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 Major General Putnam.
 
 
 AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 ISRAEL PUTNAM, 
 
 MAJOR-GEXERALIN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 
 
 Illustrated icith Plates, from original designs. 
 
 BY COLONEL DAVID HUMPHREYS. 
 
 Aitl-de-camp to General Washington, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the 
 Spanish Court. 
 
 BATTLE OP BUNKER HILL 
 
 HARTFORD: 
 
 SILAS ANDRUS AND SON, 
 
 1847.
 
 Entered, according to ihe Act of Congress, m the year 1833, 
 by EZBA STRONG, in the Clerk's jffice of the District Court of 
 " e Southern District of New York. 
 
 !,y 
 ill.
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OP 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 ISRAEL PUTNAM, who, through a regular 
 gradation of promotion, became the senior Ma- 
 jor-General in the army of the United States, 
 and next in rank to General Washington, was 
 born at Salem, Massachusetts, on the 7th day 
 of January, 1718. His father, Captain Joseph 
 Putnam, was the son of Mr. John Putnam, 
 who, with two brothers, came from the south 
 of England, and were among the first settlers 
 of Salem. 
 
 When we thus behold a person, from the 
 humble walks of life, starting unnoticed in the 
 career of fame, and, by an undeviating progress 
 through a life of honour, arriving at the highest 
 dignity in the state, curiosity is strongly ex- 
 cited, and philosophy loves to trace the path of 
 glory from the cradle of obscurity to the sum- 
 mit of elevation. 
 
 Although our ancestors, the first settlers of 
 this land, amidst the extreme pressure of po-
 
 4 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 verty and danger, early instituted schools for 
 the education of youth designed for the learned 
 professions, yet it was thought sufficient to in- 
 struct those destined to labour on the earth, in 
 reading, writing, and such rudiments of arith- 
 metic as might be requisite for keeping the ac- 
 counts of their little transactions with each 
 other. Few farmers' sons had more advan- 
 tages, none less. In this state of mediocrity it 
 was the lot of young Putnam to be placed. His 
 early instruction was not considerable, and the 
 active scenes of life in which he was afterwards 
 engaged, prevented the opportunity of great 
 literary improvement. His numerous original 
 letters, though deficient in scholastic accuracy, 
 always display the goodness of his heart, and 
 frequently the strength of his native genius. 
 He had a certain laconic mode of expression, 
 and an unaffected epigrammatic turn, which 
 characterized most of his writings. 
 
 To compensate partially for the deficiency 
 of education, though nothing can remove or 
 counterbalance the inconveniences experienced 
 from it in public life, he derived from his pa- 
 rents the source of innumerable advantages in 
 the stamina of a vigorous constitution. Nature, 
 liberal in bestowing: on him bodily strength, 
 hardiness, and activity, was by no means par- 
 simonious in mental endowments. While we 
 leave the qualities of the understanding to be 
 developed in the process of life, it may not be 
 improper, in this place, to designate some of tho
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 5 
 
 circumstances which were calculated to distin- 
 guish him afterwards as a partisan officer. 
 
 Courage, enterprise, activity, and perseve- 
 rance, were the first characteristics of his mind. 
 There is a kind of mechanical courage, the 
 offspring of pride, habit, or discipline, that may 
 push a coward not only to perform his duty, 
 but even to venture on acts of heroism. Put- 
 nam's courage was of a different species. It 
 was ever attended with a serenity of soul, a 
 clearness of conception, a degree of self-posses- 
 sion, and a superiority to all the vicissitudes of 
 fortune, entirely distinct from any thing that 
 can be produced by the ferment of blood, and 
 flutter of spirits, which not unfrequently pre- 
 cipitate men to action, when stimulated by in- 
 toxication or some other transient exhilaration. 
 The heroic character, thus founded on consti- 
 tution and animal spirits, cherished by educa- 
 tion and ideas of personal freedom, confirmed 
 by temperance and habits of exercise, was com- 
 pleted by the dictate of reason, the love of his 
 country, andt an invincible sense of duty. Such 
 were the qualities and principles that enabled 
 him to meet unappalled the shafts of adversity, 
 and to pass in triumph through the furnace of 
 affliction. 
 
 His disposition was as frank and generous as 
 his mind was fearless and independent. He 
 disguised nothing; indeed he seemed incapable 
 of disguise. Perhaps in the intercourse he was 
 ultimately obliged to have with an artful world,
 
 6 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 PUTNAM CHASTISING A 
 
 his sincerity, on some occasions, outwent his 
 discretion. Although he had too much suavity 
 in his nature to commence a quarrel, he had 
 too much sensibility not to feel, and too much 
 honour not to resent, an intended insult. The 
 first time he went to Boston he was insulted for 
 his rusticity by a boy of twice his size and age ; 
 after bearing the sarcasms until his patience 
 was worn out, he challenged, engaged, and 
 vanquished his unmannerly antagonist, to the 
 great diversion of a crowd of spectators. While 
 a stripling, his ambition was to perform the 
 labour of a man, and to excel in athletic diver- 
 sions. In that rude, but masculine age, when- 
 ever the village youth assembled on their usual 
 occasions of festivity, pitching the bar, running,
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 7 
 
 leaping, and wrestling, were favourite amuse- 
 ments. At such gymnastic exercises, in which, 
 during the heroic times of ancient Greece and 
 Rome, conquest was considered as the promise 
 of future military fame, he bore the palm from 
 almost every ring. 
 
 Before the refinements of luxury, and the 
 consequent increase of expenses, had rendered 
 the maintenance of a family inconvenient or 
 burdensome in America, the sexes entered into 
 matrimony at an early age. Competence, at- 
 tainable by all, was the limit of pursuit. After 
 the hardships of making a new settlement were 
 overcome, and the evils of penury removed, the 
 inhabitants enjoyed, in the lot of equality, inno- 
 cence, and security, scenes equally delightful 
 with those pictured by the glowing imagination 
 of the poets in their favourite pastoral life, or 
 fabulous golden age. Indeed, the condition of 
 mankind was never more enviable. Neither 
 disparity of age and fortune, nor schemes of 
 ambition and grandeur, nor the pride and ava- 
 rice of high-minded and mercenary parents, 
 interposed those obstacles to the union of con- 
 genial souls, which frequently in more polished 
 society, prevent, embitter, or destroy all the feli- 
 city of the connubial state. Mr. Putnam, before 
 he attained the twenty-first year of his age, mar- 
 ried Miss Pope, daughter of Mr. John Pope, of 
 Salem, by whom he had ten children. He lost 
 the wife of his youth in 1764. Some time after 
 he married Mrs. Gardiner, widow of the late Mr.
 
 8 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 Gardiner of Gardiners Island, by whom he had 
 no issue. She died in 1777. 
 
 In the year 1749 he removed from Salem to 
 Pomfret, an inland, fertile town, in Connecticut, 
 forty miles east of Hartford ; having here pur- 
 chased a considerable tract of land,~he applied 
 himself successfully to agriculture. 
 
 The first years on a new farm, are not how- 
 ever exempt from disasters and disappoint- 
 ments, which can only be remedied by stubborn 
 and patient industry. Our farmer, sufficiently 
 occupied in building a house and barn, felling 
 woods, making fences, sowing grain, planting 
 orchards, and talcing care of his stock, had to 
 encounter, in turn, the calamities occasioned by 
 drought in summer, blast in harvest, loss of 
 cattle in winter, and the desolation of his sheep- 
 fold by wolves. In one night he had seventy 
 fine sheep and goats killed, besides many lambs 
 and kids wounded. This havoc was commit- 
 ted by a she wolf, which, with her annual 
 whelps, had for several years infested the vi- 
 cinity. The young were commonly destroyed 
 by the vigilance of the hunters, but the old one 
 was too sagacious to come within reach of gun- 
 shot ; on being closely pursued she would ge- 
 nerally fly to the western woods, and return the 
 next winter with another litter of whelps. 
 
 This wolf at length became such an into- 
 lerable nuisance, that Mr. Putnam entered into 
 a combination with five of his neighbours, to 
 hunt alternate) v until they could destroy her.
 
 OF MAJOR GENERAL PUTNAM. 9 
 
 Two by rotation, were to be constantly in pur- 
 suit. It was known that, having lost the toes 
 from one foot, by a steel trap, she made one 
 track shorter than the other. By this vestige, 
 the pursuers recognised, in a light snow, the 
 route of this pernicious animal. Having fol- 
 lowed her to Connecticut river, and found she 
 had turned back in a direct course towards 
 Pomfret, they immediately returned, and by ten 
 o'clock the next morning the bloodhounds had 
 driven her into a den, about three miles distant 
 from the house of Mr. Putnam. The people 
 soon collected with dogs, guns, straw, fire and 
 sulphur, to attack the common enemy. With 
 this apparatus several unsuccessful efforts were 
 made to force her from the den. The hounds 
 came back badly wounded, and refused to re- 
 turn. The smoke of blazing straw had no ef- 
 fect ; nor did the fumes of burnt brimstone, with 
 which the cavern was filled, compel her to quit 
 the retirement. Wearied with such fruitless 
 attempts, which had brought the time to ten 
 o'clock at night, Mr. Putnam tried once more 
 to make his dog enter, but in vain; he proposed 
 to his negro man to go down into the cavern 
 and shoot the wolf: the negro declined the ha- 
 zardous service. Then it was that the master, 
 angry at the disappointment, and declaring that 
 he was ashamed to have a coward in his fami- 
 ly, resolved to destroy the ferocious beast, lest 
 she should escape through some unknown fis- 
 sure of the rock. His neighbours strongly re-
 
 10 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 monstrated against the perilous enterprise : but 
 he, knowing that wild animals were intimidated 
 by fire, and having provided several strips of 
 birch-bark, the only combustible material which 
 he could obtain, that would afford light in this 
 deep and darksome cave, prepared for his descent. 
 Having, accordingly, divested himself of his coat 
 and waistcoat, and having a long rope fastened 
 round his legs, by which he might be pulled 
 back, at a concerted signal, he entered head 
 foremost, with the blazing torch in his hand. 
 
 The aperture of the den, on the east side of 
 a very high ledge of rocks, is about two feet 
 square ; from thence it descends obliquely fif- 
 teen feet, then running horizontally about ten 
 more, it ascends gradually sixteen feet towards 
 its termination. The sides of this subter- 
 raneous cavity are composed of smooth and 
 solid rocks, which seem to have been divided 
 from each other by some former earthquake. 
 The top and bottom are also of stone, and the 
 entrance, in winter, being covered with ice, is 
 exceedingly slippery. It is in no place high 
 enough for a man to raise himself upright, nor 
 in any part more than three feet in width. 
 
 Having groped his passage to the horizontal 
 part of the den, the most terrifying darkness 
 appeared in front of the dim circle of light af- 
 forded by his torch. It was silent as the house 
 of death. None but monsters of the desert had 
 ever before explored this solitary mansion of 
 horror. Cautiously proceeding onward, he
 
 OF MAJOR GENERAL PUTNAM. 11 
 
 came to the ascent, which he slowly mounted 
 on his hands and knees until he discovered the 
 glaring eye-tails of the wolf, who was sitting at 
 the extremity of the cavern. Started at the 
 sight of fire, she gnashed her teeth, and gave a 
 sullen growl. As soon as he had made the ne- 
 cessary discovery, he kicked the rope as a signal 
 for pulling him out. The people, at the mouth 
 of the den, who had listened with painful anxi- 
 ety, hearing the growling of the wolf, and sup- 
 posing their friend to be in the most imminent 
 danger, drew him forth with such celerity that 
 his shirt was stripped over his head and his 
 skin severely lacerated. After he had adjusted 
 his clothes, and loaded his gun with nine buck- 
 shot, holding a torch in one hand and the mus- 
 ket in the other, he descended the second time. 
 When he drew nearer than before, the wolf, 
 assuming a still more fierce and terrible appear- 
 ance, howling, rolling her eyes, snapping her 
 teeth, and dropping her head between her legs, 
 was evidently in the attitude and on the point 
 of springing at him. At the critical instant he 
 levelled and fired at her head. Stunned with 
 the shock, and suffocated with the smoke, he 
 immediately found himself drawn out of the 
 cave. But having refreshed himself, and per- 
 mitted the smoke to dissipate, he went down the 
 third time. Once more he came within sight of 
 the wolf, who appearing very passive, he applied 
 the torch to her nose, and perceiving her dead, 
 he took hold of her ears, and then kicking th*
 
 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 PUTNAM DRAGGING THE WOLF FROM THE 
 DEN. p. 12. 
 
 rope, the pec^ie above, with no small exultation 
 dragged them both out together. 
 
 I have offered these facts in greater detail, 
 because they contain a display of character ; 
 and because they have been erroneously re- 
 lated in several European publications, and 
 very much mutilated in the history of Connec- 
 ticut, a work as replete with falsehood as desti- 
 tute of genius, printed in London. 
 
 Prosperity, at length, begun to attend the 
 agricultural affairs of Mr. Putnam. He was 
 acknowledged to be a skilful and indefatigable 
 manager. His fields were mostly enclosed with 
 stone walls. His crops commonly succeeded, 
 becuuse the land was \vell tilled and manured.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 13 
 
 His pastures and meadows became luxuriant. 
 His cattle were of the best breed, and in good 
 order. His garden and fruit-trees prolific. 
 With the avails of the surplusage of his pro- 
 duce, foreign articles were purchased. Within 
 doors he found the compensation of his labours, 
 in the plenty of excellent provisions, as well as 
 in the happiness of domestic society. 
 
 A more particular description of his transi- 
 tion from* narrow to easy circumstances might 
 be given ; but the mind that shall have acquired 
 an idea of the habits of labour and simplicity, 
 to which the industrious colonists were accus- 
 tomed, will readily supply the omission. The 
 effect of this gradual acquisition of property, 
 generally favourable to individual virtue and 
 public felicity, should not, however, be passed 
 over in silence. If there is something fascinating 
 in the charms of a country life, from the contem- 
 plation of beautiful landscapes, there is likewise 
 something elevating to the soul, in the con- 
 sciousness of being lord of the soil, and having 
 the power of creating them. The man can 
 scarcely be guilty of a sordid action, or even 
 descend to an ungenerous thought, who, re- 
 moved from the apprehension of want, sees his 
 farm daily meliorating and assuming whatever 
 appearance he pleases to prescribe. This situa- 
 tion converts the farmer into a species of rural 
 philosopher, by inspiring an honest pride in his 
 rank as a freeman, nattering the natural pro- 
 pensity for personal independence, and nou-
 
 14 LIFE ; ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 rishing an unlimited hospitality and philan- 
 thropy in his social character. 
 
 But the time had now arrived which was to 
 turn the instruments of husbandry into wea- 
 pons of hostility, and to exchange the hunting 
 of wolves, who had ravaged the sheep-folds, for 
 the pursuit after savages, who had desolated the 
 frontiers. Mr. Putnam was about thirty-seven 
 years old, when the war between England and 
 France, which preceded the last, broke out in 
 America. His reputation must have l>een fa- 
 vourably known to the government, since 
 among the first troops that were levied by Con- 
 necticut, in 1755, he was appointed to the com- 
 mand of a company in Lyman's regiment of 
 Provincials. I have mentioned his age at this 
 period, expressly to obviate a prevalent opinion, 
 that he was far advanced in life when he com- 
 menced his military service. 
 
 As he was extremely popular, he found no 
 difficulty in enlisting his complement of recruits 
 from the most hardy, enterprising, and respect- 
 able young men of his neighbourhood. The 
 regiment joined the army, at the opening of 
 the campaign, not far distant from Crown- 
 Point. Soon after his arrival at camp, he be- 
 came intimately acquainted with the famous 
 partisan Captain, afterwards Major Rogers, 
 with whom he was frequently associated in 
 traversing the wilderness, reconnoitring the 
 enemy's lines, gaining intelligence, and taking 
 straggling prisoners, as well as in beating up
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 15 
 
 the quarters and surprising the advanced pickets 
 of their army. For these operations a corps of 
 rangers was formed from the irregulars. The 
 first time Rogers and Putnam were detached 
 with a party of these light troops, it was the 
 fortune of the latter to preserve, with his own 
 hand, the life of the former, and to cement their 
 friendship with the blood of one of their enemies. 
 The object of this expedition was to obtain 
 an accurate knowledge of the position and state 
 of the works at Crown Point. It was imprac- 
 ticable to approach with their party near enough 
 for this purpose, without being discovered. 
 Alone, the undertaking was sufficiently hazard- 
 ous, on account of the swarms of hostile In- 
 dians who infested the woods. Our two parti- 
 sans, however, left all their men at a convenient 
 distance, with strict orders to continue con- 
 cealed until their return. Having thus cau- 
 tiously taken their arrangements, they advanced 
 with the profoundest silence in the evening; 
 and lay, during the night, contiguous to the 
 fortress. Early in the morning they approached 
 so close as to be able to give satisfactory in- 
 formation to the General who had sent them, 
 on the several points to which their attention 
 had been directed : but Captain Rogers, being 
 at a little distance from Captain Putnam, for- 
 tuitously met a stout Frenchman, who instantly 
 seized his fusee with one hand, and with the 
 other attempted to stab him, while he called to 
 an adjacent guard for assistance. The guard
 
 16 LIFE, AN'ECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 answered. Putnam, perceiving the imminent 
 danger of his friend, and that no time was to be 
 lost, or farther alarm given by firing, ran ra- 
 pidly to them, while they were yet struggling, 
 and with the but-end of his piece laid the 
 Frenchman dead at his feet. The partisans, to 
 elude puisuit, precipitated their flight, joined 
 the party, and returned without loss to the en- 
 campment. Not many occasions occurred for 
 partisans to display their talents in the course 
 of this summer. The war was checkered with 
 various fortune in different quarters such as 
 the total defeat of General Braddock, and the 
 splendid victory of Sir William Johnson over 
 the French troops, commanded by the Baron 
 Dieskau. The brilliancy of this success, was 
 necessary to console the Americans for the dis- 
 grace of that disaster. The time for which the 
 colonial troops engaged to serve terminated 
 with the campaign. Putnam was re-appointed, 
 and again took the field in 1756. 
 
 Few are so ignorant of war as not to know, 
 that military adventures, in the night, are al- 
 ways extremely liable to accidents. Captain 
 Putnam, having been commanded to reconnoi- 
 tre the enemy's camp at the Ovens near Ticon- 
 deroga, took the brave Lieutenant Robert Dur- 
 kee as his companion. In attempting to exe- 
 cute these orders, he narrowly missed being 
 taken himself in the first instance, and killing 
 his friend in the second. It was customary for 
 the British and Provincial troops to place their
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 17 
 
 fires round their camp, which frequently ex- 
 posed them to the enemy's scouts and patroles. 
 A contrary practice, then unknown in the En- 
 glish army, prevailed among the French and 
 Indians. The plan was much more rational ; 
 they kept their fires in the centre, lodged their 
 men circularly at a distance, and posted their 
 sentinels in the surrounding darkness. Our 
 partisans approached the camp, and supposing 
 the sentries were within the circle of fires, crept 
 upon their hands and knees with the greatest 
 possible caution, until, to their utter astonish- 
 ment, they found themselves in the thickest of 
 the enemy. The sentinels, discovering them, 
 fired, and slightly wounded Durkee in the thigh. 
 He and Putnam had no alternative. They fled. 
 The latter, being foremost, and scarcely able to 
 see his hand before him, soon plunged into a 
 clay-pit. Durkee, almost at the identical mo- 
 ment, came tumbling after. Putnam, by no 
 means pleased at rinding a companion, and be- 
 lieving him to be one of the enemy, lifted his 
 tomahawk to give the deadly blow, when Dur- 
 kee, who had followed so closely as to know 
 him, inquired whether he had escaped unhurt. 
 Captain Putnam instantly recognising his voice, 
 dropped his weapon : and both, springing from 
 the pit, made good their retreat to the neigh- 
 bouring ledges, amidst a shower of random shot. 
 There they betook themselves to a large log, by 
 the side of which they lodged the remainder of 
 the night. Before they lay down, Captain Pnt
 
 L8 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 CAPT. PUTNAM AND LIEUT. DURKEfi's ESCAPE. 
 
 p. 17. 
 
 nam said he had a little rum in his canteen, 
 which could never he more acceptable or neces- 
 sary ; but on examining the canteen, which 
 hung under his arm, he found the enemy had 
 pierced it with their balls, and that there was 
 not a drop of liquor left. The next day he 
 found fourteen bullet holes in his blanket. 
 
 In the same summer, a body of the enemy, 
 consisting of six hundred men, attacked the 
 baggage and provision wagons at a place called 
 the half-way-brook ; it being equidistant from 
 Fort Edward, and the south end of Lake 
 George. Having killed the oxen, and plundered 
 the. wagons, they retreated with their booty, 
 without having met with such resistance as
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 19 
 
 might have been expected from the strength of 
 the escort. General Webb, on receiving intel- 
 ligence of this disaster, ordered the Captains 
 Putnam and Rogers " to take one hundred 
 volunteers in boats, with two wall-pieces and 
 two blunderbusses, and to proceed down Lake 
 George to a certain point ; there to leave the 
 batteaux under a proper guard, and thence to 
 cross by land, so as to harass, and, if practica- 
 ble, intercept the retreating enemy at the nar- 
 rows." These orders were executed with so 
 much punctuality, that the party arrived at the 
 destined place half an hour before the hostile 
 boats came in view. Here they waited, under 
 cover, until the enemy entered the narrows, with 
 their batteaux loaded with plunder. Then the 
 volunteers poured on them volley after volley, 
 killed many of the oarsmen, sunk a number of 
 their batteaux, and would soon have destroyed 
 the whole body of the enemy, had not the un- 
 usual precipitancy of their passage carried them 
 through the narrows into the wide part of 
 South .Bay, where^fhey were out of the reach 
 of musket-shot. , The shattered remnant of the 
 little fleet soon arrived at Ticonderoga, and 
 gave informatipn that Putnam and Rogers were 
 at the narrows. A fresh party was instantly 
 detached to ctJ them in pieces, on their return 
 to Fort Edward. Our partisans, sensible of 
 the probability of such an attempt, and being 
 full twenty miles from their boats, strained 
 every nerve to reach them as soon as possi- 
 
 I
 
 20 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 ble ; which they effected the same night. Next 
 day, when they had returned as far as Sabbath- 
 Day point, they discovered, on shore, the be- 
 forementioned detachment of three hundred 
 men, who had passed them in the night, and 
 who now, on perceiving our party, took to their 
 boats with the greatest alacrity, and rowed out 
 to give battle. They advanced in line, main- 
 taining a good mien, and felicitating themselves 
 upon the prospect of an easy conquest, from the 
 great superiority of their numbers. Flushed 
 with these expectations, they were permitted to 
 come within pistol-shot before a gun was fired. 
 At once, the wall-pieces and blunderbusses, 
 which had been brought to rake them in the 
 most vulnerable point, were discharged. As no 
 such reception had been foreseen, the assailants 
 were thrown into the utmost disorder. Their 
 terror and confusion were greatly increased by 
 a well-directed and most destructive fire of the 
 small arms. The larger pieces being reloaded, 
 without annoyance, continued alternately with 
 the musketry to make dreadful havoc, until the 
 rout was completed, and the enemy driven back 
 to Ticonderoga. In this action, one of the 
 bark canoes contained twenty Indians, of whom 
 fifteen were killed. Great numbers, from other 
 boats, both of French and Indians, were seen to 
 fall overboard: but the account of their total 
 loss could never be ascertained. Rogers and 
 Putnam had but one man killed, and two 
 slightly wounded. They now landed on the
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 21 
 
 point, and having refreshed their men at leisure, 
 returned in good order to the British camp. 
 
 Soon after these rencounters, a singular kind 
 of race was run by our nimble-footed Provincial 
 and an active young Frenchman. The liberty 
 of each was by turns at stake. General Webb, 
 wanting a prisoner for the sake of intelligence, 
 sent Capt. Putnam, with five men, to procure 
 one. The Captain concealed himself near the 
 road which leads from Ticonderoga to the 
 Ovens. His men seemed fond ot showing 
 themselves, which unsoldier-like conduct he pro- 
 hibited with the severest reprehension. This 
 rebuke they imputed to unnecessaty fear. The 
 observation is as true as vulgar, that persons 
 distinguishable for temerity, when there is no 
 apparent danger, are generally poltroons when- 
 ever danger approaches. They had not lain 
 long in the high grass, before a Frenchman and 
 an Indian passed the Indian was considerably 
 in advance. As soon as the former had gone 
 by, Putnam, relying on the fidelity of his men, 
 sprang up, ran, and ordered them to follow. 
 After running about thirty rods, he seized the 
 Frenchman by the shoulders, and forced him 
 to surrender : But his prisoner, looking round, 
 perceiving no other enemy, and knowing the 
 Indian would be ready in a moment to assist 
 him, began to make an obstinate resistance. 
 Putnam, finding himself betrayed by his men 
 into a perilous dilemma, let go his hold, stepped 
 back, and snapped his piece, which was levelled
 
 22 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 at the Frenchman's breast. It missed fire. On 
 this he thought it most prudent to retreat. The 
 Frenchman, in turn, chased him back to his 
 men, who, at last, raised themselves from the 
 grass ; which his pursuer espying in good time 
 for himself, made his escape. Putnam, mortified 
 that these men had frustrated his success, dis- 
 missed them with disgrace ; and not long after 
 accomplished his object. Such little feats, as the 
 capture of a single prisoner, may be of infinitely 
 more consequence than some, who are unac- 
 quainted with military affairs, would be apt to 
 imagine. In a country covered with woods, like 
 that part of America, then the seat of war, the 
 difficulty of procuring, and the importance of 
 possessing good intelligence, can scarcely be con- 
 ceived even by European commanders. They, 
 however, who know its value, will not appre- 
 ciate lightly the services of an able partisan. 
 
 Nothing worthy of remark happened during 
 this campaign, except the loss of Oswego. That 
 fort, which had been built by General Shirley, 
 to protect the peltry trade, cover the country on 
 the Mohawk river, and facilitate an invasion of 
 Canada, by Frontenac and Niagara, fell into 
 the hands of the enemy, with a garrison of six- 
 teen hundred men, and one hundred pieces of 
 cannon. 
 
 The active services of Captain Putnam on 
 every occasion attracted the admiration of the 
 public, and induced the Legislature of Connec- 
 ticut to promote him to a majority in 1757.
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 23 
 
 Lord Loudon was then Commander-in-Chief 
 of the British forces in America. The expe- 
 dition against Crown Point, which from the 
 commencement of hostilities had been in con- 
 templation, seemed to give place to a more im- 
 portant operation that was meditated against 
 Louisbourg. But the arrival of the Brest 
 squadron at that place prevented the attempt ; 
 and the loss of Fort William Henry served to 
 class this with the two former unsuccessful 
 campaigns. It was rumoured, and partially 
 credited at the time, that General Webb, who 
 commanded in the northern department, had 
 early intimation of the movement of the French 
 army, and might have effectually succoured the 
 garrison. The subsequent facts will place the 
 affair in its proper light. 
 
 A few days before the siege., Major Putnam, 
 with two hundred men, escorted General Webb 
 from Fort Edward to Fort William Henry. 
 The object was to examine the state of this 
 fortification, which stood at the southern ex- 
 tremity of Lake George. Several abortive at- 
 tempts having been made by Major Rogers and 
 others in the night season, Major Putnam pro- 
 posed to go down the lake in open day-light, 
 land at Northwest Bay, and tarry on shore until 
 he could make satisfactory discovery of the 
 enemy's actual situation at Ticonderoga and 
 the adjacent posts. The plan which he sug- 
 gested, of landing with only five men, and send- 
 ing back the boats, to prevent detection, was 
 C
 
 24 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 deemed too hazardous by the General. At 
 length, however, he was permitted to proceed 
 with eighteen volunteers, in three whale boats ; 
 but before he arrived at Northwest Bay, he dis- 
 covered a body of men on an island. Imme- 
 diately he left two boats to fish at a distance, 
 that they might not occasion an alarm, and re- 
 turned with the information. The General, 
 seeing him rowing back with great velocity, in 
 a single boat, concluded the others were cap- 
 tured, and sent a skiff, with orders for him alono 
 to come on shore. After advising the General of 
 the circumstances, he urged the expediency of 
 returning to make farther discoveries, and bring 
 off the boats. Leave was reluctantly given. He 
 found his people, and, passing still onward, dis- 
 covered by the aid of a good perspective glass, 
 a large army in motion. By this time, several 
 of the advanced canoes had nearly surrounded 
 him. but by the swiftness of his whaleboats, he 
 escaped through the midst of them. On his 
 return he informed the General minutely of all 
 he had seen, and intimated his conviction that 
 the expedition must obviously be destined 
 against Fort William Henry. That command- 
 er, strictly enjoining silence on the subject, di- 
 rected him to put his men under an oath of 
 secrecy, and to prepare, without loss of time, to 
 return to the head-quarters of the army. Major 
 Putnam observed, he " hoped his excellency did 
 not intend to neglect so fair an opportunity of 
 giving battle, should the enemy presume to
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 25 
 
 land." " What do you think we should do 
 here ?" replied the General. Accordingly, the 
 next day he returned, and the day after Colonel 
 Monro was ordered from Fort Edward, with 
 his regiment, to re-enforce the garrison. That 
 officer took with him all his rich baggage and 
 camp equippage, notwithstanding Major Put- 
 nam's advice to the contrary. The day follow- 
 ing his arrival, the enemy landed, and besieged 
 the place. 
 
 The Marquis de Montcalm, Commander-in- 
 chief for the French in Canada, intending to 
 take advantage of the absence of a large pro- 
 portion of the British force, which he under- 
 stood to be employed under Lord Loudori 
 against Louisbourg, had assembled whatever 
 men could be spared from Ticonderoga, Crown- 
 Point, and the other garrisons : with these he 
 had combined a considerable corps of Cana- 
 dians, and a larger body of Indians than had 
 ever before been collected ; making in the whole 
 an army of nearly eight thousand men. Our 
 garrison consisted of twenty-five hundred, and 
 was commanded by Colonel Monro, a veiy gal- 
 lant officer, who found the means of sending 
 express after express to General Webb, with an 
 account of his situation, and the most pressing 
 solicitation for succour. In the mean time, the 
 army at Fort Edward, which originally amount- 
 ed to about four thousand, had been consider- 
 ably augmented by Johnson's troops and the 
 militia. On the eighth or ninth day after the 
 2
 
 26 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 landing of the French, General Johnson, in con- 
 sequence of repeated applications, was suffered 
 to march for the relief of the garrison, with all 
 the provincials, militia, and Putnam's rangers ; 
 hut before they had proceeded three miles, the 
 order was countermanded, and they returned. 
 M. de Montcalm informed Major Putnam, when 
 a prisoner in Canada, that one of his running 
 Indians saw and reported this movement ; and, 
 upon being questioned relatively to the num- 
 bers, answered in their figurative style, " If you 
 can count the leaves on the trees, you can count 
 them" In effect, the operations of the siege 
 were suspended, and preparations made for re- 
 embarking, when another of the runners re- 
 ported that the detachment had gone back. 
 The Marquis de Montcalm, provided with, a 
 good train of artillery, meeting with no annoy- 
 ance from the British army, and but inconsi- 
 derable interruption from the garrison, accele- 
 rated his approaches so rapidly, as to obtain 
 possession of the fort in a short time after com- 
 pleting the investiture. An intercepted letter 
 from General Webb, advising the surrender, 
 was sent into the fort to Colonel Monro by the 
 French general. 
 
 The garrison engaged not to serve for eigh- 
 teen months, and were permitted to march out 
 with the honours of war. But the savages re- 
 garded not the capitulation, nor could they be 
 restrained by the utmost exertion of the com- 
 manding officer, from committing the most out-
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 27 
 
 rageous acts of cruelty. They stripped and 
 plundered all the prisoners, and murdered great 
 numbers in cold blood. Those who escaped 
 by flight, or the protection of the French, ar- 
 rived in a forlorn condition at Fort Edward. 
 Among these was the commandant of the gar- 
 rison. 
 
 The day succeeding this deplorable scene of 
 carnage and barbarity, Major Putnam having 
 been despatched with his rangers, to watch the 
 motions of the enemy, came to the shore, when 
 their rear was scarcely beyond the reach of 
 musket-shot. They had carried off all the 
 cannon, stores, and water-craft. The fort was 
 demolished. The barracks, the out-houses, and 
 suttlers' booths, were heaps of ruins. The 'lires, 
 not yet extinct, and the smoke, offensive from 
 the mucilaginous nature of the fuel, but iHy 
 concealed innumerable fragments of human 
 skulls and bones, andj in some instances, car- 
 casses half consumed. Dead bodies, weltering 
 in blood, were every where to be seen, violated, 
 with all the wanton mutilations of savage in- 
 genuity. More than one hundred women, 
 some with their brains still oozing from the 
 battered heads, others with their whole hair 
 wrenched collectively with the skin from the 
 bloody skulls, and many, with their throats cut, 
 most inhumanly stabbed and butchered, lay 
 stripped entirely naked, with their bowels torn 
 out, and afforded a spectacle too horrible for 
 description.
 
 28 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 Not long after this misfortune, General Ly- 
 inan succeeded to the command of Fort Ed 
 ward. He resolved to strengthen it. For this 
 purpose, one hundred and fifty men were em- 
 ployed in cutting timber. To cover them, 
 Captain Little was posted with fifty British re- 
 gulars, at the head of a thick swamp, about one 
 hundred rods eastward of the fort, to which 
 his communication lay over a tongue of land, 
 formed ,011 the one side by the swamp, and by 
 a creek on the other. " 
 
 One morning, at daybreak, a sentinel saw 
 indistinctly several birds, as he conceived, come 
 from the swamp, and fly over him with incredi- 
 ble swiftness. While he was ruminating on 
 these wonderful birds, and endeavouring to 
 form some idea of their colour, shape, and size, 
 an arrow buried itself in the limb of a tree just 
 above his head. He now discovered the qua- 
 lity and design of these winged messengers of 
 fate, and gave the alarm. Instantly the work- 
 ing party began to retreat along the defile. A 
 large body of savages had concealed themselves 
 in the morass before the guard was posted, and 
 were attempting in this way to kill the sentinel 
 without noise, with design to surprise the whole 
 party. Finding the alarm given, they rushed 
 from the covert, shot and tomahawked those 
 who were nearest at hand, and pressed hard 
 on the remainder of the unarmed fugitives. 
 Captain Little marched to their relief, and, by 
 pouring, on the Indians n well-timed fire, checked
 
 OK MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 29 
 
 the pursuit, and enabled such of the fatigue- 
 men as did not fall in the first onset, to retire to 
 the fort. Thither he sent for assistance, his 
 little party being almost overpowered by num- 
 bers. But the commandant, imagining that the 
 main body of the enemy were approaching for 
 a general assault, called in his outposts, and 
 shut the gates. 
 
 Major Putnam lay, with his rangers, on an 
 island adjacent to the fort. Having heard the 
 musketry, and learned that his friend Captain 
 Little was in the utmost peril, he plunged into 
 the river at the head of his corps, and waded 
 through the water towards the place of engage- 
 ment. This brought him so near to the fort, 
 that General Lyman, apprized of his design, 
 and unwilling that the lives of a few more 
 brave men should be exposed to what he deemed 
 inevitable destruction, mounted the parapet, and 
 ordered him to proceed no farther. The major 
 only took' time to make the best short apology he 
 could, and marched onward. This is the only 
 instance, in the whole course of his military 
 service, wherein he did not pay the strictest 
 obedience to orders ; and in this instance his 
 motive was highly commendable. But when 
 such conduct, even if sanctified by success, is 
 passed over with impunity, it demonstrates that 
 all is not right in the military system. In a 
 disciplined army, such as that of the United 
 States became under General Washington, an 
 officer guilty of a slighter violation of orders,
 
 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 MAJ. PUTNAM GOING TO CAPT. LITTLE'S AS- 
 SISTANCE. 29. 
 
 however elevated in rank or meritorious in ser- 
 vice, would have been brought before the bar 
 of a court martial. Were it not for the seduc- 
 tive tendency of a brave man's example, I 
 might have been spared the mortification of 
 making these remarks on the conduct of an 
 officer, whose distinguishing characteristics 
 were promptitude for duty and love of subor- 
 dination, as well as cheerfulness to encounter 
 every species of difficulty and danger. 
 
 The rangers of Putnam soon opened their 
 way for a junction with the little handful of 
 regulars, who still obstinately maintained their 
 ground. By his advice, the whole rushed im- 
 petuously with shouts and huzzas into the
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. *J1 
 
 swamp. The savages fled on every side, and 
 were chased, with no inconsiderable loss on 
 their part, so long as the day-light lasted. On 
 ours, only one man was killed in the pursuit. 
 His death was immediately avenged by that of 
 the Indian who shot him. This Indian was 
 one of the runners, a chosen body of active 
 young men, who are used not only to procure 
 intelligence and convey tidings, but also to 
 guard the rear on a retreat. 
 
 Here it will not be unseasonable to mention 
 some of the customs in war peculiar to the 
 aborigines, which on the present as well as 
 other occasions, they put in practice. When- 
 ever a retreating, especially a flying party, had 
 gained the summit of a rising ground, they se- 
 creted one or two runners behind trees, copses, 
 or bushes, to fire at the enemy on their ascend- 
 ing the hill. This commonly occasioned the 
 enemy to halt and form for battle. In the in- 
 terim the runners used such dexterity as to be 
 rarely discovered, or if discovered, they vanished 
 behind the height, and rejoined their brother 
 warriors, who, having thus stolen a distance, 
 were oftentimes seen by their pursuers no more. 
 Or if the pursuers were too eager, they seldom 
 failed to atone for their rashness by falling into 
 an ambuscade. The Mohawks, who were af- 
 terwards much employed in scouts under the 
 orders of Major Putnam, and who were per- 
 fectly versed in all the wiles and stratagems of 
 their countrymen, showed him the mode of
 
 32 LIFE. ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 avoiding the evils of either alternative. Tn 
 suspicious thickets, and afthe borders of every 
 considerable eminence, a momentary pause was 
 made, while they, in different parts, penetrated 
 or ascended with a cautiousness that cannot be 
 easily described. They seemed all eye and 
 ear. When they found no lurking 1 mischief, 
 they would beckon with the hand, and pro- 
 nounce the word "OwisH," with a long labial 
 hissing, the O being almost quiescent. This 
 was ever the watchword for the main body to 
 advance. 
 
 Indians who went to war together, and who, 
 for any reason, found it necessary to separate 
 into different routes, always left two or three 
 runners at the place of separation, to give timely 
 notice to either party in case of pursuit. 
 
 If a warrior chanced to straggle and lose 
 himself in the woods, or be retarded by accident 
 or wound, the party missing him would fre- 
 quently, on their march, break down a bush or 
 a shrub, and leave the top pointing in the direc- 
 tion they had gone, that the straggler, when he 
 should behold it, might shape his course ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 We come to the campaign when General 
 Abercronibie took the command at Fort Ed- 
 ward. That general ordered Major Putnam, 
 with sixty men, to proceed by land to South 
 Bay, on Lake George, for the purpose of making 
 discoveries, and intercepting the enemy's par- 
 ties. The latter, in compliance with these or-
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 33 
 
 ders, posted himself at Wood Creek, near its 
 entrance into South Bay. On this bank, which 
 forms a jutting precipice ten or twelve feet 
 above the water, he erected a stone parapet 
 thirty feet in length, and masked it with young 
 pine-trees, cut at a distance, and so artfully 
 planted as to imitate the natural growth. 
 Hence he sent back fifteen of his men, who had 
 fallen sick. Distress for want of provisions, 
 occasioned by the length of march, and time 
 spent on this temporary fortification, compelled 
 him to deviate from a rule lie had established, 
 never to permit a gun to be fired but at an ene- 
 my while on a scout. He was now obliged to 
 shoot a buck, which had jumped into the creek, 
 m order to eke out their scanty subsistence until 
 the fourth day after the completion of the works. 
 About ten o'clock that evening, one of the men 
 on duty at the margin of the bay, informed him 
 that a fleet of bark canoes, filled with men, was 
 steering towards the mouth of the creek. He 
 immediately called in all his sentinels, and or- 
 dered every man to his post. A profound still- 
 ness reigned in the atmosphere, and the full 
 moon shone with uncommon brightness. The 
 creek, which the enemy entered, is about six 
 rods wide, and the bank opposite to the parapet 
 above twenty feet high. It was intended to 
 permit the canoes in front to pass they had 
 accordingly just passed, when a soldier acci- 
 dentally stnick his firelock against a stone. 
 The commanding officer in the van canoe heard 
 2*
 
 34 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 the noise, and repeated several times the savage 
 watch-word, OWISH ! Instantly the canoes 
 huddled together, with their centre precisely in 
 front of the works, covering the creek for a 
 considerable distance above and below. The 
 officers appeared to be in deep consultation, and 
 the fleet on the point of returning, when Major 
 Putnam, who had ordered his men in the most 
 peremptory manner not to fire^until he should 
 set the example, gave the signal, by discharging 
 his piece. They fired. Nothing could exceed 
 the inextricable confusion and apparent con- 
 sternation occasioned by this well-concerted 
 attack. But, at last, the enemy rinding, from 
 the unfrequency in the firing, that the numlxjr 
 of our men must be small, resolved to land be- 
 low and surround them. Putnam, apprehen- 
 sive of this from the movement, sent Lieutenant 
 Robert Durkee, with twelve men, about thirty 
 rods down the creek, who arrived in time to 
 repulse the party which attempted to land. 
 Another small detachment, under Lieutenant 
 Parsons, was ordered up the creek to prevent 
 any similar attempt. In the mean time, Major 
 Putnam kept up, through the whole night, an 
 incessant and deadly fire on the main body of 
 the enemy, without receiving any thing in re- 
 turn but shot void of effect, accompanied with 
 dolorous groans, miserable shrieks, and dismal 
 savage yells. After daybreak, he was advised 
 that one part of the enemy had effected a land- 
 ing considerably below, and were rapidly ad-
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 35 
 
 vancing to cut off his retreat. Apprised of the 
 great superiority still opposed to him, as well as 
 of the situation of his own soldiers, some of 
 whom were entirely destitute of ammunition, 
 and the rest reduced to one or two rounds each, 
 he commanded them to swing their packs. By 
 hastening the retreat, in good order, they hai 
 just time to retire far enough up the creek to 
 prevent being enclosed. During this long-con- 
 tinued action, in which the Americans had 
 slain at least five times their own number, only 
 one Provincial and one Indian were wounded 
 on their side. These unfortunate men had 
 been sent off for camp in the night, with two 
 men to assist them, and directions to proceed 
 by Wood-Creek as the safest, though not the 
 shortest route. But having taken a nearer way, 
 they were pursued and overtaken by the In- 
 dians, who, from the blood on the leaves and 
 bushes, believed that they were on the trail of 
 our whole party. The wounded, despairing of 
 mercy, and unable to fly, insisted that the well 
 soldiers should make their escape, which, on a 
 moment's deliberation, they effected. The Pro- 
 vincial, whose thigh was broken by a ball, on 
 the approach of the savages, fired his piece, and 
 killed three of them ; after which he was 
 quickly hacked in pieces. The Indian, how- 
 ever, was saved alive. This man Major Put- 
 nam saw afterwards in Canada, where he like- 
 wise learned that his enemy, in the rencounter at 
 Wood-Creek, consisted of five hundred French 
 D
 
 36 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 and Indians, under the command of the cele- 
 brated partisan Molang, and that no party, since 
 the war, had suffered so severely, as more than 
 one half of those who went out never returned. 
 
 Our brave little company, reduced to forty in 
 number, had pfoceeded along the bank of the 
 creek about an hour's march, when Major Put- 
 nam, being in front, was fired on by a party just 
 at hand. He, rightly appreciating the advan- 
 tage often obtained by assuming a bold counte- 
 nance on a critical occasion, in a stentoropho- 
 nic tone, ordered his men to rush on the enemy, 
 and promised that they should soon give a good 
 account of them. It proved to be a scout of 
 Provincials, who conceived they were firing 
 upon the French ; but the commanding officer, 
 knowing Putnam's voice, cried out, that they 
 were all friends. Upon this the Major told him 
 abruptly, that, " friends or enemies, they all de- 
 served to be hanged for not killing more when 
 they had so fair a shot." In fact, but one man 
 was mortally wounded. While these things 
 were transacted, a faithful soldier, whose am- 
 munition had been nearly exhausted, made his 
 way to the fort, and gave such information, that 
 General Lyman was detached with five hun- 
 dred men to cover the retreat. Major Putnam 
 met them at only twelve miles distance from 
 the fort, to which they returned the next day. 
 
 In the winter of 1757, when Colonel Havi- 
 land was commandant at Fort Edward, the 
 barracks adjoining to the northwest bastion
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 37 
 
 PUTNAM SAVES THE MAGAZINE. p. 37. 
 
 took fire. They extended within twelve feet ot 
 the magazine, which contained three hundred 
 barrels of powder. On its first discovery, the 
 fire raged with great violence. The command- 
 ant endeavoured, in vain, by discharging some 
 pieces of heavy artillery against the supporters 
 of this flight of barracks, to level them with the 
 ground. Putnam arrived from the island where 
 he was stationed at the moment when the blaze 
 approached that end which was contiguous to 
 the magazine. Instantly a vigorous attempt was 
 made to extinguish the conflagration. A way 
 was opened by a postern gate to the river, and 
 the soldiers were employed in bringing water ; 
 which he, having mounted on a ladder to the 
 eaves of the building, received and threw on
 
 38 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 the flame. It conthmed, notwithstanding their 
 utmost efforts, to gain on them. He stood, en- 
 veloped in smoke, so near tlie sheet- of lire, that 
 a pair of thick blanket mittens were hurnt en- 
 tirely from his hands ; he was supplied with 
 another pair dipped in water. Colonel Havi- 
 land, fearing that he would perish in the flames, 
 called to him to comedown. But he entreated 
 that he might be suffered to remain, since de- 
 struction must inevitably ensue if tlieir exer- 
 tions should be remitted. The gallant com- 
 mandant, not less astonished than charmed at 
 the boldness of his conduct, forbade any more 
 effects to be carried out of the fort, animated the 
 men to redoubled diligence, and exclaimed, " if 
 we must be blown up, we will go altogether." 
 At last, when the barracks were seen to be tum- 
 bling, Putnam descended, placed himself at the 
 interval, and continued from an incessant rota- 
 tion of replenished buckets to pour water on the 
 magazine. The outside planks were already 
 consumed by the proximity of the fire, and as 
 only one thickness of timber intervened, the 
 trepidation now became general and extreme. 
 Putnam, still undaunted, covered with a cloud 
 of cinders, and scorched with the intensity of 
 the heat, maintained his position until the fire 
 subsided, and the danger was wholly over. He 
 had contended for one hour and a half with that 
 terrible element. His legs, his thighs, his arms, 
 and his face were blistered; and when he pulled 
 off his second pair of mittens, the skin from his
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 39 
 
 hands and fingers followed them. It was a 
 month before he recovered. The commandant, 
 to whom his merits had before endeared him, 
 could not stifle the emotions of gratitude, due to 
 the man who had been so instrumental in pre- 
 serving the magazine, the fort, and the garrison. 
 The repulse before Ticonderoga took place 
 in 1758. General Abercrombie, the British 
 commander in chief in America, conducted the 
 expedition. His army, which amounted to 
 nearly sixteen thousand regulars and provin- 
 cials, was amply supplied with artillery and 
 military stores. This well-appointed corps 
 passed over Lake George, and landed, without 
 opposition, at the point of destination. The 
 troops advanced in columns. Lord Howe, 
 having Major Putnam with him, was in front 
 of the centre. A body of about five hundred 
 men, the advance or pickets of the French ar- 
 my, which had fled at first, began to skirmish 
 with our left. " Putnam," said Lord Howe, 
 " what means that firing ?" " I know not, but, 
 with your lordship's leave, will see," replied the 
 former. " I will accompany you," rejoined the 
 gallant young nobleman. In vain did Major 
 Putnam attempt to dissuade him by saying 
 " My lord, if I am killed, the loss of my life will 
 be of little consequence, but the preservation of 
 yours is of infinite importance to this army." 
 The only answer was, " Putnam, your life is as 
 dear to you as mine is to me ; I am determined 
 to go." One hundred of the van, under Major
 
 40 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 Putnam, filed off with Lord Howe. They soon 
 met the left flank of the enemy's advance, by 
 whose first fire his lordship fell. It was a loss 
 indeed ; and particularly felt in the operations 
 which occurred three days afterwards. His 
 manners and his virtues had made him the idol 
 of the army. From his first arrival in America, 
 he had accommodated himself* and his regi- 
 ment to the peculiar nature of the service. Ex- 
 emplary to the officer, a friend to the soldier, 
 the model of discipline, he had not failed to en- 
 counter every hardship and hazard. Nothing 
 could be more calculated to inspire men with 
 the rash animation of rage, or to temper it with 
 the cool perseverance of revenge, than the sight 
 of such a hero, so beloved, fallen in his coun- 
 try's cause. It had the effect. Putnam's party, 
 having cut their way obliquely through the 
 enemy's ranks, and having been joined by 
 Captain D'Ell, with twenty men, together with 
 some other small parties, charged them so fu- 
 riously in rear, that nearly three hundred were 
 killed on the spot, and one- hundred and forty- 
 eight made prisoners. 
 
 In the mean time, from the unskilfulness of 
 the guides, some of our columns were bewil- 
 dered. The left wing, seeing Putnam's party 
 in their front, advancing over the dead bodies 
 towards them, commenced a brisk and heavy 
 
 * He cut his hair short, and induced the regiment to follow 
 the example. He fashioned their clothing for the activity of 
 service, and divested himself and them of every article of su- 
 perfluous baggage.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 41 
 
 fire, which killed a sergeant and several pri- 
 vates. Nor could they, by sounds or signs, be 
 convinced of their mistake, until Major Put- 
 nam, preferring the probable loss of his own 
 life to the loss of the lives of his brave asso- 
 ciates, ran through the midst of .the flying balls, 
 and prevented the impending catastrophe. 
 
 The tender feelings which Major Putnam 
 possessed, taught him to respect an unfortunate 
 foe, and to strive, by every lenient art in his 
 power, to alleviate the miseries of war. For 
 this purpose, he remained on the field until it 
 began to grow dark, employed in collecting 
 such of the enemy as were left wounded, to one 
 place ; he gave them all the liquor and little 
 refreshments which he could procure ; he fur- 
 nished to each of them a blanket ; he put three 
 blankets under a French sergeant who was 
 badly wounded through the body, and placed 
 him in an easy posture by the side of a tree : 
 the poor fellow could only squeeze his hand 
 with an expressive grasp. "Ah," said Major 
 Putnam, " depend on it, my brave soldier, you 
 shall be brought to the camp as soon as possi- 
 ble, and the same care shall be taken of you as 
 if you were my brother." The next morning 
 Major Rogers was sent to reconnoitre the field, 
 and to bring off the wounded prisoners ; but 
 finding the wounded unable to help themselves, 
 in order to save trouble, he despatched every 
 one of them to the world of spirits. Putnam's 
 was not the only heart that bled. The Provin-
 
 cial and British officers, who became acquainted 
 with the fact, were struck with inexpressible 
 horror. 
 
 Ticonderoga is surrounded on three sides by 
 water ; on the fourth, for some distance, ex- 
 tends a dangerous morass ; the remainder was 
 then fortified with a line eight feet high, and 
 planted with artillery. For one hundred yards 
 in front the plain was covered with great trees, 
 cut for the purpose of defence, whose inter- 
 woven and sharpened branches projected out- 
 wards. Notwithstanding these impediments, 
 the engineer who had been employed to recon- 
 noitre, reported as his opinion, that the works 
 might be carried with musketry. The difficulty 
 and delay of dragging the battering cannon 
 over grounds almost impracticable, induced the 
 adoption of this fatal advice, to which, however, 
 a rumour that the garrison, already consisting 
 of four or five thousand men, was on the point 
 of being augmented with three thousand more, 
 probably contributed. The attack was as spi- 
 rited in execution as ill-judged in design. The 
 assailants, after having been for more than four 
 hours exposed to a most fatal fire, without 
 making any impression by their reiterated and 
 obstinate proofs of valour, were ordered to re- 
 treat. Major Putnam, who had acted as an aid 
 in bringing the Provincial regiments succes- 
 sively to action, assisted in preserving order. 
 It was said that a great number of the enemy 
 were shot in the head, every other part having
 
 OF MAJOR-UENERAL PUTNAM. 43 
 
 been concealed behind their works. The loss 
 on our side was upwards of two thousand killed 
 and wounded. Twenty-five hundred stands of 
 arms were taken by the French. Our army, 
 after sustaining this havoc, retreated with such 
 extraordinary precipitation, that they regained 
 their camp at the southward of Lake George 
 the evening after the action. 
 
 The successes in other parts of America 
 made amends for this defeat. Louisbourg, after 
 a vigorous siege, was reduced by the Generals 
 Amherst and Wolfe : Frontenac, a post of im- 
 portance on the communication between Lake 
 Ontario and the St. Lawrence, surrendered to 
 Colonel Bradstreet ; and Fort du Q,uesne, si- 
 tuated at the confluence of the Monongahela 
 with the Ohio, the possession of which had 
 kindled the flame of war that now spread 
 through the four quarters of the globe, was 
 captured by General Forbes. 
 
 A few adventures, in which the public inte- 
 rests were little concerned, but which, from their 
 peculiarity, appear worthy of being preserved, 
 happened before the conclusion of the year. As 
 one day Major Putnam chanced to lie with a 
 batteau and five men, on' the eastern shore of 
 the Hudson, near the Rapids, contiguous to 
 which Fort Miller stood, his men, on the oppo- 
 site bank had given him to understand, that a 
 large body of savages were in his rear,, and 
 would be on him in a moment. To stay and 
 be sacrificed- to attempt crossing and be shot
 
 44 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 or to go down the falls, with an almost absolute 
 certainty of being drowned, were the sole alter- 
 natives that presented themselves to his choice. 
 So instantaneously was the latter adopted, that 
 one man who had rambled a little from the 
 party, was, of necessity, left, and fell a misera- 
 ble victim to savage barbarity. The Indians 
 arrived on the shore soon enough to fire many 
 balls on the battean before it could be got under 
 way. No sooner had our batteau-men escaped, 
 by favour of the rapidity of the current, beyond 
 the reach of musket-shot, than death seemed 
 only to have been avoided in one form to be 
 encountered in another not less terrible. Pro- 
 minent rocks, latent shelves, absorbing eddies, 
 and abrupt descents, for a quarter of a mile, af- 
 forded scarcely the smallest chance of escaping 
 without a miracle. Putnam, trusting himself 
 to a good Providence, whose kindness he had 
 often experienced, rather than to men, whose 
 tenderest mercies are cruelty, was now seen to 
 place himself sedately at the helm, and afford 
 an astonishing spectacle of serenity. His com- 
 panions, with a mixture of terror, admiration 
 and wonder, saw him incessantly changing the 
 course, to avoid the jaws of ruin, that seemed 
 expanueci to swallow the whirling boat. Twice 
 he turned it fairly round to shun the rifts of 
 rocks. Amidst these eddies, in which was the 
 greatest danger of its foundering, at one moment 
 the sides were exposed to the fury of the waves ; 
 then the stern, and next the bow, glanced ob-
 
 . OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 45 
 
 liquely onward, with inconceivable velocity. 
 With not less amazement the savages beheld 
 him sometimes mounting the billows, then 
 plunging abruptly down, at other times skilfully 
 veering from the rocks, and shooting through 
 the only narrow passage ; until, at last, they 
 viewed the boat safely gliding on the smooth 
 surface of the stream below. At this sight, it is 
 asserted, that these rude sons of nature were 
 affected with the same kind of superstitious 
 veneration which the. Europeans, in the dark 
 ages, entertained for some of their most valorous 
 champions. They deemed the man invulner- 
 able, whom their balls, on his pushing from 
 shore, could not touch ; and whom they had 
 seen steering in safety down the rapids that had 
 never before been passed. They conceived it 
 would be an affront against the Great Spirit 
 to attempt to kill this favoured mortal with 
 powder and ball, if they should ever see and 
 know him again. 
 
 In the mojith of August five hundred men 
 were employed, under the orders of Majors 
 Rogers and Putnam, to watch the motions of 
 the enemy near Ticonderoga. At South-Bay 
 they separated the party into two equal divi- 
 sions, and Rogers took a position on Wood- 
 creek, twelve miles distant from Putnam. 
 
 Being some time afterwards discovered, they 
 formed a re-union, and concerted measures for 
 returning to Fort Edward. Their march 
 through the woods was in three divisions by
 
 46 LIFE. ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 files : the right commanded by Rogers, the left 
 by Putnam, and the centre by Captain D'Ell. 
 The first night they encamped on the banks of 
 Clear river, about a mile from old Fort Ann, 
 which had been formerly built by General Ni- 
 cholson. Next morning -Major Rogers, and a 
 British officer, named Irwin, incautiously suf- 
 fered themselves, from a spirit of false emula- 
 tion, to be engaged in firing at a mark. Nothing 
 could have been more repugnant to the military 
 principles of Putnam than such.conduct, or re- 
 probated by him in more pointed terms. As 
 soon as the heavy dew which had fallen the 
 oreceding night would permit, the detachment 
 moved in one body, Putnam being in front, 
 D'Ell in centre, and Rogers in the rear. The 
 impervious growth of shrubs and under-brush 
 that had sprung up, where the land had been 
 partially cleared some years before, occasioned 
 this change in the order of march. At the 
 moment of moving, the famous French partisan 
 Molang, who had been sent with five hundred 
 men to intercept our party, was not more than 
 one mile and a half distant from them. Having 
 heard the firing, he hastened to lay an ambus- 
 cade precisely in that part of the wood most 
 favourable to his project. Major Putnam was 
 just emerging from the thicket, into the com- 
 mon forest, when the enemy rose, and with 
 discordant yells and whoops, commenced an 
 attack on the right of his division. Surprised, 
 but undismayed, Putnam halted, returned the
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 47 
 
 fire, and passed the word for the other divisions 
 to advance for his support. D'Ell came. The 
 action, though widely scattered, and principally 
 fought between man and man, soon grew ge- 
 neral and intensely warm. It would be as diffi- 
 cult as useless to describe this irregular and 
 ferocious mode of fighting. Rogers came not 
 up ; but, as he declared afterwards, formed a 
 circular file between our party and Wood- 
 Creek, to prevent their being taken in rear or 
 enfiladed. Successful as he commonly was, 
 his conduct did not always pass without unfa 
 vourable imputation. Notwithstanding, it was 
 a current saying in the camp, that " Rogers 
 always sent, but Putnam led, his men to ac- 
 tion," yet, in justice, it ought to be remarked 
 here, that the latter has never been known, in 
 relating the story of this day's disaster, to affix 
 any stigma on the conduct of the former. 
 
 Major Putnam, perceiving it would be im- 
 practicable to cross the creek, determined to 
 maintain his ground. Inspired by his example, 
 the officers and men behaved with great brave- 
 ry : sometimes they fought aggregately in open 
 view, and sometimes individually under cover ; 
 taking aim from behind the bodies of trees, and 
 acting in a manner independent of each other. 
 For himself, having discharged his fuzee several 
 times, at length it missed fire, while the muzzle 
 was pressed against the breast of a large and 
 well proportioned savage. This warrior, avail- 
 ing himself of the indefensible attitude of his 
 E
 
 48 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 adversary, with a tremendous war-whoop, 
 sprang forward, with his lifted hatchet, and 
 compelled him to surrender ; and having dis- 
 armed and bound him fast to a tree, returned 
 to the battle. 
 
 The intrepid Captains D'Ell and Harman, 
 who now commanded, were forced to give 
 ground for a little distance : the savages, con- 
 ceiving this to be the certain harbinger of vic- 
 tory, rushed impetuously on, with dreadful and 
 redoubled cries. But our two partisans, col- 
 lecting a handful of brave men, gave the pur- 
 suers so warm a reception as to oblige them, in 
 turn, to retreat a little beyond the spot at which 
 the action had commenced. Here they made 
 a stand. This change of grohnd occasioned 
 the tree to which Putnam was tied to be di- 
 rectly between the fire of the two parties. Hu- 
 man imagination can hardly figure to itself a 
 more deplorable situation. The balls flew in- 
 A^>santly from either side, many struck the 
 wee, while some passed through the sleeves and 
 skirts of his coat. In this state of jeopardy, 
 unable to move his body, to stir his limbs, or 
 even to incline his head, he remained more 
 than an hour. So equally balanced, and so 
 obstinate was the fight ! At one moment, 
 while the battle swerved in favour of the ene- 
 my, a young savage chose an odd way of dis- 
 covering his humour. He found Putnam 
 bound. He might have despatched him at a 
 blow. But he loved better to excite the ter-
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 49 
 
 rors of the prisoner, by hurling a tomahawk at 
 his head, or rather it should seem his object 
 was to see how near he could throw it without 
 touching him; the weapon struck in the tree a 
 number of times at a hair's breadth distance 
 from the mark. When the Indian had finished 
 his amusement, a French bas-officer, (a much 
 more inveterate savage by nature, though de- 
 scended from so humane and polished a nation,) 
 perceiving Putnam, came up to him, and, level- 
 ling a fuzee within a foot of his breast, at- 
 tempted to discharge it ; it missed fire. Inef- 
 fectually did the intended victim solicit the 
 treatment due to his situation, by repeating 
 that he was a prisoner of war. The degenerate 
 Frenchman did not understand the language of 
 honour or of nature : deaf to their voice, and 
 dead to sensibility, he violently, and repeatedly, 
 pushed the muzzle of his gun against Putnam's 
 ribs, and finally gave him a cruel blow on the 
 jaw with the but-end of his piece. After this 
 dastardly deed, he left him. 
 
 At length the active intrepidity of D'Ell and 
 Harman, seconded by the persevering valour of 
 their followers, prevailed. They drove from 
 the field the enemy, who left about ninety dead 
 behind them. As they were retiring, Putnam 
 was untied by the Indian who had made him 
 prisoner, and whom he afterwards called mas- 
 ter. Having been conducted for some distance 
 from the place of action, he was stripped of his 
 coat, vest, stockings and shoes ; loaded with as 
 3
 
 50 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 many of the packs of the wounded as could be 
 piled on him ; strongly pinioned, and his wrists 
 tied as closely together as they could be pulled 
 with a cord. After he had marched, through 
 no pleasant paths, in this painful manner, for 
 many a tedious mile, the party, who were ex- 
 cessively fatigued, halted to breathe. His hands 
 were now immoderately swelled from the tight- 
 ness of the ligature ; and the pain had become 
 intolerable. His feet were scf much scratched, 
 that the blood dropped fast from them. Ex- 
 hausted with bearing a burden above his 
 strength, and frantic with torments exquisite 
 beyond endurance, he entreated the Irish inter- 
 preter to implore, as the last and only grace he 
 desired of the savages, that they would knock 
 him on the head, and take his scalp at once, or 
 loosen his hands. A French officer, instantly 
 interposing, ordered his hands to be unbound, 
 and some of the packs to be taken off. By this 
 time the Indian, who had captured him, and 
 had been absent with the wounded, coming up, 
 gave him a pair of moccasins, and expressed 
 great indignation at the unworthy treatment 
 his prisoner had suffered. 
 
 That savage chief again returned to the care 
 of the wounded, and the Indians, about two 
 hundred in number, went before the rest of the 
 party to the place where the whole were that 
 night to encamp. They took with them Major 
 Putnam, on whom, besides innumerable other 
 outrages, they had the barbarity to inflict a
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 51 
 
 deep wound with the tomahawk in the left cheek. 
 His sufferings were in this place to be con- 
 summated. A scene of horror, infinitely greater 
 than had ever met his eyes before, was now 
 preparing: It was determined to roast him 
 alive. For this purpose they led him into a 
 dark forest, stripped him naked, bound him to 
 a tree, and piled dry brush, with other fuel, at a 
 small distance, in a circle round him. They 
 accompanied their labours, as if for his fune- 
 ral dirge, with screams and sounds inimitable 
 but by savage voices. Then they set the piles 
 on fire. A sudden shower damped the rising 
 flame. Still they strove to kindle it, until, at 
 last, the blaze ran fiercely round the circle. 
 Major Putnam soon began to feel the scorching 
 heat. His hands were so tied that he could 
 move his body. He often shifted sides as the 
 fire approached. This sight, at the very idea 
 of which all but savages must shudder, afforded 
 the highest diversion to his inhuman torment- 
 ors, who demonstrated the delirium of their joy 
 by correspondent yells, dances, and gesticula- 
 tions. He saw clearly that his final hour was 
 inevitably come. He summoned all his reso- 
 lution, and composed his mind, as far as the 
 circumstances would admit, to bid an eternal 
 farewell to all he held most dear. To quit the 
 world would scarcely have cost a single pang ; 
 but for the idea of home, but for the remem- 
 brance of domestic endearments, of the affec- 
 tionate partner of his soul, and of their beloved
 
 52 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 THE SAVAGES ATTEMPTING TO ROAST PUT- 
 NAM. p. 52. 
 
 offspring. His thought was ultimately fixed on 
 a happier state of existence, beyond the tor- 
 tures he was beginning to endure. The bitter- 
 ness of death, even of that death which is ac- 
 companied with the keenest agonies, was, in a 
 manner, past nature, with a feeble struggle, 
 was quitting its last hold on sublunary things 
 when a French officer rushed through the 
 crowd, opened a way by scattering the burning 
 brands, and unbound the victim. It was Mo- 
 lang himself to whom a savage, unwilling to 
 see another human sacrifice immolated, had 
 run and communicated the tidings. That 
 commandant spurned and severely reprimanded 
 the barbarians, whose nocturnal powwas and
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 53 
 
 hellish orgies he suddenly ended. Putnam did 
 not want for feeling or gratitude. The French 
 commander, fearing to trust him alone with 
 them, remained until he could deliver him in 
 safety into the hands of his master. 
 
 The savage approached his prisoner kindly, 
 and seemed to treat him with particular affec- 
 tion. He offered him some hard biscuit : but 
 finding that he could not chew them, on account 
 of the blow he had received from the French- 
 man, this more humane savage soaked some of 
 the biscuit in water, and made him suck the 
 pulp-like part. Determined, however, not to 
 lose his captive, he took the moccasins from his 
 feet, and tied them to one of his wrists: then 
 directing him to lie down on his back upon the 
 bare ground, he stretched one arm to its full 
 length, and bound it fast to a young tree ; the 
 other arm was extended and bound in the same 
 manner ; his legs were stretched apart and fast- 
 ened to two saplings. Then a number of tall, but 
 slender poles, were cut down, which, with some 
 long bushes, were laid across his body from 
 head to foot : on each side lay as many Indians 
 as could conveniently find lodging, in order to 
 prevent the possibility of his escape. In this 
 disagreeable and painful posture he remained 
 until morning. During this night, the longest 
 and most dreary conceivable, our hero used to 
 relate that he felt a ray of cheerfulness come 
 casually across his mind, and could not even 
 refrain from smiling when he reflected on this
 
 54 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 ludicrous group for a painter, of which he him- 
 self was the principal figure. 
 
 The next day he was allowed his blanket 
 and moccasins, and permitted to march without 
 carrying any pack, or receiving any insult. 
 To allay his extreme hunger, a little bear's 
 meat was given, which he sucked through his 
 teeth. At night the party arrived at Ticonde- 
 roga, and the prisoner was placed under the 
 care of a French guard. The savages, who 
 had been prevented from glutting their diaboli- 
 cal thirst for blood, took other opportunities of 
 manifesting their malevolence for the disap- 
 pointment, by horrid grimaces and angry ges- 
 tures; but they were suffered no more to offer 
 violence or personal indignity to him. 
 
 After having been examined by the Marquis 
 de Montcalm, Major Putnam was conducted to 
 Montreal by a French officer, who treated him 
 with the greatest indulgence and humanity. 
 
 At this place were several prisoners. Colonel 
 Peter Schuyler, remarkable for his philanthro- 
 py, generosity, and friendship, was of the num- 
 ber. No sooner had he heard of Major Put- 
 nam's arrival, than he went to the interpreter's 
 quarters, and inquired whether he had a Pro 
 vincial major in his custody ? He found Major 
 Putnam in a comfortless condition, without 
 coat, waistcoat, or hose ; the remnant of his 
 clothing miserably dirty and ragged ; his beard 
 long and squalid ; his legs torn by thorns and 
 briers ; his face gashed with wounds and swol-
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 55 
 
 len with bruises. Colonel Schuyler, irritated 
 beyond all sufferance at such a sight, could 
 scarcely restrain his speech within limits, con- 
 sistent with the prudence of a prisoner and the 
 meekness of a Christian. Major Putnam was 
 immediately treated according to his rank, 
 clothed in a decent manner, and supplied with 
 money by that liberal and sympathetic patron 
 of the distressed. 
 
 The capture of Frontenac by General Brad- 
 street afforded occasion for an exchange of 
 prisoners. Colonel Schuyler was comprehend- 
 ed in the cartel. A generous spirit can never 
 be satisfied with imposing tasks for its gene- 
 rosity to accomplish. Apprehensive if it should 
 be known that Putnam was a distinguished 
 partisan, his liberation might be retarded, and 
 knowing that there were officers who, from the 
 length of their captivity, had a claim of priori ty 
 to exchange, he had, by his happy address, in- 
 duced the governor to offer, that whatever offi- 
 cer he might think proper to nominate should 
 be included in the present cartel. With great 
 politeness in manner, but seeming indifference 
 as to object, he expressed his warmest acknow- 
 ledgments to the governor, and said, " There is 
 an old man here, who is a Provincial major, 
 and wishes to be at home with his wife and 
 children ; he can do no good here or any where 
 else : I believe your excellency had better keep 
 some of the young men, who have no wife or 
 children to care for, and let the old fellow go
 
 56 LIFE, ANECDOTES, .AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 home with me." This justifiable finesse had 
 the desired effect. 
 
 At the house of Colonel Schuyler, Major Put- 
 nam became acquainted with Mrs. Howe, a 
 widow lady, who had teen captured by the 
 Indians. She was still beautiful, though the 
 mother of seven children, all cf whom were 
 also captives. Each of her two husbands had 
 suffered death by the savages. A French offi- 
 cer purchased her for four hundred livres. We 
 cannot here detail her interesting history, nor 
 the sufferings from which she was ransomed by 
 that soldier of humanity, Colonel Schuyler. 
 Suffice to say, that he not only purchased her 
 freedom, but gathered to her bosom the scat- 
 tered children of her love, and put her under 
 the protection of Major Putnam. 
 
 In the long march from captivity, through an 
 inhospitable wilderness, encumbered with five 
 small children, she suffered incredible hard- 
 ships. Though endowed with masculine forti- 
 tude, she was truly feminine in strength, and 
 must have fainted by the way, had it not been 
 for the assistance of Major Putnam. There 
 were a thousand good offices which the help- 
 lessness of her condition demanded, and which 
 the gentleness of his nature delighted to per- 
 form. He assisted in leading her little ones, and 
 in carrying them over the swampy grounds and 
 runs of water, with which their course was fre- 
 quently intersected. He mingled his own mess 
 with that of the widow and the fatherless, and
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 57 
 
 assisted them in supplying and preparing their 
 provisions. Upon arriving within the settle- 
 ments, they experienced a reciprocal regret at 
 separation, and were only consoled by the ex- 
 pectation of soon mingling in the embraces of 
 their former acquaintances and dearest con- 
 nexions. 
 
 We now arrive at the period when the prow- 
 ess of Britain, victorious alike by sea and by 
 land, in the new arid in the old world, had ele- 
 vated that name to the zenith of national glory. 
 The conquest of Quebec opened the way for 
 the total reduction of Canada. On this side of 
 the lakes, Amherst having captured the posts 
 of Ticonderoga and Crown-Point, applied him- 
 self to strengthen the latter. Putnam, who had 
 been raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, 
 and present at these operations, was employed 
 the remainder of this and some part of the suc- 
 ceeding season, in superintending the parties 
 which were detached to procure timber and 
 other materials for the fortih' cation. 
 
 In 1760, General Amherst, a sagacious, hu- 
 mane, and experienced commander, planned 
 the termination of the war in Canada, by a 
 bloodless conquest. For this purpose, three 
 armies were destined to co-operate, by different 
 routes, against Montreal, the only remaining 
 place of strength the enemy held in that coun- 
 try. The corps formerly commanded by Gene- 
 ral Wolfe, now by General Murray, was ordered 
 to ascend the river St. Lawrence ; another, un-
 
 58 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 der Colonel Haviland, to penetrate by the Isle 
 Aux Noix ; and the third, consisting of about 
 ten thousand men, commanded by General 
 Amherst, after passing up the Mohawk river, 
 and taking its course by the Lake Ontario, was 
 to form a junction by falling down the St. Law- 
 rence. In this progress, more than one occa- 
 sion presented itself to manifest the intrepidity 
 and soldiership of Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam. 
 Two armed vessels obstructed the passage, and 
 prevented the attack on Oswegatchie. Putnam, 
 with one thousand men, in fifty batteaux, un- 
 dertook to board them. This dauntless officer, 
 ever sparing of the blood of others, as prodigal 
 of his own, to accomplish it with the less loss, 
 put himself with a chosen crew, a beetle and 
 wedges, in the van, with a design to wedge the 
 rudders, so that the vessels should not be able 
 to turn their broadsides, or perform any other 
 manoeuvre. All the men in his little fleet were 
 ordered to strip to their waistcoats, and advance 
 at the same time. He promised, if he lived, to 
 join and show them the way up the sides. 
 Animated by so daring an example, they moved 
 Swiftly, in profound stillness, as to certain vic- 
 tory or death. The people on board the ships, 
 beholding the good countenance with which 
 they approached, ran one of the vessels on 
 shore, and struck the colours of the other. Had 
 it not been for the dastardly conduct of the 
 ship's company in the latter, who compelled 
 the captain to haul down his ensign, he would
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 59 
 
 PUTNAM AN!) HIS MEN BOARDING THE 
 FRENCH. p. 59. 
 
 have given the assailants a bloody reception : 
 for the vessels were well provided with spars, 
 nettings, and every customary instrument of 
 annoyance as well as defence. 
 
 It now remained to attack the fortress, which 
 stood on an island, and seemed to have been 
 rendered inaccessible by a high abattis of black- 
 ash, that every where projected over the water. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam proposed a mode of 
 attack, and offered his services to carry it into 
 effect. The General approved the proposal. 
 Our partisan, accordingly, caused a sufficient 
 number of boats to be fitted for the enterprise. 
 The sides of each boat were surrounded with 
 fascines, musket proof, which covered the men
 
 60 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 completely. A wide plank, twenty feet in 
 length, was then fitted to every boat in such 
 manner, by having an angular piece sawed 
 from one extremity, that, when fastened by 
 ropes on both sides of the bow, it might be 
 raised or lowered at pleasure. The design 
 was, that the plank should be held erect while 
 the oarsmen forced the bow with the utmost 
 exertion against the abattis ; and that after- 
 wards being dropped on the pointed brush, it 
 should serve as a bridge to assist the men in 
 passing over them. Lieutenant-Colonel Put- 
 nam having made his dispositions to attempt 
 the escalade in many places at the same mo- 
 ment, advanced with his boats in admirable 
 order. The garrison, perceiving these extraor- 
 dinary and unexpected machines, waited not 
 the assault, but capitulated. Lieutenant-Colo- 
 nel Putnam was particularly honoured by Ge- 
 neral Amherst, for his ingenuity in this inven- 
 tion, and promptitude in its execution. The 
 three armies arrived at Montreal within two 
 days of each other ; and the conquest of Canada 
 became complete without the loss of a single 
 drop of blood. 
 
 At no great distance from Montreal stands 
 the savage village called Cochnawaga. Here 
 our partizan found the Indian chief who had 
 formerly made him prisoner. That Indian 
 was highly delighted to see his old acquaint- 
 ance, whom he entertained in his own well- 
 built stone house with great friendship and
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 61 
 
 hospitality; while his guest did not discover 
 less satisfaction in an opportunity of shaking 
 the brave savage by the hand, and proffering 
 him protection in this reverse of his military 
 fortunes. 
 
 When the belligerant powers were consider- 
 ably exhausted, a rupture took place between 
 Great Britain arid Spain, in January, 1762, 
 and an expedition was formed that campaign, 
 under Lord Albemarle, against the Havanna. 
 A body of provincials, composed of five hun- 
 dred men from the Jerseys, eight hundred from 
 New- York, and one thousand from Connecti- 
 cut, joined his lordship. General Lyman, who 
 raised the regiment of one thousand men in 
 Connecticut, being the senior officer, command- 
 ed the whole : of course, the immediate com- 
 mand of his regiment devolved upon Lieute- 
 nant-Colonel Putnam. The fleet that carried 
 these troops sailed from New- York, and arrived 
 safely on the coast of Cuba. There a terrible 
 storm arose, and the transport in which Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Putnam had embarked with 
 five hundred men, was wrecked on a rift of 
 craggy rocks. The weather was so tempestu- 
 ous, and the surf, which ran mountain-high, 
 dashed with such violence against the ship, 
 that the most experienced seamen expected it 
 would soon part asunder. The rest of the fleet, 
 so far from being able to afford assistance, with 
 difficulty rode out the gale. In this deplorable 
 situation, as the only expedient by which they
 
 62 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 could be saved, strict order was maintained, 
 and all those people who best understood the 
 use of tools, instantly employed in constructing 
 rafts from spars, plank, and whatever other 
 materials could be procured. There happened 
 to be on board a large quantity of strong cords, 
 (the same that are used in the whale fishery,) 
 which, being fastened to the rafts, after the first 
 had with inconceivable hazard reached the 
 shore, were of infinite service in preventing the 
 others from driving out to sea, as also in drag- 
 ging them athwart the billows to the beach ; 
 by which means every man was finally saved. 
 With the same presence of mind to take advan- 
 tage of circumstances, and the same precaution 
 to prevent confusion on similar occasions, how 
 many valuable lives, prematurely lost, might 
 have been preserved as blessings to their fami- 
 lies, their friends, and their country ! As soon 
 as all were landed, Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam 
 fortified his camp, that he might not be exposed 
 to insult from the inhabitants of the neighbour- 
 ing districts, or from those of Carthagena, who 
 were but twenty-four miles distant. Here the 
 party remained unmolested several days, until 
 the storm had so much abated as to permit the 
 convoy to take them off. They soon joined 
 the troops before theHavanna, who, having been 
 several weeks in that unhealthy climate, al- 
 ready began to grow extremely sickly.* The 
 
 * Colonel Haviland, an accomplished officer, several times 
 mentioned in these memoirs, who brought to America a regi-
 
 _ OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 63 
 
 opportune arrival of the provincial re-enforce- 
 ment, in perfect health, contributed not a little 
 to forward the works, and hasten the reduction 
 of that important place. But the provincials 
 suffered so miserably by sickness afterwards, 
 that very few ever returned to their native 
 land. 
 
 Though a general peace among the Euro- 
 pean powers was ratified in 1763, yet the 
 savages on our western frontiers still continu- 
 ed their hostilities. After they had taken seve- 
 ral posts, General Bradstreet was sent, in 1764, 
 with an army, against them. Colonel Put- 
 nam, then, for the first time, appointed to the 
 command of a regiment, was on the expedi- 
 tion, as was the Indian chief whom I have se- 
 veral times had occasion to mention as his cap- 
 turer, at the head of one hundred Cochnawaga 
 warriors. Before General Bradstreet reached 
 Detroit, which the savages invested, Captain 
 D'Ell, the faithful friend and intrepid fellow- 
 soldier of Colonel Putnam, had been slain in a 
 desperate sally. Having been detached with 
 five hundred men, in 1763, by General Am- 
 herst, to raise the siege, he found means of 
 throwing the succour into the fort. But the 
 
 ment of one thousand Irish veterans, had but seventy men 
 remaining alive when he left the Havanna. Colonel Havi- 
 land, during this siege, having once with his regiment en- 
 gaged and routed five hundred Spaniards, met Colonel Putnam 
 on nis return, and said, "Putnam, give me a pinch of snuff.'' 
 "I never carry any," returned Putnam. " I have always just 
 such luck," cried Haviland: "the rascally Soaniarda have 
 hot away my pocket, snuff-box and all. 1 ' 
 E
 
 64 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 garrison, commanded by Major Gladwine, a 
 brave and sensible officer, had been so much 
 weakened, by the lurking and insidious mode 
 of war practised by the savages, that not a 
 man could be spared to co-operate in an attack 
 on them. The commandant would even have 
 dissuaded Captain D'Ell from the attempt, on 
 account of the great disparity in numbers ; but 
 the latter, relying on the discipline and cou- 
 rage of his men, replied, " God forbid that I 
 should ever disobey the orders of my general," 
 and immediately disposed them for action. It 
 was obstinate and bloody ; but the vastly su- 
 perior number of the savages enabled them to 
 enclose Captain D'Ell's party on every side, 
 and compelled him finally, to fight his way, in 
 retreat, from one stone house to another. Hav- 
 ing halted to breathe a moment, he saw one of 
 his bravest sergeants lying at a small distance, 
 wounded through the thigh, and wallowing in 
 his blood ; on which hj desired some of the 
 men to run and bring the sergeant to the 
 house, but they declined it. Then declaring, 
 that he never would leave so brave a soldier 
 in the field to be tortured by the savages, he 
 ran and endeavoured to help him up at the 
 instant, a volley of shot dropped them both 
 dead together. The party continued retreat- 
 ing from house to house until they regained 
 the fort ; where it was found the conflict had 
 been so sharp, and lasted so long, that only fifty
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 65 
 
 men remained alive- of the five hundred who 
 had sallied. 
 
 On the arrival of General Bradstreet, the 
 savages saw that all further efforts in arms 
 would be vain, and accordingly, after many 
 fallacious proposals for a peace, and frequent 
 tergiversations in the negotiation, they con-, 
 eluded a treaty, which ended the war in Ame- 
 rica. 
 
 Colonel Putnam, at the expiration of ten 
 years from his first receiving a commission, 
 after having seen as much service, endured as 
 many hardships, encountered as many dangers, 
 and acquired as many laurels as any officer of 
 his rank, with great satisfaction laid aside his 
 uniform, and returned to his plough. The va- 
 rious and uncommon scenes of war in which 
 he had acted a respectable part, his intercourse 
 with the world, and intimacy with some of the 
 first officers in -the army, joined with occasion- 
 al reading, had not only brought into view 
 whatever talents he possessed from nature, but 
 had extended his knowledge, and polished his 
 manners, to a considerable degree. 
 
 On the twenty-second day of March, 1765. 
 the stamp act received the royal assent. It 
 was to take place in America on the first day 
 of November following. This innovation 
 spread a sudden and universal alarm. The 
 political pulse in the provinces, from Maine to 
 Georgia, throbbed in sympathy. The assem- 
 blies, in most of these colonies, that they might
 
 66 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 oppose it legally and in concert, appointed de- 
 legates to confer together on the subject. This 
 first congress met, early in October, at New- 
 York. They agreed on a declaration of rights 
 and grievances of the colonists ; together with 
 separate addresses to the king, lords, and com- 
 mons of Great Britain. In the mean time, the 
 people had determined, in order to prevent the 
 stamped paper from being distributed, that the 
 stamp-masters should not enter on the execu- 
 tion of their office. That appointment, in Con- 
 necticut, had been conferred on Mr. Ingersol, 
 a very dignified, sensible, and learned native of 
 the colony, who, on being solicited to resign, 
 did not, in the first instance, give a satisfactory 
 answer. In consequence of which, a great 
 number of the substantial yeomanry, on horse- 
 back, furnished with provisions for themselves, 
 and provender for their horses, assembled in 
 the eastern counties, and began their march 
 for New-Haven, to receive the resignation of 
 Mr. Ingersol. A junction with another body 
 was to have been formed in Branford. But 
 having learned at Hartford, that Mr. Ingersol 
 would be in town the next day to claim pro- 
 tection from the assembly, they took quarters 
 there, and kept out patroles during the whole 
 night, to prevent his arrival without their 
 knowledge. The succeeding morning they re- 
 sumed their march, and met Mr. Ingersol in 
 Wethersfield. They told him their business, 
 and he, after some little hesitation, mounted on
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 67 
 
 a round table, read his resignation.* That 
 finished, the multitude desired him to cry out 
 " liberty and property" three times ; which he 
 did, and was answered by three loud huzzas. 
 He then dined with some of the principal men 
 at a tavern, by whom he was treated with great 
 politeness, and afterwards was escorted by 
 about five hundred horse to Hartford, where 
 he again read his resignation, amidst the un- 
 bounded acclamations of the people. I have 
 chosen to style this collection the yeomanry, 
 the multitude, or the people, because I could 
 not use the English word mob, which general- 
 ly signifies a disorderly concurrence of the rab- 
 ble, without conveying an erroneous idea. It 
 is scarcely necessary to add, that the people, 
 their objects being' effected, without offering 
 disturbance, dispersed to their homes.t 
 
 * The curious may be pleased to know that the resignation 
 was expressed in these explicit terms : 
 
 " Wethersfidd, September 9th, 1765. 
 
 " I do hereby promise, that I never will receive any stamped 
 papers which may arrive from Europe, in consequence of an 
 act lately passed in the parliament of Great Britain ; nor offi- 
 ciate as stamp-master or distributor of stamps, within the 
 colony of Connecticut, either directly or indirectly. And I do 
 hereby notify to all the inhabitants of his majesty's colony of 
 Connecticut (notwithstanding the said office or trust lias 
 been committed to me not to apply to me, ever after, for any 
 stamped paper; hereby declaring that I do resign the said of- 
 fice, and execute these PRESENTS of my own FREE WILL AND 
 'ACCORD, without any equivocation or mental reservation. 
 
 "In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, 
 
 "J. INGERSOL." 
 
 t To give a trait of the urbanity that prevailed, it may not 
 be amiss to mention a .jest that passed in the cavalcade to 
 Hartford, and was received with the most perfect good hu- 
 mour. Mr. Ingersol, who by chance rode a white horse, be- 
 ing asked " What he thought, to find himself attended by such
 
 68 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 Colonel Putnam, who instigated the people 
 to these measures, was prevented from attend- 
 ing by accident. But he was deputed soon 
 after, with two other gentlemen, to wait on 
 Governor Fitch on the same subject. The 
 questions of the governor, arid answers of Put- 
 nam, will serve to indicate the spirit of the 
 times. After some conversation, the governor 
 asked, "What he should do if the stamped 
 paper should be sent to him by the king's au- 
 thority?" Putnam replied, "lock it up until 
 we shall visit you again." "And what will 
 you do then ?" " We shall expect you to give 
 us the key of the room in which it is deposit- 
 ed ; and, if you think fit, in order to screen 
 yourself from blame, you may forewarn us, on 
 our peril, not to enter the room." " And what 
 will you do afterwards?" " Send it safely back 
 again." " But if I should refuse admission T 
 " In such a case, your house will be levelled 
 with the dust in five minutes." It was suppos- 
 ed, that a report of this conversation was one 
 reason why the stamped paper was never sent 
 from New- York to Connecticut. 
 
 Such unanimity in the provincial assemblies, 
 and decision in the yeomanry, carried beyond 
 the Atlantic a conviction of the inexpediency 
 of attempting to enforce the new revenue sys- 
 tem. The stamp act being repealed, and the 
 
 a retinue?" replied, "that he had now a clearer idea than 
 ever he had before conceived of that passage in the Revela- 
 tion, which describes death on a pale horse, and hell follow- 
 ing Aim."
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 69 
 
 colonies in a manner quieted, Colonel Put- 
 nam continued to labour, afterwards, at farm- 
 ing, without interruption, except, for a little 
 time, by the loss of the first joint of his right 
 thumb from one accident, and the compound 
 fracture of his right thigh from another : that 
 thigh, being rendered nearly an inch shorter 
 than the left, occasioned him to limp in his 
 walk. 
 
 The provincial officers and soldiers from 
 Connecticut, who survived the conquest of the 
 Havanna, appointed General Lyman to re- 
 ceive the remainder of their prize money, in 
 England. A company, composed partly of 
 military, and partly of other gentlemen, whose 
 object was to obtain from the crown a grant of 
 land on the Mississippi, also committed to him 
 the negotiation of their affairs. When several 
 years had elapsed, in applications, a grant of 
 land was obtained. In 1770, General Lymari, 
 with Colonel Putnam, and two or three others, 
 went to explore the situation. After a tedious 
 voyage, and a laborious passage up the Missis- 
 sippi, they accomplished their business. 
 
 General Lyman came back to Connecticut 
 with the explorers, but soon returned to the 
 Natchez, there formed an establishment, and 
 laid his bones. Colonel Putnam placed some 
 labourers with provisions and farming utensils 
 on his location ; but the increasing troubles 
 shortly after ruined the prospect of deriving 
 any advantage from that quarter.
 
 70 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 It will ever be acknowledged by those who 
 were best acquainted with facts, and it should 
 be made known to posterity, that the king of 
 England had not, in his extensive dominions, 
 subjects more loyal, more dutiful, or more zea- 
 lous for his glory, than the Americans ; and 
 that nothing short of a melancholy persuasion, 
 that the " measures which for many years had 
 been systematically pursued by his ministers, 
 were calculated to subvert their constitutions," 
 could have dissolved their powerful attach- 
 ment to that kingdom, which they fondly called 
 their parent country. Here, without digres- 
 sion to develope the cause, or describe the pro- 
 gress, it may suffice to observe, the dispute 
 now verged precipitately to an awful crisis. 
 Most considerate men foresaw it would termi- 
 nate in blood. But rather than suffer the 
 chains, which they believed in preparation, to 
 be riveted, they nobly determined to sacrifice 
 their lives. In vain did they deprecate the 
 infatuation of those transatlantic counsels 
 which drove them to deeds of desperation. 
 Convinced of the rectitude of their cause, and 
 doubtful of the issue, they felt the most painful 
 solicitude for the fate of their country, on con- 
 templating the superior strength of the nation 
 with which it was to contend. America, thin- 
 ly inhabited, under thirteen distinct colonial 
 governments, could have little hope of success, 
 but from the protection of Providence, and the 
 unconquerable spirit of freedom which pervad-
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 71 
 
 ed the mass of the people. It is true, since 
 the peace she had surprisingly increased in 
 wealth and population; but the resources of 
 Britain almost exceeded credibility or concep- 
 tion. It is not wonderful, then, that some good 
 citizens, of weaker nerves, recoiled at the pros- 
 pect ; while others, who had been officers in 
 the late war, or who had witnessed, by travel- 
 ling, the force of Britain, stood aloof. All eyes 
 were now turned to find the men who, possess- 
 ing military experience, would dare, in the ap- 
 proaching hour of severest trial, to lead their 
 undisciplined fellow-citizens to battle ; for 
 none were so stupid as not to comprehend, 
 that want of success would involve the leaders 
 in the punishment of rebellion. Putnam was 
 among the first and most conspicuous who 
 stepped forth. Although the Americans had 
 been, by many who wished their subjugation, 
 indiscreetly as indiscriminately stigmatized with 
 the imputation of cowardice he felt he knew 
 for himself, he was no coward ; and from what 
 he had seen and known, he believed that his 
 countrymen, driven to the extremity of defend- 
 ing their rights by arms, would find no diffi- 
 culty in wiping away the ungenerous asper- 
 sion. As he happened to be often at Boston, 
 he held many conversations, on these subjects, 
 with General Gage, the British commander-in- 
 chief, I/ord Percy, Colonel Sheriff, Colonel 
 Small, and many officers with whom he had 
 formerly served, who were now at the head- 
 G
 
 72 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 quarters. Being often questioned, "in case 
 the dispute should proceed to hostilities, what 
 part he would really take ?" he always an- 
 swered, " with his country ; and that, let what- 
 ever might happen, he was prepared to abide 
 the consequence." Being interrogated, " whe- 
 ther he, who had been a witness to the prowess 
 and victories of the British fleets and armies, 
 did not think them equal to the conquest of a 
 country which was not the owner of a single 
 ship, regiment, or magazine ?" he rejoined, that 
 " he could only say, justice would be on our 
 side, and the event with Providence : but that 
 he had calculated, if it required six years for 
 the combined forces of England and her colo- 
 nies to conquer such a feeble country as Cana- 
 da, it would, at least, take a very long time for 
 England alone to overcome her own widely 
 extended colonies, which were much stronger 
 than Canada : that when men fought for every 
 thing dear, in what they believed to be the 
 most sacred of all causes, and in their own na- 
 tive land, they would have great advantages 
 over their enemies, who were not in the same 
 situation ; and that, having taken into view all 
 circumstances, for his own part, he fully be- 
 lieved that America would not be so easily 
 conquered by England as those gentlemen 
 seemed to expect." Being once, in particular, 
 asked, " whether he did not seriously believe 
 that a well appointed British army of five thou- 
 sand veterans could march through the whole
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 73 
 
 continent of America?" He replied briskly, 
 "No doubt, if they behaved civilly, and paid 
 well for every thing they wanted ; but" after 
 a moment's pause, added, " if they should 
 attempt it in a hostile manner (though the 
 American men were out of the question) the 
 women, with their ladles and broomsticks, would 
 knock them all on the head before they had tra- 
 velled half way through." This was the tenor 
 of these amicable interviews ; and thus, as it 
 commonly happens in disputes about future 
 events which depend on opinion, they parted 
 without conviction, no more to meet in a friend- 
 ly manner, until after the appeal should have 
 been made to Heaven, and the issue confirmed 
 by the sword. In the mean time, to provide 
 against the worst contingency, the militia in the 
 several colonies were sedulously trained ; and 
 those select companies, the flower of our youth, 
 which were denominated minutemen, agreea- 
 bly to the indication of their name, held them- 
 selves in readiness to march at a moment's 
 warning. 
 
 At length the fatal day arrived, when hostili- 
 ties commenced. General Gage, in the evening 
 of the 18th of April, 1775, detached from 
 Boston the grenadiers and light infantry of the 
 army, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, 
 to destroy some military and other stores, de- 
 posited by the province at Concord. About 
 sunrise the next morning, the detachment, on 
 marching into Lexington, fired on a company 
 4
 
 74 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 of militia, who had just re-assembled ; for 
 having been alarmed late at night, with rep6rts 
 that the regulars were advancing to demolish 
 the stores, they collected on their parade, and 
 were dismissed with orders to re-assemble at 
 beat of drum. It is established by the affidavits 
 of more than thirty -persons who were present, 
 that the first fire, which killed eight of the 
 militia, then beginning to disperse, was given 
 by the British without provocation. The spark 
 of war, thus kindled, ran with unexampled 
 rapidity, and raged with unwonted violence. 
 To repel the aggression, the people of the border- 
 ing towns spontaneously rushed to arms, and 
 poured their scattering shot from every conve- 
 nient station on the regulars,who,aftermarching 
 to Concord, and destroying the magazine, would 
 have found their retreat intercepted, had they 
 not been re-enforced by Lord Percy, with the 
 battalion companies of three regiments, and a 
 body of marines. Notwithstanding the junc- 
 tion, they were hard pushed, and pursued until 
 they could find protection from their ships. Of 
 the British, two hundred and eighty-three were 
 killed, wounded, and taken. The Americans 
 had thirty-nine killed, nineteen wounded, and 
 two made prisoners. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the celerity with which 
 the intelligence flew every where, that blood 
 had been shed by the British troops. The 
 country, in motion, exhibited but one scene of 
 hurry, preparation, and revenge. Putnam, who
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 76 
 
 FIRST INFORMATION PUTNAM HAS OF THE 
 BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. p. 75. 
 
 was ploughing when he heard the news, left 
 his plough in the middle of the field, unyoked 
 his team, and without waiting to change his 
 clothes, set off for the theatre of action. But 
 finding the British retreated to Boston, and 
 invested by a sufficient force to watch their 
 movements, he came back to Connecticut,* 
 levied a regiment, under authority of the legis- 
 
 * General Putnam was absent only one week from the army 
 at Cambridge ; and then, for the purpose of consultation witn 
 the Legislature of Connecticut, at that time in session ; and at 
 the particular request of that body. Having assisted, by his 
 advice, in the organization of a military force, for the cam- 
 paign of 1775, he returned immediately to the army before 
 Boston, leaving orders for the troops to fol]ow with as little 
 delay as possible, after the men could be enlisted. (Editor.)
 
 76 LIFE, ANECDOTES, ANU HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 lature, and speedily returned to Cambridge.* 
 He was now prornoted to be a Major-General 
 on the Provincial staff, by his colony ; and, in 
 a little time, confirmed by Congress, in the same 
 rank, on the. Continental establishment. Gene- 
 ral Ward, of Massachusetts, by common con- 
 sent, commanded the whole ; and the celebrated 
 Dr. Warren was made a Major-General. 
 
 Not long after this period, the British com- 
 mander-in-chief found the means to convey a 
 proposal, privately, to General Putnam, that if 
 he would relinquish the rebel party, he might 
 rely upon being made a Major-General on the Bri- 
 tish establishment, and receiving a great pecu- 
 niary compensation for his services. General 
 
 * An article void of foundation, mentioning an interview 
 between General Gage and General Putnam, appeared in the 
 English gazettes, in these words : " General Gage, viewing 
 the American army with his telescope, saw General Putnam 
 in it, which surprised him ; and he contrived to get a message 
 delivered to hint, that he wanted to speak to him. Putnam, 
 without any hesitation, waited upon him. General Gage 
 showed him his fortifications, and advised him- to lay down 
 his arms. General Putnam replied, he could force his fortifi- 
 cations in half an hour, and advised General Gage to go on 
 board the ships with his troops." 
 
 The apprehension of an attack is adduced with much more 
 veri-similitude in MTingal, as the reason why General Gage 
 would not suffer the inhabitants to go from the town of Bos- 
 ton, after he had promised to grant permission : 
 
 " So Gage of late agreed, you know, 
 
 To let the Boston people go ; 
 
 Yet when he saw. "gainst troops that brav'd him, 
 
 They were the only guards that sav'd him, 
 
 Kept off that Satan of a Putnam^ 
 
 Prom breaking in to maul and mutt'n him, 
 
 He'd too much wit such leagues t' observe, 
 
 And shut them in again to starve." 
 
 MMngal, Canto I.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 77 
 
 Putnam spurned at the offer ; which, however, 
 he thought prudent at that time to' conceal 
 from public notice. 
 
 It could scarcely have been expected, but by 
 those credulous patriots who were prone to 
 believe whatever they ardently desired, that 
 officers assembled from colonies distinct in their 
 manners and prejudices, selected from laborious 
 occupations, to command aheterogeneouscrowd 
 of their equals, compelled to be soldiers only 
 by the spur of occasion, should long be able to 
 preserve harmony among themselves, and 
 subordination among their followers. As the 
 fact would be a phenomenon, the idea was 
 treated with mirth and mockery by the friends 
 to the British government. Yet this unshaken 
 embryo of a military corps, composed of militia, 
 minutemen, volunteers, and levies, with a bur- 
 lesque appearance of multiformity in arms, 
 accoutrements, clothing, and conduct, at last 
 grew into a .regular army an army which, 
 having vindicated the rights of human nature, 
 and established the independence of a riew 
 empire, merited and obtained the glorious dis- 
 tinction of the patriot army the patriot army, 
 whose praises for their fortitude in adversity, 
 bravery in battle, moderation in conquest, per- 
 severance in supporting the cruel extremities 
 of hunger and nakedness, without a murmur or 
 sigh, as well as for their magnanimity in retiring 
 to civil life, at the moment of victory, with arms 
 in their hands, and without any just compensa-
 
 78 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 tion for their services, will only cease to be cele- 
 brated when time shall exist no more. 
 
 Enthusiasm for the cause of liberty, substi- 
 tuted in the place of discipline, not only kept 
 these troops together, but enabled them at once 
 to perform the duties of a disciplined army. 
 Though the commanding officers from the four 
 colonies of New England were in a manner 
 independent, they acted harmoniously in con- 
 cert. The first attention had been prudently 
 directed towards forming some little redoubts 
 and intrenchments ; for it was well known that 
 lines, however slight or untenable, were calcu- 
 lated to inspire raw soldiers with a confidence 
 in themselves. The next care was to bring 
 the live stock from the islands in Boston bay 
 in order to prevent the enemy, (already sui 
 rounded by land,) from making use of then, 
 for fresh provisions. In the latter end of May, 
 between two and three hundred men were sent 
 to drive off the stock from Hog and Noddle 
 islands, which are situated on the north-east 
 side of Boston harbour. Advantage having 
 been taken of the ebb-tide, when the water is 
 fordable between the main and Hog island, as 
 it is between that and Noddle island, the design 
 was effected. But a skirmish ensued, in which 
 some of the marines, who had been stationed 
 to guard them, were killed ; and as the firing 
 continued between the British water-craft and 
 our party, a re-enforcement of three hundred 
 men, with two pieces of artillery, was ordered
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 79 
 
 to join the latter. General Putnam took the 
 command, and having gone down on the beach, 
 within conversing distance, and ineffectually 
 ordered the people on board an armed schooner 
 to strike, he plied her with shot so furiously, 
 that the crew made their escape, and the vessel 
 was burnt. An armed sloop was likewise so 
 miich disabled as to be towed off by the boats 
 of the fleet. Thus ended this affair, in which 
 several hundred sheep, and some cattle, were 
 removed from under the muzzles of the enemy's 
 cannon, and our men, accustomed to stand fire, 
 by being for many hours exposed to it, without 
 meeting with any loss. 
 
 The provincial Generals, having received 
 advice that the British commander-in-chief de- 
 signed to take possession of the heights on the 
 peninsula at Charlestown, detached a thousand 
 men in the night of the 16th of June, under 
 the orders of General Warren, to intrench 
 themselves on one of these eminences, named 
 Bunker Hill. Though retarded by accidents 
 from beginning the work until nearly mid- 
 night, yet, by dawn of day, they had construct- 
 ed a redoubt about eight rods square, and com- 
 menced a breast-work from the left to the low 
 grounds; which an insufferable fire from the 
 shipping, floating batteries, and cannon on 
 Copp's Hill, in Boston, prevented them from 
 completing. At mid-day, four battalions of foot, 
 ten companies of grenadiers, ten companies of 
 light infantry, with a proportion of artillery, 
 P
 
 80 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 commanded by Major-General Howe, landed 
 under a heavy cannonade from the ships, and 
 advanced in three lines to the attack. The 
 light infantry being formed on the right, was 
 directed to turn the left flank of the Americans ; 
 and the grenadiers, supported by two battalions, 
 to storm the redoubt in front. Meanwhile, on 
 application, these troops were augmented by 
 the 47th regiment, the 1st battalion of marines, 
 together with some companies of light infantry 
 and grenadiers, which formed an aggregate 
 force of between two and three thousand men.* 
 But so difficult was it to re-enforce the Ameri- 
 cans, by sending detachments across the Neck, 
 which was raked by the cannon of the shipping, 
 that not more than fifteen hundred men were 
 brought into action. Few instances can be 
 produced in the annals of mankind, where 
 soldiers, who never had before faced an enemy, 
 or heard the whistling of a ball, behaved with 
 such deliberate and persevering valour. 
 
 General Putnam rode through the line, and 
 ordered that no one should fire till they arrived 
 within eight rods, nor any one till command- 
 ed. "Powder was scarce and must not be 
 wasted. They should not fire at the enemy 
 till they saw the white of their eyes, and then 
 
 * The preceding paragraph was copied from a British Re- 
 gister, being the English account of the troops sent to the 
 attack of Bunker Hill, and the disposition of those troops. 
 This account, and others, published at the time, and ascribing 
 the command of the American force to Warren, probably 
 occasioned the historical error on that subject. (Editor.)
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 81 
 
 fire low, take aim at their waistbands. They 
 were all marksmen, and could kill a squirrel at 
 a hundred yards ; reserve their fire, and the 
 enemy were all destroyed. Aim at the hand- 
 some coats, pick off the commanders." The 
 same orders were reiterated by Prescott at the 
 redoubt, by Pomeroy, Stark, and all the vete- 
 ran officers. 
 
 The enemy were within gunshot of the re- 
 doubt ; a few of the sharp shooters could not 
 resist the temptation and fired. Prescott was 
 indignant at this contempt of his orders ; wav- 
 ing his sword, he swore instant death against 
 the first who disobeyed again, appealed to 
 their well known confidence in him, and pro- 
 mised to give them orders at the proper mo- 
 ment. 
 
 The enemy were at eight rods distance, the 
 deadly muskets were levelled, when Prescott 
 commanded his men to take good aim, be sure 
 of their mark, and fire. He was effectually 
 obeyed. The whole front rank was swept 
 away, and many a gallant officer laid low. 
 They were, however, countrymen of those 
 who gave the fire, and received it with the 
 same cool courage with which it was given. 
 Rank succeeded rank, and returned the fire, 
 but the odds was fearful ; the Americans were 
 well protected by the works ; the efforts and 
 courage of the enemy were in vain, and with 
 surly reluctance they were compelled to re- 
 treat. 
 
 4*
 
 82 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 Warren animated and encouraged the men, 
 and with the rest of the officers, set them an 
 example with his musket ; there was scarcely 
 an officer of any grade, except Putnam and 
 Prescott, without one. 
 
 Perfect as was the fire of the American in- 
 fantry, their artillery was as grossly defective 
 in every respect. This arm requires science, 
 experience, and knowledge of position. But 
 the artillery companies were just selected from 
 the infantry, and entirely ignorant of their du- 
 ty. Callender carried his pieces into action, 
 but his cartridges required adjusting. Totally 
 in violation of military discipline, he left his 
 post without orders, and was retiring to a se- 
 cure place under cover of the hill, to prepare 
 for firing. Putnam observed this appearance 
 of retreat, and was fired with indignation ; he 
 ordered him instantly .to his post ; Callender 
 remonstrated, but Putnam threatened him with 
 instant death, if he hesitated, and forced him 
 back. His men, however, were disgusted with 
 a part of the service they did not understand, 
 most of them had muskets and mingled in the 
 fight ; the pieces were entirely deserted, and 
 the captain relinquished them. 
 
 The British had neglected the only manoeu- 
 vre which would have defeated the enemy, to 
 mount the works and charge with the bayonet. 
 The Americans had scarcely a bayonet to a com- 
 pany, and it must have succeeded. Under co- 
 ver of the hill they prepared for another onset.
 
 t OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 83 
 
 Their fellow soldiers on the right arrived 
 about the time of this attack on the redoubt to 
 within about one hundred yards of the Ameri- 
 cans. They were throwing down a fence, 
 when a few marksmen fired on them. Put- 
 nam was enraged at this disobedience of an 
 order on which the salvation of the army de- 
 pended ; he rode to the spot, his sword whist- 
 ling through the air ; in his indignation, he 
 threatened to cut down the first who dared to 
 fire again without orders. The discharge 
 from these few muskets, however, drew the 
 fire from the enemy's line, which continued 
 moving on, and when about eight rods from 
 the fence, the fatal order was given ; the fire 
 of the Americans mowed them down with the 
 same tremendous severity, as at the redoubt. 
 The officers especially fell victims to their 
 deadly aim. 
 
 During this tremendous fire of musketry 
 and roar of cannon, M'Clary's stentorian, voice 
 was distinctly heard, animating and encourag- 
 ing the men, as though he would inspire every 
 ball that sped with his own fire and energy. 
 
 The British fired their heaviest vollies of 
 musketry with admirable coolness and regu- 
 larity, but without aim, at the Americans, and 
 almost every ball passed harmless over them. 
 Their artillery had been stopped by the brick 
 kilns in the low ground, and produced little 
 effect. This wing of the army having cover- 
 ed the ground with their dead, were at length 
 H
 
 84 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 compelled likewise to retreat ; and the huzza 
 of victory re-echoed through the American 
 line. 
 
 General Ward had by this time despatched 
 sufficient re-enforcements, but they did not reach 
 the field. The fire across the Neck wore an 
 aspect too terrific for raw troops to venture 
 through it. Putnam flew to the spot to over- 
 come their fears and hurry them on before the 
 enemy returned. He entreated, threatened, 
 and encourajjred them ; lashing his horse with 
 the flat of his sword, he rode backward and 
 forward across the Neck, through the hottest 
 fire, to convince them there was no danger. 
 The balls however threw up clouds of dust 
 about him, and the soldiers were perfectly con- 
 vinced that he was invulnerable, but not equal- 
 ly conscious of being so themselves.* , Some of 
 these troops, however, ventured over. 
 
 The battalion of artillery under Major Grid- 
 ley had proceeded but a few hundred rods 
 down the road to Charlestown, when they were 
 halted, and this officer determined not to pro- 
 ceed to the hill, but wait and cover the retreat, 
 which he considered inevitable. He was 
 young and inexperienced, and totally inade- 
 quate to the important command which had 
 been conferred on him in compliment to his fa- 
 ther, Colonel Gridley. He was confounded 
 with the dangers and difficulties of his situa- 
 
 * The principal fact here is proved by the deposition of Mr. 
 Samuel Bassett ; the other circumstances by oral testimony.
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 85 
 
 tion, and never recovered his self-possession 
 during the day. 
 
 While the artillery was halted in this situa- 
 tion, Colonel James Frye, (who was absent 
 from his regiment on duty the day before, but 
 the battle approaching, had found his way to 
 the field,) riding from Charlestown, galloped up 
 to them, and demanded of the senior captain,* 
 " why this unseasonable halt !" He was aston- 
 ished at the reply, and ordered them instantly 
 to the field. This veteran also animated their 
 courage by the glorious recollection " this day 
 " thirty years since, I was at the taking of Lou- 
 " isbourg when it was surrendered to us ; it is 
 " a fortunate day for America, we shall certain- 
 " ly beat the enemy." 
 
 The artillery proceeded. Gridley joined 
 them ; but his aversion to joining in the en- 
 gagement was invincible, and he ordered them 
 on . to Cobble Hill, to fire at the Glasgow and 
 floating batteries. The order was so palpably 
 absurd, with fheir three pounders, that Captain 
 Trevett absolutely refused obedience, ordered 
 his men to follow him, and marched for the 
 lines. 
 
 Major Gri'dley was sensible his artillery would 
 be hazarded without infantry to cover them. 
 Colonel Mansfield had been ordered with his 
 regiment to re-enforce the troops at Charles 
 town, but being peremptorily commanded by 
 
 *He was living in 1812, and from whom we have this an- 
 ecdote.
 
 86 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 Major Gridley, whom he considered high mili- 
 tary authority, to cover his pieces, he complied, 
 in violation of his orders. 
 
 General Putnam left the Neck for Bunker 
 Hill to bring up the re-enforcements. He there 
 found Colonel Gerrish with his regiment and 
 some other scattered troops. The colonel had 
 been a captain in the provincial army of 1756; 
 he was of unwieldy corpulence, and a dispo- 
 sition by far too quiet for a soldier's. He had 
 marched his men rapidly from Cambridge, and 
 unwisely halted them here to rest. The blazing 
 sun and tremendous fire of the enemy combined 
 were far too powerful for the faintness of his 
 military ardour to overcome. The men were 
 disorganized and dispersed on the west side of 
 the hill, and covered by the summit from the 
 fire. Putnam ordered them on to the lines ; he 
 entreated and threatened them, and some of 
 the most cowardly he knocked down with his 
 sword, but all in vain. The men complained 
 they had not their officers ; he offered to lead 
 them on himself, but the " cannon were desert- 
 ed, and they stood no chance without them." 
 The battle indeed appeared here in all its hor- 
 rors. The British musketry fired high, and 
 took effect on this elevated hill, and it was com- 
 pletely exposed to the combined fire from their 
 ships, batteries, and field pieces. 
 
 The enemy were by this time organized 
 anew, and were again advancing to the attack. 
 Putnam's duty called him to the lines. At this
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 87 
 
 time Captain Ford appeared with his company. 
 He served in a regiment under the veteran 
 Lifeutenant-Colonel Parker and Major Brooks. 
 Of them he had learned the duties of a soldier. 
 He had already signalized himself at Lexington 
 battle, by killing five of the enemy. His orders 
 were to proceed to the lines and re-enforce the 
 troops; he obeyed, marched unconcerned across 
 the Neck, and was proceeding down Bunker 
 Hill, when Putnam was delighted with an aid 
 so opportune. Callender's deserted cannon 
 were at the foot of the hill ; he ordered Captain 
 Ford with his company to draw them into line. 
 The captain remonstrated " his company were 
 totally ignorant of the discipline and employ- 
 ment of artillery." But the general perempto- 
 rily persisting in his order, he obeyed ; his 
 company moved with the cannon and the gene- 
 ral to the rail fence. 
 
 The heroic enemy with unwavering step and 
 firm undaunted bravery appeared again before 
 the murderous lines which had already com- 
 pelled them to retreat. They had nearly the 
 same obstacles to overcome as before. Their 
 cumbrous knapsacks, tall and almost impassa- 
 ble grass, and a torrid sun blazing in face of 
 them, they had to contend against, as well as an 
 enemy every way worthy of them. One new 
 obstacle they had to pass, the dead bodies of 
 their fellow soldiers which covered the ground. 
 But this served rather to stimulate them to still 
 more daring efforts to avenge their fall. The
 
 88 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 last of the re-enforcements, a few companies ol 
 marines, arrived on the left. 
 
 The Americans were now more confident 
 and perfect than before in a manoeuvre which 
 had been crowned with success. It was indeed 
 perfectly simple, but equally fatal to the foe. 
 They received orders to reserve their fire till 
 the enemy approached still nearer than before. 
 At six rods only they were permitted to return 
 the fire. The British artillery approached by 
 the narrow road between the tongue of land 
 and Breed's Hill, within three hundred yards 
 of the rail fence, and almost in a line with the 
 redoubt, and opened on the lines to prepare a 
 way for their infantry. The latter commenced 
 a regular and tremendous volley by platoons, 
 and their fire soon became general. But un- 
 fortunately for them, though perfect in drill dis- 
 cipline, and regular movements of parade, they 
 were as grossly unskilful in what was a thou- 
 sand times more important, a knowledge of 
 their weapons. Their aim was too elevated, 
 and the enemy were hidden behind their works. 
 Some of their balls, however, took effect, and a 
 few of the privates fell victims. The brave 
 Major Moore was mortally wounded. Major 
 Buckminster received a ball through the shoul- 
 der, and was crippled for life. 
 
 To add new horrors to the scene, vast co- 
 lumns of smoke were now observed over 
 Charlestown, and passed to the south over the 
 American lines. General Howe, on his first
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 89 
 
 advance, had sent word to General Burgoyne 
 and General Clinton, on Copp's Hill, that his left 
 flank was annoyed by musketry from Charles- 
 town, and ordered them to burn it down. A 
 carcass was fired, but fell short near the ferry 
 way ; a second fell in the street, and the town 
 was on fire. The conflagration was completed 
 by a detachment of men who landed from the 
 Somerset. The whole town was combustible. 
 The flames ascended to heaven on the lofty 
 spire of the church, and resembled the eruptions 
 of a vast volcano in solemn grandeur and sub- 
 limity. The advance of the enemy was not 
 obscured by the smoke from Charlestown ; they 
 were in full view of the Americans. Putnam 
 now, with the assistance of Captain Ford's 
 company, opened his artillery on them. He 
 had on this day performed the service of gene- 
 ral, engineer, and guide, and he now turned 
 cannonier, with splendid success, and to the 
 highest satisfaction of his surrounding country- 
 men. Each company of artillery had but twelve 
 cartridges, and these were soon expended. He 
 pointed the cannon, the balls took effect on the 
 enemy, and one case of canister made a lane 
 through them. As in Milton's battle, 
 
 " Foul dissipation followed and forced rout." 
 
 With wonderful courage, however, the enemy 
 closed his ranks, and the fire became general 
 on both sides. The Americans suffered the 
 enemy to approach still nearer than before;
 
 90 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 men and officers fell in promiscuous heaps ; 
 whole front ranks of them were swept away. 
 
 General Ward was without staff officers to 
 bear his commands, excepting one aid, and a 
 secretary, who performed the duty. During the 
 whole day these were mounted and on full 
 speed between Breed's Hill and head quarters. 
 Loss and neglect of orders were the inevitable 
 consequence. Colonel Gardner's regiment and 
 others who had been posted between Cambridge 
 and Charlestown, to wait further orders, were 
 overlooked. The battle was raging, and no 
 orders arrived. The colonel was a gentleman 
 of rank, had been a member of the legislature, 
 and commanded a regiment of militia, which, 
 marching to Lexington to join in the engage- 
 ment there, suddenly opened on the British 
 artillery ; being entirely void of cover they dis- 
 persed. His gallant soul felt their conduct as a 
 stigma on himself, and he resolved on the ear- 
 liest opportunity to wipe the spot from his es- 
 cutcheon. A glorious occasion was before 
 him, and he panted to embrace it to reap the 
 honours of victory, or death and lasting fame. 
 The latter fate was decreed him. He called to 
 him his officers, and offered to lead them -into 
 battle ; most of them, with three hundred of his 
 men, followed him. He led them over Bunker 
 Hill, viewed with unconcern the battle scene 
 on the hill before him, terrible as Mount Sinai, 
 and with glorious anticipations, was descending 
 to the engagement, when a musket ball entered
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 91 
 
 his groin, and the wound proved mortal. He 
 gave his men his last solemn injunction, to con- 
 quer or die, and was carried off the field. He 
 soon met Captain Trevett advancing with his 
 artillery, and an interesting and heroic inter- 
 view ensued between the colonel and Captain 
 Trevett's second lieutenant, Gardner, his son, 
 a mere youth of nineteen. The son was in 
 agony at the desperate situation of his father, 
 and would have attended him off the ground. 
 But the colonel prohibited this. " He should 
 not be alarmed at his situation, he was engaged 
 in a good cause, and must march on and do 
 his duty." The distracted son obeyed, and 
 his dying father had the consolation to learn 
 that his last injunction and glorious example 
 were not lost ; and that his son was worthy of 
 him. 
 
 These re-enforcements, with Captain Clark 
 and Captains Chester and Coit, who soon fol- 
 lowed with their companies, supplied the places 
 of those who had expended their ammunition 
 and left the ground, and of the detachment sent 
 off with the intrenching tools, who, in contempt 
 of their orders, never returned. 
 
 The British had a long time borne the mur- 
 derous fire of the enemy, but their astonishing 
 fortitude and daring efforts were useless against 
 the insuperable difficulties they encountered. 
 Nearly a thousand of their number had fallen, 
 with an incredible proportion of the bravest of- 
 ficers. The distinguished Colonels Abercombie
 
 92 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 and Williams, and Major Spendlove, had pur- 
 chased fame with their lives. 
 
 The gallant Major Small was left standing 
 alone, every one shot down about him. The 
 never erring muskets were levelled at him, and 
 a soldier's late was his inevitable destiny, had 
 not Putnam at the instant appeared. Each 
 recognized in the other an old friend and fellow 
 soldier; the tie was sacred Putnam threw up 
 the deadly muskets with his sword, and ar- 
 rested his fate. He begged his men to spare 
 that officer, as dear to him as a brother. The 
 general's humane and chivalrous generosity 
 excited in them new admiration, and his friend 
 retired unhurt. 
 
 " The undaunted Howe still led on his men in 
 the hottest of the battle. His friend and volun- 
 teer aid, Gordon, and Captain Addison, a de- 
 scendant from the author of the Spectator, were 
 slain, and almost every other officer of his staff, 
 or near him, was shot. Mortified and indignant 
 at so much blood wasted in vain, he seemed to 
 court an honourable death to hide him from the 
 disgrace of a second defeat by an enemy he 
 despised as peasants and rebels. His life 
 seemed charmed, and he was compelled to fol- 
 low his army, who again retreated, and left their 
 enemy to taste, a second time, the joys of vic- 
 tory. 
 
 The exultation of the Americans was glorious 
 and well deserved, but it was, alas, short-lived. 
 They had leisure to realize the entire hopeless-
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 93 
 
 ness of their situation. Their ammunition was 
 expended, and they were as destitute of every 
 offensive weapon as the naked savages, their 
 predecessors. Prescott found a few artillery 
 cartridges, which he distributed to his men, and 
 they determined to show a resolute front to the 
 enemy, to club their muskets, and even employ 
 the stones thrown up with the parapet against 
 them. Their only hope, however, was from a 
 want of fortitude in the enemy, and that they 
 had twice this day proved was slender indeed. 
 
 General Howe gave his men orders to pre- 
 pare again to advance. Some of the officers 
 remonstrated, that it would be mere butchery to 
 lead them on again ; but the generals, and nearly 
 every officer, were indignant at a distant sus- 
 picion of their yielding the victory to these 
 rebels, an undisciplined rabble, of inferior 
 numbers, after all their boasting, and after 
 they had -poured out every epithet of contempt 
 against them. To conquer or die was their 
 resolve. 
 
 Bloody experience at last opened their eyes 
 to their egregious errors. Their overweening 
 confidence was laid aside, and a calculated, de- 
 liberate, and judicious plan of attack adopted. 
 The overloaded knapsacks were relinquished ; 
 firing with musketry was prohibited, and a 
 charge with the bayonet resorted to. The at- 
 ^tack was to be more' concentrated ; while the 
 troops at the rail fence were amused by a show 
 of force, the grand effort was to be against the
 
 94 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 redoubt and breastwork, and particularly the 
 right flank. 
 
 The accomplished and chivalrous General 
 Clinton now joined and brought his splendid 
 talents into the council, and his distinguished 
 gallantry into the field. Immediate and incon- 
 ceivable was the sensation his appearance pro- 
 duced at this moment of deep despondence. 
 From Copps Hill he had observed with shame 
 and indignation the double rout of his country- 
 men, and particularly that the two distinguished 
 battalions, the marines and forty-seventh, were 
 staggered and wavering. Without waiting for 
 orders, he threw himself into a boat, passed 
 ovei, and soon breathed into them his own ex- 
 alted heroism. 
 
 General Howe a third time commanded a 
 forward movement to scale the works, and rush 
 on the enemy with the bayonet. He came to 
 ibe left to lead on to the redoubt himself. Clin- 
 um joined General Pigot and the marines on 
 me left, to turn the right flank of the Americans. 
 The artillery were ordered to advance still far- 
 ther than before on their old rout, and turn the 
 left of the breastwork to rake the line. General 
 Howe at lasi bucame sensible that this was the 
 most vulnerable point and key of his enemy's 
 position. 
 
 The Americans made every preparation pos- 
 sible to repel the last desperate effort of the 
 enemy. Putnam again rode to the rear, and 
 exhausted every art and effort to bring on the
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 95 
 
 scattered re-enforcements. Captain Bayley, only, 
 of Colonel Gerrish's regiment, advanced to the 
 lines, and Captain Trevett now arrived at the 
 rail fence with his pieces. 
 
 The enemy stripped off their knapsacks, and 
 many of them their- coats * the artillery pushed 
 on by the road on the north, the forty-seventh 
 and marines near the road on the south side, of 
 the hill, and the remains of the royal Irish and 
 other regiments, and part of the grenadiers and 
 light infantry, in front. Their past efforts had 
 exhausted the strength and spirit of many of 
 the men, who lingered in the rear, arid their 
 gallant officers were compelled to urge them 
 on with their swords. Some of the less reso- 
 lute fired their pieces, but the great masses 
 obeyed their orders, and with firmness moved 
 on to the charge. They arrived under the fire 
 of the Americans, who improved to advantage 
 their last opportunity for vengeance. Eveiy 
 shot took effect. The gallant Howe at last 
 received a ball in the foot, where, only, like 
 Achilles, he seemed to be vulnerable, but con- 
 tinued to animate his men. 
 
 A few only of the Americans had a charge 
 of ammunition remaining. They had sent for 
 a supply in vain ; a barrel and a half only were 
 in the magazine. They resorted next to stones, 
 but these served only to betray their weakness, 
 and lent new energy to the foe. 
 
 The artillery advanced to the open space 
 between the breastwork and rail fence; this 
 I
 
 96 LIFE,"ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 ground was defended by some brave Essex 
 troops, covered only by scattered trees. With 
 resolution and deadly aim they poured the 
 most destructive vollies on the enemy, The 
 cannon, however, turned the breastwork, enfi- 
 "laded the lino, and sent their balls through the 
 open gateway or sally port, directly into the 
 redoubt, under cover of which the troops at the 
 breastwork were compelled to retire. 
 
 The enemy bravely bore the deadly fire, and 
 continually closing his broken ranks, deliber- 
 ately advanced on every side of the redoubt 
 except the north. They were now under the 
 eastern side of the redoubt and covered from 
 the fire. The Americans retired to the side 
 apposite to lake them as they rose. Lieute- 
 iiunt Prescott, a nephew of the colonel, . re- 
 ceived a ball through the arm ; it hung broken 
 and useless by his side. The colonel ordered 
 him to content himself with encouraging his 
 men. But he contrived to load his piece, and 
 was passing oy the sally port to rest against 
 the enemy, when a cannon ball cut him to 
 pieces. 
 
 Young Richardson, of the royal Irish, was 
 the first to mount tne works, and was instant- 
 ly shot down ; the front rank which succeeded 
 shared the same fate. Among these mounted 
 the gallant Major Pitcairn, and exultingly cried 
 ' the day is ours," when a black soldier, named 
 '^alem,* shot him through, and he fell. His 
 
 * A contribution was made in the army for this soldier
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 97 
 
 agonized son received him in his arms, and 
 tenderly bore him to the boats. It was he who 
 caused the first effusion .of blood at Lexington. 
 In that battle his horse was shot under him. 
 while he was separated from his troops ; with 
 presence of mind he feigned himself slain ; his 
 pistols* were taken from his holsters, and he 
 was left for dead, when he seized the opportu- 
 nity and escaped. 
 
 The heroic but diminutive Pigot ran up the 
 south-east corner of the redoubt, assisted by a 
 tree left standing there, and desperately led on 
 his men. Troops succeeded troops over the 
 parapet, and Prescott exhausted every resource 
 to repel them, even with the buts of his guns. 
 
 But he had now his last great victory to 
 achieve, to which all his past toils, dangers, 
 and privations, were nothing. He had twice 
 conquered the enemy; he had now a more 
 difficult task, to conquer himself, to bend down 
 his lofty soul, and turn his back to the enemy. 
 Perfectly careless of his own life, he had no 
 right to trifle with the lives of his men. It was 
 a sacred deposit they had intrusted to his 
 honour, a 'bond which he never forfeited. In- 
 stead of a useless waste of life, with a " nil 
 desperandum," he quelled his^ revolting spirit 
 and ordered a retreat. 
 
 and he was presented to Washington, as having performed 
 this feat. 
 
 * This trophy afterwards belonged to General Putnam, and 
 yet remains in his family, from whom we have the above 
 anecdote.
 
 98 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 General Ward had gratified at last the ar- 
 dent wishes of the Connecticut troops to join 
 their beloved general. Captains Chester, Clark, 
 and Coit, were on the ground with their troops, 
 and Major Durkee's impatience had before this 
 brought him mounted to the field, to join his 
 old commander and comrade of former wars. 
 Putnam's imagination had already inscribed 
 the victory of Bunker Hill on his coat of arms, 
 when a dark cloud flew across the brilliant 
 prospect. The retreat of the right wing burst 
 upon him. 
 
 The gallant veteran Gridley now received a 
 ball through the leg, and was carried off. He 
 had served all night at the intrenchments, and 
 had all day assisted in defending his own works, 
 and proving their excellence. 
 
 Prescott's troops fought then* way through 
 the surrounding enemy. The veteran Captain 
 Bancroft was charging his piece, a British sol- 
 dier leaped from the parapet, touching him as 
 he came to the ground, and levelled at him ; 
 they fired together ; the captain tore him to 
 pieces, and escaped unhurt. One of the men 
 without ammunition perceived Lieutenant Pres- 
 cott's loaded musket by its deceased master ; a 
 Briton obstructed his passage j seizing the 
 loaded musket he brought his antagonist to the 
 ground. 
 
 Colonel Bridge, who came with the first de- 
 tachment, was one of the last to retreat, and 
 was twice severely wounded, in the head and
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 99 
 
 neck. His lieutenant-colonel, the veteran Park- 
 er, who had escaped through the whole war of 
 1756, in which he had signalized himself, and 
 especially at the desperate siee of Fort Fron- 
 tinac, received a ball in the thigh, and was left 
 mortally wounded in the redoubt. . 
 
 The chivalrous Warren lingered to the last. 
 His exalted spirit disdained as a disgrace a 
 retreat the most inevitable. He animated the 
 men to the most desperate daring ; and when 
 hope itself had fled, he still disdained to fly. 
 With sullen reluctance he followed his country- 
 men, and seemed to court that ball from the 
 enemy, which, a few yards from the redoubt, 
 passed through his head, and secured to him 
 the eternal gratitude of his countrymen, and 
 immortal fame throughout the world. ' 
 
 Small here repaid the debt of gratitude he 
 owed the enemy. He recognized Warren, his. 
 ultimate friend, as he was leaving the redoubt, 
 called to him for God's sake to stand and save 
 his life ; he turned and seemed to recognize 
 him, but kept on. Small commanded the men 
 not to fire at him ; he threw up the muskets 
 with his sword, but in vain, the fatal ball had 
 sped. 
 
 The enemy came on, exhausted by their 
 desperate efforts, under a blazing sun, and 
 broken by the well directed fire. They had 
 not force to employ the bayonet, and were too 
 much broken and mingled with the enemy to 
 fire their pieces. Their right and loft wings;
 
 100 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 were indeed facing each other, with the Ame- 
 ricans between ; their fire would have cut down 
 both friend and foe. While they formed them- 
 selves anew, the Americans collected, and made 
 a brave and orderly retreat. Putnam put 
 spurs to his foaming horse and threw himself 
 between the retreating force and the enemy, 
 who were but twelve rods from him;* his 
 countrymen were in momentary expectation of 
 seeing this compeer of the immortal Warren 
 fall. He entreated them to rally and renew the 
 fight, to finish his works oil Bunker Hill, and 
 again give the enemy battle on that unassaila- 
 ble positi6n, and pledged his honor to restore 
 to them an easy victory. Captain Smith, of 
 General Ward's regiment, came with his com- 
 pany to re enforce, joined in the retreat, and as- 
 sisted to keep the enemy at bay. 
 
 The Americans had retreated about twenty 
 rods before the enemy had time to rally and 
 pour in a destructive fire on them, which de- 
 stroyed more than they had lost before during 
 the day. Colonel Prescott's adjutant was shot 
 and crippled ; Captain Dow, of his regiment, 
 was also crippled by a wound in the leg, and 
 Captain Bancroft had a part of his hand carried 
 off. 
 
 The American left wing were openly con- 
 
 * Deposition of Lyman, then a lieutenant, and present, and 
 Miner, a private in the same company. This is confirmed 
 too by the testimony of a distinguished officer of the revolu- 
 tion, yet living, in 1818, who had served with General Putnam 
 in the French war, and was present, though badly wounded.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 101 
 
 gratulating themselves on their victory, when 
 their flank was opened by the retreat of the 
 right. The enemy pressed on them, and they 
 were in their turn compelled to retire. Put- 
 nam covered their retreat with his Connecticut 
 troops, and dared the utmost fury of the enemy, 
 in the rear of the whole. These pursued with 
 little ardour, but poured in their thundering vol- 
 lies, and showers of balls fell like hail around 
 the general.* 
 
 He addressed himself to every passion of the 
 troops, to persuade them to rally, to throw up 
 his works on Bunker Hill, and make a stand, 
 aad, as the last resort, threatened them with 
 the eternal disgrace of deserting their general. 
 He took his stand near a field piece, and seem- 
 ed resolved to brave the foe alone. His troops, 
 however, felt it impossible to withstand the 
 overwhelming force of the British bayonets ; 
 they left him. One sergeant only dared to 
 stand by his. general to the last ; he was shot 
 down, and the enemy's bayonets were just upon 
 the general, before he retired. 
 
 General Pomeroy continued to animate the 
 men, and cut down the enemy himself, till a 
 well hove ball shattered his musket. The re- 
 treat having commenced, he disdained to turn 
 his back ; but with backward step and 'lower- 
 ing' front shouldered the fragments of his piece 
 
 * This fact we have from a respectable friend, Philip John- 
 son, Esq., who was present, and living, in 1818, at Newbury- 
 port His honour and veracity is surpassed by no man's.
 
 102 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 and carried off his men, encouraging them to 
 pour in their formidabie fire on the enemy. 
 
 The premature death of Warren, one of the 
 most illustrious patriots that ever bled in the 
 cause of freedom ; the veteran appearance of 
 Putnam, collected, yet ardent in action ; toge- 
 ther with the astonishing, scenery and interest- 
 ing group around Bunker-Hill, rendered this a 
 magnificent subject for" the historic pencil. 
 Accordingly Trumbull, formerly an Aid-de- 
 Gamp to General Washington, afterwards 
 Deputy-Adjutant-General of the northern ar- 
 my, now an artist of great celebrity in Europe, 
 has finished this picture with that boldness, of 
 conception, and those touches of art, which de- 
 monstrate the master. Heightened in horror 
 by the flames of a burning town, and the smoke 
 of conflicting armies, the principal scene, taken 
 the moment when Warren fell, represents that 
 hero in the agonies of death, a grenadier on the 
 point of bayoneting him, and Colonel Small, to 
 whom he was familiarly known, arresting the 
 soldier's arms ; at the head of the British line, 
 Major Pitcairne is seen falling dead into the 
 arms of his son ; and not far distant General 
 Putnam is placed at the rear of our retreating 
 troops, in the light blue and scarlet uniform 
 he wore that day, with his head uncovered, 
 and his sword waving towards the enemy, as it 
 were to stop their impetuous pursuit. In nearly 
 the same attitude he is exhibited by Barlow in 
 that excellent poem, the Vision of Columbus.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 103 
 
 BATTLE OF BUNKER-HILL ANP DEATH OF 
 WARREN. 
 
 " There strides bold Putnam, and from all the plains 
 Calls the third host, the tardy rear sustains, 
 Ana, 'mid the whizzing deaths that fill the air, 
 Waves back his sword, and dares'the'foll'wing war."* 
 
 * The writer of this Essay had occasion of remarking to the 
 poet and the painter, while they were three thousand miles 
 distant frqm each other, at which distance they had formed 
 and executed the plans of their respective productions, the si- 
 milarity observable in their descriptions of General Putnam. 
 These Chefs d'ceuvres are mentioned not with a vain pre- 
 sumption of adding eclat of duration to works which have re- 
 ceived the seal of immortality^ but because they preserve, in 
 the sister arts, the same illustrious action of pur hero. I per- 
 suade myself I need not apologize for annexing the beautiful 
 lines from the poem in question, on the death of General 
 Warren. 
 
 " There, hapless Warren, thy cold earth was seen : 
 There spring thy laurels in immortal green ; 
 Dearest of Chiefs that ever press'd the plain, 
 In freedom's cause, with early honours, slain. 
 Still dear in death, ag when in fight you mov d, 
 By hosts applauded and by heav n approv'd ; 
 The faithful muse shall tell the world thy fame, 
 And unborn realms resound th' immortal name."
 
 104 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 After this action, the British strongly forti- 
 fied themselves on the .peninsulas of Boston 
 and .Charlestown ; while the provincials re- 
 mained posted in the circumjacent country in 
 such a manner as to form a blockade. In the 
 beginning of July, General Washington, who 
 had been constituted by Congress Command- 
 er-in-chief of the American forces, arrived at 
 Cambridge, to take the command. Having 
 formed the army into three grand divisions, 
 consisting of about twelve regiments each, he 
 appointed Major-General Ward to command 
 the right wing, Major-General Lee the left 
 wing, and Major-General Putnam the reserve. 
 General Putnam's alertness in accelerating the 
 construction of the necessary defences was par- 
 ticularly noticed and highly approved by the 
 Commander-in-chief.* 
 
 About the 20th of July, the declaration of 
 Congress, setting forth the reasons of their ta- 
 king up arms, was proclaimed at the head of 
 the several divisions. It concluded with these 
 
 Washington and Putnam were unknown to each other 
 till they met at Cambridge. The open, undisguised frankness 
 of the latter, together with his great activity and personal in- 
 dustry, in every thing pertaining to the army, soon attracted 
 the attention of "the former; an early intimacy was formed, 
 and a firm friendship established, which continued undisturbed 
 during the whole period they were associated in service. _ It 
 was not in Putnam's nature to be idle : inured to habits of in- 
 dustry himself, no man was better calculated to make others 
 so : and Washington observing the great progress that had 
 been made in a short time, and with but few men, in raising a 
 work of defence, said to him" you seem'to have the faculty 
 General Putnam, of infusing your own industrious spirit into 
 all the workmen you employ. (Editor.)
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 105 
 
 patriotic and noble sentiments : " In our own 
 native land, in defence of the freedom that is 
 our birth-right, and which we ever enjoyed 
 until the late violation of it ; for the protection 
 of our property, acquired solely by the honest 
 industry of our forefathers and ourselves ; 
 against violence actually offered, we have ta- 
 ken up arms. We shall lay them down when 
 hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggres- 
 sors, and all danger of their, being renewed 
 shall be removed, and not before. 
 
 " With an humble confidence in the mercies 
 of the supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler 
 of the universe, we most devoutly implore his 
 divine goodness to- conduct us happily through 
 this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to 
 reconciliation on reasonable terms, and, there- 
 by, to relieve the empire from the calamities of 
 civil war." 
 
 As soon as these memorable words were pro- 
 nounced to General Putnam's division, which 
 he had ordered to be paraded on Prospect-Hill, 
 they shouted in three huzzas aloud, Amen ! 
 whereat (a cannon from the fort being fired as 
 a signal) the new Standard lately sent from 
 Connecticut, was suddenly seen to rise and un- 
 rol itself to the wind. On one side was inscri- 
 bed, in large letters of gold, " AN APPEAL TO 
 HEAVEN,", and on- the other were delineated 
 the armorial bearings of Connecticut, which, 
 without supporters or crest, consist, unostenta- 
 tiously, of three Vines ; with this motto, " Qui
 
 106 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 transtulit, sustinet ;"* alluding to the pious 
 confidence our forefathers placed in the protec- 
 tion of Heaven, on those -three allegorical 
 
 Scions^- KNOWLEDGE LIBERTY RELIGION 
 
 which they had been instrumental in trans- 
 planting to America. 
 
 The .strength of position on the enemy's 
 part, and want of ammunition on < ours, pre- 
 vented operations of magnitude from being. at- 
 tempted. Such diligence was used in fortify- 
 ing our camps, and such precaution adopted to 
 prevent surprise, as to ensure tranquillity to the 
 troops during the winter. In the spring, a 
 position was taken so menacing to the enemy, 
 as to cause them, on the 17th of March, 1776, 
 to abandon Boston, not without considerable 
 precipitation and dereliction of royal stores.t 
 
 * Literally, " He vfto transplanted them -will support 
 them," 
 
 t In the expectation that the flower of the British troops 
 would be employed against the Heights of Dorchester, (which 
 had been taken possession of by the Americans on the night 
 of the 4th of March. 1776,) General Washington had concerted 
 a plan for availing himself of that occasion, to attack the town 
 of Boston itself. Four thousand chosen men were held in rea- 
 diness to embark at the mouth of Cambridge river, on a signal 
 to be given, if the garrison should appear to be so weakened by 
 the detachment made from it as to justify an assault. These 
 troops were to embark in two divisions, the first to be led by 
 Brigadier-General Sullivan, the second by Brigadier-General 
 Greene, and the whole to be under the command of Major- 
 General Putnam. The boats were to be preceded by three 
 floating batteries, which were to keep up a heavy fire on that 
 part of the town where the troops were to land. It was propo- 
 sed that the first division should land at the powder-house, 
 and gain possession of Beacon Hill; the second at Barton's 
 Point, or a little south of it, and after securing that post, to 
 join the other division, force the enemy's works, and open the
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 107 
 
 As a part of the hostile fleet lingered for 
 some time in Nantasket-Road, about nine miles 
 below Boston, General Washington continued 
 himself in Boston, not only to see the coast en- 
 tirely clear, but also to make many indispensa- 
 ble arrangements. His Excellency, proposing 
 to leave Major-General Ward, with a few re- 
 giments, to finish the fortifications intended as 
 a security against an attack by .water, in the 
 mean time despatched the greater part of the 
 army to New York, where it was most proba- 
 ble the enemy would make a descent. Upon 
 the sailing of a fleet with troops in the month 
 of January, Major-General Lee had been sent 
 to the defence of that city ; who, after having 
 caused some works to be laid out, proceeded to 
 follow that fleet to South Carolina. The Com- 
 mander-in-chief was now exceedingly solicit- 
 ous that these works should be completed as 
 soon as possible, ,and accordingly gave the fol- 
 lowing 
 
 " Orders and Instructions for Major- General 
 
 Putnam. 
 
 "As there are the best reasons to believe 
 that the enemy's fleet and army, which left 
 Nantasket-Road last Wednesday evening, are 
 bound to New York, to endeavour to possess 
 that important post, and, if possible, to secure 
 the communication by Hudson's river to Ca- 
 nada, it must be our care to prevent them from 
 
 gates in order to give admission te the troops from Roxbury. 
 (Editor 
 
 K
 
 108 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 accomplishing their designs. To that end 1 
 have detached Brigadier-General Heath, with 
 the whole body of riflemen, and five battalions 
 of the Continental army, by the way of Norwich, 
 in Connecticut, to New York. These, by an 
 express arrived yesterday from General Heath, 
 I have reason to believe, are in New York. Six 
 more battalions, under General Sullivan, march 
 this morning by the same route, and will, I 
 hope, arrive there in eight or ten days at far- 
 thest. The rest of the army will immediately 
 follow in divisions, leaving only a convenient 
 space between each division, to prevent confu- 
 sion, and want of accommodation upon their 
 march. You will, no doubt, make the test 
 despatch in getting to New York. Upon your 
 arrival there, you will assume the command, 
 and immediately proceed in continuing to exe- 
 cute the plan proposed by Major-General Lee, 
 for fortifying that city, and securing the passes 
 of the East and North rivers. If, upon consulta- 
 tion with the Brigadiers General and Engineers, 
 any alteration in that plan is thought neces- 
 sary, you are at liberty to make it : cautiously 
 avoiding to break in too much upon his main 
 design, unless where it may be apparently neces- 
 sary so to do, and that by the general voice 
 and opinion of the gentlemen above mentioned. 
 "You will meet the Q,uarter-Master-Gerieral, 
 Colonel Mifflin, and Commissary-General,* at 
 
 * Colonel Joseph TrumbulL eldest son to the Governor of 
 that name.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 109 
 
 New York. As these are both men of excellent 
 talents in their different departments, you will 
 do well to give them all the authority and 
 assistance they require : and should a council 
 of war he necessary, it is my direction they 
 assist at it. 
 
 " Your long service and experience will, 
 better than my particular directions at this dis- 
 tance, point out to you the works most proper 
 to be first raised ; and your perseverance, ac- 
 tivity, and zeal, will lead you, without my 
 recommending it, to exert every nerve to disap- 
 point the enemy's designs. 
 
 " Devoutly praying that the POWER which 
 has hitherto sustained the American arms, may 
 continue to bless them with the divine protec- 
 tion, I bid you FAREWELL. 
 
 "Given at Head-Quarters, in Cambridge, 
 this twenty-ninth of March, 1776. 
 
 "G. WASHINGTON." 
 
 Invested with these commands, General 
 Putnam travelled by long and expeditious sta- 
 ges to New York. His first precaution, upon 
 his arrival, was to prevent disturbance, or sur- 
 prise in the night season. With these objects 
 in view, after posting the necessary guards, he 
 issued his orders.* He instituted, likewise, 
 
 * GENERAL ORDERS. 
 
 " Head- Quarters, New York, April 5, 1776. 
 'The soldiers are strictly enjoined to retire to their barracks 
 and quarters at tattoo-beating, and to remain there until the 
 reveille is beat.
 
 110 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 other wholesome regulations to meliorate the 
 police of the troops, and to preserve the good 
 agreement that subsisted between them and the 
 citizens. 
 
 Notwithstanding the war had now raged, in 
 other parts, with unaccustomed severity for 
 nearly a year, yet the British ships at New 
 York, one of which had once fired upon the 
 town to intimidate the inhabitants, found the 
 means of being Supplied with fresh water and 
 provisions. General Putnam resolved to adopt 
 effectual measures for putting a period to this 
 intercourse, and accordingly expressed his pro- 
 hibition* in the most pointed terms. > 
 
 Nearly at the same moment, a detachment of 
 
 "Necessity obliges the General to desire the inhabitants of 
 the city to observe the same rule, as no person will be permit- 
 ted to pass any sentry after this night, without the counter- 
 sign. 
 
 ' The inhabitants, whose business require it, may know the 
 countersign, by applying to any of the Brigade-Majors." 
 
 * PROHIBITION. 
 
 " Head- Quarter s. New York, April 8, 1776. 
 "The General informs the inhabitants, that it is become 
 absolutely necessary that all communication between the 
 ministerial fleet and the shore, should be immediately stopped : 
 for that purpose he has given positive orders, the ships should 
 no longer be furnished with provisions. Any inhabitants, or 
 others, who shall be taken, that have been on board, after the 
 publishing this order, or near any of the ships, or going on 
 board, will be considered as enemies, and treated accordingly. 
 
 " All boats are to sail from Beekrnan slip. Captain James 
 Alner is appointed inspector, and will give permits to oyster- 
 men. It is ordered and expected that none attempt going 
 without a pass. 
 
 " ISRAEL PUTNAM, 
 
 " Major-General in the Cont nental army, and command- 
 er-in-chief of the forces in New York."
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. Ill 
 
 a thousand continentals was sent to occupy 
 Governor's Island, a regiment to fortify Red 
 Hook, and some companies of riflemen to the 
 Jersey shore. Of two boats, belonging to two 
 armed vessels, which attempted to take on 
 board fresh water from the watering place on 
 Staten Island, one was driven off by the rifle- 
 men, with two or three seamen killed in it, and 
 the other captured with thirteen. A few days 
 afterwards, Captain Vandeput, of the Asia man 
 of war, the senior officer of the ships on this 
 station, rinding the intercourse with the shore 
 interdicted, their limits contracted, and that no 
 good purposes could be answered by remaining 
 there, sailed, with all the armed vessels, out of 
 the harbour. These arrangements and transac- 
 tions, joined to an unremitting attention to the 
 completion of the defences, gave" full scope to 
 the activity of General Putnam, until the arri- 
 val of General Washington, which happened 
 about the middle of April. 
 
 The Commander-in-chief, in his first public 
 orders, "complimented the officers who had 
 successively commanded at New York, and 
 returned his thanks to them, as well as to the 
 officers and soldiers under their command, for 
 the many works of defence which had been so 
 expeditiously erected : at the same time he ex- 
 pressed an expectation that the same spirit of 
 zeal for the service would continue to animate 
 their future conduct." Putnam, who was then 
 the only Major-General with the main army, 
 H
 
 112 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 had still a chief agency in forwarding the forti- 
 fications, and, with the assistance of the Briga- 
 diers Spencer and Lord Stirling, in assigning to 
 the different corps their alarm posts. 
 
 Congress having intimated a desire of con- 
 sulting with the Commander-in-chief, on the 
 critical posture of affairs, his Excellency re- 
 paired to Philadelphia accordingly, and was 
 absent from the twenty-first of May, until the 
 sixth of June. General Putnam, who com- 
 manded in that interval, had it in charge to 
 open all letters directed to General Washington, 
 on public service, and, if important, after regu- 
 lating his conduct by their contents, to forward 
 them by express ; to expedite the works then 
 erecting ; to begin others which were specified ; 
 to establish signals for communicating an 
 alarm ; to guard against the possibility of sur- 
 prise ; to secure well the powder magazine ; to 
 augment, by every means in his power, the 
 quantity of cartridges ; and to send Brigadier- 
 General Lord Stirling to put the posts in the 
 Highlands into a proper condition of defence. 
 He had also a private and confidential instruc- 
 tion, to afford whatever aid might be required 
 by the provincial congress of New- York, for 
 apprehending certain of their disaffected citi- 
 zens ; and as it would be most convenient to 
 take the detachment for this service from the 
 troops on Long Island, under the command of 
 Brigadier-General Greene, it was recommended 
 that this officer should be advised of the plan,
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 113 
 
 and that the execution should be conducted 
 with secrecy and celerity, as well as with de- 
 cency and good order. In the records of the 
 army, are preserved the daily orders which 
 were issued in the absence of the Commander- 
 in-chief, who, on his return, was not only satis- 
 fied that the works had been prosecuted with 
 all possible despatch, but also that the other 
 duties had been properly discharged. 
 
 It was the latter end of June, when the Bri- 
 tish fleet, which had been at Halifax, waiting 
 for re-enforcements from Europe, began to ar- 
 rive at NewrYork. To obstruct its passage, 
 some marine preparations had been made. 
 General Putnam, to whom the direction of the 
 whale-boats, fire-rafts, flat-bottomed boats, and 
 armed vessels, was committed, afforded his 
 patronage to a project for destroying the ene- 
 my's shipping by explosion. A machine, alto- 
 gether different from any thing hitherto devised 
 by the art of man, had been invented by Mr. 
 David Bushnell,* for sub-marine navigation, 
 
 * David Bushnell, A. M., of Saybrook, in Connecticut, in- 
 ' vented several other machines for the annoyance of shipping: 
 these, from accidents, n9t militating against the philosophical 
 principles on which their success depended, only partially suc- 
 ceeded. He destroyed a vessel in the charge of Commodore 
 Symmonds, whose report to the Admiral was published. One 
 of his kegs also demolished a vessel near the Long Island 
 shore. Aoout Christmas, 1777, he committed to the Delaware 
 a number of kegs, destined to fall among the British fleet at 
 Philadelphia: but his squadron of kegs, having been separated 
 and retarded by the ice, demolished but a single boat. .This 
 catastrophe, however, produced an alarm, unprecedented in its 
 nature and degree ; which has been so happily described in the 
 subsequent song, by the Hon. Francis Hopkinson, that the
 
 114 LIFE. ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 which was found to answer the purpose per- 
 fectly, of rowing horizontally at any given 
 depth under water, and of rising or sinking at 
 pleasure. To this machine, called the Ame- 
 
 eyent it celebrates will not be forgotten, BO long as man- 
 kind shall continue to be delighted with works of humour and 
 taste. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE KEGS.-^ Song. 
 [ Tune, Moggy Laioder.] 
 
 Gallants, attend, and hear a friend 
 
 Thrill forth harmonious ditty : 
 Strange things I'll tell, which late befell 
 
 In Philadefphia city. 
 
 Twas early day, as poets say, 
 
 Just when the sun was rising, 
 A soldier stood on log of wood, 
 
 And saw a sight surprising. 
 
 As in a maze he stood to gaze, 
 
 The truth can't be denied, Sir, 
 He spied a score of kegs or more, 
 
 Come floating down the tide, Sir. 
 
 A sailor, too, in jerkin blue, 
 
 The strange appearance viewing, 
 First damn'd his eyes, in great surprise, 
 
 Then said" Some mischief's brewing. 
 
 These kegs now hold the rebels bold, 
 
 Pack'd up like pickled herring ; 
 And they're come down t' attack the town 
 
 In this new way of ferry'ng." 
 
 The soldier flew ; the sailor too : 
 
 And, scar'd almost to death. Sir, 
 Wore out their shoes to spread the news, 
 
 And ran till out of breath, Sir. 
 
 Now up and down, throughout the town, 
 
 Most frantic scenes were acted ; 
 And some ran here, and some ran there, 
 
 Like men almost distracted. 
 
 Some fire cried, which some denied, 
 
 But said the earth had ouaked : 
 And girls and boys, with hideous noise, 
 
 Ran through the town half naked.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 115 
 
 rican Turtle, was attached a magazine of 
 powder, which it was intended to be fastened 
 under the bottom of a ship, with a driving 
 screw, in such sort, that the, same stroke which 
 disengaged it from the machine, should put the 
 internal clockwork in motion. This being done, 
 
 Sir William* he, snug as a flea, 
 
 Lay all this time a snoring; 
 Nor dreamt of harm, as he lay warm 
 
 In bed with Mr*. L*r*ng. 
 
 ' Now in a fright, he starts upright, 
 
 Awak'd by such a clatter : ' 
 He rubs "bo tn eyes, and boldly cries, 
 " For God's sake, what's the matterl" 
 
 At his bedside he then espied 
 
 Sir Erskinet at command, Sir ; 
 Upon one foot he had one boot, 
 
 And t'other in his hand, Sir. 
 
 " Arise ! arise !" Sir Erskine cries ; 
 
 " The rebels^-more's the pity 
 Without a boat, are all on float, 
 
 And rang'd before the city. 
 
 " The motley crew, in vessels new, 
 
 With Satan for their guide, Sir, 
 Pack'd up in bags, or wooden kegs, 
 
 Come driving down the tide, Sir : 
 
 " Therefore prepare for bloody war ; 
 
 These kegs must all be routed, 
 Or surely we despis'd shall be. 
 
 And British courage doubted." 
 
 The Royal band now ready stand, 
 
 All rang'd in dread array, Sir, 
 With stomachs stout, to see it out, 
 
 And make a bloody day, Sir. 
 
 The cannons roar from shore to shore, 
 
 The small arms make a rattle : 
 Since wars began, I'm sure no man 
 
 E'er saw so strange a battle. 
 
 * Sir William Howe. 
 t Sir William Erskine.
 
 116 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 the ordinary operation of a gun-lock at the dis- 
 tance of half an hour, an hour, or any determi- 
 nate time, would cause the powder to ejcplode, 
 and leave the effects to the common laws of na*- 
 ture. The simplicity, yet combination disco- 
 vered in the mechanism of this wonderful ma- 
 chine, were acknowledged by those skilled in 
 physics, and particularly hydraulics, to be not less 
 ingenious than novel. The inventor, whose con- 
 stitution was too feeble to permit him to perform 
 
 The rebel* vales, the rebel dales, 
 
 With rebel trees surrounded, 
 The distant woods, the hills and floods, 
 
 With rebel echoes sounded. 
 
 The fish below swam to and fro, 
 
 Attack'd from every quarter : 
 " Why sure," thought they, " the Devil's to pay 
 Mong'st folks above the water." 
 
 The kegs, 'tis said, though strongly made 
 
 Of rebel staves and hoops, Sir, 
 Could not oppose their pow'rful foes, 
 
 The conquering British troops, Sir. 
 
 From morn to night those men of might, 
 
 Display'd amazing courage : 
 And when the sun was fairly down, 
 
 Retir'd to sup their porridge. 
 
 An hundred men, with each a pen, 
 
 Or more, upon my word, Sir, 
 It is most true, would be too few 
 
 Their valour to record, Sir. 
 
 Such feats did they perform that day, 
 
 Upon those wicked kegs, Sir, 
 That years to come, if they get home, 
 
 They'll make their boasts and brags, Sir. 
 Mr. Bushnell, havinjg been highly recommended for his ta- 
 lents by President Slues, General Parsons, and some other 
 gentlemen of science, was appointed a captain in the corps of 
 sappers and miners : in which capacity he continued to serve 
 with that corps until the conclusion of the war. 
 
 * The British officers were so fond of the word rebel, that 
 they often applied it most absurdly.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 117 
 
 the labour of rowing the Turtle, had taught his 
 brother to manage it with perfect dexterity ; but 
 unfortunately his brother fell sick of a fever just 
 before the arrival of the fleet. Recourse was 
 therefore had to a sergeant in the Connecticut 
 troops ; who, having received whatever instruc- 
 tions could be communicated to him in a short 
 time, went, too late in the night, with all the 
 apparatus, under the bottom of the Eagle, a 
 sixty-four gun ship, on board of which the 
 British Admiral, Lord Howe, commanded. In 
 coming up, the screw that had been calculated 
 to perforate the copper sheathing, unluckily 
 struck against some iron plates where the rud- 
 der is connected with the stern. This accident, 
 added to the strength of the tide which pre- 
 vailed, and the want of adequate skill in the 
 sergeant, occasioned such delay, that the dawn 
 began to appear, whereupon he abandoned the 
 magazine to chance, and after gaining a proper 
 distance, for the sake of expedition, rowed on 
 the surface towards the town. General Put- 
 nam, who had been on the wharf anxiously 
 expecting the result, from the first glimmering 
 of light, beheld the machine near Governor's 
 Island; and sent a whale-boat to bring it on 
 shore. In about twenty minutes afterwards the 
 magazine exploded, and blew a vast column of 
 water to an amazing height in the air. As the 
 whole business had been kept an inviolable se- 
 cret, he was not a little diverted with the various 
 conjectures, whether this stupendous noise was
 
 lib LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 produced by a bomb, a meteor, a water-spout. 
 or an earthquake. Other operations of a most 
 serious nature rapidly succeeded, and prevented 
 a repetition of the experiment. 
 
 On the twenty-second day of August, the 
 van of the British landed on Long Island, and 
 was soon followed by the whole army, except 
 one brigade of Hessians, a small body of British, 
 and some convalescents, left on Staten Island. 
 Our troops on Long Island had been command- 
 ed during the summer by General Greene, who 
 was now sick ; and General Putnam took the 
 command but .two days before the battle of 
 Flatbush. The instructions to him, pointing 
 in the first place to decisive expedients for sup- 
 pressing the scattering, unmeaning, and waste- 
 ful fire of our men, contained regulations for 
 the service of the guards, the brigadiers, and 
 the field-officers of the day; for the appointment 
 and encouragement of proper scouts, as well as 
 for keeping the men constantly at their posts ; 
 for preventing the burning of buildings, except it 
 should be necessary for military purposes, and 
 for preserving private property from pillage 
 and destruction. To these regulations were 
 added, in a more diffuse, though not less spi- 
 rited and professional style, reflections on the 
 distinction of an army from a mob ; with exhort- 
 ations for the soldiers to conduct themselves 
 manfully in such a cause, and for their com- 
 mander to oppose the enemy's approach with 
 detachments of his best troops ; while he should
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 119 
 
 endeavour to render their advance more diffi- 
 cult by constructing abattis, and to entrap their 
 parties by forming ambuscades. General Put- 
 iiam was within the lines, when an engagement 
 took place on the 27th, between the British ar- 
 my and our advanced corps, in which we lost 
 about a thousand men in killed and missing, 
 with the Generals Sullivan and Lord Stirling 
 made prisoners. Eut our men, though attacked 
 on all sides, fought with great bravery; and the 
 enemy's loss was not light. 
 
 The unfortunate battle of Long Island, the 
 masterly retreat from thence, and the actual 
 passage of part of the hostile fleet in the East 
 river, above the town, preceded the evacuation 
 of New- York. A promotion of four major- 
 generals, and six brigadiers, had previously 
 been made by Congress. After the retreat from 
 Long Island, the main army, consisting, for the 
 moment, of sixty battalions, of which twenty 
 were Continental, the residue levies and militia, 
 was, conformably to the exigencies of the ser- 
 vice, rather than to the rules of war, formed 
 into fourteen brigades; Major-General Putnam 
 commanded the right grand division of five 
 brigades, the Majors-General Spencer and 
 Greene the centre of six brigades, and Major- 
 General Heath the left, which was posted near 
 Kingsbridge, and composed of two brigades. 
 The whole never amounted to twenty thousand 
 effective men ; while the British and German 
 forces, under Sir William Howe, exceeded 
 L
 
 120 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 twenty-two thousand : indeed, the minister had 
 asserted in parliament that they would consist 
 of more than thirty thousand. Our two centre 
 divisions, both commanded by General Spencer, 
 in the sickness of General Greene, moved to- 
 wards Mount Washington, Harlaem Heights, 
 and Horn's Hook, as soon as the final resolu- 
 tion was tak?n in a council of war, on the 
 twelfth of September, to abandon the city. 
 That event, thus circumstanced, took effect a 
 few days after. 
 
 On Sunday, the fifteenth, the British, -after 
 sending three ships of war up the North River, 
 to Bloomingdale, and keeping up, for some 
 hours, a severe cannonade on our lines, from 
 those already in the East River, landed in force 
 at Turtle Bay. Our new levies, commanded 
 by a state brigadier-general, fled without mak- 
 ing resistance. Two brigades of General Put- 
 nam's division, ordered to their support, not- 
 withstanding the exertion of their brigadiers, 
 and of the commander-in-chief himself, who 
 came up at the instant, conducted themselves 
 in the same shameful manner. His excellency 
 then ordered the Heights of Harlaem, a strong 
 position, to be occupied. Thither the forces 
 in the vicinity, as well as the fugitives, re- 
 paired. In the mean time General Putnam, 
 with the remainder of his command, and the 
 ordinary out-posts, was in the city. After 
 having caused the brigades to begin their re- 
 treat by the route of Bloomingdale, in order to
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 
 
 avoid the enemy, who were then in the posses- 
 sion of the main road leading to King's-bridge, 
 he galloped to call off the pickets and guards. 
 Having myself been a volunteer in his division, 
 and acting adjutant to the last regiment that 
 left the city, I had frequent opportunities, that 
 day, of beholding him, for the purpose of issu- 
 ing orders, and encouraging the troops, flying, 
 on his horse covered with foam, wherever his 
 presence was most necessary. Without his 
 extraordinary exertions, the guards must have 
 been inevitably lost, and it is probable the en- 
 tire corps would have been cut in pieces. 
 When we were not far from Bloomingdale, an 
 aid-de-camp came from him at full speed, to 
 inform that a column of British infantry was 
 descending upon our right. Our rear was soon 
 fired upon, and the colonel of pur regiment, 
 whose order was just communicated for the 
 front to file off to the left, was killed on the spot. 
 With no other loss we joined the army, after 
 dark, on the Heights of Harlaem. 
 
 Before our brigades came in, we were given 
 up for lost by all our friends. So critical in- 
 deed was our situation, and so narrow the gap 
 by which we escaped, that, the instant we had 
 passed, the enemy closed it by extending theft 
 line from river .to river. Our men, who had 
 been fifteen hours under arms, harassed by 
 marching and countermarching, in consequence 
 of incessant alarms, exhausted as they were by 
 heat and thirst, (for the day proved insupport- 
 6
 
 122 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 ably hot, and few or none had canteens, inso- 
 much, that some died at the brooks where they 
 drank,) if attacked, could have made but feeble 
 resistance. 
 
 If we take into consideration the debilitating 
 sickness which weakened almost all our troops, 
 the hard duty by which they were worn down 
 in constructing numberless defences, the con- 
 tinual want oi rest they had suffered since the 
 enemy landed, in guarding from nocturnal sur- 
 prise, the despondency infused into their minds 
 by an -insular situation^ and a consciousness of 
 inferiority to the enemy in discipline, together 
 with the disadvantageous terms upon which, 
 in their state of separation, they might have 
 been forced to engage, it appears highly proba- 
 ble that day would have presented an easy vic- 
 tory to the British. On the other side, the 
 American commander-in-chief had wisely coun- 
 tenanced an opinion, then universally credited, 
 that our army was three times more numerous 
 than it was in reality. It is not a subject for 
 astonishment, that the British, ignorant of the 
 existing circumstances, imposed upon as to the 
 numbers by reports, and recollecting what a 
 lew brave men, slightly intrenched, had per- 
 formed at Bunker Hill, should proceed with 
 great circumspection. For their reproaches, 
 that the rebels, as they affected to style us, 
 loved digging better than fighting, and that 
 they earthed themselves in holes like foxes, 
 but ill concealed at the bottom of their own
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 123 
 
 hearts the profound impression that action had 
 made. Cheap and contemptible as we had 
 once seemed in their eyes, it had taught them 
 to hold us in some respect. This respect, in 
 conjunction with a fixed belief, that the en- 
 thusiastic spirit of our opposition must soon 
 subside, and that the inexhaustible resources 
 of Britain would ultimately triumph, without 
 leaving any thing to chance, (not the avarice 
 or treachery of the British general, as the fac- 
 tious of his own nation wished to insinuate,) 
 retarded their operation, and afforded us leisure 
 to rescue from annihilation the miserable relics 
 of an army, hastening to dissolution by the ex- 
 piration of enlistments, and the country itself 
 from irretrievable subjugation. IN TRUTH, WE 
 
 ARE NOT LESS INDEBTED TO THE MATTOCK 
 AT ONE PERIOD, THAN TO THE MUSKET AT 
 ANOTHER, FOR OUR POLITICAL SALVATION. 
 
 It required great talents to determine when 
 one or the other was most profitably to be em- 
 ployed. I am aware how fashionable it has 
 become to compare the American commander- 
 in-chief, for the prudence displayed in those 
 dilatory and defensive operations, so happily 
 prosecuted in the early stages of the war, to 
 the illustrious Roman, who acquired immor- 
 tality in restoring the commonwealth by delay. 
 Advantageous and flattering as the comparison 
 at first appears, it will be found, on examina- 
 tion, to stint the American Fabius to the 
 ^mailer moiety of his merited fame. Did H E
 
 124 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 not, in scenes of almost unparalleled activity, 
 discover specimens of transcendent abilities; 
 and might it not be proved, to professional 
 men, that boldness in council, and rapidity in 
 execution, were, at least, equally with prudent 
 procrastination, and the quality of not being 
 compelled to action, attributes of his military 
 genius ? This, however, was an occasion, as 
 apparent as pressing, for attaining his object 
 by delay. From that he had every thing to 
 gain, nothing to lose. Yet there were not 
 wanting politicians, AT THIS VERY TIME, 
 who querulously blamed these Fabian mea- 
 sures, and loudly clamoured that the immense 
 labour and expense bestowed on the fortifica- 
 tion of New-York, had been thrown away ; 
 that if we could not face the enemy there after 
 so many preparations, we might as well relin- 
 quish the contest at once, for we could no 
 where make a stand ; and that if General 
 Washington, with an army of sixty thousand 
 men, strongly intrenched, declined fighting 
 with Sir William Howe, who had little more 
 than one third of that number, it was not to be, 
 expected he would find any other occasion that 
 might induce him to engage. But General 
 Washington, content to suffer a temporary sa- 
 crifice of personal reputation, for the sake of 
 securing a permanent advantage to his coun- 
 try, and regardless of those idle clamours for 
 which he had furnished materials, by making 
 his countrymen, in order the more effectually
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 125 
 
 to make his enemy believe his force much 
 greater than it actually was, inflexibly pursued 
 his system, and gloriously demonstrated how 
 poor and pitiful, in the estimation of A GREAT 
 MIND, are the censorious strictures of those 
 novices in war and politics, who, with equal 
 rashness and impudence, presume to decide 
 dogmatically on the merit of plans they could 
 neither originate or comprehend ! 
 
 That night our soldiers, excessively fatigued 
 by the sultry march of the day, their clothes 
 wet by a severe shower of rain that succeeded 
 towards the evening, their blood chilled by the 
 cold wind that produced a sudden change' in 
 the temperature of the air, and their hearts 
 sunk within them by the loss of baggage, artil- 
 lery, and works in which they had been taught 
 to put great confidence, lay upon their arms, 
 covered only by the clouds of an uncomforta- 
 ble sky. To retrieve our disordered affairs, 
 and prevent the enemy from profiting by them, 
 no exertion was relaxed, no vigilance remitted, 
 on the part of our higher officers. The regi- 
 ments which had been least exposed to fatigue 
 that day, furnished the necessary pickets to 
 secure the army from surprise. Those whose 
 military lives had been short and unpractised, 
 felt enough besides lassitude of body to disquiet 
 the tranquillity of their repose. Nor had those 
 who were older in service, and of more expe- 
 rience, any subject for consolation. ' The 
 warmth of enthusiasm seemed to be extin-
 
 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 guished. The force of discipline had not suf- 
 ficiently occupied its place to give men a de- 
 pendence upon each other. We were appa- 
 rently about to reap the bitter fruits of that 
 jealous policy, which some leading men, with 
 the best motives, had sown in our federal 
 councils, when they caused the mode to be 
 adopted, for carrying on the war by detach- 
 ments of militia, from apprehension that an 
 established continental army, after defending 
 the country against foreign invasion, might 
 subvert its liberties themselves. Paradoxical 
 as it will appear, it may be profitable to be 
 known to posterity, that while our very exist- 
 ence as an independent people was in question, 
 the patriotic jealousy for the safety of our fu- 
 ture freedom had been carried to such a vir- 
 tuous but dangerous excess, as well nigh to 
 preclude the attainment of our independence. 
 Happily that limited and hazardous system 
 soon gave room to one more enlightened and 
 salutary. This may be attributed to the re- 
 iterated arguments, the open remonstrances, 
 and the confidential communications of the 
 commander-in-chief ; who, though not apt to 
 despair of the republic, on this occasion ex- 
 pressed himself in terms of unusual desponden- 
 cy. He declared, in his letters, that he found, 
 to his utter astonishment and mortification, 
 that no reliance could be placed on a great pro- 
 portion of his present troops, and that, unless 
 efficient measures for establishing a permanent
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 127 
 
 force should be speedily pursued, we had every . 
 reason to fear the filial ruin of our cause. 
 
 Next morning several parties of the enemy 
 appeared upon the plains in our front. On 
 receiving this intelligence, General Washing- 
 ton rode quickly to the outposts, for the pur- 
 pose of preparing against an attack, if the 
 enemy should advance with that design. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Knowlton's rangers, a fine 
 selection from the eastern regiments, who had 
 been skirmishing with an advanced party, 
 came in, and informed the general that a 
 body of British were under cover of a small 
 eminence at no considerable distance. His 
 excellency, willing to raise our men from their 
 dejection by the splendour of some little suc- 
 cess ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Knowlton, 
 with his rangers, and Major Leitch, with three 
 companies of Weedon's regiment of Virgi- 
 nians, to gain their Fear; while appearances 
 should be made of an attack in front. As 
 soon as the enemy saw the party sent to de- 
 coy them, they ran precipitately down the hill, 
 took possession of some fences and bushes, and 
 commenced a brisk firing at long shot. Un- 
 fortunately Knowlton and Leitch made their 
 onset rather in flank than in rear. The enemy 
 changed their front, and the skirmish at once 
 became close and warm. Major Leitch* hav- 
 ing received three balls through his side, was 
 
 * Major Leitch, after languishing some days, died of a locked 
 jaw. 
 
 I
 
 128 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 soon borne from the field ; and Colonel Knowl- 
 ton, who had distinguished himself so gallant- 
 ly at the battle of Bunker-Hill, was mortally 
 wounded immediately after. Their men, how- 
 ever, undaunted by these disasters, stimulated 
 with the thirst of revenge for the loss of their 
 leaders, and conscious of acting under the eye 
 of the Commander in-chief, maintained the 
 conflict with uncommon spirit and perseve- 
 rance. But the general seeing them in need of 
 support, advanced part of the Maryland regi- 
 ments of Griffith and Richardson, together with 
 some detachments from such eastern corps as 
 chanced to be most contiguous to the place of 
 action. Our troops this day, without excep- 
 tion, behaved with the greatest intrepidity. So 
 bravely did they repulse the British, that Sir 
 William Howe moved his reserve, with two 
 field pieces, a battalion of Hessian grenadiers, 
 and a company of Chasseurs, to succour his 
 retreating troops. General Washington, not 
 willing to draw on a general action, declined 
 pressing the pursuit. In this engagement were 
 the second and third battalions of light infan- 
 try, the forty-second British regiment, and the 
 German Chasseurs, of whom eight officers, 
 and upwards of seventy privates, were wound- 
 ed, and our people buried nearly twenty, 
 who were left dead on the field. We had 
 about forty wounded : our loss in killed, ex 
 cept of two valuable officers, was very incon- 
 siderable.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 129 
 
 An advantage,* so trivial in itself, produced, 
 in event, a surprising and almost incredible ef- 
 fect upon the whole army. Amongst the troops 
 not engaged, who, during the action, were 
 throwing earth from the new trenches, with 
 an alacrity that indicated a determination to 
 defend them, every visage was seen to bright- 
 en, arid to assume, instead of the gloom of de- 
 spair, the glow of animation. This change, 
 no less sudden than happy, left little room to 
 doubt that the men, who ran the day before at 
 the sight of an enemy, would now, to wipe 
 away the stain of that disgrace, and to recover 
 the confidence of their general, have conduct- 
 ed themselves in a very different manner. 
 Some alteration was made in the distribution 
 
 * A transcript from General Washington's Public Orders of 
 the seventeenth will, better than any other document that 
 could be adduced, show his sentiment on the conduct of the 
 two preceding days, and how fervently he wished to foster the 
 good dispositions discovered on the last. 
 
 "ORDERS. 
 
 " Head- Quarters, Harlaem Heights, September 17, 1776. 
 " Parole, Leilch. Countersign, Virginia. 
 
 "The General most heartily thanks the troops commanded 
 yesterday by Major Leitch, who first advanced upon the -ene- 
 my, and the others who so resolutely supported them. The 
 behaviour yesterday was such a contrast to that of some of 
 the troops the day before, as must show what may be done, 
 where officers and soldiers will exert themselves. Once more, 
 therefore, the General calls upon officers and men, to act up 
 to the noble cause in which they are engaged, and to support 
 the honour and liberties of their country. 
 
 "The gallant and brave Colonel Knowlton, who would have 
 been an honour to any country, having fallen yesterday, while 
 gloriously fighting, Captain Brown is to take the command of 
 the party lately led by Colonel Knowlton. Officers and men 
 are to obey him accordingly." 
 6*
 
 130 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 of corps, to prevent the British from gaining 
 either flank in the succeeding night. General 
 Putnam, who commanded on the right, was 
 directed in orders, in case the enemy should 
 attempt to force the pass, to apply for a re-en- 
 forcement to General Spencer, who command- 
 ed on the left. 
 
 General Putnam, who was too good a hus- 
 bandman himself not to have a respect for the 
 labours and improvements of others, strenuous- 
 ly seconded the views of the Commander-in- 
 chief in preventing the devastation of farms, 
 and the violation of private property. For un- 
 der pretext that the property in this quarter be- 
 longed to friends to the British government, as 
 indeed it mostly did, a spirit of rapine and li- 
 centiousness began to prevail, which, unless 
 repressed in the beginning, foreboded, besides 
 the subversion of discipline,, the disgrace and 
 defeat of our arms. 
 
 Our new defences now becoming so strong 
 as not to admit insult with impunity, and Sir 
 William Howe, not choosing to place too much 
 at risk in attacking us in front, on the 12th 
 day of October, leaving Lord Percy with one 
 Hessian and two British brigades, in his lines 
 at Harlaem, to cover New York, embarked 
 with the main body of his army, with an in- 
 tention of landing at Throg's Neck, situated 
 near West-Chester, and little more than a 
 league above the communication called King's- 
 bridge, which connects New York Island with
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 131 
 
 the main. There was nothing to oppose him : 
 and he effected his debarkation by nine o'clock 
 in the morning 1 . . The same policy of keeping 
 our army as compact as possible ; the same 
 system of avoiding being forced to action ; and 
 the same precaution to prevent the interruption 
 of supplies, re-enforcements or retreat, that late- 
 ly dictated the evacuation of New York, now 
 induced General Washington to move towards 
 the strong grounds in the upper part of West- 
 Chester county. 
 
 General Putnam was with the army at 
 White-Plains, and took part in the action 
 fought there the 28th of October. It was the 
 position of Brigadier-General M'Dougal which 
 was attacked, and Washington ordered a de- 
 tachment of the army under Major-General 
 Putnam to support him. Some days after this 
 action, General Putnam was ordered to cross 
 the Hudson, and provide against an irruption 
 of the enemy into New Jersey. He was soon 
 followed by Washington with part of his ar- 
 my, which took post in the vicinity of Fort Lee, 
 and, after the fall of that Fort, General Putnam 
 was constantly about his person during the 
 whole retreat through New Jersey, and among 
 the last of the fugitive army which crossed the 
 Delaware. He was then ordered to Philadel- 
 phia to fortify and defend that city, which Con- 
 gress had ordered to be defended to the last ex- 
 tremity. 
 
 Without stopping to dilate on the subsequent 
 M
 
 132 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 incidents, that might swell a folio, though here 
 compressed to a single paragraph ; without at- 
 tempting to give in detail the skilful retrograde 
 movements of our Commander-in-chief, who, 
 after detaching a garrison for Fort Washing- 
 ton, by pre-occupying with extemporaneous re- 
 doubts and intrenchments, the ridges from 
 Mile-Square to White-Plains, and by folding 
 one brigade behind another, in rear of those 
 ridges that run parallel with the Sound, 
 brought off all his artillery, stores, and sick, in 
 the race of a superior foe ; without comment- 
 ing on the partial and equivocal battle fought 
 near the last mentioned village, or the cause 
 why the British, then in full force, (for the last 
 of the Hessian infantry and British light-horse 
 had just arrived,) did not more seriously en- 
 deavour to induce a general engagement ; 
 without journalizing their military manoeuvres 
 in falling back to King's-bridge, capturing Fort 
 Washington, Fort Lee, and marching through 
 the Jerseys ; without enumerating the instan- 
 ces of rapine, murder, lust, and devastation, 
 that marked their progress, and filled our bo- 
 soms with horror and indignation ; without de- 
 scribing how a division of our dissolving army, 
 with General Washington, was driven before 
 them beyond the Delaware ; without painting 
 the naked and forlorn condition of these much 
 injured men, amidst the rigours of an inclement 
 season ; and without even sketching the con- 
 sternation that seized the States at this perilous
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 133 
 
 period, when General Lee, in leading from the 
 north a small re-enforcement to our troops, was 
 himself taken prisoner by surprise ; when eve- 
 ry thing, seemed decidedly declining to the last 
 extremity, and when every prospect but served 
 to augment the depression of, despair until the 
 genius of . one man, in one day, .at a single 
 stroke, wrested from the veteran battalions of 
 Britain and Germany the fruits acquired by the 
 , total operations of a successful campaign, and 
 re-animated the expiring hope of a whole na- 
 tion, by the glorious enterprise at Trenton. 
 
 While the hostile forces, rashly inflated with 
 pride by a series of uninterrupted successes, 
 and fondly dreaming that a period would soon 
 be put to their labours, by the completion of 
 their conquests, had been pursuing the wretch- 
 ed remnants of a disbanded army to the banks 
 of the Delaware, General Putnam was diligent- 
 ly employed in fortifying Philadelphia, the cap- 
 ture of which appeared indubitably to be their 
 principal object. Here, by authority and ex- 
 ample, he strove to conciliate contending fac- 
 tions, and to excite the citizens to uncommon 
 efforts in defence of every thing interesting to 
 freemen. His personal industry was unparal- 
 leled. His orders,* with respect to extinguish- 
 
 * As a specimen, the following is preserved : 
 
 "GENERAL ORDERS. 
 
 " Head- Quarters, Philadelphia, December 14, 1776. 
 
 "Colonel Griffin is appointed Adjutant-General to the 
 
 troops m and about this city. All orders from the General,
 
 134 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 ing accidental fires, advancing the public 
 works, as well as in regard to other important 
 objects, were perfectly military and proper. 
 But his health was, for a while, impaired by his 
 unrelaxed exertions. . 
 
 The Commander-in-chief, having in spite of all 
 obstacles, made good his retreat over the Dela- 
 ware, wrote to General Putnam from his camp 
 above the falls of Trenton, on the very day he 
 re-crossed the river to surprise the Hessians, 
 expressing his satisfaction at the re-establish- 
 ment of that General's health, and informing; 
 that if he had not himself been well convinced 
 before, of the enemy's intention to possess 
 themselves of Philadelphia, as soon as the frost 
 should form ice strong enough to transport them 
 and their artillery across the Delaware, he had 
 now obtained an intercepted letter, which placed 
 the matter beyond a doubt. He added, that if 
 the citizens of Philadelphia had any regard for 
 the town, not a moment's time \vas to be lost 
 until it should be put in the best possible pos- 
 ture of defence ; but lest that should not be 
 
 through him, either written or verbal, are to be strictly attend- 
 ed to and punctually obeyed. 
 
 " In case of an alarm of fire, the city guards and patroles 
 are to suffer the inhabitants to pass, unmolested,, at any hour 
 of the night ; and the good people of Philadelphia are earnestly 
 requested and desired to give every assistance in their power, 
 with engines and buckets, to extinguish the fire. And as the 
 C9ngress have ordered the city to be defended to the last extre- 
 mity, the General hopes that no person will refuse to give every 
 assistance possible to complete the fortifications that are to be 
 erected in and about the city. 
 
 1 ISRAEL PUTNAM."
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 135 
 
 done, he directed the removal of all public 
 stores, except provisions necessary for imme- 
 diate use, to places of greater security. He 
 queried whether, if a party of militia could be 
 sent from Philadelphia to support those in the 
 Jerseys, about Mount Holly, it would not serve 
 to save them from submission? At the same 
 time he signified, as his opinion, the expediency 
 of sending an active and influential officer to 
 inspirit the people, to encourage them to assem- 
 ble-in arms, as well as to keep those alrea'dy in 
 . arms from disbanding ; .and concluded by mani- 
 festing a wish that Colonel Forman, whom he 
 desired to see for this purpose, might be employ- 
 ed on the service. 
 
 The enemy had vainly, as incautiously, ima-, 
 gined, that to overrun was to conquer. They 
 had even carried their presumption on our 
 extreme weakness, and expected submission, so 
 far, as to attempt covering the country through 
 \vhich they had marchecl, with an extensive 
 chain of cantonments. That link, which the 
 post at Trenton supplied, consisted of a Hessian 
 brigade of infantry, a company of chasseurs, a 
 squadron of light dragoons, and six field pieces. 
 At eight o'clock in the morning of the twenty- 
 sixth of December, General Washington, with 
 twenty-four hundred men, came upon them, 
 after they had paraded, took one thousand 
 prisoners, and re-passed the same day, without 
 loss, to his encampment. As soon as the troops 
 were recovered from their excessive fatigue.
 
 136 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 General Washington re-crossed a second time 
 to Trenton. On the second of January, Lord 
 Cornwallis, witrTthe bulk of the British army, 
 advanced upoti him, cannonaded his post, and 
 offered him battle : tout the two armies being 
 separated by the interposition of Trenton 
 Creek, General Washington had it in his option 
 to decline an engagement, which he did for the 
 sake of striking the masterly, stroke .that he 
 then meditated. Having kindled frequent fires 
 around his camp, posted faithful men 'to keep 
 them burning, and advanced sentinels, whose 
 fidelity might be relied upon, he decamped si- 
 lently after dark, and, by a circuitous route, 
 reached Princeton at nine o'clock the next 
 morning. The noise of the firing, by which 
 he killed and captured between five and six 
 hundred of the British brigade in that town, 
 was the first notice Lord Cornwallis had of 
 this stolen march. General Washington, the 
 project successfully accomplished, instantly 
 filed off for the mountainous grounds of Mor- 
 risUnyn. Meanwhile, his Lordship, who arrived, 
 by a forced march, at Princeton, just as he had 
 left it, finding the Americans could not be over- 
 taken, proceeded, without halting, to Brunswick. 
 On the fifth of January, 1777, from Plucke- 
 min, General Washington despatched an ac- 
 count of this second success to General Put 
 nam, and ordered him to move immediately, 
 with all his troops, to Croswick's, for the pur- 
 pose of co-operating in recovering the Jerseys ;
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 137 
 
 ( 
 
 an event which the present fortunate juncture, 
 while the enemy were yet panic-struck, appear- 
 ed to promise. The General cautioned him, 
 however, if the enemy should still continue at 
 . Brunswick, to guard with great circumspection 
 against a surprise ; especially as they, having 
 recently suffered by two attacks, could scarcely 
 avoid being edged with resentment to attempt 
 retaliation. His Excellency farther advised 
 him to give out his strength to- be twice .as 
 great as it was ; to forward on all the baggage 
 and scattering men belonging to the division 
 destined for Morristown ; to employ as many 
 spies as he should think proper ; to keep a 
 number of horsemen, in the dress of the coun- 
 try, going constantly backwards and forwards 
 on the same secret service ; and lastly, if he 
 should discover any intention or motion of the 
 enemy that could be depended up'on, and might 
 be of consequence, not to fail in conveying the 
 intelligence, as rapidly as possible by express, 
 to head quarters. Major-General Putnam was 
 directed, soon after, to take post at Princeton, 
 where he continued until the spring. He had 
 never with him more than a few hundred 
 troops, though h,e was only at fifteen miles dis- 
 tance from theenemy's strong garrison of Bruns- 
 wick. At one period, from a sudden diminu- 
 tion, occasioned by the tardiness of the militia 
 turning out to replace those whose time of ser- 
 vice was expired, he had fewer men for duty 
 than he had miles of frontier to guard. Nor
 
 138 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 was the Commander-in-chief in a more eligible 
 situation. It is true, that while he had scarcely 
 the semblance of an army, under the specious 
 parade of a park of artillery, and the imposing 
 appearance of his head quarters, established at 
 Morristown, he, kept up, in the eyes of his 
 countrymen, as well as in the opinion of his 
 enemy, the appearance of no contemptible 
 force. Future generations will find difficulty 
 in conceiving, now a handful of new levied 
 men and militia, who were necessitated to be 
 inoculated for the small pox in the course of the 
 winter, could be subdivided and posted so 
 advantageously, as effectually to protect the 
 inhabitants, confine the enemy, curtail their 
 forage, and beat up their quarters, without 
 sustaining a single disaster. 
 
 In the battle of Princeton, Captain M'Pher- 
 son, of the 1 7th British regiment, a very worthy 
 Scotchman, was desperately wounded in the 
 lungs, and left with the dead. Upon General 
 Putnam's arrival there, he found him languish- 
 ing in extreme distress, without a surgeon, with- 
 out a single accommodation, and without a friend 
 to solace the sinking spirit in the gloomy hour 
 of death. He visited, and immediately caused 
 every possible comfort to be administered to him. 
 Captain M'Pherson, who, contrary to all appear- 
 ances, recovered, after having demonstrated to 
 General Putnam the dignified sense of obliga- 
 tions, which a generous mind wishes not to 
 conceal, one day, in familiar conversation,
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 139 
 
 demanded, " Pray, Sir, what countryman are 
 you." "An American," answered the latter. 
 "Not a Yankee?" said the other. "A full 
 'blooded one," replied the General. " By G d, 
 I arn sorry for that," rejoined M'Pberson^ " I 
 did not think there could be so much goodness 
 and generosity in an American, or, indeed, in 
 any body but a Scotchman." 
 
 While die recovery of Captain M'Pherson 
 was doubtful, he desired that General Putnam 
 would permit a friend in the British army at 
 Brunswick, to come and assist him in making 
 HIS WILL. General Putnam, who had then 
 only fifty men in his whole command, was sadly 
 embarrassed by the proposition. On the one 
 hand, he was not content that a British officer 
 should have an opportunity to spy out the 
 weakness of his post ; on the other, it wa's 
 scarcely in his nature to refuse complying with 
 a dictate of humanity. He luckily bethought 
 himself of an expedient, which he hastened to 
 put in practice. A flag of truce was despatched 
 with Captain M'Pherson's request, but under 
 an injunction not to return with his friend until 
 after dark. In the evening, lights were placed 
 in all the rooms of the College, and in every 
 apartment of the vacant houses throughout 
 the town. During the whole night, the fifty 
 men, sometimes altogether, and sometimes in 
 small detachments, were marched from different 
 quarters, by the house in which M'Pherson lay. 
 Afterwards it was known, that the officer who
 
 140 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 came on the visit, at Jtiis return, reported that 
 General Putnam's army, upon the most mo- 
 derate calculation, could not consist of less than 
 four or five thousand men. 
 
 This winter's campaign, for our troops con- 
 stantly kept tlie field after regaining a footing 
 in the JerSeys, has never yet been faithfully 
 and feelingly described. The sudden restora- 
 tion of pur cause from the very verge of ruin, 
 was intenVoven with such a tissue of inscruta- 
 ble causes and extraordinary events, that, fear- 
 ful of doing the subject greater injustice, by a 
 passing disquisition, than a purposed silence, I 
 leave it to the leisure of abler pens. The ill 
 policy of the British doubtless contributed to 
 accelerate this event. For the manner, impoli- 
 tic as inhuman, in which they managed their 
 temporary conquests, tended evidently to alien- 
 ate the affections of their adherents, to con- 
 firm the wavering in an opposite interest, to 
 rouse the supine into activity, to assemble the 
 dispersed to the standard of America, and to 
 infuse a spirit of revolt into the minds of those 
 men who had, from necessity, submitted to 
 their power. Their conduct, in warring with 
 fire and sword against the imbecility of youth, 
 and the decrepitude of age ; against the arts, 
 the sciences, the curious inventions, and the 
 elegant improvements in civilized life ;, against 
 the melancholy widow, the miserable orphan, 
 the peaceable professor of humane literature, 
 nnd the sacred minister of the gospel, seemed
 
 OF MAJOR GENERAL PUTNAM. 141 
 
 to operate as powerfully, as if purposely intend- 
 ed to kindle the dormant spark of resistance 
 into an inextinguishable flame. If we add to the 
 black catalogue of provocations already enu- 
 merated, their insatiable rapacity in plundering 
 friends and foes indiscriminately; their libidi- 
 nous brutality in violating the chastity of the 
 female sex; their more than Gothic rage in 
 defacing private writings, public records, libra- 
 ries of learning, dwellings of individuals, 
 edifices for e'ducation, and temples of the Deity ; 
 together with their insufferable ferocity, unpre- 
 cedented indeed among civilized nations, in 
 murdering on the field of battle the wounded, 
 while begging for mercy, in causing their pri- 
 soners to famish with hunger and cold in 
 prisons and prison ships, and in carrying their 
 malice beyond death itself, by denying the 
 decent rites of sepulture to the dead ; we shall 
 not be astonished that the yeomanry in the two 
 Jerseys, when the first glimmering of hope 
 began to break in upon them, rose as one man, 
 with the unalterable resolution to perish in the 
 generous cause, or expel their merciless inva- 
 ders. 
 
 The principal officers, stationed at a variety 
 of well chosen, and at some almost inaccessi- 
 ble positions, seemed all to be actuated by the 
 same soul, and only to vie with each other in 
 giving proofs of vigilance, enterprise, and va- 
 lour. From what has been said respecting the 
 scantiness of our aggregate force, it will be
 
 142 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 concluded, that the number of men, under the 
 orders of each, was indeed very small. But 
 the uncommon alertness of the troops, who 
 were incessantly hovering round the enemy in 
 scouts, and the constant communication they 
 kept between the several stations most conti- 
 guous to each other, agreeably to the instruc- 
 tions* of the general-in-chief, together with 
 their readiness in giving, and confidence of re- 
 ceiving such reciprocal aid as the exigencies 
 might require, served to supply the defeat, of 
 force. 
 
 This manner of doing duty not only put our 
 own posts beyond the reach of sudden insult 
 and surprise, but s exceedingly harassed and 
 
 "me ; annexed r.riraie orders to Lord Stirling Will show, in 
 
 laconic and military manner, the system of service then 
 pursued : 
 
 "To Brigadier-General Lord STIRLING. 
 " MY LORD, 
 
 "You are to repair to Baskenridge, and take upon you the 
 command of the troops now there, and such as may be sent to 
 rour care. 
 
 "You are to endeavour, as much as possible, to harass and 
 annoy the enemy, by keeping scouting parties constantly, or 
 as frequently as possible, around their quarters. 
 
 "As you will be in the neighbourhood of Generals Dicken- 
 son and Warner, I recommend it to you to keep up a corres- 
 pondence with them, and endeavour to regulate your parties 
 fey theirs, so as to have some constantly out. 
 
 " L'ec every means in your power to obtain intelligence from 
 i'ue wuemy ; which may possibly be better effected by engaging 
 borne of those people who have obtained protections, to go in, 
 under pretence of asking advice, than by any other means. 
 
 " You will also use every means in your power to obtain and 
 communicate the earliest accpunts of the enemy's movements; 
 and to assemble, in the speediest manner possible, your troops 
 either for offence or defence. 
 
 " Given at head-quarters, the fourth day of Feb., 1777. 
 " GEORGE WASHINGTON."
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 143 
 
 intimidated the enemy, that foragers were sel- 
 dom sent out by them, and never except in 
 very large parties. General Dickenson, who 
 commanded on General Putnam's left,' disco- 
 vered, about the 20th of January, a foraging 
 party, consisting of about four hundred men, 
 on the opposite side of the Mill-stone^ two 
 miles from Somerset court-house. As the 
 bridge was possessed and defended by three 
 field-pieces, so that it could not be passed, Ge- 
 neral Dickenson, at the head of four hundred 
 militia, broke the ice, crossed the river where 
 the water was about three feet deep, resolutely 
 attacked, and totally defeated the foragers. 
 Upon their abandoning the convoy, a few pri- 
 soners, forty wagons, and more than a hundred 
 draft horses, with a considerable booty of cattle 
 and sheep, fell into his hands. 
 
 Nor were our operations on General Put- 
 nam's right flank less fortunate. To give coun- 
 tenance to the numerous friends of the British 
 government in the county of Monmouth ap- 
 pears to have been a principal motive with 
 Sir William Howe for stretching the chain of 
 his cantonments, by his own confession,* pre- 
 
 * Extrnet of a Letter from General Sir WILLIAM HOWE to 
 
 Lord GEOkGE GERMAINE, dated Ne~x- York, December 20, 
 
 1776. 
 
 Having mentioned the fruitless attempt of Lord Cornwallis 
 to find boats at Corryel's ferry to pass the Delaware he pro- 
 ceeds thus : 
 
 " The passage of the Delaware being thus rendered imprac- 
 ticable, his lordship took post at Pennington, in which place 
 and Trenton the two divisions remained until the fourteenth, 
 when the weather having become loo severe to keep the field. 
 N
 
 14-1 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 viously to his disaster, rather too far. After 
 that chain became broken, as I have already 
 related, by the blows at Trenton and Prince- 
 ton, he was obliged to collect, during the rest 
 of the winter, the useless remains in his bar- 
 racks at Brunswick. In the meantime, Gene- 
 ral Putnam was much more successful in his 
 attempts to protect our dispersed and dispirited 
 friends in 'the same district ; who, environed 
 on every side by envenomed adversaries, re- 
 mained inseparably riveted in affection to 
 American independence. He first detached 
 Colonel Gurney, and aftei wards Major Davis,* 
 with such parties 01 iniima as could be spared, 
 <br their support. Several skirmishes ensued, 
 m which oiu people had always the advantage. 
 
 jnd the winter cantonments being arranged, the troops march- 
 ed from both places to their respective stations. The chain, I 
 own, is rather too extensirc, but I was induced to occupy Bur- 
 lington to cover the county of Monmoulh, in which there are 
 i.innv loyal inhabitants; and trusting to the almost general 
 ' utitnission of the country to the southward of this chain, and 
 iw me strength of the corps placed in the advanced posts, I 
 conclude the troops will be in perfect security." 
 
 '" there happened to he in my possession a copy of one 
 .hia letters to those officers, it was thought 'worthy of inser- 
 tion Here, in order to demonstrate his satisfaction with their 
 conduct. 
 " To Major JOHN DAVIS, of the ihird battalion of Cumberland 
 
 County Militia. 
 41 SIB, 
 
 'I am much obliged to you for your activity, vigour, and 
 diligence, since you have been under my command ; you will, 
 therefore, march your men to Philadelphia, and there dis- 
 charge them; returning into the store all the ammunition, 
 arms, and accoutrements, you received at that place. 
 
 I am, sir, your humble servant, 
 
 fl ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 " Princeton, February 5, 1777."
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 145 
 
 They took, at different times, many prisoners, 
 horses, and wagons, from foraging parties. In 
 effect, so well did they cover the country, as to 
 induce some of the most respectable inhabi- 
 tants to declare, that the security of the per 
 sons, as well as the salvation of the property 
 of many friends to freedom, was owing to the 
 spirited exertions of these two detachments ; 
 who, at the same time that they rescued the 
 country from the tyranny of tories, afforded an- 
 opportunity for the militia to recover from their 
 consternation, to embody themselves in warlike 
 array, and to stand on their defence. 
 
 During this period, General Putnam having 
 received unquestionable intelligence that a party 
 of refugees, in British pay, had taken post, and 
 were erecting a kind of redoubt at Lawrence's 
 Neck, sent Colonel Nelson, with one hundred 
 and fifty militia, to surprise them. That officer 
 conducted with so much secrecy and decision, 
 as to take the whole prisoners. These refu- 
 gees* were commanded by Major Stockton, be- 
 longing to Skinner's brigade, and amounted to 
 sixty in number. 
 
 * Extract of a Littler from General PUTNAM to the Council of 
 Safety of Pennsylvania, dated at Princeton, February IS, 
 1777. 
 
 " Yesterday evening Colonel Nelson, with a hundred and 
 fifty mon, at Lawrence's Neck, attacked sixty men of Cort- 
 iandt Skinner's brigade, commanded by the enemy's HE 
 NOWNEO LAND PILOT Major Richard Stockton, routed them, 
 and took the wh lie prisoners among them the major, a cap 
 tain, and three r ,baiterns, with seventy stand of arms. Fifty 
 cf tlic Bedford Pennsylvania riflemen be'umed like veteran.".
 
 146 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 A short time after this event, Lord Cornwal- 
 lis sent out another foraging party towards 
 Bound Brook. General Putnam, having re- 
 ceived notice from his emissaries, detached Ma- 
 jor Smith, with a few riflemen, to annoy the 
 party, and followed himself with the rest of his 
 force. Before he could come up, Major Smith, 
 who had formed an ambush, attacked the 
 enemy, killed several horses, took a few priso- 
 ners and sixteen baggage-wagons, without sus- 
 taining any injury. By such operations, our 
 hero, in the course of the winter, captured 
 nearly a thousand prisoners. 
 
 In the latter part of February, General 
 Washington advised General Putnam, that, in 
 consequence of a large accession of strength 
 from New-York to the British army at Bruns- 
 wick, it was to be apprehended they would 
 soon make a forward movement towards the 
 Delaware : in which case, the latter was direct- 
 ed to cross the river with his actual force, to 
 assume the command of the militia who might 
 assemble, to secure the boats on the west side 
 of the Delaware, and to facilitate the passage 
 of the rest of the army. But the enemy aid 
 not remove from their winter-quarters until the 
 season arrived When green forage could be 
 supplied. In the intermediate period, the cor- 
 respondence on the part of General Putnam 
 with the Commander-in-chief consisted princi- 
 pally of reports and inquiries concerning the 
 treatment of some of the following descriptions
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 147 
 
 of persons : either of those who came within 
 our lines with flags and pretended flags, or who 
 had taken protection from the enemy, or who 
 had been reputed disaffected to our cause, or 
 who were designed to be comprehended in the 
 American proclamation, which required th'at 
 those who had taken protections shtfuld give 
 them to the nearest American officer, or go 
 within the British lines. The letters of his Ex- 
 cellency in return, generally advisory, were 
 indicative of confidence and approbation. 
 
 When the spring had now so far advanced 
 that it was obvious the enemy would soon take 
 the field, the Commander-in-chief, after desiring 
 General Putnam to give the officer who was 
 to relieve him at Princeton, all the information 
 necessary for the conduct of that post, appoint- 
 ed that general to the command of a separate 
 army in the Highlands of New- York. 
 
 It is scarcely decided, from any documents 
 yet published, whether the preposterous plans 
 prosecuted by the British generals in the cam- 
 paign of 1777, were altogether the result of 
 their orders from home, or whether they partly 
 originated from the contingencies of the mo- 
 ment. The system which, at the time, tended 
 to puzzle all human conjecture, when develop- 
 ed, served also to contradict all reasonable cal- 
 culation. Certain it is, the American com- 
 mander-in-chief was, for a considerable time, 
 so perplexed with contradictory appearances, 
 that he knew not how to distribute his troops,
 
 148 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 with his usual discernment, so as to oppose the 
 enemy with equal prospect of success in differ- 
 ent parts. The gathering tempests menaced 
 the northern frontiers, the posts in the High- 
 lands, and the city of Philadelphia ; but it was 
 still doubtful where the fury of the storm would 
 fall. At one time Sir William Howe was 
 forcing his way by land to Philadelphia ; at 
 another, relinquishing the Jerseys ; at a third, 
 facing round to make a sudden inroad ; then 
 embarking with all the forces that could be 
 spared from New- York ; and then putting out 
 to sea, at the very moment when General Bur- 
 goyne hud reduced Ticonderoga, and seemed 
 to require a co-operation in another quarter. 
 
 On our side, we have seen that the old con- 
 tinental army expired with the year 1776 ; 
 since which, invention had been tortured with 
 expedient^, and zeal with efforts, to levy ano- 
 ther : for on the success of the recruiting ser- 
 vice depended the salvation of the country. 
 The success was such as not to puff us up to 
 presumption, or depress us to despair. The 
 army in the Jerseys, under the orders of the 
 general-in-chief, consisted of all the troops 
 raised south of the Hudson ; that in the north- 
 ern department, of the New-Hampshire bri- 
 gade, two brigades of Massachusetts, and the 
 brigade of New- York, together with some irre- 
 gular corps ; and that in the Highlands, of the 
 remaining two brigades of Massachusetts, the 
 Connecticut line, consisting of two brigades,
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 149 
 
 the brigade of Rhode Island, and one regiment 
 of New- York. Upon hearing of the loss of 
 Ticonderoga, and the progress of the British 
 towards Albany, General Washington ordered 
 the northern army to be re-enforced with the 
 two brigades of Massachusetts, then in the 
 Highlands ; and, upon finding the army under 
 his immediate command out-numbered by that 
 of Sir William Howe, which had, by the cir- 
 cuitous route of the Chesapeake, invaded Penn- 
 sylvania, he also called from the Highlands one 
 of the Connecticut brigades, and that of Rhode 
 Island, to his own assistance. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of General Putnam 
 there was no enemy capable of exciting alarms. 
 The army left at New- York seemed only de- 
 signed for its defence. In it were several en- 
 tire corps, composed of tories, who had flocked 
 to the British standard. There was, besides, 
 a band of lurking miscreants, not properly en- 
 rolled, who staid chiefly at West Chester ; 
 from whence they infested the country between 
 the two armies, pillaged the cattle, and carried 
 off the peaceable inhabitants. It was an un- 
 worthy policy in British generals to patronize 
 banditti. The whig inhabitants on the edge 
 of our lines, and still lower down, who had 
 been plundered in a merciless manner, delayed 
 not to strip the tories in return. People most 
 nearly connected and allied frequently became 
 most exasperated and inveterate in malice. 
 Then the ties of fellowship were broken then
 
 150 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 friendship itself being soured to enmity, the 
 mind readily gave way to private revenge, un- 
 controlled retaliation, and all the deforming 
 passions that disgrace humanity. Enormities, 
 almost without a name, were perpetrated, at 
 the description of which, the bosom, not frozen 
 to apathy, must glow with a mixture of pity 
 and indignation. To prevent the predatory 
 incursions from below, and to cover the county 
 of West Chester, General Putnam detached 
 from his head-quarters, at Peek's-Kill, Meigs's 
 regiment, which, in the course of the campaign, 
 struck several partizau strokes, and achieved 
 the objects for which it was sent, lie likewise 
 took measures, without noise or ostentation, to 
 secure himself from being surprised and carried 
 within the British lines by the tories, who had 
 formed a plan for the purpose. The informa- 
 tion of this intended enterprise, conveyed to him 
 through several channels, was corroborated by 
 that obtained and transmitted by tbe Command- 
 er-in-chief. 
 
 It was not wonderful that many of these to- 
 ries were able, undiscovered, to penetrate far 
 into the country, and even to go with letters 
 or messages from one British army to another. 
 The inhabitants who were well affected to the 
 royal cause, afforded tljem every possible sup- 
 port, and their own knowledge of the different 
 routes gave them a farther facility in perform- 
 ing their peregrinations. Sometimes the most 
 active loyalists, as the tories wished to denomi-
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 151 
 
 nate themselves, who had gone into the British 
 posts, and received promises of commissions 
 upon enlisting a certain number of soldiers, 
 came back again secretly with recruiting in- 
 structions. Sometimes these, and others who 
 came from the enemy within the verge of our 
 camps, were detected and condemned to death, 
 in conformity to the usages of war. But the 
 British generals, who had an unlimited supply 
 of money at their command, were able to pay 
 with so much liberality, that emissaries could 
 always be found. Still, it is thought that the 
 intelligence of the American commanders was, 
 at least, equally accurate, notwithstanding the 
 poverty of their military chest, and the inability 
 of rewarding mercenary agents, for secret ser- 
 vices, in proportion to their risk and merit. 
 
 A person, by the name of Palmer, who was 
 a lieutenant in the tory new levies, was de- 
 tected in the camp at Peek's Kill. Governor 
 Tryon, who commanded the new levies, re- 
 claimed him as a British officer, represented the 
 heinous crime of condemning a man commis- 
 sioned by his majesty, and threatened vengeance 
 in case he should be executed. General Put- 
 nam wrote the following pithy reply. 
 
 "SIR, 
 
 " Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in your king's 
 service, was taken in my camp as a spy he 
 was tried as a spy he was condemned as a
 
 152 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 spy and you may rest assured, sir, he shall be 
 hanged as a spy. 
 
 " 1 have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 "ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 " His Excellency Governor TRYON. 
 " P. S. Afternoon. He is hanged." 
 
 Important transactions soon occurred. Not 
 long after the two brigades had marched from 
 Peck's Kill, to Pennsylvania, a re-enforcement 
 arrived at New- York from Europe. Appear- 
 ances indicated that offensive operations would 
 follow. General Putnam having been reduced 
 in force to a single brigade in the field, and a 
 single regiment in garrison at Fort Montgo : 
 mery, repeatedly informed the Commander-m- 
 chief, that the posts committed to his charge 
 must, in all probability, be lost, in case an at- 
 tempt should be made upon them ; and that, 
 circumstanced as he was, he could not be re- 
 sponsible for the consequences. His situation 
 was certainly -to be lamented ; but it was not 
 in the power of the Commander-in-chief to al- 
 ter it, except by authorizing him to call upon 
 the militia for aid an aid always precarious,' 
 and often so tardy, as, when obtained, to be of 
 no utility. - 
 
 On the fifth of October, Sir Henry Clinton 
 came up the North River with three thousand 
 men. After making many feints to mislead 
 the attention, he landed, the next morning, at 
 Stony Point, and commenced his march over
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 153 
 
 the mountains to Fort Montgomery. Gover- 
 nor Clinton, an active, resolute, and intelligent 
 ofiicer, who commanded the garrison, upon 
 being apprised of the movement, despatched a 
 letter, by express, to General Putnam for suc- 
 cour. By the treachery of the messenger, the 
 letter miscarried. General Putnam, .astonish- 
 ed . at hearing nothing respecting the enemy, 
 rode, with General Parsons, and Colonel Root, 
 his adjutant-general, to reconnoitre them at 
 King's Ferry. In the mean-time, at five 
 o'clock in the afternoon, Sir Henry Clinton's 
 columns, having surmounted the obstacles and 
 barriers of nature, descended from the Thun- 
 der-Hill, through thickets impassable but for 
 light trooos, and" attacked* the different re- 
 
 * The author of these memoirs, then major of brigade to the 
 first Connecticut brigade, was alone at head-quarters when the 
 firing began. He hastened to Colonel Wyllys, the senior of- 
 ficer in camp, and advised him to despatch all the men not 
 on duty to Fort Montgomery, without waiting for orders. 
 
 . About five hundred men marched instantly under C9lonel 
 Meigs; and the author, with Dr. Beardsley, a surgeon in the 
 
 , brigade, rode, at fall speed, through a bye-path, to let the gar- 
 rison knovy that a re-enforoement was on .its march. Not- 
 withstanding all die haste these officers made to and over the 
 river, the fort was so completely invested on their arrival, that 
 it was impossible to enter. They went on board the new fri- 
 gate which lay near the fortress, and had the misfortune to be 
 idle, though not unconcerned, spectators of the sunn. They 
 saw the minutest actions distinctly when the works were 
 carried. The frigate, after receiving several platoons, slipped 
 her cable, and proceeded a little way up the. river; but the 
 wind and tide becoming adverse, the crew set her on fire, to 
 prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy.-whose ships 
 were approaching. The lowering darkness of the "night, the 
 profound stillness that reigned, the interrupted flashes of the 
 flames that illuminated the waters, the lone shadows of the 
 cliffs that now and then were seen, the explosion of the can- 
 7*
 
 154 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 doubts. The garrison, inspired by the conduct 
 of their leaders, defended the works with dis- 
 tinguished valour. 'But, as the post had been 
 designed principally to prevent the passing of 
 ships, and as an assault in rear had not been 
 expected, the works on the land side were in- 
 complete and untenable.- In the dusk of twi- 
 light, the British entered with their bayonets 
 fixed. Their loss was inconsiderable. Nor 
 was that of the garrison great. Governor 
 Clinton, his brother, General James Clinton, 
 Colonel Dubois, and most of the officers and 
 men, effected their escape under cover of the 
 thick smoke and darkness that suddenly pre- 
 vailed. The capture of this fort by Sir Henry 
 Clinton, together with the consequent removal 
 of the chains and booms that obstructed the 
 navigation, opened a passage to Albany, and 
 seemed to favour a junction of his force with 
 that of General Burgoyne. But the latter 
 having been compelled to capitulate a few days 
 after this event, and great numbers of militia 
 having arrived from New-England, the suc- 
 cessful army returned to New- York; yet not 
 before a detachment from it, under the orders 
 of General Vaughan, had burnt the defenceless 
 town of Esopus, and several scattering build- 
 ings on the banks of the river. 
 
 non which were left loaded in the ship, and the reverberating 
 echo which resounded, at intervals, between the stupendous 
 mountains on both sides of the river, composed an awful night- 
 piece for persons prepared by the preceding scene, to contem- 
 plate subjects of horrid sublimity.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL .PUTNAM. 155 
 
 Notwithstanding the army in the Highlands 
 had been so much weakened, for the sake of 
 strengthening the armies in other quarters, as 
 to have occasioned the loss of Fort Montgo- 
 mery, yet that loss was productive of no conse- 
 quences. Our main army in Pennsylvania, 
 after having contended with superior force in 
 two indecisive battles, still held the enemy in 
 check ; while the splendid success which at- 
 tended our arms at the northward, gave a more 
 favourable aspect to the American affairs, at 
 the close of this campaign, than they had ever 
 before 'assumed. 
 
 When the enemy fell back to New- York by 
 water, we followed them a part of the way by 
 land. Colonel Meigs, with a detachment from 
 the several regiments in General Parsons' 
 brigade, having made a forced march from 
 Crompond to West Chester, surprised and 
 broke up for a time the band of freebooters, of 
 whom he brought off fifty, together with many 
 cattle and horses which they had recently 
 stolen. 
 
 Soon after this enterprise, General Putnam 
 advanced towards the British lines. As he 
 had received intelligence that small bodies of 
 the enemy were out, with orders from Gover- 
 nor Tryon to burn Wright's mills, he prevented 
 it by detaching three parties, of one hundred 
 men in' each. One of these parties fell in with 
 and captured thirty-five, and another forty, of 
 the new levies. But as he could not prevent a 
 O
 
 156 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 third hostile party from burning the house of 
 Mr. Van Tassel, a noted whig, and a commit- 
 tee-man, who was forced to go along with 
 them, naked and barefoot, on the icy ground, 
 in a freezing night, he, for the professed pur- 
 pose of retaliation, sent Captain Buchanan, in 
 a whale-boat, to burn the house of General Oli- 
 ver Delancy on York Island. Buchanan ef- 
 fected his object, and by this expedition put a 
 period, for the present, to that unmeaning and 
 wanton species .of destruction. 
 
 While General Putnam quartered at New- 
 Rochelle, a scouting party, which had been sent 
 to West-Farms, below West-Chester, surround- 
 ed the house in which Colonel James Delancy 
 lodged, and, notwithstanding he crept under 
 the bed the better to be concealed, brought him 
 to Head-Quarters before morning. This offi- 
 cer was exchanged by the British general with- 
 out delay, and placed at the head of the cow- 
 boys, a licentious corps of irregulars, who, in 
 the sequel, committed unheard of depredations 
 and excesses. 
 
 It was distressing to see so beautiful a part 
 of the country so barbarously wasted, and of- 
 ten to witness some peculiar scene pf female 
 misery : for most of the female inhabitants had 
 been obliged to fly within the lines possessed 
 by one army or the other. Near our quarters 
 was an affecting instance of human vicissitude. 
 Mr. William Sutton, of Mamaroneck, an inoffen- 
 sive man, a merchant by profession, who lived
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 157 
 
 in a decent fashion, and whose family had as 
 happy prospects as almost any m the country, 
 upon some imputation of toryism, went to the 
 enemy- His wife, oppressed with grief in the 
 disagreeable state of dereliction, did not long- 
 survive. Betsey Silt-ton, their eldest daughter, 
 was a modest and lovely young woman, of 
 about fifteen years old, when, at the death -of 
 her mother, the care of five or six younger 
 children devolved upon her. She was discreet 
 and provident beyond her years ; but when we 
 saw: her, she looked to l)e feeble in health 
 broken in spirit wan, melancholy, and deject- 
 ed. She said " that their last cow, which fur- 
 nished milk for the children, had lately been 
 taken away that they had frequently been 
 plundered of their wearing apparel arid furni- 
 ture, she believed by both parties that they 
 had little more 'to lose and that she knew not 
 where to procure bread for the dear little ones, 
 who had no father to provide for them" no 
 mother she was going to have said but a 
 torrent of tears choked articulation. In com- 
 ing to that part of the country again, after some 
 campaigns had elapsed, I found the habitation 
 desolate, and the garden overgrown with weeds. 
 Upon inquiry, I fearnt, that as soon as we left 
 the place, some ruffians broke into the house 
 while she lay in bed, in the latter part of the 
 night ; and that, having been terrified by their 
 rudeness, she ran, half-naked, into a neigh- 
 bouring swamp, where she continued until the
 
 158 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 morning there the poor girl caught a violent 
 cold, which ended in a consumption. It finish- 
 ed a life without a spot and a career of suf- 
 ferings commenced arid continued without a 
 fault. 
 
 Sights of wretchedness always touched with 
 commiseration the feeling of General Putnam, 
 and prompted his generous soul to succour the 
 afflicted. But the indulgence which he show- 
 ed, whenever it did not militate against his du- 
 ty, towards the deserted and suffering families 
 of the tories in the State of New York, was 
 the cause of his becoming unpopular with no 
 inconsiderable class of people in that State. 
 On the other side, he had conceived an uncon- 
 querable aversion to many of the persons who 
 were intrusted with the disposal of tory pro- 
 perty, because he believed them to have been 
 guilty of peculations and other infamous prac- 
 tices. But although the enmity between him 
 and the sequestrators was acrimonious as mu- 
 tual, yet he lived in habits of amity with the 
 most respectable characters in public depart 
 ments, as well as in private life. 
 
 His character was also respected by the ene 
 my. He had been acquainted with many of 
 the principal officers in a former war. As 
 flags frequently passed between the out-posts, 
 during his continuance on the lines, it was a 
 common practice to forward newspapers by 
 them ; and as those printed by Rivington, the 
 royal printer in New York, were infamous for
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 159 
 
 the falsehoods with which they abounded, 
 General Putnam once sent a packet to his old 
 friend General Kobertson, with this billet: 
 " Major-General Putnam presents his compli- 
 ments to Major-General Robertson, and sends 
 him some American newspapers for his peru- 
 sal ; when General Robertson shall have done 
 with them, it is requested they be given to 
 Rivington, in order that he may print some 
 truth." 
 
 Late in the year we left the lines and re- 
 paired to the Highlands ; for upon the loss of 
 Fort Montgomery, the Commander-in-chief 
 dftermined to build another fortification for 
 the defence of the river. His Excellency, ac- 
 cordingly, wrote to General Putnam to fix up- 
 on the spot. After reconnoitring all the dif- 
 ferent places proposed, and revolving in his 
 own mind their relative advantages for offence 
 on the water and defence on the land, ho fix- 
 ed upon WEST-POINT. It is no vulgar praise 
 to say^ that to him belongs the glory of having 
 chosen this rock of our military salvation. The 
 position for water-batteries, which might sweep 
 the channel where the river formed a right 
 angle, made it the most proper of any for 
 commanding the navigation ; while- the rocky 
 ridges that rose in awful sublimity behind 
 each other, rendered it impregnable, and even 
 incapable of being invested by less than twen- 
 ty thousand men. The British, who consider- 
 ed this post as a sort of American Gibraltar, 
 L
 
 160 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 never attempted it but by the treachery of an 
 American officer. All the world knows that 
 this project failed, and that West Point con- 
 tinues to be the receptacle of ev r ery thing valua- 
 ble in military preparations to the present day. 
 In the mouth of January, 1778, when a 
 snow, two feet deep, lay on the earth, General 
 Parsons' brigade went to West-Point and 
 broke ground. Want of covering for the 
 troops, together with want of tools and mate- 
 rials for the works, made the prospect truly 
 gloomy and discouraging. It was necessary 
 that means should be found, though our cur- 
 rency was depreciated, and our treasury ex- 
 hausted. The estimates and requisitions of 
 Colonel la Radiere, the engineer who laid out 
 the works, altogether disproportioned to our 
 circumstances, served only to put us in mind 
 of our poverty, and, as it were, to satirize our 
 resources. His petulant behaviour, and unac- 
 commodating disposition, added farther em- 
 barrassments. It was then that the patriotism 
 of Governor Clinton shone in full lustre. His 
 exertions to furnish supplies can never be too 
 much commended. His influence, arising from 
 his popularity, was unlimited : yet he hesitated 
 not to put afl his popularity at risk, whenever 
 the federal interests demanded. Notwith- 
 standing the impediments that opposed our 
 progress, with his aid, before the opening of 
 the campaign, the works were in great for- 
 wardness.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL V PUTNAM. 161 
 
 According to a resolution of Congress, an in- 
 quiry was to be made into the causes of milita- 
 ry disasters. Major-General M'Dougall, Briga- 
 dier-General Huntington, and Colonel Wig- 
 glesworth composed the Court of Inquiry ou 
 the loss of Fort Montgomery. Upon full 
 knowledge and mature deliberation of facts on 
 the spot, they reported the loss to have been 
 occasioned by want of men, and not by any 
 fault in the commanders. 
 
 General Putnam, who during the investiga- 
 tion was relieved from duty, as soon as Con- 
 gress had approved the report, took command 
 of the right wing of the grand army, under the 
 orders of the General-in-chief. This was just 
 after the battle of Monmouth, when the three 
 armies, which had last year acted separately, 
 joined at the White-plains. Our effective force, 
 in one camp, was at no other time so respectable 
 as at this juncture. The army consisted of 
 sixty regular regiments of foot, formed into 
 fifteen brigades, four battalions of artillery, four 
 regiments of horse, and several corps of State 
 troops. But as the enemy kept close within 
 their lines on York Island, nothing could be 
 attempted. Towards the end of autumn we 
 broke up the camp, and went first to Frede- 
 ricksburgh, and thence to winter-quarters. 
 
 In order to cover the country adjoining to the 
 Sound, and to support the garrison of West 
 Point, in case of an attack, Major-General Put- 
 nam was stationed, for the winter, at Reading,
 
 162 LIFE, ANECDOTES, ANU HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 in Connecticut. He had under his orders, 
 the brigade of New Hampshire, the two bri- 
 gades of Connecticut, the corps of infantry 
 commanded by Hazen, and that of cavalry by 
 Sheldon. 
 
 The troops, who had been badly fed, badly 
 clothed, and worse paid, by brooding over their 
 grievances in the leisure and inactivity of win- 
 ter quarters, began to think them intolerable* 
 The Connecticut brigades formed the design of 
 marching to Hartford, where the- general as- 
 sembly was then in session, and of demanding 
 redress at the point of the bayonet. Word 
 having been brought to General Putnam, that 
 the second brigade was under arms for this 
 purpose, he mounted his horse, galloped to the 
 cantonment, and thus addressed them : " My 
 brave lads, whither arc you going ? Do you 
 intend to desert your officers, and to invite the 
 enemy to follow you into the country?. Whose 
 cause have you been fighting and suffering so 
 long in is it not your own ? Have you no 
 property, no parents, wives or children 7 You 
 have behaved like men so far all tlie world is 
 full of your praises and posterity will stand 
 astonished at yo\ir deeds : but not if you spoil 
 all at last. Don't you consider how much the 
 country is distressed by the war, and that your 
 officers have not been any better paid than your- 
 selves? But we all expect better times, and that 
 the country will do us ample justice. Let us 
 all stand by one another, then, and fight it out
 
 " OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 163 
 
 like brave soldiers. Think what a shame it 
 would be for Connecticut men to run away 
 from their officers." After the several regi- 
 ments had received the General, as he rode 
 along the line, with drums beating, and pre- 
 sented arms, the sergeants, who had then the 
 command, brought the men to an order, in 
 which position they continued while he was 
 speaking. When he had done, he directed the 
 acting major of brigade to give the word for 
 them to shoulder, march to their regimental 
 parades, and lodge arms ; all which they exe- 
 cuted with promptitude and apparent good 
 humour. One soldier, only, who had been the 
 most active, was confined in the quarter-guard; 
 from whence, at night, he attempted to make 
 his escape. But the sentinel, who had also 
 been in the mutiny, shot him dead on the spot, 
 and thus the affair subsided. 
 
 About the middle of winter, while General 
 Putnam was on a visit to his out-post at Horse- 
 Neck, he found Governor Tryon advancing 
 upon that town with a corps of fifteen hundred 
 men. To oppose these General Putnam had 
 only a picket of one hundred and fifty men, 
 and two iron field-pieces, without horses or 
 drag-ropes. He, however, planted his cannon 
 on the high ground, by the meeting-house, and 
 retarded their approach by firing several times, 
 until, perceiving the horse (supported by the 
 infantry) about to charge, he ordered the picket 
 to provide for their safety, by retiring to a
 
 1.64 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 PUTNAM'S ESCAPE AT HORSE-NECK. p. 164. 
 
 swamp, inaccessible to horse, and secured his 
 own, by plunging down the steep precipice at 
 the church upon a full trot. This precipice is 
 so steep, where lie descended,, as to have artifi- 
 cial stairs, composed of -neatly one hundred 
 stone steps, for the accommodation of foot pas- 
 sengers. There the dragoons,.who were but a 
 sword's lenirth from him, -stopped short ; for the 
 declivity was so abrupt, that they ventured not 
 to follow ; and, before they could gain the val- 
 ley, by going round the brow of the hill in the 
 ordinary road, he was far enough beyond their 
 reach. He continued his route, unmolested, to 
 Stamford ; whence, having strengthened his 
 picket by the junction of some militia, he came 
 back again, and in turn, pursued Governor
 
 OP MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 165 
 
 Tryon in his retreat.* As he rode down the 
 precipice, one ball, of the many fired at him, 
 went through his beaver: but Governor Tryon, 
 by way of compensation for spoiling his hat, 
 sent him, soon afterwards, as a present, a com- 
 plete suit of clothes. 
 
 In the campaign of 1779, which terminated 
 the career of General Putnam's services, he 
 commanded the Maryland line, posted at But- 
 termilk falls, about two miles below West Point.'' 
 He was happy in possessing the friendship of 
 the officers of that line, and in living on terms 
 of hospitality with them. Indeed there was no 
 family in the army that lived better than his 
 own. The General, his second son, Major 
 Laniel Putnam, and the writer of these me- 
 moirs, composed that family. This campaign, 
 principally spent in strengthening the works of 
 West Point, was only signalized for the storm 
 of Stony Point, by the light infantry under the 
 conduct of General Wayne, and the surprise of 
 the post of Powles-Hook, by the corps -under 
 the command of Colonel Henry Lee. When 
 the army quitted the field, and marched to 
 Morristown, into winter quarters, General 
 Putnam's family went into Connecticut, for a 
 few weeks. In December, the General began 
 
 * In this retreat, though with a very inferior force, General 
 Putnam made about fifty prisoners, part of whom were wound- 
 ed, and the whole were the next day sent, under the escort of 
 an officer's guard, to the British lines, for exchange. It was 
 for the humanity and kindness of Putnam to the wounded 
 prisoners, that Governor Tryon complimented him with the 
 ' suit of clothes."
 
 166 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 his journey to Morristown. Upon the road be- 
 tween Pomfrel and Hartford, he felt an unusual 
 torpor slowly pervading his right hand and 
 foot. This heaviness crept gradually on, until 
 it had deprived him of the use of his limbs on 
 that side, in a considerable degree, before he 
 reached the house of his friend, Colonel Wads- 
 worth. Still he was unwilling to consider his 
 disorder of the paralytic kind, and endeavoured 
 to shake it off by exertion. Having found that 
 impossible, a temporary dejection, disguised, 
 however, under a veil of assumed cheerfulness, 
 succeeded. But reason, philosophy, and re- 
 ligion, soon reconciled him to his fate. In that 
 situation he has constantly remained, favoured 
 with such a portion of bodily activity as enables 
 him to walk and to ride moderately ; and re- 
 taining, unimpaired, his relish for enjoyment, 
 his love of pleasantry, his strength of memory, 
 and all the faculties of his mind. As a proof 
 that the powers of memory are not weakened, 
 it ought to be observed, that he has lately re- 
 peated, from recollection, all the adventures of 
 his life, which are here recorded, and which 
 had formerly been communicated to the com- 
 piler in detached conversations. 
 
 In patient, yet fearless expectation of the ap- 
 proach of THE KING OF TERRORS, whom he 
 hath full often faced in the field of blood, the 
 Christian hero now enjoys, in domestic retire- 
 ment, the fruit of his early industry. Having 
 in youth provided a competent subsistence for
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 167 
 
 old age, he was secured from the danger of pe- 
 nury and distress, to which so many officers 
 and soldiers, worn out in the public service, 
 have been reduced. To illustrate his merits 
 the more fully, this essay will be concluded 
 with a copy of tb.2 last letter written to him, by 
 General Washington, in his military character. 
 
 " Head Quarters, 2d June, 1783. 
 "DEAR SIR, 
 
 " Your favour of the 20th of May I received 
 with much pleasure. For I can assure you, 
 that among the many worthy and meritorious 
 officers with whom I have had the happiness 
 to be connected in service through the course of 
 this war, and from whose cheerful assistance in 
 the various and trying vicissitudes of a compli- 
 cated contest, the name of a PUTNAM is not 
 forgotten ; nor will be but with that stroke of 
 time which shall obliterate from my mind the 
 remembrance of all those toils and fatigues 
 through which we have struggled for the pre- 
 servation and establishment of the Rights, Li- 
 berties, and Independence of our Country. 
 
 " Your congratulations on the happy pros- 
 pects of peace and independent security, with 
 their attendant blessings to the UNITED 
 STATES, I receive with great satisfaction ; and 
 beg that you will accept a return of my gratu- 
 lations to you on this auspicious event an 
 event in which, great as it is in itself, and glo- 
 rious as it will probably be in its consequences, 
 P
 
 168 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 you have a right to participate largely, from 
 the distinguished pait you have contributed to- 
 wards its attainment. 
 
 "But while I contemplate the greatness of 
 the object for which we have contended, and 
 felicitate you on the happy issue of our toils 
 and labours, which have terminated with such 
 general satisfaction, I lament that you should 
 feel the ungrateful returns of a country, in 
 whose service you have exhausted youi bodily 
 strength, and expended the vigour of a youth- 
 ful constitution. I wish, however, that your 
 expectations of returning liberality may be 
 verified. I have a hope they may but should 
 they not, your case will not be a singular one. 
 Ingratitude has been experienced in all a r ;es, 
 and REPUBLICS, in particular, have ever been 
 famed for the exercise of that unnatural and 
 
 SORDID VICE. 
 
 "The SECRETARY AT WAR, WflO IS ttOW 
 
 here, informs me that you have ever been con- 
 sidered as entitled to full pay since your ab- 
 sence from the field, and that you will still be 
 considered in that light until the close of trie 
 war ; at which period you will be equally en- 
 titled to the same emoluments of half-pay or 
 commutation as other officers of your rank. 
 The same opinion is also given by the pay- 
 master-general, who is now with the army, 
 empowered by Mr. Morris for the settlement of 
 all their accounts, and who will attend to your's 
 whenever you shall think proper to send on
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 169 
 
 for the purpose, which it will probably be best 
 for you to do in a short time. 
 
 " I anticipate, with pleasure, the day, and 
 that, I trust, not far off, when I shall quit the 
 busy scenes of a military employment, and re- 
 tire to the more tranquil walks of domestic life. 
 In that, or whatever other situation Providence 
 may dispose of my future days, THE REMEM- 
 BRANCE OF THE MANY FRIENDSHIPS AND 
 CONNEXIONS I HAVE HAD THE HAPPINESS 
 TO CONTRACT WITH THE GENTLEMEN OF THE 
 ARMY, WILL BE -ONE OF MY MOST GRATEFUL 
 
 REFLECTIONS. Under this contemplation, and 
 impressed with the sentiments of benevolence 
 and regard. I commend you, my dear sir, my 
 other friends, and with them, the interests and 
 happiness of our dear country, to the KEEPING 
 
 AND PROTECTION OF ALMIGHTY GOD. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 "GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 " To the Hon. Maj. Gen. PUTNAM." 
 
 The remainder of the life of General Put- 
 nam was passed in quiet retirement with his 
 family. He experienced few interruptions in 
 his bodily health, (except the paralytic debility 
 with which he was afflicted,) retained full pos- 
 session of his mental faculties, and enjoyed the 
 society of his friends until the 17th of May, 
 1790, when he was violently attackeu with an 
 inflammatory disease.- Satisfied from the first 
 that it would prove mortal, he was calm and 
 8
 
 1 70 LIFE, ANECDOTES, AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 resigned, and welcomed the approach of death 
 with joy, as a messenger sent to call him from 
 a life of toil to everlasting rest. On the 19th 
 of May, 1 790, he ended a life which had been 
 spent in cultivating and defending the soil of 
 his birth. 
 
 Much of his life had been spent in arms, 
 and the military of the neighbourhood were 
 desirous that the rites of sepulture should be 
 accompanied with martial honours : they felt 
 that this last tribute of respect was due to a 
 soldier, who, from a patriotic love of country, 
 had devoted the best part of his life to the de- 
 fence of her rights, and the establishment of 
 her independence and who, through long and 
 trying services, was never once reproached for 
 misconduct as an officer ; but when disease 
 compelled him to retire from service, left it, be- 
 loved and respected by the army and his chief, 
 and with high claims to the grateful remem- 
 brance of his country. 
 
 Under these impressions, the grenadiers of 
 the llth regiment, the independent corps of 
 artillerists, and the militia companies in the 
 neighbourhood, assembled each at their ap- 
 pointed rendezvous, early on the morning of 
 the 21st, and having repaired to the late dwell- 
 ing Ijouse of the deceased, a suitable escort was 
 formed, attended by a procession of the masonic 
 brethren present, arid a large concourse of re- 
 spectable citizens, which moved to the congre- 
 gational meeting house in Brooklyn ; and, after
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 171 
 
 divine service performed by the Rev. Dr. Whit- 
 ney, all that was earthly of a patriot and hero 
 was laid in the silent tomb, under the discharge 
 of vollies from the infantry, and minute guns 
 from the artillery. 
 
 The following eulogium was pronounced at 
 
 the grave of General Putnam by Dr. A. 
 
 Waldo. 
 
 " Those venerable relics ! once delighted in 
 the endearing domestic virtues, which consti- 
 tute the excellent neighbour husband parent 
 and worthy brother ! liberal and substantial 
 in his friendship ; unsuspicious open and 
 generous ; just and sincere in dealing ; a be- 
 nevolent citizen of the world he concentrated 
 in his bosom, the noble qualities of an HONEST 
 MAN. 
 
 " Born a hero whom nature taught and 
 cherished in the lap of innumerable toils and 
 dangers, he was terrible in battle ! But, from 
 the amiableness of, his heart when carnage 
 ceased, his humanity spread over the field, like 
 the refreshing zephyrs of a summer's evening ! 
 -The prisoner the wounded the sick the 
 forlorn experienced the delicate sympathy of 
 this SOLDIER'S PILLOW the poor, and the 
 needy, of every description, received the chari- 
 table bounties of this CHRISTIAN SOLDIER. 
 
 " He pitied littleness loved goodness ad- 
 mired greatness, and ever aspired to its glori- 
 ous summit ! The friend, the servant, and
 
 172 LIFE, ANECDOTES^ AND HEROIC EXPLOITS 
 
 almost unparalleled lover of his country ; 
 worn with honourable age, and the former 
 toils of war PUTNAM ! ' Rests from his la- 
 bours.' 
 
 " Till mouldering worlds and tumbling systems burst ! 
 When the last trump shall renovate his dust 
 Still by the mandate of eternal truth, , 
 
 Hia soul will ' flourish in immortal youth !' 
 
 " This all who knew him know ; this all 
 who loved him, tell." 
 
 The late Rev. Dr. Dwight, President of Yale 
 College, who knew General Putnam inti- 
 mately, has portrayed his character faith- 
 fully in the follmomg inscription, which is 
 engraven on his tomb.
 
 OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTNAM. 173 
 
 Sacred be this Monument 
 to the memory 
 
 of 
 
 ISRAEL PUTNAM, ESQUIRE, 
 senior Major- General in the armies 
 
 of 
 the United States of America; 
 
 who 
 
 was born at Salem, 
 
 in the Province of Massachusetts, 
 
 on the 7th day of January, 
 
 A.D. 1718, 
 
 and died 
 
 on the 19th day of May, 
 
 A. D. 1790. 
 
 Passenger, 
 
 if thou art a Soldier, 
 
 drop a tear over the dust of a Hero 
 
 who, 
 
 ever attentive 
 to the lives and happiness of his men, 
 
 dared to lead 
 where any dared to follow; 
 
 if a Patriot, 
 remember the distinguished and gallant servicei 
 
 rendered thy country 
 
 by the Patriot who sleeps beneath this marble} 
 
 if thou art honest, generous, and worthy, 
 
 tender a cheerful tribute of respect 
 
 to a man, 
 
 whose generosity was singular, 
 whose honesty was proverbial j 
 
 who 
 
 raised himself to universal esteem, 
 
 and offices of eminent distinction, 
 
 by personal worth 
 
 and a 
 u -clu! lilft.
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 THROUGH inadvertence, an error has escaped 
 in the Title page, which is here corrected. 
 The main part is from the pen of Colonel Hum- 
 phreys ; but so far as General Putnam was con- 
 nected with the battle of Bunker Hill, the prin- 
 cipal portion is extracted from an " Historical 
 and Topographical Sketch of Bunker Hill Bat- 
 tle, by Samuel Swett." The Anecdotes are by 
 the same hand.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE important particulars in the life of Ge- 
 neral Putnam having been already narrated, 
 the remaining pages will be occupied by revo- 
 lutionary anecdotes, which tend to show the 
 body of the times, its form and pressure, " in 
 those days which literally tried men's souls." 
 The reader will require no unusual condiment 
 to give these a keen relish. 
 
 GENERAL WARD received from the general 
 Congress the appointment of first major-gene- 
 ral, and second in command of the American 
 army. On the arrival of General Washington 
 at Cambridge, he assumed the command of the 
 right wing at Roxbury, and his general dispo- 
 sition of the troops about Boston, was sanc- 
 tioned by the approbation of the Commander-in- 
 chief. From extreme ill health, he resigned 
 his commission in April, 1776 ; but notwith- 
 standing his resignation was accepted, at the 
 earnest request of Congress and General Wash- 
 ington, he continued in command, near Boston, 
 until the 20th of March, 1777. He was after- 
 wards a member of Congress under the old 
 M
 
 17t> APPENDIX. 
 
 confederation and present constitution, and 
 died in 1800, aged seventy-three. 
 
 The veteran General Pomeroy heard the 
 pealing artillery, which seemed to invite him to 
 battle ; he was a soldier too brave, and a patriot 
 too ardent, to resist a summons so agreeable. 
 He requested a horse of General Ward, to 
 carry him to the field ; delighted at an aid so 
 important, it was instantly supplied. With his 
 musket and cartridges, he repaired to the Neck ; 
 inquiring of a sentry posted there, and viewing 
 the ground and the tremendous fire across, he 
 was alarmed, not for himself, but for the horse 
 he had borrowed ; he delivered him to the sen- 
 try, and coolly marched across. He advanced 
 to the rail fence at the left. His approach gave 
 new confidence to the men ; they received him 
 with the highest exultation, and the name of 
 General Pomeroy rang through the line. In 
 early life he had been an ingenious mechanic, 
 and many a soldier was supplied with arms of 
 his manufacture. Had Yulcan himself supplied 
 the Grecians with his celestial armour, and ap- 
 peared in their ranks, they would not have been 
 more certain of victory. 
 
 General Pomeroy expressed his strong sense 
 of the blindness of fortune, that, of the two vo- 
 lunteer generals in the battle, Warren, the 
 young and chivalrous soldier, the eloquent arid 
 enlightened legislator, should fall, and he 
 escape, old and useless, unhurt. From age he 
 declined the honourable appointment of briga-
 
 APPENDIX. 177 
 
 dier-general of the United States army, and re- 
 tired from service. But, like the veteran war- 
 horse, when the echoes of his majestic Connec- . 
 ticut rang with the clarion of battle, he spurned 
 the peaceful retreat which his long life and 
 long services demanded. He preferred even a 
 regiment to inaction, and, as a colonel, marched 
 to join the kindred spirits who composed our 
 army in the Jerseys. His exposures produced 
 a pleurisy, which proved fatal at Peekskill, in 
 New- York, where 'his country owes him a 
 moriumentj and bravery and patriotism peren- 
 nial fame- 
 General Thomas was appointed first briga- 
 dier-general under the United States, in 1776 
 was appointed major-general, and on the death 
 of Montgomery, repaired to Canada, to com- 
 mand the American forces before Quebec. 
 Their situation was nearly desperate ; but he 
 was too adventurous to relinquish the enter- 
 prise without one attempt to secure the favours 
 of fortune. He endeavoured to burn the ene- 
 my's naval force before the city by a fire-ship, 
 intending to attack the place during the con- 
 flagration ; but the fire-ship miscarried, and 
 the general was compelled to order a retreat, 
 during which he died of the small pox at 
 Chamblee. 
 
 The veteran Colonel Joseph Frye, who had 
 served in the war of 1756, was at the siege of 
 Louisbourg, and taken prisoner in Fort Wil- 
 liam Henry, immediately after the battle the 
 8*
 
 178 APPENDIX. 
 
 21st June, was appointed major-general by the 
 Provincial Congress. He served some time in 
 the revolutionary war, and lived to a very 
 advanced age, at Fryeburgh, which received its 
 name from his family. 
 
 Colonel Gardner lived a few days after the 
 battle, and on being asked if he was well 
 enough to see his son ; " yes," answered the 
 hero, " if he has done his duty." Being in- 
 formed that he had distinguished himself, he 
 saw him, and died witli the glorious consolation 
 of leaving the invaluable legacy of his own 
 fame and his country's gratitude to a son wor- 
 thy to support the honours of his name. 
 
 The brave Knowlton, from the first moment 
 of the battle to the latest period of the retreat, 
 showed himself worthy the distinguished ho- 
 nour of being selected as the first among the 
 Connecticut captains. 
 
 He afterwards received the commission of 
 lieutenant-colonel, and at the battle of Haerlem 
 Heights, was sent by Washington to attack the 
 enemy's rear ; a bloody action ensued ; Knowl- 
 ton and his men fought the whole force of the 
 enemy, of vastly superior numbers, before the 
 Americans could attack in front, and got the 
 better of them. He restored by this gallant af- 
 fair a glorious moral force to the army nearly 
 extinguished by disasters; but it was at the 
 expense of many brave men in the unequal 
 contest ; his assistant officer, Major Leitch, was 
 slain, with three balls through him, and he
 
 APPENDIX. 179 
 
 himself reaped immortal honour and immortal 
 life together. 
 
 Washington paid due honours to his memory, 
 in general orders, and declared, " he had died 
 a glorious death, which every soldier ought to 
 wish for, and would have been an honour to 
 any country on earth." 
 
 ^The same indignation felt by Colonel Pres- 
 cott, at the loss of the battle, was general in the 
 army, and throughout the country; a scrutiny, 
 most severe and unrelenting, was instituted 
 into the conduct of every one, to bring condign 
 punishment on those whose misconduct had 
 caused the final issue. Even Colonel Bridge, 
 notwithstanding the severity of his labours, and 
 the dangerous and honourable wounds he re- 
 ceived, had to pass the ordeal of a court mar- 
 tial. 
 
 Notwithstanding this inquisitorial research, 
 we are happy to add, out of near three thou- 
 sand, who, at different stages of the battle, must 
 have been engaged in it, and most of them for 
 the first time, four only were discovered guilty 
 of misconduct. Of these, Major Gridley was 
 tried for neglect of duty, Brigadier-General 
 Green being president of the court, which "find 
 him guilty of breach of orders, and therefore 
 dismiss him from the Massachusetts service : 
 but on account of his inexperience and youth, 
 and the great confusion which attended that 
 day's transaction in general, they do not con- 
 sider him incapable of a Continental commis- 
 Q
 
 180 APPENDIX. 
 
 sion, should the general officers recommend 
 him to his Excellency." 
 
 Colonel Mansfield was obviously guilty of an 
 error, arising only from inexperience. Two 
 only were found guilty of cowardice ; of these 
 Colonel Gerrish was certainly guilty of a want 
 of military ardour and activity, but this was a 
 constitutional defect. He was not accused be- 
 fore the committee of Congress by General Put- 
 nam, and, in the opinion of the very respectable 
 judge advocate who tried him, he was far too 
 harshly treated. 
 
 The only officer apparently guilty of cow- 
 ardice, Captain Callender, is a glorious instance 
 of the buoyancy of real New England heroism, 
 and the redeeming efficacy of a pure conscience, 
 a mind conscious of rectitude. The furious de- 
 nunciation of Putnam, the condemnation of the 
 court, and thundering proscription of Washing- 
 ton , would have crushed any one for ever, who 
 was armed with a panoply less divine. 
 
 A committee of Congress was appointed to 
 inquire into the truth of a report, that some of- 
 ficers of the army had been guilty of miscon- 
 duct ; they report, that they had made inquiry 
 of General Putnam and other officers, who 
 were in the hottest of the battle, and that the 
 general charged Captain Callender and another 
 artillery officer, with infamous cowardice, one 
 of the principal causes of the defeat, and in- 
 formed them that he would quit the service if 
 these officers were not made an example of,
 
 APPENDIX. 181 
 
 and that one of them ought to be shot. The 
 court martial condemned Captain Callender, 
 and General Washington approved the judg- 
 ment, " not only from the particular guilt of 
 Captain Callender, but the fatal consequence of 
 such a conduct to the army, and to the cause 
 of America in general." 
 
 Notwithstanding this, our hero resolved to 
 compel the world to acknowledge, by his future 
 conduct, that his past had been mistaken. He 
 continued with his corps as a volunteer, and 
 desperately exposed himself in every action. 
 The brave and beneficent General Knox ex- 
 tended to him his friendship. 
 
 At the battle on Long Island, the captain and 
 lieutenant of the company of artillery, with 
 which he served, were shot; he assumed the 
 command, and fought the pieces to the last ; 
 refused to retreat, and the bayonets of the sol- 
 diers were just upon him, when a British offi- 
 cer, admiring his chivalrous and desperate 
 courage, interfered and saved his life. 
 
 General Washington expressed his high ap- 
 probation of his conduct, gave him his hand 
 with his most cordial thanks ; ordered the sen- 
 tence of the court martial condemning him, to 
 be 'erased from the orderly book, and restored to 
 him his commission. He held his commission 
 during the war, and left the service at the peace, 
 with the highest honour and reputation. 
 
 Captain Dearborn was afterwards highly 
 distinguished during the revolutionary war, for
 
 182 APPENDIX. 
 
 his bravery and enterprise. He volunteered at 
 the head of a company of men, selected from 
 the regiment to accompany Arnold in the win- 
 ter of 1775, through the trackless wilds, to 
 Quebec; an enterprise, which, in daring, hardi- 
 hood, and courage, is not surpassed by the im- 
 mortal passage of the Alps by Hannibal. He 
 was major of a battalion of light infantry, at 
 Saratoga, and his services were acknowledged 
 by Gates, in the highest terms of approbation. 
 Cilley's regiment, of which he was lieutenant- 
 colonel, was the most distinguished corps in 
 the battle of Monmouth, and the salvation of 
 the army was owing to their heroic courage. 
 General Washington acknowledged the ser- 
 vice, and sent to inquire what regiment it 
 was. " Full blooded yankees, by .... sir," 
 was the answer of Dearborn. He was after- 
 wards secretary at war, appointed by Mr. Jef- 
 ferson ; and during the last war was the first 
 major-general and senior officer of the Ameri- 
 can army. 
 
 Porter, the promising artillerist, who stood by 
 his piece and his captain to the last, has since 
 then risen through every grade of office to the 
 rank of brigadier-general in the army, to which 
 he has ever since belonged ; and has main- 
 tained an uniform and distinguished reputation 
 as one of the first artillery officers in service. 
 The important post of Norfolk was intrusted to 
 his command the last war, and he is now sta- 
 tioned at Boston, in command of the very dis-
 
 APPENDIX. 183 
 
 trict which he so bravely contributed to defend 
 in 1775. 
 
 Immediately after the battle of Bunker Hill, 
 the rank of major-general was conferred on 
 Colonel Gridley. 
 
 America commenced her revolution with but 
 four pieces of cannon, and to his mechanical 
 science and ingenuity she was indebted for the 
 first mortars and cannon ever cast in the coun- 
 try. 
 
 Alter being confined some months by his 
 wound, he repaired to Cambridge, and super- 
 intended the fortifications erecting round Bos- 
 ton. On the 4th March, 1776, he was again 
 engaged in erecting fortifications in the night, 
 and the address, science, and prodigies of la- 
 bour, displayed at Dorchester Heights, were 
 perhaps never exceeded, except on Breed's 
 Hill. These works expelled the enemy from 
 Boston. General Gridley fortified the heights 
 of this place and the islands in the harbour, 
 and General Washington urged him to accom- 
 pany the army, but his advanced age forbade. 
 He retired on half pay. In 1795 he assisted in 
 laying the corner stone of the state house, as he 
 had in 1775 to lay the corner stone of the state, 
 and lived in remarkable health to the age of 
 eighty-six, a model of courtliness, beneficence, 
 and hospitality, as well as all the high perfec- 
 tions of a soldier. 
 
 Colonel Stark will be recognised as the hero 
 of Bennington, but it is not BO generally known
 
 184 APPENDIX. 
 
 that he employed an ingenious and successful 
 expedient to strike a panic into the enemy, 
 and assist him in achieving his glorious victory. 
 He had one iron cannon, but neither powder 
 sufficient to employ it, nor balls ; he ordered an 
 officer, however, to charge it, who objected the 
 want of balls ; " no matter," said the colonel, 
 '' load it with blank cartridge, and let the dis- 
 charge be the signal for all the troops to rush 
 on the enemy." The Hessians were panic- 
 struck at the thundering report, his troops 
 rushed on with loud hurras, and the victory 
 was complete. 
 
 Honourable James Winthrop, and James 
 Swan, Esquire, accompanied the re-enforcements 
 to Breed's Hill, with their muskets, as volun- 
 teers ; fought valiantly, and the former was 
 wounded. 
 
 But five days after the battle of Bunker Hill, 
 General Ward writes Congress, that, unless en- 
 listing orders be immediately furnished him, 
 he shall be left entirely alone. The day before, 
 however, that body resolved, that an army of 
 thirty thousand was necessary, that Massachu- 
 setts would raise thirteen thousand six hun- 
 dred, and that the other New England states 
 should have notice given them, and be re- 
 quested to furnish their respective proportions. 
 But the battle of Lexington was a beacon fire 
 to the neighbouring states. The hardy yeo- 
 men, whom rage supplied with arms, did not 
 wait to be summoned by the tardy process of
 
 APPKNDIX. 18& 
 
 legislation ; they seized their hunting pieces, 
 and flew to join their brethren at the scene of 
 danger. 
 
 The Committee of Safety, elected anew by 
 Congress at every session, were the real execu- 
 tive of Massachusetts. The members were 
 now John Hancock and Benjamin Greenleaf, 
 who never took their seats, John Pigeon and 
 Enoch Freeman, seldom present, and Joseph 
 Warren, chairman, Benjamin Church, Benja- 
 min White, Joseph Palmer, Abraham Watson, 
 Samuel Holten, Azor Orne, Nathan Gushing, 
 and Richard Devens. They were empowered 
 generally to watch over the safety of the com- 
 monwealth, and advise Congress of such mea- 
 sures as they thought beneficial ; and expressly 
 commissioned : 
 
 " To assemble such and so many of the mi- 
 litia, and them to dispose and place where and 
 "detain so long as said committee shall judge 
 necessary, and discharge said militia when the 
 safety of the colony will admit. And the offi- 
 cers of the said militia are enjoined to obey the 
 orders and directions of said Committee of Safe- 
 ty. And also to direct the army of this colony 
 to be stationed where said Committee of Safety 
 shall judge most conducive to the defence and 
 service of this colony; and the general and 
 other officers of the army are requested to render 
 strict obedience to such orders of said commit- 
 tee ; but Congress have power to control any 
 order of the Committee of Safety. Also to norm-
 
 186 APPENDIX. 
 
 nate persons to Congress to be commissioned of- 
 ficers in the army, and to give enlisting orders 
 to such persons as they think proper. And if any 
 officers be ready to be commissioned agreeable 
 to the resolve of this Congress, during: the re- 
 cess of the same, the Committee shall fill up 
 and deliver to them commissions to be furnished 
 said Committee in blank for that purpose." 
 
 This committee distributed beating or enlist- 
 ing orders throughout the state to those whom 
 they thought qualified to raise recruits. The 
 number of a company was reduced from one 
 hundred to fifty-nine ; and he who could enlist 
 this number was entitled to a -captain's com- 
 mission, and one who procured ten captains 
 with companies to serve under him commanded 
 the regiment. The Congress of Massachusetts 
 issued an eloquent address to the people, which 
 would do honour to any legislature on earth. 
 The recruits came in with spirit, and by the 
 middle of June the New England army of citi- 
 zen soldiers enlisted for a few months amounted 
 to about fifteen thousand troops. 
 
 About ten thousand of these were of Massa- 
 chusetts; animated with the same love of liberty 
 which inspired the whole, they were most con- 
 fident in the rectitude of their cause, in which 
 they were thoroughly instructed by James Otis, 
 who led the forlorn hope of the revolution, 
 John Adams, Quincy, Hancock, Samuel Adams, 
 and other enlightened patriots. And they were 
 fighting battles more peculiarly their own, in
 
 APPENDIX. 187 
 
 defence of their wives, children, and homes. 
 But the more animating consideration to them 
 as soldiers, was the chivalrous reputation of 
 their ancestors and themselves, who had been 
 in constant battle and constant victory against 
 their formidable savage foe, and had more re- 
 cently proved at Nova Scotia and Louisburgh 
 that they were equally formidable against the 
 civilized troops of Europe. 
 
 The regiment of artillery was organized un- 
 der Colonel Richard Gridley, Lieutenant-Co- 
 lonel William Burbeck, Majors David Mason 
 and Scarborough Gridley, and ten captains, 
 with one six, two brass four, and six iron three 
 pound cannon. 
 
 Rhode Island had sent a regiment to Massa- 
 chusetts, imbued with the determined spirit ot 
 civil and religious liberty, which the founder 
 of their state maintained through every peril. 
 Colonel Green was their commander, one of the 
 most promising heroes of the revolution. The 
 elements of a soldier were so mixed in him, 
 that the wise already foresaw his elevated rank 
 among warriors the most distinguished. Under 
 him were Lieutenant-Colonel Olny and Major 
 Boxan, experienced English soldiers. Two 
 field pieces were attached to the corps. 
 
 The hardy yeomanry of New Hampshire, 
 beneath whose ponderous strokes the formida- 
 ble forests, and the savages who inhabited them, 
 had been levelled with the ground, who had 
 been used to little control but what the God
 
 188 APPENDIX. 
 
 of Nature imposed, were moved with indigna- 
 tion at approaching tyranny. They flocked as 
 volunteers to the neighbourhood of Boston, and 
 chose Colonel Stark, Lieutenant-Colonel Wy- 
 man, and Major M'Clary, their leaders. 
 
 Their colonel was worthy to command this 
 formidable band ; he had been a distinguished 
 captain of Provincial Rangers received into 
 the service of the crown ; was at Quebec, un- 
 der General Wolfe, and enjoyed half pay, as a 
 British officer, an offering he made wi]h other 
 sacrifices, for the good of his country. 
 
 Their major also was a favourite officer. 
 Six feet and a half in height, with a Herculean 
 form in perfect proportions, a voice like Sten- 
 tor, and strength of Ajax ; ever unequalled in 
 athletic exercises, and unsubdued in single 
 combat ; whole bodies of men had been over 
 come by him ; arid he seemed totally uncon- 
 scious that he was not equally unconquerable 
 at the cannon's mouth. His mind and charac- 
 ter were of the same grand and energetic cast 
 with his person ; and though deficient in the 
 advantages of finished education, he had been 
 a member of the state legislature, and his mer- 
 cantile concerns were extensive. 
 
 These troops were followed by another regi- 
 ment from New Hampshire, which arrived on 
 the fifteenth of June, under Colonel Reed, 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Oilman, and Major Hale. 
 
 Connecticut, essentially and undeviatingly 
 republican, was behind none of the provinces
 
 APPENDIX. 189 
 
 in her determined hostility to the usurpation 
 and encroachments of the throne. To her 
 antipathy to royalty the proscribed judges of 
 Charles the First had owed their inviolable 
 asylum in her territory. Religious as well as 
 civil liberty was in jeopardy, and the former 
 with her was paramount to all earthly consider- 
 ations. In her vocabulary the British troops 
 were the Philistines, and Putnam, the American 
 Samson, a chosen instrument to defeat the foe; 
 and fortunately she inspired her own confi- 
 dence into all her sister states. 
 
 With their usual sagacity, however, these 
 troops, notwithstanding a confident reliance on 
 supernatural aid, did hot neglect all human 
 means to secure it. Their state government, 
 constitution, and establishments, continued un- 
 changed. Their troops were better armed, bet- 
 ter disciplined and provisioned, than any troops 
 in the New England army. 
 
 General Ward was a gentleman of liberal 
 education, vigorous understanding, and distin- 
 guished probity. He had been a member of 
 the council, speaker of the assembly, and chief 
 justice of one of the courts in Massachusetts. 
 He professed the rigid tenets of New England 
 religion, and his rank and character command- 
 ed an extensive influence in the country. He 
 had also served with reputation in the war of 
 1756, was a lieutenant-colonel at the storming 
 of Ticonderoga, under General Abercrombie, 
 and soon after commanded the regiment. He
 
 190 APPENDIX. 
 
 had also been a colonel in the militia, an office 
 from which Governor Hutchinson relieved him 
 on account of his being too true a patriot. 
 
 General Thomas received the appointment of 
 lieutenant-general, which he accepted on the 
 the 27th of May. His superior talents, culti- 
 vated by a liberal education, his gallantry, ac- 
 tivity, and vigilance as a soldier, purity as a 
 patriot, and honour as a man, commanded the 
 entire confidence of all who knew him. He 
 had served in the former war with reputation, 
 and had already distinguished himself in this. 
 Being in command at Roxbury, with a feeble 
 force, General Gage nad deter mined to drive 
 him fro;n ^tat important post. But his vigi- 
 'mce delected the design, and defeated it. 
 
 n the uay nxed for the attack, all his troops 
 were paraded, marching them round the hill 
 on which he was encamped, in view of Boston, 
 and returning those in front by a short rout 
 again to the rear, they wore the appearance of 
 a long column of troops. Being without uni- 
 lurm, the deception was perfect, and General 
 Gage, alarmed with the show of force, relin- 
 quished the enterprise.
 
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