are paramount to those of either 
 Stark or Prescott, and whom it is for the interest of both parties to dis- 
 parajre, to ignore and to get rid of. Hence their constant and studied 
 endeavor, while they may not still ventiu*e the more Ijrutal defama- 
 tions that were found to be so unprofitable in earlier years of the cen- 
 tury, to minimize as much as possible Putnam's best action or service ; 
 to magnify and give credence to idle things that have been said to his 
 prejudice ; to conceal or weaken the force of the evidence that goes to 
 establish his supremacy ; and, as in some recent instances, to leave him 
 out of sight altogether, not even his name being mentioned, as if he had 
 no part or lot in the matter. And this is the way that some men write 
 history. A late cycloramic representation of the battle, following such 
 authorities, made Prescott and the redoubt at the extreme right of the 
 lines the only real object of attention or interest, had nothing to show 
 of the tremendous conflict at the rail-fence, and Dearborn-like placed 
 Putnam far in the safe background, quietly sitting on his horse, and ap- 
 parently engaged in conversation with a bystander and unconcerned" 
 about what was jjoins: on in full view before him. 
 
 But General Putnam, however he has himself been maligned or 
 wronged, never by word or act betrayed any such feeling of jealousy, 
 hatred, or revenge towards others. He was swift and severe to upbraid 
 and chastise those who were cravens or skulkers in the hour of imminent 
 peril. But the records furnish no proof that he ever regarded with even 
 the slightest envy or rancor any of his comrades. He never sought to 
 undermine the good reputation or the fair fame of those who deserved 
 well of their country. He was not troubled at their popularity or pro- 
 motions, and as little did he seek by unworthy means or with a selfish 
 spirit his own advantage or distinction. The honors and the praise 
 that came to him were the free, unbought and spontaneous gifts of the 
 state, the government and the people, whom he so gallantly served, 
 and to whom he so gladly devoted the strength of his earlier and later 
 years. He was as kind as he was generous, and he was as brave as he 
 was magnanimous. Foremost in the strife, he Avas also last at the post 
 of danger when others fled the scene. He knew how to spare a fallen 
 foe, and he knew as well how to be loyal and true to his friends. He 
 wore no masks, but was frank, open and honest, and as transparent as the 
 day. His was no dark, sinister, tricky or deceitful nature ; and Presi- 
 dent Dwight most truthfully said of him ; — "His word was regarded as 
 an ample security for anything for which it was pledged, and his up- 
 rightness commanded absolute confidence." 
 
 \ 
 
30 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 He was not without his faults, defects, or mistakes. Neither were 
 any of his contemporaries, however great or good. If, like others, he 
 was bluff and unlettered, it may be remembered that he had but few 
 early school or social advantages, and that very much of his maturer 
 life was spent on the frontiers or in the camp. If his words lacked pol- 
 ish or refinement, they were, at least, clear and vigorous and to the 
 j)oint.i 
 
 If he was not one of the great commanders or strategists, yet was he 
 a bold and fiery leader and iuspirer of men, whose rare natural genius 
 and aptitudes for military service were everywhere recognized and 
 always called into requisition, and whose more daring, and dashing kind 
 of warfare was often quite as necessary and useful as the faculty which 
 he may not have so fully possessed for arranging complicated plans and 
 combining numerous forces for a more extensive scene of operaticms. 
 Washington said of him, that he was "a most valuable man and a fine 
 executive ofiicer,"and it has been seen how frequently and how continu- 
 ously he assigned to him the most important trusts he had at his dis- 
 posal, until the growing infirmities of age unfitted him for the burden. 
 Against all attempts of smaller men, who did not know him, or have 
 not learned who or what he was, to write him down by belittling his 
 capacity or his patriotism, we place that simple and sufiicing testimony 
 of one who knew him long and well, who was "first in war, first in 
 peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," and whose judgment 
 may perhaps be not unreasonably preferred to that of the critics and 
 censors of a later time. 
 
 Like so many of the military officers of his day, Putnam, it is said, 
 often indulged in profane language. If he did, he had the manliness 
 and grace openly to confess and renounce his sin and express his sorrow 
 for it, thereby giving to all who villif}', as well as all who blaspheme, a 
 good example which they may well follow. Whatever forbidden word 
 he may have made use of under the sway of vehement passion, and 
 amidst the heat and stress of battle, few men were at heart more rev- 
 erent of God and sacred things than was he. 
 
 A distinguished grandson of the General, Judge Judah Dana, who 
 was formerly United States Senator from Maine, wrote the following de- 
 scription of the subject of our sketch : 
 
 1 We copy, by way of illustration, the characteristic letter which General Putnam wrote to Sir 
 Henry Clinton in reply to an insolent and threatening message sent him by that British conimander 
 under a tiag of truce, demanding the release and.return of a tory spy who had been caught in the 
 American camp. Jt runs as follows : 
 
 " Headquarters, 7 August, 1777. 
 
 " Sir: Edmund Palmer, an officer in the Enemy's service, was taken as a spy, lurking within our 
 lines. He has been tried as a spy, condemned as a spy, and shall be executed as a spy, and the flag 
 is ordered to depart immediately. 
 
 "Israel, Putnam. 
 
 'P. S.— He has been accordingly hanged." 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 31 
 
 "In his person, for height about the middle size, very ferect, thick-set, muscular and 
 firm in every part. His countenance was open, strong, and animated ; the features of 
 his face large, well proportioned to each other and to his whole frame; his teeth fair 
 and sound till death. His organs and senses were all exactly fitted for a warrior ; he 
 heard quickly, saw to an immense distance, and though he sometimes stammered in 
 coiTversation, his voice was remarkably heavy, strong and commanding. Though 
 facetious and dispassionate in private, when animated in the heat of battle his counte- 
 nance was fierce and terrible, and his voice like thunder. His whole manner was admira- 
 bly adapted to inspire his soldiers with courage and confidence, and his enemies with 
 terror. The faculties of his mind were not inferior to those of his body; his penetra- 
 tion was acute; decision rapid, yet remarkably correct; and the more desperate the 
 situation, the more collected and undaunted. With the courage of & lion, he had a heart 
 that melted at the sight of distress ; he could never witness sufi"eriug in any human be- 
 ing without becoming a sufi'erer himself. Martial music roused him to the highest 
 pitch, while solemn sacred music sent him into tears. In his disposition he was open 
 and generous almost to a fault, and in his social relations he was never excelled." 
 
 Of the many other just and eloquent tributes which eminent Ameri- 
 cans have paid to General Putnam's memory, the following from Wash- 
 ington Irving may fitly conclude our story : 
 
 "A yeoman warrior, fresh from the plough, in the garb of rural labor; a patriot 
 brave and generous, but rough and ready, who thought not of himself in time of dan- 
 ger, but was ready to serve in any way, and to sacrifice official rank and self-glorifica- 
 tion to the good of the cause. He was eminently a soldier for the occasion. His name" 
 has long been a favorite one with young and old, one of the talismanic names of the 
 Kevolution, the very mention of which is like the sound of a trumpet. Such names 
 are the precious jewels of our history, to be garnered up among the treasures of the 
 nation, and kept immaculate from the tarnishing breath of the cynic and the doubter." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 GENERAL PUTNAM AND HIS TROOPS ON PROSPECT HILL. 
 
 The following is taken from the Salem Begister, of August 14, 1875. (See in con- 
 nection, page 17 of the sketch. Also Am. Archives, 4th series, vol. ii, p. 1687.) 
 
 "Major-General Putnam, one hundred years ago on the 21st of July, had aU the Con- 
 tinental troops under his command assembled on Prospect Hill, near Cambridge, Mass., 
 and had the declaration by the Continental Congress, setting forth the causes and 
 necessity of taking up arms, read to them, and the Connecticut flag unfurled. The 
 Salem Gazette reprinted quite recently, from its old flies, this account of the aQ"air : 
 
 'Last Tuesday morning, according to orders issued the day before by Major-Gen. 
 Putnam, all the Continental troops under his immediate command assembled on Pros- 
 pect Hill, when the Declaration of the Continental Congress was read, after Avhich an 
 animated and pathetic address to the army was made by the Rev. Mr. Leonard, Chap- 
 lain to General Putnam's regiment, and succeeded by a pertinent prayer ; when General 
 Putnam gave the signal, and the whole army shouted their loud Amen by three cheers ; 
 immediately upon Avhich a cannon was fired from the fort, and the standard lately sent 
 to General Putnam was exhibited flourishing in the air, bearing on one side this motto, 
 "An Appeal to Heaven;" and on the other side, "Qui Transtulit Sustinet." The whole 
 was conducted with the utmost decency, good order and regularity, and to the univer- 
 sal acceptance of all present, and the Philistines on Bvinker Hill heard the shout of the 
 Israelites, and being very fearful, paraded themselves in battle array.' " 
 
 Says Samuel Adams Drake, in his Old Landmarks of Middlesex: "On New Year's 
 Day, 1776, the Union Flag, bearing thirteen stripes, was hoisted at Prospect Hill, and 
 saluted with thirteen guns. This was the birthday of the new Continental Army of 
 undying fame. Now, for the first time, the thirteen united Colonies had a common 
 
 BATTERY ON WINTER HILL. 
 
 In connection with the footnote statement, on page 106, that, after the Battle of 
 Bunker Hill, General Stark and his brave ]Sew Hampsftire men letired to Winter Hill, 
 the following wall inscription at the recently erected battery on the latter summit, 
 now within the limits of Somerville, may appropriately be copied here. 
 
 "THIS BATIERY 
 was erected by the City in 1885 and is within the lines of the 
 
 FRENCH REDOUBT 
 
 which was thrown up by the American troops under General Israel Putnam, immed- 
 iately after the Battle of Bunker Hill, and later became a part of the besieging lines of 
 Boston in 1775-6. 
 The guns were donated by Congress, and were in service during the civil war. 
 
 Erected, 1890," 
 
 DATES OF GEN. ISRAEL PUTNAJU'S DEATH AND BURIAL. 
 
 In many of the biographical accounts of General Putnam, a strange error as to the 
 dates of his death and burial has been perpetuated for three quarters of a century. 
 ^The first sketch of the life of the old hero, written by his friend and comrade, Col. 
 
 (32) 
 
APPENDIX. 33 
 
 David Humphreys, and published in 1788, made no mention of his demise, for the very 
 good reason that he was still living at that time and still survived until 1790. A neAV 
 edition of the biography was puWished in 1818, with an Appendix containing a some- 
 what extended account of the battle of Bunker Hill by Col. Samuel Swett. But im- 
 mediately appended to the earlier part of the contents of the book were a few pages, 
 narrating the circumstances of the veteran's final departure and of his funeral obse- 
 quFes, and giving also the address which was delivered at his grave by Dr. Albigence 
 AValdo and a full copy of the epitaph which had been written by President Dwight and 
 inscribed on his tomb. It is evident that the account of the death and burial, as thus 
 published in 1818, was not written by Colonel Humphreys, as he himself died early in 
 that year, and as he was too familiar with the whole story of his old commander to make 
 the mistakes which seem to have had here their origin. Who it was that blundered, 
 we do not know. He records that the General was taken violently ill on the 17th of 
 May, 1790, died on the 19th, and was buried on the 21st. Both of the last dates are wrong, 
 however it may be with regard to the first. The copied epitaph also incorrectly gives 
 the day of his death, as the 19th, and this error, thus made and repeated iu the volume 
 referred to, has crept thence into nearly if not quite all the fuller biographical accounts 
 and also into many of the briefer sketches, which have since appeared. 
 
 It would seem thai; the hand that copied the monument inscription must have made 
 the original mistake, writing the 19th for the 29th, as the marble slab says the latter, 
 not the former. Whoever concluded Col. Humphrey's narrative may have followed 
 the copyist in the epitaph as taken for his pages. Subsequent writers would find it 
 much more convenient to turn for facts to the well known and extensively circulated 
 book than to repair to the cemetery record, or even to consult the small pamphlet which 
 contains the funeral discourse by Rev. Mr. Whitney, and which had been priuted,_ 
 doubtless in a limited edition, twenty-eight years before Humphrey and Swett appeared 
 together, for Whitney as well as Dwight is correct in regard to this particular date. 
 But once the erroneous date of the 19th having been accepted, the day of the funeral, 
 as being the 21st, may have been purely a conjecture. 
 
 The Danvers Historical Society, in its commemoration of the one hundredth anni- 
 versary of the death of General Putnam, followed the biographers and other authori- 
 ties, no one at the time, among all those who participated in the occasion, or kncAV 
 about it, calling the day of observance in question. Shortly afterward the president 
 of the society received a letter from Rev. Judah Dana of Rutland, Vt., a great grand- 
 son of the hero, saying that the 29th, and not the 19th, was the real anniversary; as 
 evidenced by his copy of Mr. Whitney's now very rare pamphlet — a treasure which a 
 little later he donated to that institution. A subsequent photogravure impression of 
 the marble slab, as contained in the published proceedings at 'the dedication of the 
 recently erected equestrian statue of General Putnam at Brooklyn, Conn., confirmed 
 the statement. It could hardly be that Whitney and Dwight both Avere at fault. Yet 
 to settle the question for my own mind, I have examined the files of old pnpers for 
 the year 1790, in the New England Historical Genealogical Society collections, and have 
 there found in the Iiide2)endence Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, of June 10, 1790, the 
 following account, which, taken in connection with the two authorities just mentioned, 
 sufficiently shows that the great majority of later writers have copied one from another 
 without applying to the true and original sources of information. In quoting, for my 
 o-wn sketch of Putnam, a passage relating to the death and funeral from the unknown 
 hand that finished Humphrey's story, I have simply changed the dates, in conformity 
 to this early record, which may be of interest to those who have read the foregoing 
 pages. 
 
 "major-general PUTNAM. 
 
 "Brooklyn, Conn., June 3, 1790. Saturday last died here, after a short illness, in the 
 73d year of his age, that celebrated hero, patriot, and piiilanthropist, iskakl pl'TXam, 
 
34 APPENDIX. 
 
 Esq., Major-General in the late Continental army. He enjoyed his reason to the last 
 moments of his life, and with remarkable cheerfulness and solid satisfaction, left this 
 for the everlasting rewards of a better and more glorioiis country, and on Tuesday his 
 funeral was attended by the largest and most respectable collection of the inhabitants 
 ever known here on a like occasion. 
 
 "After a well adapted sermon vpas delivered by the Rev. Josiah Whitney, the pro- 
 cession moved to the burying ground, in the following order : 
 
 Company of Grenadiers, 
 
 Militia of the town, with keversed arms, 
 
 Music, 
 
 Company of Artillery, 
 
 Free Masons in the badges of their order. 
 
 Bearers < The Corpse > Bearers, 
 
 Mourners, 
 
 The Clergy, 
 
 The church of Brooklyn, 
 
 Military officers. 
 
 Inhabitants. 
 
 "When the procession had arrived at the burying ground, the troops opening to the 
 right and left, the Masons passed onto the grave — and after performing their accus- 
 tomed ancient ceremonies, and pronouncing a short eulogium on the character of the 
 deceased, the Grenadiers advanced, and fired three platoons, which was succeeded by 
 a discharge from the artillery. The whole was concluded with that order and decorum, 
 which the love and respect of the inhabitants inspired." 
 
 Dr. Albigence Waldo's eulogium, above referred to, was published in the Independent 
 Chronicle of June 2i, 1790, two weeks later, and was taken from Thomas' Massachusetts 
 Spy. 
 
 Consulting an old almanac, for the year 1790, I find that "June 3," the date of the 
 communication to the Chronicle, was Thursday. "Saturday last", the day of departure, 
 must therefore have been May 29th, and accordingly "Tuesday," the day of the funeral, 
 must have been June 1st, as stated in my sketcli. A. P. P. 
 
/ 
 
L ZC9 669 XI0 
 
 ssaaDNOO jo Aawaan 
 
^