Israel Putnam
Distinguished Revolutionary Officer.
General Israel Putnam, who excelled both in war and peace, will ever live
in the history of this nation, and his memory is especially dear to the
people of Connecticut, where his active life was passed.
From a multitude of New England ancestors he inherited those qualities which
made him preeminent, qualities which made the New Englander preeminent in
the settlement and development of the United States, qualities which have
established everywhere the school, the church and the printing press, the
leading instruments in the progress of civilization.
The ancestry of the American family of Putnam has been traced to a very
remote period in England, the first being Simon de'Puttenham, who lived
in 1199 and was probably a lineal descendant of Roger, the manor of Puttenham
under Bishop of Baieux. The parish of Puttenham is in Hertfordshire, close
to the border of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
The first American ancestor, John Putnam, of the seventeenth generation
was baptized at Wingrove, County Bucks, January 17, 1579. He was an early
settler at Salem, Massachusetts, and in that vicinity the family has been
conspicuous down to the present day.
His son, Lieutenant Thomas Putnam, baptized in England, 1615, resided in
Salem Village, now Danvers, and was father of Joseph Putnam, born there.
The sound sense of the latter is indicated by his opposition to the witchcraft
trials of Salem. This was a source of peril to him, and for six months one
of his fleetest horses was kept saddled, ready at a moment's notice to bear
him from the wrath of his contemporaries. He married Elizabeth Porter, and
Israel Putnam was their fourth son, born January 7, 1718, in Danvers. He
died after an illness of two days in Brooklyn, Connecticut; May 29, 1790.
The house in which he was born was built by his grandfather, and is still
standing.
Israel Putnam had a rather meager education in the common schools of his
native town, and he was very early accustomed to the arduous labors of the
farm. When he attained his majority, a portion of the paternal farm was
set off to him, and on it he built a small house, but soon after removed
to Pomfret, Connecticut, where, in association with his brother-in-law,
John Pope, he purchased a tract of five hundred acres of land. He became
sole owner of this in 1741, and there he built as his second residence,
a large frame house, which is still standing, and one of the points of interest
to all tourists and patriotic Americans. This was in the district known
as Mortlake Manor, which was incorporated as the town of Brooklyn in 1786.
He cleared his farm of the native forest and planted fine orchards; the
great shade trees of Brooklyn were planted largely through his initiative
and influence. He was not only a thrifty and prosperous farmer, but from
first to last an earnest and helpful friend of the town and colony in which
he lived. The story of his killing of the wolf which had annoyed the neighborhood
is well known to every schoolboy, and the cave into which he crawled on
his hands and knees to shoot the wolf is sought by many visitors.
His military career began in the French and Indian War. He was commissioned
captain in Colonel Lyman's regiment of General Johnson's command, and participated
in the engagements at Fort Edward and Lake George in 1755. In the campaign
of the following year he again served with distinction in the same regiment.
At Fort Edward, in 1757, he was commissioned major, and in the following
year he and Major Rogers, the famous ranger, were taken prisoners. He was
tied to a tree and a fire lighted at his feet, but before it had inflicted
any serious injury upon the intended victim, he was released by the timely
arrival of a chief of the tribe whom he had previously treated with kindness
while a prisoner. The wounds inflicted upon him during the torture before
the burning left scars that time never erased. He was taken to Montreal,
suffering further indignities and torture on the way, and was relieved through
the intercession of General Peter Schuyler, who was also a prisoner. Major
Putnam was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1759, and served that year
under General Amherst at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and in the following
year in the expedition against Montreal, which capitulated without resistance.
He commanded a regiment in the West Indies afterward, and in 1764 under
Colonel Bradstreet marched against the Indians with a Connecticut regiment
to Detroit. Before the close of that year he returned to the farm, and for
a period of years following this, his spacious dwelling served as an inn.
He was honored with various civil offices of trust and responsibility, served
on important committees, and was often moderator; was thrice selectman of
Pomfret, and served as deputy to the General Assembly. In the winter of
1772-73, he went with General Lyman and others to examine a tract of land
on the Mississippi river, near Natchez, given by the British government
to the soldiers who fought in the West Indies. A diary kept by him on this
trip, during which he visited Jamaica and the harbor of Pensacola, has been
preserved.
In the trying days before the Revolution, Colonel Putnam was among the most
active in resisting the obnoxious measures of the home government. In 1774
an exaggerated rumor concerning depredations of the British in the neighborhood
of Boston came to the ears of Putnam, and he immediately addressed the citizens
of his State and aroused a determination to avenge the impositions. Thousands
were recruited and immediately started for Massachusetts, but it was learned
that the rumor had little foundation and they returned. The news of the
battle of Lexington reached Pomfret April 20, 1775, the day succeeding the
engagement. With his sixteen-year-old son, Daniel, Putnam was engaged in
plowing when the news arrived. The son afterward wrote: "He loitered
not, but left me, the driver of his team, to unyoke it in the furrow, and
not many days after to follow him to camp." On the afternoon of April
20, Putnam was on his way on horseback, and arrived in Cambridge on the
following morning. On that day he wrote at Concord a report of the situation
to Colonel Ebenezer Williams, calling for six thousand troops from his State,
and he soon returned to recruit and organize this force. The provincial
congress of Connecticut appointed him brigadier-general, and in one week
he was again on his way to the scene of action. During the temporary absence
of General Ward, he served some time as commander-in-chief. and on another
occasion led a force of twenty-two hundred men from Massachusetts and New
Hampshire on a reconnaissance to Charlestown. He commanded a party of provincials
sent to Chelsea on May 27, 1775, and captured a British schooner, which
attacked his force, with American loss of one killed and four wounded, while
of the British force twenty were killed and fifty wounded. With Dr. Joseph
Warren, Putnam represented the Americans in an exchange of prisoners on
June 6, and on the 19th of that month, the Continental Congress raised him
to the rank of major-general. This was two days after the battle of Bunker
Hill, but the news had not yet reached the Congress. General Putnam was
the officer in command at the battle of Bunker Hill, whose story is so well
known to every patriotic American. General Putnam's commission was brought
by Washington, when he came to Cambridge to take command, and by him Putnam
was given command of the centre at Cambridge. When Boston was evacuated,
Putnam's command was sent to New York, and he took part in the battle of
Long Island After the retreat, Washington assigned Putnam to the command
of the city of New York, north of Fifteenth street, and he participated
in the battles of Harlem Heights and White Plains, taking a prominent part.
In 1777 he commanded at Philadelphia, and was later stationed on the Hudson
river. In 1778 he was at West Point, and in the following winter was posted
at Danbury, Connecticut, with three brigades. In this region he made his
famous dash on horseback down a precipice to escape capture by a superior
force of the British under General Tryon. In the campaign of 1779, General
Putnam was active and superintended the completion of the defenses at West
Point. During the following winter he visited his family, and on his return
to the front he suffered a stroke of paralysis, which closed his military
career. Though he lived ten years afterward, and witnessed the birth of
the new nation, he was never able to return to the army. He was buried with
military and Masonic honors, and his epitaph written by Rev. Dr. Timothy
Dwight, president of Yale College, says: "He dared to lead where any
dared to follow," and "his generosity was singular and his honesty
was proverbial. * * ~ He raised himself to universal esteem and offices
of eminent distinction by personal worth and a useful life." He is
described in person as of middle height, "very erect, muscular and
firm in body. His countenance was open, strong and animated; the features
of his face large, well-proportioned to each other and to his whole frame;
his teeth fair and sound till death. His hearing was quick, his sight strong
and of long range. Though facetious and dispassionate in private, when animated
in the heat of battle his countenance was fierce and terrible, and his voice
like thunder. His whole manner was admirably adapted to inspire his soldiers
with courage and confidence, and his enemies with terror. The faculties
of his mind were not inferior to those of his body; his penetration was
acute; decision rapid, yet remarkably correct; and the more desperate the
situation the more collected and undaunted. With the courage of a lion,
he had a heart that melted at the sight of distress; he could never witness
suffering in any human being without becoming a sufferer himself. Martial
music roused him to the highest pitch, while solemn, sacred music rent him
into tears. In his disposition he was open and generous almost to a fault,
and in his social relations he was never excelled."
He married (first) at Danvers, July 19, 1739, Hannah Pope, who died September
6, 1765, and (second) June 3, 1767, Mrs. Deborah (Lothrop) Gardner, daughter
of Samuel Lothrop, of Norwich. She died at his headquarters on the Hudson
in 1777. The first wife was the mother of ten children. He died May 29,
1790.
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