"OLD PUT"

THE PATRIOT

BY

FREDERICK A. OBER

AUTHOR OF CRUSOE'S ISLAND, THE STORIED WEST INDIES, PUERTO RICO AND ITSRESOURCES, ETC. 

_ILLUSTRATED_

NEW YORKD. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1904

Copyright, 1904, byD. APPLETON AND COMPANY

_Published, September, 1904_

CONTENTSCHAPTER PAGE

 I. --Birthplace and Youth 1

 II. --"Old Wolf Putnam" 11

 III. --First Taste of War 25

 IV. --A Partizan Fighter 39

 V. --The Adventurous Soldier 53

 VI. --Fighting on the Frontier 65

 VII. --Strategy and Woodcraft 79

 VIII. --A Prisoner and in Peril 92

 IX. --A Campaign in Cuba 106

 X. --Tavern-Keeper and Oracle 120

 XI. --On the Side of His Country 134

 XII. --At the Battle of Bunker Hill 150

 XIII. --Holding the Enemy at Bay 171

 XIV. --In Command at New York 184

 XV. --Washington's Chief Reliance 198

 XVI. --Defending the Hudson Highlands 212

 XVII. --Last Years in the Service 226

XVIII. --The Disabled Veteran 243

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

 FACING PAGE

"Old Put" escaping from the British at Horseneck _Frontispiece_

The Wolf Den at Pomfret, Connecticut 18

Fort near Havana where the Colonials landed 112

Israel Putnam 188 _From a painting by Trumbull. _

Statue to General Putnam at Brooklyn, Connecticut 254

"OLD PUT, " THE PATRIOT

CHAPTER I

BIRTHPLACE AND YOUTH

This is the life story of one who was born on a farm, and died on afarm, yet who achieved a world-wide fame through his military exploits. It has been told many times, it will be told for centuries yet to come;for the world loves a man of high emprise, and such was Israel Putnam, the hero of this story. 

He was born January 7, 1718, in Danvers, then known as Salem Village, Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England. His father's Christianname was Joseph, his mother's Elizabeth, and Israel (as he was called atbaptism, after his maternal grandfather, Israel Porter) was thegreat-grandson of his first American ancestor, John Putnam, who hadcome from England, where the original name of the family was Puttenham. He had settled at Salem more than eighty years before, and his son, Thomas, built, in 1648, the house in which Israel was born in 1718. Onthe death of Thomas it had become the property of Joseph, who firstoccupied it in 1690, after his marriage to Elizabeth Porter. 

Here the young couple passed through the perilous "witchcraft times, "during the worst period of which, in 1692 (it is a tradition in thefamily), Joseph Putnam kept a loaded musket at his bedside every nightand his swiftest horse saddled in the stable, ready for a fight or aflight in case the witch-hunters should come to carry him off to jail. They had accused his sister, who saved her life only by fleeing to thewilderness and remaining in hiding until the insane furor was over. Heand his wife survived that gloomy period, and in the ancestral homesteadlived happily for more than thirty years, raising a "baker's dozen" ofchildren, of whom Israel was the eleventh. 

On both the maternal and paternal side Israel Putnam was descended froma line of sturdy, prosperous farmers. The grandfather whose name he borehad married a daughter of William Hathorne, who came from England andsettled in Salem about the year 1630, and who was an ancestor of thefamous romancist Nathaniel Hawthorne. John Hathorne, son of William, wasa military man and a magistrate. He presided at the infamous witchcrafttrials in Salem, and, like the near relatives of Joseph Putnam, lookedwith severe disfavor upon any one who showed sympathy for the persecutedwitches. 

Joseph Putnam died in 1723, leaving his widow with eleven survivingchildren, nine older than Israel, who was then but five years of age, and one, little Mehitable, only three. Several of the older childrenwere already married, and when, in 1727, Mrs. Putnam took a secondhusband, one Captain Thomas Perley, of Boxford, only the younger membersof her family went with her to live in the new home. There Israelresided until he was about eighteen, and Boxford being only a few milesdistant from his birthplace, in the same county (Essex), he madefrequent visits to the old farm, to which he finally returned as partowner before he attained his majority. 

Numerous anecdotes are still related of him in Danvers, all tending toillustrate the early development of those high qualities for which inafter-life he became conspicuous. Courage, enterprise, activity, andperseverance, says his original biographer, were the firstcharacteristics of his mind. His disposition was frank and generous, ashis mind was fearless and independent. From his earliest years hecraved, and was always in pursuit of, some daring adventure, yet he wasthe most sober and apparently contented youth in the village, lovinghard work, even seeking to perform a man's task at daily labor, whileyet a mere stripling. Brought up mainly on the farm, spending his daysin severe labor and his nights in sweet slumber, he became the peer ofall his companions in athletic feats involving strength and skill. Hecould "pitch the bar, " run, leap, wrestle with the best of them, andmore than held his own with the most doughty champion. But he neverboasted of his strength, nor sought occasions to display his skill, being content with their mere possession. 

His sense of fairness and self-respect, however, would not allow him tobecome the butt of other people's ridicule, and when the need arose forputting forth his energies in a good cause, he held nothing in reserve. Such an occasion occurred the first time he paid a visit to Boston, themetropolis of his State. He was roaming about in rustic fashion, when heattracted the attention of a youth twice his size, who began to "makefun" of him. Young Putnam bore the insult as long as he could, then he"challenged, engaged, and vanquished his unmannerly antagonist, to thegreat diversion of a crowd of spectators. "

There were very few diversions for the youth of Putnam's time, so longago; but the boys, like those of modern times, indulged inbird's-nesting now and then. Climbing to a tree top one day, in hisendeavor to secure a nest, "Young Put" had a fall, owing to a branchbreaking in his hands. He was caught by a lower limb, however, and therehe hung, suspended by his clothes betwixt heaven and earth. His criesattracted some companions, one of whom he commanded (as he had a gun) tofire a bullet at the limb and try to break it. This the boy did, aftermuch coaxing on Putnam's part, and was so successful that his friendcame tumbling to the ground. He was bruised and lamed, but no bones werebroken; and the very next day the intrepid boy climbed up to the nestagain, and this time secured it. That was the "way with 'Old Put, '" theman who in later years succeeded "Young Put" the youth. His motto was:"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. "

He always tried, and with his utmost endeavor, to accomplish the taskthat faced him at the time. What is more, he generally succeeded; andthat is the chief reason why he is considered worthy a biography. Thereare few men, perhaps, who did so many things worthy of emulation, and sofew unworthy. Dangerously near the latter, however, was one act of hisyouth, when he caught a vicious bull in a pasture, and, having mountedastride the animal's back, with spurs on his heels, rode the furiouscreature around the field until it finally fell from exhaustion, afterseeking refuge in a swamp. 

Young Putnam's education, as may have been inferred already, wasobtained mostly in the woods and open fields. While he possessed greatmental endowments, as afterward displayed in his career, yet his earlyeducation was grossly neglected, in the school and college sense. Havingmastered the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic, he wasconsidered well equipped for his destined calling, which was to be thatof a farmer. Throughout his whole life he suffered from this neglect ofearly instruction. His letters, particularly, though they always"displayed the goodness of his heart, and frequently the strength of hisnative genius, with a certain laconic mode of expression, and anunaffected epigrammatic turn, " were "fearfully and wonderfully made, "the despair of his correspondents and the ridicule of his enemies. 

It is doubtful if he had any greater ambition than to become a goodfarmer, as good as was his father before him, and like him, attain to acompetency. He was already fairly well to do the year he became of age, for his father, after providing generously for the other children, hadbequeathed to him and his brother David the homestead, house and farmattached. His mother was to have a home there so long as she desired;but on her second marriage she relinquished her claim upon thehomestead, and the two brothers shared it between them. Israel'sportion was set off in 1738, and the next year he built a home in aremote corner of the farm, but within sight of the house and room inwhich he was born. For, after the fashion of those primitive times, whenearly matrimony was encouraged, young Israel had been "courting" alovely girl, the daughter of a neighbor, who lived about four milesdistant from the home farm, near the boundary-line between Salem andLynn. Hannah Pope was her name, and she also was descended from one ofthe first families of Salem Village. Being a sensible girl, she acceptedIsrael Putnam as soon as he proposed, and the 19th of July, 1739, theywere married, when he was twenty-one years of age and she only eighteen. Taking his young wife to the little house he had built with his ownhands on the farm, there Israel Putnam and Hannah, his wife, began theirmarried life. The next year a son was born to them, the first of tenchildren who blessed their union, and he was called Israel. 

The house in which the first Israel Putnam was born, an old colonial, gambrel-roofed structure, still stands where it was erected by hisgrandfather in 1648, near the foot of Hathorne Hill, in Danvers, on theturn-pike road half-way between Boston and Newburyport. It contains manyrelics of Putnam's time, but the most interesting portion of the houseitself is the little back chamber, with its one window looking out overthe farmyard, where the infant Israel first saw the light. 

Of the house which he himself built, on a distant knoll of the homefarm, nothing now remains but the cellar and foundation stones, nearwhich is the well he dug, now choked with rubbish and overgrown withbrambles. 

CHAPTER II

"OLD WOLF PUTNAM"

Judging from the stability of his position in Danvers, it would seemthat young Farmer Putnam was established for life. He had land enough tosatisfy any ordinary cultivator of that period, and a comfortable housein which dwelt with him wife and child, to cheer him by their presence. But the future patriot felt within him an ardent thirst for adventure. He longed for a wider field, and though to all appearances firmly rootedin the soil of Salem Village, he was already thinking of transplantinghimself and family into that of another region. Hardly, in fact, had hesettled in the home he had made than he began preparations for removalto what was then considered a comparatively wild section of New England. 

In the old homestead at Danvers is still preserved the quit-claim deedsigned by Israel Putnam, "of Salem in the County of Essex and Provinceof Massachusetts Bay in New England, husbandman, " which records thetransfer by him to his brother David of his share in the ancestral houseand acres. 

In the local history of the town of Brooklyn, Conn. , occurs thispassage: "In the year 1703, Richard Ames purchased 3, 000 acres of landlying in the south part of Pomfret, where the village of Brooklyn nowstands, which he divided into five lots and deeded to his sons. Directlynorth of this was situated a tract of land owned by Mr. John Blackwell, comprising 5, 750 acres, which was willed to his son John, and afterwardsold to Governor Belcher of Massachusetts, who divided it into farms andsold them to different individuals, among whom was General IsraelPutnam. This tract went by the name of 'Mortlake. ' A beautiful streamwhich rises in the western part of the tract, and received its name fromthe former proprietor, Blackwell, empties into the Quinnebaug. "

These several transactions in real estate, taken together, willsufficiently explain to the reader, perhaps, the subsequent movements ofFarmer Putnam. After disposing of property to his brother David, andreceiving therefor the goodly sum of £1, 900, Israel Putnam joined withhis brother-in-law, Joseph Pope, in the purchase of more than fivehundred acres of land from Governor Belcher, for which they agreed topay at the rate of five pounds per acre. They paid for it partly in"bills of credit on the Province of Massachusetts, " and gave a mortgagefor the remainder. And so fertile was this wild land, and so thrifty wasthe young pioneer farmer Israel Putnam, that within little more than twoyears he had liquidated the mortgage and received a quit-claim deed fromthe Governor, as well as purchased his brother-in-law's portion of thetract they had bought together. 

The two pioneers may have made a special trip to the Connecticut tractbefore deciding to purchase; for it was not in the nature of them to"buy a pig in a poke, " as it were. And such a journey of nearly ahundred miles, mainly through a wilderness, was no child's task in thosedays. In after-years General Israel Putnam made many a longer journey, through wilds swarming with hostile Indians, too, and thought nothing ofit; but this was the first of any account that he took very far awayfrom home. 

What the young wife thought when the enthusiastic adventurer came backwith his story was never recorded. Neither, for that matter, was thetale he told her, as well as his friends and neighbors, many of whom, doubtless, would fain have dissuaded him from making what they viewed asa rash and risky move. Details of Putnam's life at this period of hiscareer are lacking; but there stand the records, with their statement offacts. They can not be gainsaid. The very fact that he, a prosperousfarmer, even then well off as to this world's goods, should make theadventure--the first of his family in America to abandon the home acresand seek others in the wilderness--is sufficient to attest his energyand ambition. 

Sometime in the latter part of the year 1740 the young husband oftwenty-two, with a wife under twenty and a babe only a few months old, set out to make his fortune in the rough country adjacent to his nativeState. Many of his race and family have since become pioneers in variousparts of the world, and this country owes them much for blazing out theway in which others might follow; but young Israel Putnam was the firstof them--the pioneer of pioneers, in the great American movement. 

A second time he set himself to the building of a house and theestablishing of a home, and as he found much of the material ready athand--stone for foundations and timber for the building--it was not longbefore the farmer and his family had another roof-tree of their ownabove their heads. This structure has gone the way of the first, andlong since disappeared, traces of the cellar and foundations only beingvisible; but the large dwelling-house which he later built, and in whichhe died, still stands at a little distance away. After clearing aportion of the land, and working the stones with which it wasplentifully bestrewed into dividing walls, he planted an apple-orchard, sowed grain of various sorts, and increased as rapidly as possible hisflocks and herds of live stock. His chief, perhaps his only, assistantin these earlier labors was a negro servant, who figures, though notgreatly to his credit, in the narration of an adventure in which hismaster took part, about two years after his arrival in Connecticut. This, of course, is that famous encounter with the wolf, which has sincebecome part and parcel not only of local tradition, but of Americanhistory. As many generations have been familiar with this story asrelated in story-books and primers, particularly during the early partof the nineteenth century, it will now be told in the language of acontemporary, Colonel David Humphrey, who was an aide-de-camp toGeneral Putnam, and also to General Washington, during the RevolutionaryWar, and who wrote the first and best biography of our hero, which waspublished in his lifetime. "The first years on a new farm are not exemptfrom disasters and disappointments, which can only be remedied bystubborn and patient industry. Our farmer, sufficiently occupied inbuilding an house and barn, felling woods, making fences, sowing grain, planting orchards, and taking care of his stock, had to encounter inturn the calamities occasioned by drought in summer, blast in harvest, loss of cattle in winter, and the desolation of his sheepfold by wolves. In one night he had seventy fine sheep and goats killed, besides manylambs and kids wounded. This havoc was committed by a she-wolf, which, with her annual whelps, had for several years infested the vicinity. Theyoung were commonly destroyed by the vigilance of the hunters, but theold one was too sagacious to come within reach of gunshot. Upon beingclosely pursued she would generally fly to the western woods, and returnthe next winter with another litter of whelps. This wolf at lengthbecame such an intolerable nuisance that Farmer Putnam entered into acombination with five of his neighbors to hunt alternately until theycould destroy her. Two by rotation were to be constantly in pursuit. Itwas known that, having lost the toes from one foot by a steel trap, shemade one track shorter than the other, and by this vestige the pursuers, in a light snow, recognized and followed the trail of this perniciousanimal. Having followed her to the Connecticut River and found she hadturned back toward Pomfret, they immediately returned, and by teno'clock the next morning their bloodhounds had driven her into a den, about three miles distant from the house of Mr. Putnam. The people sooncollected, with dogs, guns, straw, fire, and sulphur, to attack thecommon enemy, and made several unsuccessful efforts to force her fromthe den. 

[Illustration: The Wolf Den at Pomfret, Connecticut. ]

"Wearied with the fruitless attempts (which had brought the time toten o'clock at night), Mr. Putnam tried once more to make his dog enter, but in vain. Then he proposed to his negro man to go down into thecavern and shoot the wolf; but he declined the hazardous service. Thenit was that the master resolved himself to destroy the ferocious beast, lest she should escape through some unknown fissure of the rock. Hisneighbors strongly remonstrated against the perilous enterprise; but he, knowing that wild animals were intimidated by fire, and having providedseveral strips of birch-bark, the only combustible material he couldobtain that would afford light in this deep and darksome cave, preparedfor his descent. Having accordingly divested himself of his coat andwaistcoat, and having a long rope fastened about his legs, by which hemight 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 eastside of a very high ledge of rocks, is about two feet square; fromthence it descends obliquely fifteen feet, then running horizontallyabout ten more, it ascends gradually sixteen feet to its termination. The sides of this subterraneous cavity are composed of smooth and solidrocks, as also are the top and bottom, and the entrance in winter, beingcovered with ice, is exceedingly slippery. It is in no place high enoughfor a man to raise himself upright, nor in any part more than three feetin width. 

"Having groped his passage to the horizontal part of the den, he foundit dark and silent as the house of death. He, cautiously proceedingonward, came to the ascent, which he slowly mounted on his hands andknees until he discovered the glaring eyeballs of the wolf, who wascrouching at the extremity of the cavern. Startled by the sight of fire, she gnashed her teeth and gave a sullen growl. Having made the necessarydiscovery (that the wolf was in the den), Putnam kicked at the rope, asa signal for pulling him out. The people at the mouth of the den, whohad listened with painful anxiety, hearing the growling of the wolf, andsupposing their friend to be in the most imminent danger, drew him forthwith such celerity that his shirt was stripped over his head and hisskin severely lacerated. 

"After adjusting his clothes, and loading his gun with nine buckshot, holding a torch in one hand and the musket in the other, he descendedthe second time. He drew nearer than before, and the wolf, assuming astill more fierce and terrible appearance, growling, rolling her eyes, snapping her teeth, and dropping her head between her legs, wasevidently on the point of springing at him. At this critical instant heleveled his gun and fired at her head. Stunned with the shock andsuffocated with the smoke, he immediately found himself drawn out of thecave. But, having refreshed himself, and permitted the smoke todissipate, he went down the third time. Once more he came within sightof the wolf, who appearing very passive, he applied the torch to hernose, and perceiving her dead, he took hold of her ears, and thenkicking the rope (still tied round his legs), the people above, with nosmall exultation, dragged them both out together. "

This is the story, told by one who knew Putnam intimately and who had itfrom his own lips, while neighbors were still living who were "in at thedeath" and could have refuted any misstatement or exaggeration. Thedeed, in truth, was characteristic of the dauntless young farmer, whosecourage and heroic character (as his eulogist justly remarks) "were everattended by a serenity of soul, a clearness of conception, a degree ofself-possession, and a superiority to all vicissitudes of fortune, entirely distinct from anything that can be produced by a ferment of theblood and flutter of spirits, which not unfrequently precipitate men toaction when stimulated by intoxication or some other transientexhilaration. "

That was "Wolf Put, " or "Old Wolf Putnam, " as he came to be calledthenceforth. But at no time in his active and wonderful career was hean old man when he performed his deeds of valor. The wolf-hunt, in fact, was mainly a young men's and boys' affair, Putnam himself being onlytwenty-four at the time, and the wolf having been traced to her lair byyoung John Sharp, a boy of seventeen. 

The slayer of the old she-wolf was the hero of the time; but he bore hislaurels modestly, though exaggerated accounts of the affair werepublished all over the colonies, and even in England, where they wereexploited in the public prints. By rising to the occasion, and doing theright thing at the right time, he acquired a reputation for valor andfirmness that stood him in good stead in those coming conflicts, theSeven Years' War and the Revolution. 

Unknown to him, however, and unsuspected, were the heights to which hesubsequently rose. He devoted himself to his farm, becoming the bestagriculturist in the region in which he lived, and also performed theduties of a good citizen, never shrinking from his share of civicburdens. The youth of to-day could not do better than emulate theexample of this illustrious American; and they might do worse than takepart in the patriotic pilgrimages annually made to the scenes of hisearly life. The citizens of his adopted State have religiously preservedintact the second house he built in Brooklyn, then Pomfret; and theshe-wolf's den may still be seen, in the side of a wooded hill. Theentrance-way is at present too low and narrow to admit the passage of aboy, much less of a full-grown man; but that is said to have been causedby the falling in of the rocks, in the lapse of time since Putnam's day. 

CHAPTER III

FIRST TASTE OF WAR

Israel Putnam's adventure with the wolf gave him an unsought, and insome respects undesirable, notoriety; but that he did not court thisnotoriety is shown by the fact that for the next twelve or thirteenyears he lived quietly on his farm, attending to his duties as acultivator of the soil and a simple citizen. During these years heacquired an enviable reputation as one of the best farmers in all theregion of which Pomfret was the center, and had it not been for thelamentable struggle between the French and the English for supremacy inNorth America, he might have continued as the humble and prosperouscitizen-cultivator to the end of his days. The breaking out of theprolonged strife which is known in history as the French and IndianWar, found Putnam in possession of what in those days was considered acompetency. Having received a good start from the paternal inheritance, he had not hidden his talents in a napkin, but had put them out to goodpurpose. He erected a large and substantial dwelling about a fourth of amile distant from the first he had built in Pomfret, and here he livedmost happily, with his good wife Hannah, surrounded by a growing familyof healthy children. 

In the year 1755, when active operations began in this war betweenEngland and France, fought out on the soil of America, Israel Putnam wasthirty-seven years old and in the prime of life. There was no immediatenecessity for him to volunteer in defense of the frontier, where thehostile French were gathering, for it was far distant from his home, theforests around which were threatened by no roaming savages withtomahawks and muskets. But his patriotic instincts were aroused by thereports of massacres committed in other regions; he knew the tide mustbe met before it became irresistible and breasted in the North. Fourgreat expeditions were planned by the English to frustrate the schemesof the enemy: against Fort Niagara, Crown Point on Lake Champlain, FortDuquesne, and against the French in Nova Scotia. 

It was to take part in the expedition with Crown Point as its objectivethat Israel Putnam abandoned his farm, early in the summer of 1755, justwhen it needed him most, and started on his second long journey awayfrom home. He reached the rendezvous at Albany, after a toilsome marchthrough the forests that intervened between the Connecticut and theHudson, and there found three thousand other "Provincials" gathered forthe defense of the colonies. Most of them were sons of the soil, likePutnam, and like him were yet to receive their baptism of fire; but theywere sturdy and valiant, though appearing rude and uncouth in the eyesof the British veterans. 

The commander-in-chief of the British Colonial forces in North Americaat the beginning of the war was Governor William Shirley ofMassachusetts, and the commander of the Crown Point expedition wasGeneral William Johnson, the famous and eccentric "sachem" of theMohawks. Having lived for many years with or near the Indians, thisEnglishman had acquired a great influence over them, especially over theMohawks, of whose tribe he had been elected an honorary sachem. He hadlearned their language, had even adopted their peculiar garb, and attimes adorned his face with war-paint and performed with his savagefriends the furious war-dance. His stanch ally was the ever faithfulchief of the Mohawks, the valiant Hendrick, who rendered invaluableservice to the English and was killed while battling for their cause. 

As Putnam, the stalwart provincial soldier, was merely a private in theranks when he made the acquaintance of the famous general and the Mohawkchief, he may not have attracted their attention; though he later wonencomiums from the commander. He could not but have admired theGeneral's sagacity in retaining the Mohawks as allies of the EnglishColonials, when most of the Indian tribes had arrayed themselves on theside of the French. At the time Johnson was assembling his army on theHudson, in that very month of July, 1755, General Braddock, commander ofthe Duquesne expedition, met with most disastrous defeat, and almost hislast words were regrets that he had not taken the advice of hisaide-de-camp, a "young Virginian colonel named Washington, " who hadearnestly besought him to abandon the British tactics and adopt theAmerican system of "bush-fighting. "

"We shall better know how to deal with them another time, " the defeatedBraddock had said to Washington, just before he died. But GeneralJohnson and the Provincial officers already knew how to deal with theirwily foes. They had taken leaves from the unwritten book of Indiantactics; their men fought from behind trees and logs, as the savagesfought, and in this manner turned the tables upon the French commanders. 

"It was owing to the pride and ignorance of that great general that camefrom England, " said an Indian chieftain, alluding to the terrible defeatof Braddock. "He looked upon the Indians as dogs, and would never taketheir advice, and that is the reason many of our warriors left him. Weare ready again to take up the hatchet with you against the French; butlet us unite our strength. You are numerous, and all the Englishgovernors along your seashore can raise men enough. But don't let thosethat come from over the great seas be concerned any more. They are unfitto fight in the woods. Let us go by ourselves--we that came out of thisground. "

Colonel Washington knew of what the Indians were capable, for young ashe was then, he had been through a dreadful experience and had receivedvaluable lessons in their mode of warfare. "It is in their power, " hedeclared, "to be of infinite use to us; and without the Indians weshall never be able to cope with these cruel foes of our country. "

There is no doubt that the Indians turned the tide of the first battlein which Israel Putnam took part--that of Lake George, on the eighth ofSeptember, 1755. Having made all his preparations at Albany, GeneralJohnson took up his march for Crown Point by way of the "carrying-place"(subsequently known as Fort Edward) and Lake George. After leaving someof his troops to complete the fort he had begun at the "carrying-place, "the commander proceeded to the south end of Lake George, where he madecamp. He had between five and six thousand New York and New Englandtroops and his loyal Mohawks. Not long had he been in camp before hisIndian scouts brought him intelligence of an approaching force of Frenchand Indians. 

About the time that General Johnson had begun his march northwardly, Baron Dieskau, with a force of 3, 000 French troops, 800 Canadians and700 Indians, had started southwardly from Montreal, also for Crown Pointon Lake Champlain. He had intended to proceed against Oswego; butlearning of the contemplated English expedition for the reduction ofCrown Point, he changed the direction of his march. 

Had he waited for the English general to carry out his originalintention, the result might have been more favorable to the French, forthe former would then have been the attacking party and have borne thebrunt of the battle. As it was, the French commander nearly succeeded indrawing the thousand men that Johnson had sent out to meet him into anambuscade, and among the slain was brave Colonel Williams, commander ofthe Provincials in this engagement, and gallant Chief Hendrick, who hadaccompanied him with two hundred Mohawks. 

The Provincials fought fiercely, but vainly, for they were outnumbered, and at first outgeneraled. They fell back upon the main body, the rearof which was protected by the lake, the flanks by densely-woodedswamps, and the front by a breastwork of trees, behind which weremounted several cannon. 

On came the enemy, in pursuit of the retreating Provincials, who soughtshelter behind the rude breastworks as rapidly as possible. They hadlost heavily, they had been partially ambuscaded, some of their bestofficers were killed and some wounded; but they had no thought ofsurrender. Recovering from the first shock of surprise, they quicklyadopted the Indian fashion of fighting from behind the trees and rocks, thus exposing themselves very little and inflicting upon the enemy thegreatest possible punishment by their accurate marksmanship. 

The gallant Dieskau was unable to control his Canadian and Indianallies, but advanced his French regulars against the breastworks withoutflinching. There, however, he committed the same mistake that had causedBraddock's bloody defeat, by ordering his men to advance in a body andfire by platoons. And again, though the Canadians and Indians foughtbravely, after their manner, posted behind the trees, they hereencountered what they feared so much, the fire of artillery. 

It had been Dieskau's intention to march upon Fort Edward; but hearingthat there were cannon mounted there, his allies had refused to go. Sohe changed his course and set upon Johnson at Lake George. Here, however, his forces, victoriously advancing after their successes of themorning, were met by the destructive fire of the few cannon which hadbeen hastily mounted, and which mowed down the regulars and struck suchterror into the savage allies that the latter fled in a panic, theirwhoops of triumph changed to yells of fear. 

It was then the turn of the Provincials to take the offensive, whichthey did promptly, ably seconded by the Mohawks. They pursued the Frencha long distance through the woods, and only halted when spent fromfatigue. 

The French themselves had paused for rest on the very ground where thebattle of the morning had been fought, and here, reenforced by soldierssent by General Lyman from Fort Edward, the Americans set upon them asecond time and finally vanquished them completely. They covered theground with the slain and took many prisoners, among them being theFrench commander, who was found leaning against a stump, having beenwounded in the second fight. He was alone, save for a companion, who wasshot down by his side. Seeing an American soldier approach, the Baronfelt for his watch, hoping probably to secure good treatment bypresenting him with it; but the soldier, mistaking the motion for aneffort to draw a pistol, shot him through the hips, inflicting a woundfrom which he ultimately died. Johnson himself was shot through thethigh, early in the action, and the command devolved upon General Lyman, who conducted the battle to a successful issue, as narrated. 

Thus was fought the battle of Lake George, September 8, 1755. Thebrilliant victory gained here was greater than is apparent at asuperficial glance, for it checked the French advance upon the Englishcolonies; it probably saved Albany and other towns from destruction; itwas the means of driving the invaders back upon their defensive posts atTiconderoga and Crown Point, where they were eventually attacked andovercome. 

Contrary to the expressed opinions (and perhaps advice) of theProvincials, among whom was Putnam, General Johnson decided to advanceno further in that campaign, brief as it had been, but proceeded toerect a fort on the site of his camp, alleging that this was necessaryto protect his base of supplies and maintain communication with Albany. Had he followed up the victory and pursued the demoralized enemy toTiconderoga and Crown Point, he might have saved the English manyvaluable lives and the humiliation of repeated defeats in theirsubsequent efforts to reduce those important fortifications. 

The reduction of Crown Point was abandoned for that season; butnotwithstanding this, and the fact that the brunt of the fight had beenborne by General Phineas Lyman and his New England militia, thecommander-in-chief was rewarded for the victory by a baronetcy and agrant of five thousand pounds!

That the results of this victory at Lake George were far-reaching, andnot forgotten by posterity, was shown, for example, nearly a century anda half after it was won, by the erection of a monument upon the site ofthe battle-field. On the eighth of September, 1903, the governors offour States--New York, Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts--gatheredat the unveiling of a bronze memorial (erected by the Society ofColonial Wars), the heroic figures of which, nine feet in height, areGeneral Johnson and Chief Hendrick. The inscriptions on the granitepedestal tell the story: "Defeat would have opened the road to Albanyand the French. .. . Confidence inspired by the victory was of inestimablevalue to the American Army in the War of the Revolution. "

It should be borne in mind that Israel Putnam was present at thisbattle, and rendered important service. 

CHAPTER IV

A PARTIZAN FIGHTER

The shore of the beautiful lake was strewn with the slain, its waterscrimsoned by their blood, the French having lost nearly half theirregular force, and the English more than two hundred men. Several dayssucceeding to the battle were passed in gathering the wounded andburying the dead, in which dismal duty Putnam was engaged, with the restof the uninjured survivors. 

As our hero kept no diary of his doings, we know only in a general waythat he was in the thickest of the fight, that he went out with thedevoted band under Colonel Williams, and was foremost at the finishunder General Lyman. It has been stated by some of Putnam's biographersthat he held the rank of captain in this, his first, battle; but acareful search of the colonial records makes it appear that he wasmerely a private. With his accustomed eagerness to be foremost in a goodcause, he had hurried to the front without thought of rank or wages; andalthough the General Assembly of Connecticut, which convened in August, promptly made him out a commission as captain of a company, it did notreach him until after the fight. 

He had outstripped his commission, had enlisted, had met the enemy, acting, as he always acted, on his own initiative; and it seemed veryfit that he should be appointed to command a company of "partizans, " asthe picked troops were called who made forays, performed scoutingduties, and led the advance of the main body. 

He became associated with the redoubtable leader of the hardy company ofback-woodsmen known as "Rogers' Rangers, " and he held his own with thebest of them. The duties of these rangers were particularly hazardous, for they were ever in the advance, as scouts or skirmishers, employingthe Indians' tactics in bush-fighting, engaged as escorts for the wagontrains, as well as for the artillery, etc. They were thoroughlyindependent, in the fullest sense of the word, following theircommander's general rule only, which was: "Every man's reason andjudgment must be his guide, according to the particular situation andnature of things, and that he may do this to advantage, he should keepin mind the maxim, never to be departed from by a commander, viz. , topreserve a firmness and presence of mind on every occasion. "

Had the foregoing rule been made expressly for our farmer-soldier, itcould not more exactly have exemplified the qualities he pre-eminentlypossessed. He was a born "partizan, " and entered at once into hisdangerous duties with ardor and zest. 

There exists a "Report of Captain Putnam, who was sent by Captain Rogersas a Spy to Ticonderoga, " dated October 9, 1755, which illustrates boththe bravery of the young officer, and the defects of his earlyeducation, to which allusion has been made. It is as follows:

 "Then left Capt. Rogers upon a neck of Land upon the west side of Lake George and Set out towards Tyconderogue to see what Discoveries we Could make and after we had marchd about 7 or 8 miles we came upon a Large Mountain near the Heither end of the narrowes, and when we came there we Could make no Discovery at all, but after sometime we espyed three Barke Cannoes Drew upon the Shore upon a point of Land that Ran into the Lake, and then wee espyed two Indians Comeing out of the Bushes toward the Cannoes, after water, and after sometime wee espyed several french and Indians on the East side of the Lake . .. And so Concluded to tarry there all knight and see what further Discoveries wee Could make by the fires in the knight, and just at the Dusk of the evening their came four Cannoes from the East and went to the west side of the Lake and landed on the point where the others were incamped, and Drew up their Cannoes on ye Shore and by this time wee began to Discover the fires on the point and on the east side of the Lake, but Could not Discover what number their was, because the Bushes were so thick by the Lake and about Day Brake they mustered their men to work and then wee Left the mountain and returned to Capt. Rogers on the point and when we Came within 60 or 70 Rods of the point we Espyed 13 Indians pass by within 10 Rods of us, towards the point where we left Capt. Rogers, and after they had passed by us we Came to the point where we left Capt. Rogers, and found all well this is the Chef of the Discovery and best account that I am able to give. "

 "Israel Putnam. "

Captain Putnam belonged to that class of soldiers, so large in the earlywars of our country, that would "rather fight than eat, " and made muchless of wielding the sword than the pen. It may well be believed thatafter receiving a few "Reports" like this herewith quoted, his superiorsvastly preferred he should stick to the sword, since he was so muchbetter at fighting than writing. He himself was doubtless of the sameopinion, so he was kept constantly employed at the dangerous and arduouswork of the ranger, and within a week of writing his first report he haddistinguished himself by saving his commander's life. 

The French had retired to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, but the forestsbetween those points and Lake George were still swarming with hostileIndians, engaged, like the Rangers, in reconnoitering the enemy's postsand in cutting off stragglers. Captains Rogers and Putnam were orderedby General Johnson to make a reconnaissance of Crown Point, and taking asmall party they penetrated the forests to within a short distance ofthe works, where they left their men concealed, and, alone, set out ontheir hazardous mission. 

They lay all night within gunshot of the fort, and in the gray dawn ofmorning approached more closely in order to secure the informationdesired, when Captain Rogers, who was slightly in advance, wasdiscovered and set upon by a big Frenchman, who seized his musket andgave the alarm. A companion sentinel hastened to the Frenchman'sassistance, but Putnam also was at hand, and getting in ahead broughtthe guard to the ground by a well-aimed blow from the butt-end of hismusket, and while the enemy lay quivering in his death-agonies the twocompanions hastened away. They rejoined their men and finally reachedthe camp in safety. 

An occurrence like this seemed of small moment at the time, perhaps, andthe ungrateful Rogers is said to have overlooked it entirely in hisreport to General Johnson; but the same month (October, 1755) the twoagain went out scouting, and another adventure followed which broughtPutnam's heroism into strong relief. 

Going down the lake in their bateaux, on the last day of the month, theylanded at night at a point where they had discovered some camp-fires ofthe enemy, and in the morning three spies were sent out into the forest. These spies were Putnam, a man named Fletcher, and Lieutenant RobertDurkee, who was afterward tortured to death by the Indians. Theyaccomplished the immediate object of their mission, which was toascertain the location of some detached camps of Indians, and one ofthem, Captain Fletcher, returned to report. Putnam and Durkee kept on, in order to reconnoiter the enemy's main camp at the "Ovens, " and inconsequence nearly lost their lives. 

Night overtook the two brave partizans before they had reached thevicinity of the enemy, and when they saw the camp-fires gleaming theyincautiously approached, thinking that the French, like the English, would be found within the circle. But the French pursued an altogetherdifferent system, and probably the safer one, of building theircamp-fires within and themselves sleeping without the lines, protectedby the darkness of the night. Their sentinels were posted still furtherfrom the center of the main body, so when the two spies approached and, dropping to their hands and knees, crept cautiously toward the fires, they had not gone far in this manner before they were discovered andfired upon. 

To their amazement, they then found themselves right in the midst ofthe enemy, hemmed in on every side. Lieutenant Durkee was slightlywounded in the thigh, but he and Putnam immediately rose to their feetand made the best of their way out into the darkness amid a shower ofbullets, and pursued by the awakened enemy. Unable "to see his handbefore his face, " Putnam soon fell into a clay-pit, and Durkee, like theimmortal "Jill" in the nursery rhyme, came tumbling after. Knowing thatthe enemy were in swift and close pursuit, Putnam raised his tomahawk togive the supposed hostile a deadly stroke, when Durkee fortunatelyspoke. Thankful that he had escaped murdering his companion, Putnamimmediately leaped out of the pit, and followed by Durkee, groped hisway to some ledges, where they lay down behind a large log for theremainder of the night. Before they lay down, the original narrationgoes on to state, "Captain Putnam said he had a little liquor in hiscanteen, which could never be more acceptable or necessary than on thatoccasion; but on examining the canteen, which hung under his arm, hefound the enemy had pierced it with their bullets, and that there wasnot a drop of liquor left. The next morning he found fourteenbullet-holes in his blanket!"

His canteen was dry enough, but in falling into the clay-pit Putnam hadwet his gun, so that he could not return the fire of the Frenchmen, evenhad he been so disposed. The tale as to the "fourteen bullet-holes inhis blanket" has often been held up to ridicule; but it is probablytrue, for the blankets being rolled up, one ball alone might have cutthrough many folds in its flight, and another have perforated hiscanteen. At all events, he and his companion were in a most miserableplight, all night in danger of being discovered. In the morning(according to the official report by Captain Rogers) "they made the bestretreat they were able. Hearing the enemy close to their heels, theymade a tack and luckily escaped safe to our party. "

"How he escaped a wound is passing strange, " says one of Putnam'sbiographers [Mr. J. T. Headley]; "but he was one of those men who seemeternally seeking death without being able to find it. There are somepersons in the world who appear to bear a charmed life, which no amountof daring or exposure can endanger. Foremost in the charge, and the lastto retreat, they are never found with the dead. Fate seems to delight toplace them in the most desperate straits, on purpose to make theirdeliverance appear the more miraculous. Putnam was one of those favoredbeings, and was not born to be killed in battle. "

Another incident related of Captain Putnam shows his acute penetrationand acquaintance with Indian ways and wiles. It was in his secondcampaign, when, after returning home for the winter, he had re-enlistedand was again amid the scenes of his former adventures. He was stationedat Fort Edward, the region immediately around which was infested withsavages bent on securing as many scalps as possible with the leastexposure. The sentinels on posts without the fort were in the greatestdanger, and there was one outpost in particular which had lost so manyof its sentries that at last no man could be found to accept a stationthere voluntarily. One after another they had disappeared, as completelyas though the earth had opened and swallowed them. It was a post of suchdanger that the officers at Fort Edward, having called for volunteersrepeatedly, all of whom had met the same mysterious fate, were compelledto resort to drafting the men for duty there. As a commissioned officerPutnam was exempt from the draft, but with his love of danger and from adesire to penetrate the mystery, he volunteered for the hazardousservice for at least one night. His offer was accepted, although hisfriends warned him of the risk he ran. He was already informed as to thegeneral instructions: on hearing the least noise to challenge promptly, "Who goes there?" three times, and then, if no answer were returned, tofire at whatever approached. 

Mounting guard at his post as early as possible, Putnam took occasion tomake a thorough examination of the nature of his environment, with atrained woodsman's eye noting every peculiarity of rock, stump, bush, tree, and leaf. Even then, as darkness fell and the scene became faintlyillumined by the rising moon, his surroundings assumed an unfamiliarcast. 

He stood at his post till past midnight before anything unusualhappened, then his attention was attracted by what appeared to him awild hog which, with stealthy footstep, gradually neared his position. There could be no danger in such a beast, any one less acute than hemight have reasoned; but anyway, he issued the challenge, and then, noresponse having been made to his "Who goes there?" he immediately firedat the animal. It was a groan, and not a grunt, that answered hiswell-directed shot, and going up to the object, then writhing in itsdeath-struggles, he stripped off a bear-skin and revealed an immenseIndian, who had in this disguise approached the unsuspicious sentinelspreviously stationed there, stabbed them, and carried them away. 

CHAPTER V

THE ADVENTUROUS SOLDIER

The campaign of 1755-'56, abounding in opportunities for personaladventure, in which Israel Putnam took great delight, showed the truemettle of the provincial soldier from Connecticut. At one time in thesummer of 1756, five or six hundred French soldiers from Ticonderogadescended upon some British baggage wagons at Halfway Brook, a spotabout midway between Fort Edward and Fort William Henry at Lake George, and overcoming the escort, succeeded in getting away with a largequantity of provisions. They retreated northward, in the direction oftheir stronghold, by the Narrows of Lake Champlain, and in order to headthem off, if possible, Rogers and Putnam were ordered by their commanderto take one hundred Rangers, with "two wall-pieces and twoblunderbusses, " and proceed by boat down Lake George to a point oppositea certain part of the Narrows, where they were to cross overland and tryto intercept the enemy. 

The orders were obeyed with such promptitude and exactness that thepursuers reached the place appointed half an hour before the Frenchmen, into whose boats, when they finally appeared, loaded down with theirplunder, they poured several deadly volleys, killing many of the oarsmenand soldiers and throwing the party into confusion. Putnam had so placedhis men in ambush, behind bushes and trees, that they were entirelyconcealed, while the enemy were exposed to their unexpected fire, whichwas terribly effective. Had not a strong wind sprung up at this time, few of the Frenchmen would have escaped; but several boatloads wereswept into South Bay, beyond musket-shot, and in a shattered conditionfinally arrived at Ticonderoga. 

As soon as it was made known that the Rangers were at the Narrows, andfull twenty miles from their boats, which they had left under guard atLake George, three hundred soldiers were sent post-haste in pursuit. Itwas now the turn of the Provincials to retreat, and indeed they had lostno time in setting out for their boats, as soon as the Frenchmen wereout of sight, being well aware of their perilous position. It was aclose race between them and their enemies, who, having passed them atnight, were discovered next day off Sabbath-Day Point, where theyoffered battle. They allowed the French and Indians to approach withinpistol-shot without firing a gun, but at just the right moment theydischarged their wall-pieces and blunderbusses, followed by adestructive fire from their muskets, so that the havoc and confusionwere great. Completely routed, the enemy made for the shore andretreated without delay to Ticonderoga. Only one man was killed and twomen were wounded on the side of the Rangers; but while the total lossesof the French and Indians were unknown they must have been great, as onecanoe containing twenty Indians lost fifteen of the number, and manywere seen to fall overboard and drown. 

In the preceding, the honors were shared between Rogers and Putnam; butsoon after the affair on the lakes the latter figured as the hero of anexploit which was unique, if not altogether successful and creditable toall concerned. General Webb, the commander of the forces, considered itnecessary to secure a French prisoner, for the sake of the intelligencehe might gain from him of the enemy's movements, and Captain Putnam wasdeputed to accomplish the difficult task. 

Taking with him five men, Putnam concealed himself and them near a trailwhich led to Ticonderoga, and they had not lain long in the high grassbefore a Frenchman and an Indian came along. The Indian was in advance, so Putnam allowed him to pass, but when the Frenchman arrived oppositehis place of concealment he sprang out, and after running quite adistance overtook and seized him by the shoulder. It happened that theFrenchman was large and muscular, and Captain Putnam, though himself amarvel of strength and agility, was not quite his equal, in fact, hesoon found he had "caught a Tartar. " His men had not supported him, while the Indian was hastening to his opponent's assistance, so heloosed his hold and snapped his musket at the man's breast. It missedfire, as the rude firearms of that time were often liable to do, and soPutnam turned and ran for his life, hotly pursued by the irateFrenchman, followed by the Indian. 

There was a grim humor in the situation, for, since his men would not goto the Frenchman, Captain Putnam was taking the Frenchman to them! Theyhad to assist him now, whether they wanted to or not, he thought; but asthey sprang up from the grass where they were hidden, the wary Indiancaught sight of them, gave the alarm to his companion, and both dartedoff into the forest and escaped. Putnam was mortified as well asenraged; but after denouncing his men as cowards and unfit for specialservice, he sent them back to camp and finally accomplished his objectunassisted. 

In such adventures as these Captain Putnam found vent for his energy andactivity. He was rarely at rest, either by command of his superiorofficer or of his own volition, being engaged in scouting in the forestand along the shores of the lakes. As both regulars and Provincials werewithdrawn from the north country during the severest of the wintermonths, it is likely that the soldier-farmer paid a short visit to hishome; but if so, he was soon back again, on active duty employed, asearly in the spring of 1757 he is reported at Fort Edward. 

The author of this biography has seen a most interesting letter, writtenin June, 1757, by Lieutenant Samuel Porter, of Captain Putnam's company, in which there are several references to our hero, as follows:

 "I received your letter May 20, at Fort Edward, from Capt. Putnam's hand. .. . I have sent you six letters before this. In the last I told you that Capt. Putnam had took out a number of his men and also a number of another company and made up a company of Rangers. .. . The next day after I wrote to you there was a number of our Connecticut men out at work with a guard, but the Enemy came and fired upon them and captivated four of them. .. . Capt. Putnam was then out for several days and when he came in he brought a Frenchman which he took near the Narrows. "

Always active, alert, and good-humored, Captain Putnam was the idol ofhis men, and easily the most noted of the Provincials. Such was hisnature, however, that he paid no attention to what men said of him, butalways marched in the road that led to duty. Much like him in hisdevotion to duty and principle was another of his name, who now appearsin this narrative, having come to Fort Edward in a Massachusettsregiment, in which he was a private. This was Rufus Putnam, who achieveda reputation in later years hardly second to that of Israel; in manyrespects he surpassed him. These two have been called cousins; but, tostate their exact relationship, Israel's father and Rufus's grandfatherwere brothers, or half-brothers. Here is what Rufus Putnam says, in hisMemorandum Book of Family Concerns, respecting his Americanancestry:. .. 

 "I am the youngest son of Elisha Putnam, who was the third son of Edward, grandson of John Putnam, who settled in Salem in 1634. .. . I was born the 9th of April, 1738, at Sutton, Massachusetts. "

By this it will be seen that Rufus and Israel Putnam were descended fromthe same English ancestor, John Putnam; and further, it may be observed, they had many high qualities in common. What concerns us especially, inthis connection, is the fact that Rufus Putnam had acquired the habit ofkeeping a diary, or journal, and he faithfully recorded all thehappenings at Fort Edward, after his arrival. He could not but makemention of the most prominent personage there, his distinguishedkinsman; though the latter was too busily engaged in fighting andmarching to concern himself as to diaries and chronicles. 

Soon after arriving at Fort Edward, young Rufus Putnam was sent outscouting with twenty-two men, and encountering some Indians, thirteen ofhis comrades were killed. "This was the first sight I had of Indiansbutchering, " he writes, "and it was not agreeable to the feelings of ayoung Soldier, and I think there are few if any who can view such Sceneswith indifference. "

Few, indeed. But, while realizing to the full the horrors of savagewarfare, Israel Putnam's kinsman stuck to his task and did his dutygallantly. His first experience must have been a severe trial, for hesays:

 "Capt. Putnam then ordered three of us to follow the trale (of the Indians) a mile or more further, and there lie close until quite dark, to observe if any came back; for, said he, 'if they do not embark in there boats to-night they will send a party back to See if they are pursued. ' We went back according to order but made no discovery, and here I would remark that Capt. Putnam's precaution Struck my mind very forceably, as a maxim always to be observed whether you are pursuing or pursued by an enemy, especially in the woods. It was the first Idea of Generalship I recollect to have treasured up. "

These two remarkable men had a very similar experience in their youth, for Rufus, like Israel, was deprived of his father by death at an earlyage, the former at seven, and the latter at eight, and each went to livewith his stepfather after his mother had married a second time. 

Israel Putnam had been given a major's commission by the ConnecticutLegislature, in 1757, and almost every year succeeding he was promoted, until finally he was at the head of the forces of the State. In commonwith his fellow Provincials, he suffered from the incompetency of theBritish commanders sent over from England. Crown Point was the objectivefor assault during several years, and still was not reached until thehearts of all concerned grew heavy with hope deferred. One of the mostglaringly inefficient of Britain's generals in America was LordLoudoun, at this time commander-in-chief of all the forces. Against himwas pitted the acute and discerning Montcalm, in command of the French, who, by the destruction of important forts, and checkmating Loudoun atLouisburg, soon put the latter on the defensive. Instead, then, ofcarrying the war into Canada, the British Colonials were compelled torest on their arms while Montcalm himself, taking advantage of thedepletion of the forces caused by Loudoun's futile expedition againstLouisburg, marched down from Montreal and made a demonstration againstthe forts to the south of Lake Champlain. 

Equally inefficient with Loudoun, the commander-in-chief, and inaddition cowardly as well (it would appear from the records of thetime), was General Webb, who commanded in the northern department, andwho, though he probably had intimation of the French army's approach, allowed himself to be caught in a trap and lost thousands of his men. Hewas warned by Putnam, who scouted to some purpose in the forest alongthe lake shore, discovering the approaching hostiles; but he heeded notthe warning, and the result was a massacre. 

CHAPTER VI

FIGHTING ON THE FRONTIER

Up to midsummer of 1757, the British had accomplished nothing ofaccount; the French, also, had little to show for all the marching andcounter-marching, fortifying, and skirmishing with their foes. But adecisive blow was to be struck, and by Montcalm, who, having beeninformed by his spies of the condition of affairs at the lakes, sent anoverwhelming force against Fort William Henry, at the south end of LakeGeorge. It happened that a few days before the French army arrived atthe lake, Major Putnam, with two hundred men, escorted his commander, General Webb, from Fort Edward to Fort William Henry, his object beingto examine into the efficiency of the latter fortification. The fortitself was a poor construction, but it was commandingly situated onground gently rising from the shore of the lake, and its approaches weredefended by felled forest trees forming an immense abattis deemedimpenetrable. 

With his customary caution, Major Putnam suggested to General Webb thathe should be sent down the lake to ascertain if the enemy wereapproaching, certain inexplicable signs having aroused his suspicions. His commander reluctantly consented, and Putnam took with him eighteenvolunteers and proceeded down the lake, but had not gone far before hediscovered a company of Frenchmen on an island. These men started out inpursuit of Putnam in his whale-boats, and the latter retreated; but notbefore he had, with the aid of a telescope, perceived a "large army inmotion. " He reported to General Webb to this effect, and to hisastonishment that cowardly commander ordered him to make no mention ofthe approach of the French army, though he agreed with Major Putnamthat it was destined for the reduction of the fort on the lake. He, moreover, directed him to pledge his men to keep the matter secret fromthe devoted garrison at Fort William Henry, and to make ready, withoutloss of time, to return with him to headquarters at Fort Edward. 

"But, your Excellency, " exclaimed the amazed and indignant Putnam, "Ihope you do not intend to neglect so fair an opportunity of givingbattle, should the enemy presume to land!"

"What do you think we should do here?" replied the pusillanimouscommander; and no other answer would he give to the sub-ordinate who hadrashly ventured to expostulate with him. The next day, accordingly, Putnam escorted Webb back to Fort Edward, whence the latter sent lettersto the Governor of New York, at Albany, urging him to send the militiato his aid; and also despatched reenforcements to Fort William Henryunder Colonel Monroe, who was ordered to assume command of thegarrison, until then ignorant of their peril. 

There were then about three thousand men at Fort William Henry, with asmany more held in reserve at Fort Edward, half a day's march only away. Against the lake fort, however, Montcalm brought an army of eight ornine thousand men, including not only a corps of Canadians, but a"larger number of Indians in a body than had ever before beencollected. " The French and Indians outnumbered the hapless garrisonthree to one; but during the week in which they appeared before the fortat Lake George (the first week in August, 1757), Sir William Johnsonreached Fort Edward with his Indians and militia from Albany, thusaugmenting the total British force considerably. He demanded to beallowed to proceed to Fort William Henry, and was permitted to startout, taking with him, besides his own force, Major Putnam and hiscompany of Rangers. Three miles from the fort, however, this rescuingforce was ordered to return, and thus such men as Johnson and Putnamwere compelled to remain at Fort Edward and listen to "the report ofcannon from Fort William Henry, two or three shots sometimes within aminute or two of one another. " Those fateful cannon-shots continued allday long, and day after day, meanwhile, messengers were arriving fromColonel Monroe asking for assistance in most urgent terms. For six daysthe siege continued, with thousands of soldiers lying inactive at FortEdward while their brothers-in-arms were in peril of their lives at FortWilliam Henry, only fourteen miles away. On the morning of the eighth ofAugust the cannon firing ceased, just as the last express from ColonelMonroe arrived stating that he must give up the fort unless at oncerelieved. 

The ammunition of the beleaguered garrison was almost exhausted, many oftheir cannon were split, some of the soldiers were sick with smallpox, and their losses in killed and wounded amounted to more than threehundred men. The end was inevitable, and it came after General Webb hadsent a letter to Colonel Monroe advising him to surrender. This letterwas intercepted by Montcalm, who thus knew the exact situation and actedaccordingly. He sent the letter to Colonel Monroe, with an urgent demandfor surrender, promising him most liberal terms, and the despairingofficer, who had gallantly defended the fort to the last, gave in andthrew himself upon the mercy of his foe. 

The Marquis de Montcalm may have intended to keep his stipulations, which were that the garrison should be protected by an escort of Frenchtroops to Fort Edward, and their sick and wounded cared for. Relyingupon these terms, they marched out of the fort without arms or baggage, but were no sooner clear of the gates than they were set upon by morethan two thousand Indians, excited by the liquor they had discovered anddrunk, and frenzied at the prospect of the escape of their foes. Thenensued a sickening scene of slaughter. Then was committed the massacre, which, had Major Putnam's advice been followed, might have beenprevented. More than fifteen hundred, men, women, and children, wereindiscriminately butchered, despite the promises of the "noble" Marquisde Montcalm, and the Indians reveled in a carnival of blood. 

It having been reported that the victorious Montcalm intended to marchagainst Fort Edward next, Major Putnam was despatched with his Rangersto "watch the motions of the enemy, " and reached the lake shore soonafter their departure. The fort was entirely demolished, he reported toWebb, next day; "the barracks and all buildings were heaps of ruins, thefires still burning, the smoke and stench from which were offensive andsuffocating. Innumerable fragments, human skulls, and bones were stillbroiling, half consumed, in the smoldering flames. Dead bodies, mangledwith knives and tomahawks, including those of more than one hundredwomen, were everywhere to be seen, affording a spectacle too horriblefor description. "

And this awful occurrence might have been obviated, if, in the firstplace, Major Putnam's precautions had been adopted and a firm stand madein the face of the enemy; or if, in the second place, the reenforcementsso often requested by the commander of the garrison had been sent. Montcalm himself told Major Putnam, when he was a prisoner in Canada, the next year, that when Sir William Johnson with the militia andRangers set out from Fort Edward one of his runners reported as to theirnumber, "If you can count the leaves on the trees, you can count them. "

Believing, then, that a mighty force was advancing against him, Montcalmwas on the point of abandoning the siege, when General Webb's order toreturn saved the situation for the French. Of a truth, the conduct ofGeneral Webb, in command of the forces at Fort Edward and Fort WilliamHenry, deserves the execration of the world. Fuming inwardly againsttheir unjustifiable detention, yet so well disciplined as to accepttheir commander's orders with impassive faces, the soldiers all, Provincials as well as regulars, were compelled to inaction, and thusbecame in a sense accessories to the blood-thirsty savages who hadmurdered their friends. 

We have no record of any oath that Putnam may have taken, but doubtlessone was registered in Heaven, that his comrades should be avenged, forhis acts accord with this assumption. He was even more active thanbefore in annoying the enemy and in taking prisoners, both French andIndian; but there is no stain of cruelty affixed to any of his deeds. Hefought honorably, without thought of himself, without regard for whatFame might say of him, or the future hold in store. His courage was ofthe sort that shuts its eyes to the consequences and goes straightahead, in the path of duty and rectitude. 

Soon after the massacre at Fort William Henry, General Webb was relievedof his command and succeeded by General Lyman, an old soldier underwhom Putnam had already served. Even old soldiers make mistakes, as willnow be shown. Having despatched one hundred and fifty men into theforests adjacent to Fort Edward, to cut timber for strengthening thefortification, General Lyman sent along a company of regulars to protectthem against possible attacks by Indians. This was a prudent measure;but the commander had not counted upon the wary nature of the foe. Heshould have sent out the Rangers, who knew the Indians and their waysand would have provided protection, without a doubt. But there chancedto be a Ranger on duty as a sentinel, and early one morning, before thesun was up, his attention was attracted to a flight of wonderful birdssilently winging their way across the sky. Suddenly, one of those"birds" came with great force against the limb of a tree right over hishead, where it stuck, and then the sentry saw that those wingedmessengers were Indian arrows! He lost no time in giving the alarm andthe working party began retreating toward the fort. They were promptlyattacked by a large body of Indians, who had hoped to kill the sentrywithout any noise, when the workmen would have been cut off, without adoubt. 

The regulars bravely stood their ground and poured a destructive fireinto the savage ranks; but the foe was persistent and soon obtained theupper hand. It happened that, as usual, brave Putnam was not far distantfrom the sound of battle, which he no sooner heard than he hastened inits direction. As he and his men were posted on an island, he and theywaded through the water to dry land, and in pressing to the scene ofconflict passed near the fort, on the parapet of which stood GeneralLyman, who, imagining the attack came from the main body of the enemy, had called in his outposts and closed the gates. As Major Putnam and hismen dashed past on the double-quick, intent only upon rescuing theirfriends from the savages, the General ordered them to return, believingthat they were needlessly exposing their lives in a vain attempt againstan overwhelming force. 

For the first time in his military career (but not the last) Putnamrefused to obey the orders of his superior officer. Indignant at themere thought of abandoning his companions-at-arms at such a juncture, hemuttered something under his breath (which he afterward said was anapology; but those who knew "Old Put" best thought otherwise) and pushedon, without turning to right or left. And his obstinacy saved the day, for, uniting with the regulars, the Rangers "rushed" the savages fromtheir position and chased them through the forest so long as daylightlasted. Their victory was complete, and when they returned to the fortthe gates were no longer closed against them, nor was a reprimandforthcoming from the General, the disobedience of whose orders madeMajor Putnam more popular than ever. 

That Major Putnam's bravery was of the sort requiring no artificialstimulus, and proceeded solely from the promptings of a naturesuperlative in every sense, was shown in the winter of 1757, when thebarracks at Fort Edward were consumed by a fire which threatened andalmost reached the powder magazine. Seeing the blaze from his aerie onthe island, Putnam attacked the fire as he always attacked the enemy, with impetuosity. He at once took the forefront of danger, nearest tothe powder magazine, and, mounted on a ladder, threw upon the ragingflames the buckets of water which the soldiers brought him from theriver. Enshrouded in smoke, and so near the sheets of flame that a pairof thick mittens was burned from his hands, Putnam heroically toiled tosubdue the fire, which was rapidly eating its way toward the magazine, containing three hundred barrels of powder. 

His commander at first begged him to descend, but as he was obstinate, he provided him with another pair of mittens which had been dipped inwater, and, charmed at his pertinacity and bravery, exclaimed, "Well, if we must be blown up we will all go together!" He then gave orders tothe men to redouble their efforts. 

The sequel was that Putnam, though at times enveloped in smoke andcinders, maintained his position, even when there was but a charredstrip of timber between him and the powder, finally extinguishing thefire and saving the fort. One hour and a-half he had fought the flames. "His legs, arms and face were blistered, and when he pulled off hissecond pair of mittens, the skin from his hands and fingers followedthem. " He was a month in hospital, recovering from his terrible burns;but before the winter was over he was off scouting with his belovedRangers in the vicinity of Ticonderoga. 

CHAPTER VII

STRATEGY AND WOODCRAFT

The year 1758 was the most eventful in Putnam's life hitherto, notwithstanding the numerous adventures in which he had already beenengaged, and which were enough to satisfy the craving of the mostambitious individual. The great event of that year, in which he tookpart, was the attack made by General Abercrombie on Fort Ticonderoga;and the most dire happening, to him personally, was being made aprisoner by the Indians. 

Before proceeding to narrate these occurrences, however, let us takenotice of two stirring incidents in his career, which further illustratehis cool daring and his readiness of resource in the face of danger. Inthe first instance, he was sent by his superior officer to a placeknown as Wood Creek, in order to make such observations as werepossible, and also to intercept any parties of the enemy that mightchance to pass that way. With the intuition of a born strategist, heposted his force on the bank of the creek where it jutted boldly intothe water, and there constructed a parapet of stone about thirty feet inlength, and masked it with young pine-trees in such a manner that theyappeared to be a part of the natural forest growth. 

The provisions of the party running short, and a big buck opportunelyappearing, Putnam departed from a rule he himself had always insistedupon--of never firing a gun when waiting for an enemy or in the enemy'scountry, and shot him. The result was as he might have anticipated. Heand his men got the deer and replenished their stores; but the wilyleader of the Indian hostiles, Marin, heard the report, and came withhis men in search of the cause of it. He came at night, so cautiouslyand silently that some of the canoes which held his men, about fivehundred in number, were abreast the fort before the sentinelsdiscovered them. 

The creek at this point was scarcely a hundred feet in width, the banksabout fifteen or twenty feet in height. A full moon was shining in theheavens, illumining spaces of water here and there, so that the oncomingIndians were plainly visible to the men behind the parapet, thereawaiting, with fast-beating hearts, the signal to fire. At a criticalmoment, one of the nervous soldiers accidentally struck his firelockagainst a stone, and the sound being heard by the foe, in an instantcame the watchword for silence and caution--"Owish. " The canoes in thevan halted, and the others coming up, they were soon huddled togetherright in front of the breastwork. This was the moment awaited by Putnam, who gave the signal for his men to fire by setting the example with hisown musket. 

The plunging fire, directed into the midst of the canoes, committedterrible execution. It was returned by the enemy; but being caught at adisadvantage, and unable to perceive their foes, concealed as they werebehind the breastwork, their fire was ineffective. During the wholeengagement, which is said to have lasted through the greater part of thenight, only two of the Provincials were wounded, none being killedoutright. 

There were but sixty men in Putnam's party, while the Indians wereestimated at not less than five hundred, half of which number wereeither killed or wounded, it was thought, before daylight came. Perceiving, from the intermittent fire, that it was a small party whichhad ambuscaded him, Marin, the Indian scout and leader, attempted alanding below the Americans, in order to cut off their retreat. ButMajor Putnam had anticipated that move, and after sending a detachmentto repel the landing party, ordered his men to "swing their packs" andretire up the creek, which they did in good order, leaving their woundedmen behind. This act was the one inexplicable occurrence of the affair, for it was not creditable to Major Putnam, nor in accord with hisreputation for humanity and tender regard for his men. But the safety ofthe greater number was considered, in preference to the security of thetwo wounded men, one of whom, a Provincial of undaunted courage, was setupon and hacked to pieces, after he had killed three of the approachingenemy, as he lay on the ground unable to escape. The other, a friendlyMohawk, was taken prisoner, and Major Putnam afterward saw him inCanada. 

On the way back to Fort Edward, Putnam and his men were fired upon by ascouting party of Provincials, who mistook them for Frenchmen; but theywere quickly undeceived when the doughty major ordered his men, "in astentorophonick tone, " to advance and give a good account of themselves. Putnam's "stentorophonick" voice--as his original biographer stylesit--was well known to all the army, having been heard many times risingabove the din of battle, and always in the forefront of the fighting. Sothe commanding officer of the scouting party recognized it at once andcried out that those approaching were friends. The volley had killed oneman only, and "Old Wolf Putnam, " enraged, indignant, and yet sarcastic, said to the opposing officer, "Friends or enemies, you all deserve to behanged for not killing more, when you had so fair a shot!" He had inmind, of course, the numbers he and his men had slain, that nightpreceding, when six or seven times their own force had fallen beforetheir unerring aim. 

Having suffered so considerably at Putnam's hands, the French andIndians, as may be imagined, were constantly on the watch to take theirarch enemy at a disadvantage. Not many weeks after the unsuccessfulattack upon Ticonderoga--to which allusion will presently be made--itappeared as though the savages were about to accomplish their purpose, for they surprised him, together with a small body of his men, on theleft bank of the Hudson, with the river between them and the fort. Theparty of Indians was too strong to be successfully resisted, it wasimpossible to cross the river without being shot, while below lay aquarter-mile stretch of rapids through which a boat had never been sentwithout disaster. But, with his customary promptitude, Putnam orderedhis men into their single boat, himself taking the helm, and pushed offjust as the savages came within sight of the shore. The disappointed andinfuriated Indians sent a shower of balls after the boatmen, but nonetook effect; though the fugitives seemed doomed to certain death bydrowning in the foaming rapids of the river. Calmly taking the helm, Putnam steered the boat through the roaring rapids, avoiding thehalf-hidden rocks and protruding ledges, and, while the Indians lookedon in amazement, in a few seconds brought his charge into smooth waterat the foot of the falls. Throughout all this turmoil and danger, hemaintained his self-possession, his customary placidity of countenanceeven; and it is said that after that the Indians looked upon him as morethan human and under the special protection of the Great Spirit. 

It was the misfortune of the Provincials to become the sport of fate inthe shape of inefficient commanders from England, who led them, not onlyto defeat, but to death by wholesale, in their endeavors to carry outplans insufficiently matured and schemes which would not have receivedthe sanction of military experts at all. One of the most disastrous ofdefeats was encountered at Ticonderoga, against which GeneralAbercrombie led a force of fifteen thousand men, consisting of sixthousand regulars and nine thousand Provincials. Crown Point andTiconderoga were still the British objectives, along with other posts ofgreater or less strength, such as Louisburg, Frontenac, and FortDuquesne. All these last were taken before Crown Point and Ticonderogayielded; but it was fated that Ticonderoga, which had been seized andfortified by the French in 1755, and which, together with Crown Point, commanded the direct route from the St. Lawrence to the Hudson, shouldfirst cost the lives of many men. 

On the morning of July 5, 1758, a magnificent flotilla set forth fromthe southern end of Lake George, consisting of 135 whale-boats and 900bateaux, laden with soldiers, cannon, and military stores of everydescription. As it sailed through the Narrows it made a line six milesin length, and was indeed a most imposing spectacle. Sabbath-Day Pointwas reached about five in the afternoon, and here the soldiers debarkedfor rest and refreshment, but sailed on again about midnight, reachingthe northern end of the lake next morning at dawn. Soon after landing, late in the day, a portion of the army became lost in the forest andwhile entangled in the wilderness of trees encountered a French force ofobservation which had been sent to watch their movements at LakeGeorge. This force, likewise lost in the woods, was cut to pieces by theRangers, only fifty escaping, while nearly three hundred were eitherkilled, wounded, or taken prisoners. 

This was the sole success of the expedition, and this cost the lives ofmany men, including young Lord Howe, who was a great favorite in thearmy with both regulars and Colonials. He had insisted on forging aheadwith Putnam, who, as usual, was in front with his Rangers, and againsthis urgent remonstrances went with him into the vortex of the fire, where he was killed. The soldiers considered their success on the firstday as a foretaste of victory to follow on the morrow; but whileAbercrombie delayed his advance for various reasons, Montcalm and hismen did herculean work by felling a forest of trees and constructing animpenetrable abatis in front of the fort. 

It was this terrible entanglement, composed of thousands of trees withpointed and jagged limbs turned outward, that really prevented theBritish and Provincials from gaining even the outer works ofTiconderoga, behind which lay not more than thirty-six hundred men underMontcalm. Abercrombie's engineer having reported that the works wereunfinished, and might be easily captured if promptly attacked, theBritish general gave the order for assault, though his cannon had notarrived, and indeed were not used at all. 

Not satisfied with one futile assault, in which his men were cut down byhundreds, torn by grape-shot and mangled by cross-fires of musketry, Abercrombie ordered another and another, until the heroic and desperatefighting men were entirely exhausted. Never was there a greater displayof courage and senseless devotion to a mistaken sense of duty, than onthat day when the fifteen thousand British and Provincial soldiers triedvainly to dislodge one-third their number of Frenchmen from theirposition at Ticonderoga. And it was all on account of the incapacity ofa British commander, whom the home Government had sent out withauthority, not only over his own regulars, but Colonial officers whoseabilities were vastly in excess of his own. But it was not for theseColonials to question; only to "do and die, " and they did all in theirpower, and died by hundreds, merely that an incompetent commander'swhims should be gratified. 

When at last the inept Abercrombie had sacrificed the lives under hiscommand to the number of two thousand or more, and became convinced thathe could not take Ticonderoga that way, he was seized with panic andordered a retreat. As the Rangers under Putnam were the first in theassault, so they were the last to retire, being obliged to protect theretreat of the main army, and remained till dusk on the edge of theforest, where they maintained a continuous fire, to prevent pursuit. With but one-third as many soldiers as Abercrombie brought to theattack, Montcalm did not feel like pursuing the retreating foe, butcontented himself with the great victory--a victory won not so much bythe valor of his men as by the incompetency of his chief opponent. 

Had the advice of Putnam, Rogers, and others of the Provincials beensought and accepted, much of this loss of life might have been averted, for though themselves fighting with great courage, doggedly and againstall hope, they were averse to a direct assault without the cannon, withwhich a breach might have been opened into the fort. But the cannonreposed at the lake-side, whither retreated the defeated soldiers, withsuch haste that they were enabled to embark that very night, leavingtheir dead and many of their wounded in the forest where they lay. A fewdays before, after the first engagement, Major Rogers, of the Rangers, having been sent to bring off the dead and wounded of the enemy, hadcruelly despatched the latter, to the horror not only of his confrère, Major Putnam, but of the British officers who became cognizant of thefact. 

CHAPTER VIII

A PRISONER AND IN PERIL

The good fortune with which Major Putnam had been favored during threeyears of fighting a wily and treacherous foe, suddenly deserted himwhen, in the month of August, 1758, he found himself confronted by anIndian warrior of herculean frame, during a skirmish near Fort St. Anne. He and Major Rogers had been sent out by Abercrombie to ascertain thewhereabouts of a war party which was committing depredations betweenFort Edward and the lakes. The timid general was very much afraid of anattack in force by the victorious Montcalm, and constantly on the watch. 

One morning, as the Rangers were proceeding through a dense thicket, with Putnam's Provincials in front, they ran into an ambush which thewary Marin, the French partizan fighter, had prepared, by posting hismen in a semicircular position across the trail. Suddenly the air wasrent with yells and reports of firearms, and several Provincials fell intheir tracks. Putnam, taken unawares, yet as always cool and collected, gave orders to return the fire, and sent word back for support, which inthe confusion incident to the sudden attack was not promptlyforthcoming. Forging ahead, he was confronted by an Indian chieftain, agiant in size, against whose breast he at once placed the muzzle of hisfusee, which--as those primitive flintlocks were likely to do in anemergency--missed fire. The savage then had him at his mercy, andbrandishing his tomahawk above his head compelled him to surrender, whenhe tied him to a tree, and then left him to mingle in the fight again. As the Rangers rallied to battle it happened that the tree to whichPutnam was bound came directly between the fires of both parties, and asthe bullets flew thickly around our hero's position was not by anymeans an enviable one. Some of the balls passed through the sleeves andskirt of his coat, and in this perilous position he remained for morethan an hour, unable either to move a limb or even his head. 

No attention was paid to him, except that now and then a savage wouldapproach, and seeing him there helpless and a conspicuous mark wouldthrow a tomahawk at his head, to see how near he could come to thisliving target without inflicting a fatal wound. An equally savageFrenchman also approached, and aiming his fusee at his breast, wouldhave put him out of his misery had it not missed fire. This enraged thescoundrel so that he gave Putnam a blow on the jaw with the butt-end ofhis musket which nearly finished him, and then left him alone. 

The battle waged unevenly for a while, but was finally decided in favorof the Provincials, and the French and Indians hastily gathered theirprisoners together and fled northward toward Ticonderoga. Putnam'scaptor stripped him of his coat and waistcoat, socks and shoes, thenafter binding his wrists together he loaded him with as many packs as hecould pile upon his shoulders, and giving him in charge of anotherIndian, left him to attend to the wounded. 

Poor Putnam was soon in a deplorable condition, with hands swollenterribly from the tightness of the ligature, and his feet gashed andbleeding, as he trudged along the trail beneath his enormous burden. Hebegged the savages to knock him on the head and end his sufferings; buthe was soon to experience even more horrible sensations, for, arrivingin advance of the main party at the place where they were to camp forthe night, the small body of Indians that had him in charge concluded toburn him at the stake! He was suffering terribly from the blow on hisjaw, from his swollen hands and mutilated feet, and also from a tomahawkgash in his cheek, so that he cared little what became of him, providedthe end came quickly. To be burned alive, however, was a fate thatbrought a shudder to the frame of even stout-hearted Israel Putnam, andhe looked on in horror while his captors stripped him naked, bound himto a tree and piled the dry brush they had gathered for fuel around himin a circle. All the while, as they labored at their fiendish task, theychanted a funeral dirge, which was almost as depressing to their captiveas their sinister preparations for his immediate immolation. 

"Major Putnam soon began to feel the scorching heat, " says hisbiographer, Colonel Humphreys, who had these details from the chiefactor's own lips. "His hands were so tied that he could move his body, and he often shifted sides as the fire approached. This sight, at thevery idea of which all but savages must shudder, afforded the highestdiversion to his inhuman tormentors, who demonstrated the delirium oftheir joy by yells, dances, and gesticulations. He saw clearly that hisfinal hour was inevitably come. He summoned all his resolution, andcomposed his mind, as far as the circumstances would admit, to bid aneternal farewell to all he held most dear. .. . His thought was ultimatelyfixed on a happier state of existence, . .. The bitterness of death, evenof that death which is accompanied with the keenest agonies, was in amanner past, . .. When a French officer rushed through the crowd, openeda way by scattering the burning brands, and unbound the victim. "

The officer was no other than the redoubtable partizan, Marin, whoexerted a wonderful influence over his savage company. He at once sentfor the Indian who had captured Major Putnam, who did what he could tomake amends for the dreadful treatment the latter had received; but thatnight, in order to prevent his prisoner from escaping, he stretched hislimbs out in the shape of a cross and bound them to four saplings, thenplaced poles and bushes across his body as it lay on the ground withseveral Indians at either side, who kept watch the night through. 

Arrived at Fort Ticonderoga, Major Putnam had an interview with theMarquis de Montcalm, who ordered him sent to Montreal, whither he wastaken without delay, and where he met a brother American, Colonel PeterSchuyler, of New Jersey, who, possessing considerable influence, compelled the Frenchman to treat their prisoner more humanely. Thecapture of Louisburg, Frontenac and other posts, by the English thatyear gave them numerous prisoners, which they were not slow to exchangefor those in the hands of the French. Thus it came about that the periodof Major Putnam's captivity was quite short, for he was in Montreal andQuebec in the last days of August, his exchange was accomplished inOctober, and in November he was on his way to his home in Connecticut. 

If the French had known who it was they held a prisoner in the person ofMajor Putnam, doubtless they would have been slow to permit hisexchange; but Colonel Schuyler kept this information to himself, andwhen told by the governor that he might select whatever officer he likedto be included in the cartel, he chose his friend. 

"There is an _old man_ here, " he said, "who is a Provincial Major, andwho wishes to be at home with his wife and children; he can do no goodhere or anywhere else; I believe your Excellency had better keep some ofthe young men, who have no wife or children to care for, and let the oldfellow go home with me. "

This subterfuge availed, and Putnam went along with his friend; butwhether the latter was justified in alluding to him as an "old man" isdoubtful, as he was then only forty years of age. He had, however, wonthe sobriquets of "Old Wolf Putnam" and of "Old Put, " long before, anddoubtless was accustomed to be regarded as elderly, despite his jollycountenance and ever-cheerful disposition. 

His kind and affectionate nature was displayed at its best on thejourney home, which was long and wearisome, when he took charge of alady, Mrs. Howe, whose husband had been killed and scalped three yearspreviously. She had been in captivity ever since, and had endured untoldoutrages from her captors. Her seven children were dispersed, but fiveof them were recovered, and accompanied her back to her home in NewHampshire. Colonel Schuyler had rescued her from captivity, and MajorPutnam constituted himself her protector during the long and toilsomejourney, leading her little ones, assisting the sorrowful mother overthe rough places, and sharing his meals with the unfortunate family. 

What a welcome the hero received on his home-coming, from his loving, constant wife and children! They had heard of his vicissitudes, hadalmost given him up for dead; but at last he was with them again, andthe dismal past was buried. The joy of the family at meeting again wasclouded by sorrow, however, for death had entered the family circlesince the father and husband's departure. Israel, the eldest son, wasthere, and the daughters; but the second son was absent, never toreturn. 

On an old tombstone in the graveyard at Brooklyn, Connecticut, is thisinscription:

 "In Memory of Mr. Daniel Putnam, son of Col^o. Israel Putnam & Mrs. Hannah his wife, who died Aug. 8th, 1758, Aged 17 Years. "

 Also of David Putnam, Son of y^e above Col^o. Israel & Mrs. Hannah Putnam, who died Nov. 21, 1761, aged 1 month. "

The first death, of Daniel, his pet and pride, occurred, it is said, onthe very day (August 8, 1758), at the close of which Major Putnam was indirest peril, tied to a tree in the forest, environed by fire and withina circle of whooping, yelling savages. The demise of David, whom henever saw, took place while the father was away on the Amherstexpedition, or just before his return from that campaign. Sturdy Israel, the first-born son, had taken charge of the farm while his father wasoff on his various campaigns--or at least had done his best to do so, and the family had not wanted for provisions during the enforcedabsences of the head of the family. As he was now a robust young man ofnearly twenty, and possessed all the home-loving traits of his father, Israel was considered perfectly competent to carry on the farm at leastanother season, and in the spring of 1759 his father, now advanced tothe rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, went away again to the wars. 

Israel Putnam seemed never to know when he had enough of fighting; orelse his sense of duty to the king and his country was paramount to allother considerations else. At all events, one of his bravery and forcecould not be omitted from the great expedition that General Amherst (whohad been sent by Pitt to supersede Abercrombie) was then organizing. InJuly, 1759, we find him with his command at Lake George, where thesecond expedition against Ticonderoga set forth, following the routetaken by Abercrombie, over the lake to Ticonderoga, which was reached onthe 22d. On the 23d, the French officer in command of the fortresssuddenly departed down Lake Champlain with nearly all his men; butAmherst did not know it, and kept on with his preparations forbombardment, having his batteries in position before he was made aware, by French deserters, that the place had been abandoned. Soon the powdermagazine blew up, having been left by the French with a lightedslow-match attached for the purpose, the barracks caught fire, andTiconderoga, which had held out so well against British and Provincialassaults, was at last laid low. It was reconstructed, as we know, andserved both British and Patriots in the Revolutionary War; but is now inruins, picturesque and imposing in their decay. 

Crown Point was also evacuated by the French, and thus at last the mainobject of so many months' toil in the wilderness with such woful wasteof life and vast expenditure of treasure, was accomplished. While Putnamand his comrades were engaged in restoring the fortifications of CrownPoint, they heard the news of British victories on every hand: of thefall of Fort Niagara; and of the storming and capture of Quebec, when, on that fateful thirteenth of September, 1759, Wolfe and Montcalm founddeath and fame, the former at the hour of victory, the latter in defeat. 

Israel Putnam met nearly all the great British commanders, with thepossible exception of Wolfe, and had assisted with all his might at theupbuilding of English power in America, so it was not strange that when, later, the Revolution opened, he was looked upon by them more as afriend than an enemy. The next year, when Amherst moved upon Montreal, then the chief, almost sole possession of the French in Canada, ColonelPutnam went along, as a matter of course, and, it is gravely related byhis first biographer, he assisted the general at a critical moment andin a very novel way. Two armed vessels of the enemy were likely to causetrouble to the British on the St. Lawrence, and Amherst was anxious toput them out of the way before they could sink his boats. Putnamproffered his services, declaring he could take the vessels in shortorder. 

"How?" asked the General, somewhat amused as well as surprised. 

"With beetles and wedges, and a boat-load of men, " answered "Put. " And, the story goes, he rowed out to the vessels, in the dead of night, drovewooden wedges in behind their rudders, and left them helpless, for whenthe wind came up they would not answer the helm and were driven ashore, where their crews were easily taken by the English. 

CHAPTER IX

A CAMPAIGN IN CUBA

It can not be denied that Israel Putnam was already quite a traveler;but it must be added that he had so far traveled mainly within acircumscribed area. Over and over again this faithful soldier hadplodded the trails and military roads, and pushed his way through theswamps, morasses, forests, of the wilderness region of New York, whichby the end of 1761 he should have known almost as well as the woodlandpastures of his own farm. But he was destined to extend his travels andmake a foreign voyage, still in the service of the King of England, whomhe had served so long and so well. 

He was present at the capitulation of Montreal, one September day, 1760, and had the pleasure of meeting the Indian chief who had taken himprisoner two years previously. He lived near Montreal, at the Indianvillage of Caughnawaga, where he received his former captive with pride, and was highly delighted to see his old acquaintance, "whom heentertained in his own well-built stone house with great friendship andhospitality; while his guest did not discover less satisfaction in anopportunity of shaking the brave savage by the hand and proffering himprotection in this reverse of his military fortunes. "

Returning home at the end of the 1760 campaign, Putnam remained on hisfarm all winter, and the next spring set out again for what proved anuneventful season, with much hard work on fortifications andentrenchments, but no fighting of account. For, so far as the mainlandof North America was concerned, the long struggle between France andEngland was nearly at an end. France had been shorn of her possessionsin Canada, and she was losing her islands in the West Indies, where, early in 1762, beautiful Martinique (to become famous as the birthplaceof the Empress Josephine, and a rich land of sugar and spices) wascaptured by the British. 

In fact, the theater of war was transferred to the more southern regionsof the Caribbean Sea, and the New Englanders took a long breath andcongratulated themselves that at last they were at liberty to pursuetheir callings unmolested. But in this they were somewhat premature, asEngland was still engaged in fighting, and, no matter where her battleswere fought, she seemed to expect the loyal American colonists tofurnish soldiers for her wars. Connecticut, Putnam's home State, wasagain called upon for the same number of able-bodied men she hadfurnished year by year, and promptly proffered her bone and sinew tofight the wars of King George the Third. 

A thousand men, besides fifteen hundred from New York and New Jersey, embarked at the port of New York, in the month of June, 1762, bound forHavana in Cuba, where British regulars were dying by hundreds ofpestilence, and sorely needed those colonial reenforcements. On this, his first sea voyage, Colonel Putnam had a rough experience all the waydown, and off the north coast of Cuba the transport containing himselfand five hundred of his men was wrecked on a coral ledge. "Old Put" wascalm and collected, never more so, though unused to life at sea, andpreserved strict discipline among his men, thus aiding the mariners intheir endeavors to get out rafts and boats, on and in which the entirecompany finally reached the shore. To his perils by fire, twiceincurred, brave Putnam could now add that by flood, thus giving thespice of variety to his various adventures. 

"As soon as all were landed, " wrote the biographer who knew him best, "Putnam fortified his camp, that he might not be exposed to insult frominhabitants of the neighboring districts. .. . Here the party remainedunmolested several days, until the storm had so much abated as topermit the convoy to take them off. They soon joined the troops beforeHavana, who, having been several weeks in that unhealthy climate, hadalready begun to grow extremely sickly. The opportune arrival of theProvincial reenforcement, in perfect health, contributed not a little toforward the works and hasten the reduction of that important place. Butthe Provincials suffered so miserably by sickness afterward, that veryfew ever returned to their native land again. "

This is all that Colonel Putnam's contemporary, Humphreys, has to say ofthe most eventful episode of his hero's career, but it seems to thepresent writer (who has personally investigated the British and Colonialinvasion of Cuba "on the spot") that the subject is worthy of moreextended notice. The English expedition against Havana was occasioned bythe King of Spain, Charles III, having entered into what was known asthe "family compact" with Louis XV of France, by which the Bourbons wereto support each other against British rapacity and aggrandizement, asthey styled it. 

England had long looked covetously upon Havana, which the Spaniardsthemselves called the "Key of the New World, " situated at the mouth ofthe Gulf of Mexico and (in the hands of a strong power) then controllingthe seaboard of territory at present comprised in the South AtlanticStates of our Union. So she hastened to seize the capital of Cuba, the"Pearl of the Antilles, " and early in June, 1762, the surprised andfrightened inhabitants were informed that a fleet of sixty ships-of-warhad landed more than 20, 000 men at the little port of Cogimar, a fewmiles to the east of picturesque and formidable Morro Castle. 

Quickly, then, the Captain-General assembled the "Junta of Defense, "composed of men most eminent in military affairs in Havana, and placedbefore them the situation. [1] They resolved upon a spirited defense, even though their soldiers were insufficiently armed and they had nodefensive works save the Morro, then about a hundred years old, and itscompanion fortress called the Punta, between which two forts lay thedeep and narrow entrance to the harbor. This harbor was blocked by somebig war-ships, and a chain was stretched across the mouth, but theEnglish did not even essay an entrance, having landed their troops tothe east, and first marching upon the Morro from Cogimar and the town ofGuanabacao, which they took quite easily, and then sweeping over theCabañas hills, where the Spaniards later built the vast fortificationswhich they should have constructed sooner for the defense of theircapital city. 

[Footnote 1: From _Nociones de Historia de Cuba_, by Dr. Vidal Morales;Havana, 1904. ]

The Provincials arrived the last of July, and landed to the west ofHavana, where stands a small fort known as the Torreon of Chorrera, which was defended with much valor, but compelled to surrender. Afterward, however, they were transported to the Cabañas hills, andthere, on the site of the fortifications (above which, in 1904, theAmerican flag last waved in token of possession in Cuba), Israel Putnamand his Provincials joined the British troops. And they were welcome, beyond a doubt, for nearly half the British army was incapacitatedthrough fevers, and many men had died. 

[Illustration: Fort near Havana where the Colonials landed. ]

The arrival of the sturdy Colonials gave the besiegers of the Morro newstrength, and fresh courage, and within a few days they were called uponto assist at carrying the castle by storm. The English had been a longtime sapping toward the fortress walls, and a breach having been openednear the bastion, the combined assailants poured through in aninvincible flood. The Duke of Albermarle, who commanded the Britishforces, had informed the comandante of the castle that he had mined thebastion and demanded a capitulation. But the heroic commander, Don Luisde Velasco, spurned the proffer, and as a consequence the castle wasstormed, and he was included among the five hundred slain on thatoccasion. A tablet to his memory may be seen affixed against theseaward wall of the Morro, and from the parapet may be traced theBritish and Provincial line of approach. 

The bastion they breached was afterward repaired; but nothing couldrepair the terrible losses sustained by both armies through sicknesscaused by exposure and bad water. More than one-third of the Colonialsdied of disease; but nothing seemed to trouble sturdy Old Put, who waseverywhere among his men, with comfort and consolation, carrying waterto the wounded, supporting the dying. The chaplain of the Connecticuttroops one day recorded in his diary: "Col. Putman and Lt. Parks wentoff into ye country to buy fresh provisions. " Two days later he notedthe death of Putnam's companion in this trip into the country; and thatwas in October, only a few days before orders were given for theColonials to embark for New York. 

Havana capitulated soon after its only real defense, Morro Castle, wastaken, and the English entered into possession. But imagine thefeelings of the surviving soldiers who had gone so far and been exposedto so great peril, when they learned, less than a year later, that thecity and fortress that had cost so dear had been given up, in exchangefor Florida and other Spanish territory east of the Mississippi. 

In Havana, where he was one day roaming about unarmed, Colonel Putnammet with an adventure which nearly cost him his life and made him theinvoluntary owner of a negro slave. Seeing a Spaniard beating a blackman with a bamboo cane, he darted in with his old time impetuosity, andseizing the stick, wrenched it away from its owner, who, joined by otherexasperated Cubans, turned upon the American and compelled him to fleeto a vessel for safety. Here he was followed by the negro, who sosuccessfully appealed to the soldier's tender sensibilities that heallowed him to accompany him home to Connecticut. There he served himfaithfully, and when his master died he bequeathed to "Old Dick"--as hewas called--the "Havana cane, " of which the colored Cuban exile wasinordinately proud. 

Israel Putnam was now a man of substance, more than ever looked up to byhis neighbors and honored by the community in which he dwelt. Taking uphis duties of citizenship where he had left them on being summoned towar, he threw off the military habit as he might an old garment now nolonger of service, and became again the contented, humble farmer. In1763, about the time the treaty of peace between England and France wassigned, he was elected "selectman" of the town in which he lived, andthe ensuing spring appointed to receive the heads of such crows asshould be killed in the township, for which a bounty was offered ofsixpence each! Such humble offices as these he by no means despised, always lending a hand to whatever appeared in the guise of duty. 

It became his duty, he thought, to go to war again, in the year 1764, when the Indians, neglected by both French and English, who had now nofurther need of their services, found themselves in danger of beingground between the upper and the nether millstones. They looked withapprehension upon the forts the English were erecting on every hand, andfinally rose in rebellion, under the leadership of Pontiac, chief of theOttawas. He organized a widespread conspiracy among the Indian tribes, believing he could eventually exterminate "those dogs dressed in red, "as he called the English. The rising was appointed for the 7th of May, 1763, and no less than eight English garrisons were massacred, afive-months' siege ensuing at Detroit, where Pontiac himself commandedthe Indians. The attacks were intermitted in the winter, but as theywere sure to be renewed in the spring, a call was sent out for colonialtroops. Appointed to command the Connecticut troops raised for thisservice, Putnam took a prominent part in suppressing the uprising, goingout in the Bradstreet expedition. At Fort Ontario he met many oldfriends, including Sir William Johnson and his band, also the Indianchief who had captured him at Fort Ann in 1758, and who was now fightingon the side of the English with as much zeal as he had previously servedthe French. 

On his return from this wearisome campaign, Colonel Putnam again settleddown to the chosen occupation of his youth and the solace of his latteryears, on the farm. Having given ten of the best years of his life tosoldiering, he felt that he was entitled now to the rewards of peace. But alas! within five months of his arrival home he lost two of his dearones by death: his daughter Elizabeth, only seventeen years of age, whodied in the winter of 1764-'65, and his beloved wife, Hannah, who passedaway in the April following. Of the ten children born to Israel andHannah Putnam in the twenty-six years of their happy married life, sevenwere living at the time of the mother's death, the youngest only threemonths old, and bearing the name of Peter Schuyler, in honor of the NewJersey colonel who had befriended his father when a captive in Canada. 

CHAPTER X

TAVERN-KEEPER AND ORACLE

No one could call in question Israel Putnam's loyalty, yet the yearfollowing his last campaign in behalf of King George, he might have beenfound opposing the Government and riding from town to town, for thepurpose of inciting men to make armed resistance to the iniquitous"Stamp Act, " which had been passed and made a law early in 1765. WhileJames Otis, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry were eloquently declaimingagainst it, Putnam was for putting words into action, and as one of the"Sons of Liberty" was active in urging his countrymen to make a standfor freedom. 

Though prevented by an accident from taking part in the proceedings bywhich the "stamp-master" for Connecticut was compelled to resign hisposition and disavow the office to which he was appointed, yet Putnamwas foremost in bringing this condition of affairs about. It seems thatone Mr. Ingersoll was appointed stamp-master by the Crown, and, on beingrequested to resign from such an obnoxious office by the Sons ofLiberty, he returned an evasive answer. Consequently, a body of themmounted their horses and went out to meet him, as he was on his way toHartford. Finding him on the road, they caused him to dismount and, inthe presence of the company, now swelled to several hundred, to read hisresignation as a royal appointee, and to shout for "liberty andproperty, " three times, as loud as he could. 

The spirit of the people, now thoroughly aroused, was very accuratelyexpressed by Colonel Putnam, who, deputed by the Sons of Liberty to waiton the Governor of his State and inform him of the public sentimentrespecting the Stamp Act, made him understand that there would be notemporizing whatever in the matter. 

"But what should I do, " asked the perplexed Governor, "if the stampedpaper should be sent me by the King's command?"

"Lock it up until we shall visit you again, " replied Putnam, boldly. 

"And what will you do then?"

"We shall expect you to give us the key of the room in which it isdeposited, and if you think fit, in order to screen yourself, you mayforewarn us not to enter that room upon our peril. "

"And then what will you do?"

"Send the paper safely back again. "

"But if I should refuse you admission?"

"In that case, your house will be leveled to the ground in fiveminutes!"

The Governor, who desired to be loyal, and was inclined to receive thepaper, was not called upon to act, the determined attitude of the Sonsof Liberty, preventing any from being sent into the State. Elected arepresentative in 1766, Putnam was prepared to do all in his power tofrustrate the intent of the Act; but, in common with his fellowcitizens, was made happy by the news of its repeal. As this was thenthe only bone of contention between the Colonials and the King, theformer hastened to send the latter a loyal address of thanks, assuringhim of their continued devotion, etc. , etc. 

It would seem that farming, in colonial days, was almost as hazardous anemployment as fighting in the wilds, for Putnam was the victim of twodifferent accidents, by one of which he lost the first joint of hisright thumb, and by the other he received a compound fracture of hisright thigh. The latter being imperfectly attended to, rendered that legan inch shorter than the other, "which occasioned him ever after to limpin his walk. " Notwithstanding these injuries, he faithfully attended tohis duties as representative at Hartford. In June, 1767, two years andtwo months after the death of his wife, Hannah, he was married to Mrs. Deborah Lothrop, widow of John Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island, New York. 

As his second wife had a fine property on Brooklyn Green, in the centerof the town, and as the entertainment of his numerous admirers (whocame from all over the country to see him) was becoming burdensome, Farmer Putnam concluded to convert the newly acquired mansion into aninn. So he moved himself and most of his belongings (including his stockof war relics and anecdotes) from the farmhouse to the "Green, " nearlytwo miles distant, and there set up as "mine host" Putnam, putting out asign of the Wolfe--not of the beast he had slain in early life, but thegallant general of that name who fell at Quebec. This veritable sign maynow be seen in Hartford, at the rooms of the Connecticut HistoricalSociety, where also are several other precious relics of Putnam and histime, including some autograph letters by the hero himself. 

Some one, long ago, wrote of this sign, which was affixed to one of thegreat trees that stood in front of the tavern on the Green, "Itrepresents General Wolfe in full uniform, his eye fixed in an expressionof fiery earnestness upon some distant object, and his right armextended in emphatic gesture, as if charging on the foe or directingsome important movement of his army. The sign seems to have fared hardlyin one respect, being plentifully sprinkled with shot-holes!"

A contemporary wrote of him, about this time: "Col. Putnam served withthe Connecticut troops under Amherst in the last war. By his courage andconduct he secured to himself a good share of reputation. When peacecommenced he returned to the civil line of life. Of late he has occupieda tavern with a farm annexed to it. "

As the landlord of a country tavern, the genial and loquacious colonelwith a past peculiarly his own, possessing the rotund figure, the frameand habit of the traditional Boniface, seemed at last to have falleninto his proper groove, where he fitted exactly. Now nearly fifty yearsof age, with a record of ten years' fighting any one might well be proudof, a reputation not confined within the boundaries of his own country, and with some of his children already married and settled around him, he had good reason to consider himself a fixture at Brooklyn Green. 

He had joined the Congregational Church, soon after the death of hisfirst wife, in 1765, and took a leading part in building the structurethat stands to-day near the site of the first meeting-house, which waserected in 1734. It was in the year 1771 that the new church waserected, opposite the house that Putnam turned into a tavern, and theold tree that bore the sign of Wolfe. Church and trees remain to-day, separated only by the public road; but the tavern itself no longerexists, the building having been torn down some time ago. 

In 1772, it was voted by the parish that "Colonel Putnam take care of yenew meeting-house and ring ye bell, " for which service he was to receivethree pounds a year. Thus the duties of sexton and bell-ringer wereassumed by this many-sided man; but he had not performed them longbefore he was called to go on a strange voyage in quest of lands inWest Florida, which were reported to have been granted to the survivorsof the French-and-Indian wars. The claims of the survivors were justenough; but their quest was fruitless, for they were not given thelands. However, a band of "military adventurers" set out, under theleadership of General Phineas Lyman, who had been in command ofConnecticut's troops all through the wars, and Landlord Putnam was oneof them. 

Urged, perhaps, by his admirers to preserve some chronicle of his doingsthis time (having been so neglectful in this respect in the past) ourhero actually began a journal, writing on the blank leaves of the"orderly book" which he used in his Havana campaign. This book, doublyinteresting to the present generation, is still preserved by a linealdescendant of Putnam, and attests to the fact that the soldier of manywars was not equal to the intellectual effort of writing even a legiblediary of his doings. He soon gave it up, in fact; but the few entrieshe made are exceedingly quaint and simple, as for example:

 "friday ye forst of jenauary, 1773--this Day no work don--went to Church. .. . Satorday ye 2--this day taking in goods for ye voige--good weathor. Thorsday ye 7--this was a varey good Day and had almost all completed. Satorday ye 9 of Jenauary--had all things on bord and ready for sailing But the wind was so much to ye south it would not Do. "

At last the "military adventurers" got away. On the 30th of January theytouched in at Mole San Nicolas, island of Haiti, and a week later madeport at Montego Bay, Jamaica, where, according to the veracious diarist, "we waited on ye mannegor of the plantation who treted us veryhamseley--walked with ous--shewed ous all ye Works and the mills togrind ye _Cain_ and as we went thare was a dog atacked ye manegor and inye fight I tumbelled into won of the vats that was full of Liquer tomake rum of--shifted all my Cloths and went on borde. "

They finally arrived at Pensacola, where, learning to their sorrow thatno lands had been granted them, they set out on a short exploring tripof the Mississippi, by the way of New Orleans, which ended north ofNatchez, to which spot General Lyman later returned and founded asettlement, where he passed his last days. The gallant adventurersreturned to Pensacola, thence sailed to New York, where they arrived thefirst week in August, 1773. 

It was Colonel Putnam's intention to invest in lands on the Mississippi, it is believed, but the events that shaped toward and brought about theRevolution were yearly getting more exciting, intense, and his soldierinstinct was aroused. He keenly watched the trend of events, hediscussed in his tavern the exciting news of the day with visitors fromall parts of the country, and his convictions were becoming stronger andstronger that something dire and dreadful was to happen. 

The Boston massacre of the 5th of March, 1770, fired our hero almost toa frenzy, and while there may have been men more eloquent in theirdenunciations of the British soldiery, like Otis and Adams, there wasnone more emphatic and in earnest. Between the massacre and the Boston"Tea Party" in 1773, Putnam made his journey to the Mississippi; but hewas home, and as usual alert and anxious, when the latter eventoccurred. 

From that moment he was most attentive to what was going on in Boston, which was then the "danger spot" of the Colonies. He gave his timefreely to the anticipatory work of organizing his fellow citizens intomilitary companies and drilling them into proficiency, and he was madechairman of the "Committee of Correspondence" for Brooklyn. As such hebore to Boston, when the infamous "Port Bill" was passed, thecondolences and sympathy of his fellow citizens, in a letter eloquentlyphrased, and--what was more satisfactory and substantial--the gift of aflock of sheep. 

"We send you, " the committee wrote, "one hundred and twenty-five sheepas a present from the inhabitants of Brooklyn, hoping thereby you willstand more firm (if possible) in the glorious cause in which you areembarked. " And Israel Putnam, always the man for the emergency, alwaysready to mount and away at a moment's notice, rode all the way toBoston, driving that flock of sheep before him! When arrived there hewas not received as the farmer, the tavern-keeper, the drover, but asthe famous military man, hero of many battles, an American of renown. Hewas the guest of Dr. Joseph Warren, the patriot who was killed at BunkerHill; but people of all classes and conditions united to do honor to"the celebrated Colonel Putnam, " one of the "greatest militarycharacters of the age, " and "so well known throughout North America thatno words are necessary to inform the public any further concerning himthan that his generosity led him to Boston, to cherish his oppressedbrethren and support them by every means in his power. " The newspapersalluded to him as "the old hero, Putnam"; and yet he was onlyfifty-four at the time, at the period of life in which a man should beable to do his best work. "He looks fresh and hearty, " wrote one of hisfriends to another, "and on an emergency would be as likely to do goodbusiness as ever. "

And why not? Putnam himself might have asked this question, for he hadby no means reached his "grand climacteric, " and was still ready, willing--and able, as well--to fight the enemies of his country. He waszealous in behalf of his fellow patriots, but during this visit toBoston he found almost as many friends on the British side as on theColonial, including Governor Gage, with whom he had fought their commonenemies, the Indians. When one of them banteringly asked them whether hewas going to stand by the flag or the country he answered seriously, butwith perfect good nature: "I shall always be found on the side of mycountry!"

"Now, Putnam, " another asked him, "don't you seriously believe that awell appointed British army of say five thousand veterans could marchthrough the whole continent of America?"

"No doubt, " he promptly replied, "if they behaved civilly, and paid wellfor what they wanted; but, " he added, after a moment's pause, "if theyshould attempt it in a hostile manner (though the men of America wereout of the question) the women would knock them all on the head withtheir ladles and broomsticks!"

CHAPTER XI

ON THE SIDE OF HIS COUNTRY

Ready and willing was Putnam--of that there is no doubt. Too willing, some of his enemies declared, when in September, 1774, news coming fromBoston that American blood had been shed, without waiting to verify thereport, he started out to alarm the country. This proved a false alarm, and he was strongly censured by those who had not kept a close watch onhappenings in Boston; but he defended himself so sturdily that hiscritics were silenced. Two things were proved by this false alarm: thatthe people were ready to be aroused on the slightest provocation, forthey filled the highways and flocked by thousands in the direction ofBoston; again, that the British intended to stay where they were, forthey extended their fortifications. Both sides were warned, and thelines of demarcation began to be visible where before they had seemedhardly to be distinguished, between loyalists and patriots. It was noweither for England or for America, even the common people felt, whilethe leaders, like Israel Putnam, saw in the closer approach of warlikepreparations only the fulfilment of their predictions. 

The very next month, October, 1774, the militia of Putnam's State wereordered to provide themselves with an increased supply of powder, bullets and flints for their muskets. More vigorously than ever now heapplied himself to the training of the sturdy militia; hoping forcontinued peace, perhaps, but preparing for nothing less than war. Whenwar broke finally, with the first blood shed at Lexington, it found theminutemen of New England better prepared than their enemies believed, and when the news of this epoch-making event reached Israel Putnam, thisgreat exemplar of the minutemen proved a model worthy their emulation. 

The messenger with the doleful tidings found him plowing in the fieldback of his house at Brooklyn Green. His son Daniel was with himdriving the oxen, and when the patriot had gathered the full meaning ofthe news he left the boy to unyoke the team, and himself hastened to hisbarn, where he saddled and mounted his best horse and started out toarouse the country again, as he had done seven months before. He had nodoubts this time as to the truth of the rumor, for it had come directand contained its own confirmation on its face. 

The British, eight hundred strong, had left Boston for Concord, wherethey hoped to find some military stores. Encountering a small body ofmilitia at Lexington, Major Pitcairn, in command of the Britishsoldiers, called out to them to throw down their arms and disperse; butas they did not do so he ordered his men to fire, killing eight of thesturdy Americans, who even then did not run away, but joined themselvesto other minutemen now assembling, and again came in contact with theirfoes at Concord Bridge. Just how many were slain the first message didnot accurately report; but it was enough that blood had been shed, andit mattered not whether that blood was from ten men or a thousand. 

The die was cast, the moment for armed resistance had arrived, andIsrael Putnam tarried not for details, but sped straight for the home ofGovernor Trumbull, at Lebanon (the same who was afterward known as"Brother Jonathan"), and receiving from him mandatory permission toproceed to the scene of strife, hastened back to Brooklyn, arriving athis tavern home late in the afternoon. He had already been in the saddlefor hours, as the news reached him between eight and nine in themorning, but before sunset the tireless warrior was again on horsebackand galloping for Cambridge and Concord. He probably had receivedrefreshment, food and drink at intervals, but he had not stopped tochange his working clothes for better, and went off on both long ridesin the farmer's frock which he wore when plowing in the field behind hishouse. 

Though the Putnam mansion at Brooklyn Green is no longer in existence, the great trees that stood in front of it in his time still cast theirgrateful shade upon its site, and the walled field, sloping toward averdant meadow, may be seen by the visitor, much as it lay to the sun onthat lovely morning in April, 1775, when the farmer-patriot waspeacefully running his furrows. 

The distance to Cambridge was nearly ninety miles, yet Putnam covered itin an all-night's ride, going pretty much over the same ground he hadtraversed when, a young man of twenty-two, he had taken his wife andchild to their new home in Connecticut. Thirty-five years had elapsedsince the young pioneer had made his first venture in the world, ten ofwhich he had passed in fighting for the King against whose soldiers hewas soon to lead his fellow countrymen in war. Trained to fight thebattles of Britain, yet those ten years of experience in warfare withthe Indians were to prepare him for a wider, vaster field. He must nowhave felt this, his patriot friends must have believed it, for theireyes were turned expectantly toward Israel Putnam, as soon as the firstblood was shed at Lexington and Concord. 

See that sturdy figure, hurrying on horseback over the rough roads, through the darkness of the night, toward the goal of duty! The Britishhad marched out of Boston at night, on the eighteenth of April, theirpurpose and their route foretold by Paul Revere (who, by the way, was inthe campaign at Lake George, if not a comrade of Israel Putnam at thattime). At or near daybreak of the nineteenth, at Lexington, the shotswere fired "heard round the world"; at noon the British were in retreatfrom Concord, where they had been routed by the minutemen, and by night, exhausted, disgraced, defeated, they had reached Charlestown, under theescort of Lord Percy and his 1, 200 reenforcements, where they wereprotected from the enraged militia by the guns of the fleet. 

With such celerity traveled the news, that Putnam heard it on themorning of the twentieth; and with such celerity traveled Putnam, thathe was at Cambridge _on the morning of the twenty-first_, and that sameday at Concord, wonderful as may seem the feat performed by gallanthorse and rider. 

In the custody of the Connecticut Historical Society, at Hartford, theoriginal of the following letter may be found, which attests to Putnam'sarrival at Concord on the twenty-first, and to the use he made of histime:

 Concord, April 21, 1775. 

 Col. Williams, Sir

 I have waited on the com'tee of the Provisional Congress and it is there Determination to have a standing Armey of twenty-two thousand Men from the New England colonys of wh'h it is soposed the coloney of Conecticut must raise Six Thousand and beg they would be on Parade at Cambridge as Speedy as may be with conveniency together with Provisions and Sufficiency of amonition for there own use, the Battle hear is much as represented at Pomfrett--Except that there is more killed and a Number taken Prisoners--The accounts are at Present so confused that it is Impossible to assertain the number exact. Shall inform you of the Prossedings from Time to Time as we have New occurencys. 

 mean Time I am Sir yr very Humble Servt

 Israel Putnam. 

 N. B. The Throop of Horse is not Expected to come on till further notice. 

 Sir. Being in hast and cannot write Disire a copy of this to be transmitted to Governor Trumble. 

 A true copy, Ebenezer Williams. 

 Pomfret, April 22, 1775. 

In the Lexington-Concord fight, the first engagement between British andnative Americans, the former lost two hundred and seventy-three, and thelatter about one hundred, in killed and wounded, twenty-three townsbeing represented among the wounded and slain. "It was not a great fightin itself, but it was great, and even grand, in its consequences. Onthat day a nation was born. Then the American learned for the first timehow to stand and fight for their own liberties. "

The rallying minutemen flocked to the scene of the encounter, springingto arms without a thought of consequences, rising to the defense oftheir homes as one man, and within a week there were sixteen thousandmen investing the demoralized enemy at Boston. Their alacrity inassembling at the common rendezvous has been a matter of wonder eversince, for nearly all marched on foot, without the assistance of horsesor steam. The writer of these lines had an ancestor who was foremostamong those minutemen hurrying to the defense of liberty, and who, it isa tradition in his family, ran nearly all the way from Beverly, twentymiles distant, with his flint-lock on his shoulder. Hence, as all wereequally prompt in leaping at the enemy's throat, Putnam's remarkablefeat was not at the time considered extraordinary. 

In a few days our hero was at home again, having been called to Hartfordby the legislators, who were desirous of consulting with their mostexperienced warrior, and bestowed upon him the rank and title ofbrigadier-general. All these events took place within the space of aweek's time, and before another week had passed Brigadier-General Putnamwas in headquarters at Cambridge, occupying a house which stood withinthe present grounds of Harvard University. General Artemus Ward, ofMassachusetts, was commander-in-chief of the forces, having beencommissioned by the Provincial Congress; but Putnam was the greaterfavorite with the soldiers, in whose vocabulary (to paraphrase a sayingcommon at the time) "the British were the Philistines, and Putnam, theAmerican Samson, a chosen instrument to defeat the foe. "

It is a matter of record that General Ward relied upon the advice of hisold friend, with whom he had fought, under Abercrombie, at Ticonderoga, and kept him always within call at headquarters. Had he followed hisadvice more closely, however, it would have been better for their sacredcause, as was shown in the crucial test at the battle of Bunker Hill, when Putnam's repeated requests for reenforcements were at first denied, then so hesitatingly granted that they proved of small avail. 

To Putnam, then, and not to Ward, the officers and men of the assembledmilitia looked for advice and encouragement. They were quite naturallydoubtful as to the result of their hasty action, and as most of them hadnever been under fire they were timid and even down-hearted. But Putnamwas continually engaged in arousing both their patriotism and theirhopes. When General Warren asked him (wrote Putnam's son Daniel, manyyears later) "if 10, 000 British troops should march out of Boston, whatnumber, in his opinion, would be competent to meet them, the answer was, 'Let me pick my officers, and I would not fear to meet them with halfthat number--not in a pitched battle, to stop them at once, for notroops are better than the British--but I would fight on the retreat, and every wall we passed should be lined with the dead!'"

"Our men, " the General said on another occasion, "would always followwherever their officers led--I know this to have been the case withmine, and have also seen it in other instances. " And as Putnam's recordhad long since proved that he always led, and asked no man to approachnearer the foe than he himself was willing to go, the soldiers wereenthusiastic for "Old Wolf Put, " the fighter, though lukewarm in theirfeelings toward the commander. 

They did not admire the methods Putnam employed to keep them out ofmischief--these raw and undisciplined militia, accustomed to do as theyliked and to take orders from no man--for he kept them actively employedall the time. "It is better to dig a ditch every morning, and fill it upat evening, than to have the men idle, " said Old Put, and though the mengrumbled the results soon showed that he was right. 

What they also needed more than anything else was confidence, and, inorder to inspire that, he paraded some two thousand of them throughCharlestown over the hills soon to become world-famous, and right insight of the enemy. He did this several times, and on one occasion tookwith him his son Daniel, who wrote of it afterward: "I felt proud to benumbered among what I then thought to be a mighty host destined for somegreat enterprise. "

Daniel was then only fifteen years of age, yet he performed a man'swork, proving himself worthy of his parentage, and was his father'saide-de-camp and companion. During the progress of the battle at BunkerHill he acted as the guard and defender of a British refugee's wife andfamily, and stoutly did his duty, boy that he was. 

Perhaps the highest tribute paid to Putnam's prowess was the offer ofhis old-time friend and comrade, General Gage, the Britishcommander-in-chief, to pay him a large sum of money, and secure him amajor-generalcy in the British army, if he would desert the "rebel"cause and come over to that of the King. Putnam spurned this offer, ofcourse, as did sturdy Colonel Stark, another comrade of the Indian wars, and several others. He was all the more active, if possible, in seekingout the enemy's weak points and in attempts to reduce his supplies. 

An opportunity offered, some time in the last week of May, both to annoythe enemy and gain substantial recompense for a somewhat hazardousadventure. Several hundred sheep and cattle were in pasture on Hog andNoddles islands (the latter now East Boston), and as it was feared thatthe British might secure them before the Colonials did, a small forcewas sent to drive them to the mainland. It was sent by Putnam, whosegreat and burning desire for a "brush" with the enemy was now about tobe gratified, and as a party of marines on guard over the live-stockfired on the Americans, Putnam hastened to their rescue with a largerforce. 

A British sloop and schooner then joined in the fight; but the Colonialsturned their single cannon upon the craft, and soon disabled the largervessel, which drifted ashore and, after the crew had been either shot ordriven away, was set on fire. In this engagement ten or fifteen Britishwere killed and wounded, but no Provincial lost his life, though two orthree of Putnam's men were wounded. They fought with great spirit, wading in water from knee to waist deep, and not only brought off allthe live-stock in safety, but also took away the guns, rigging and sailsof the schooner, as well as some clothes and money left by the sailorsin their flight. This brisk engagement gave the raw soldiers just theconfidence they needed, and they returned in high spirits to their camp. 

"I wish we could have something of this kind to do every day, " remarkedPutnam to Ward and Warren, as he reached his headquarters, where theywere waiting for him to appear. "It would teach our men how littledanger there is from cannon-balls; for though they have sent a greatmany at us, nobody has been much hurt by them. " He was wet from head tofoot, and covered with mud to his waist; but he did not mind that atall, and was as hilarious as a boy just let out from school. 

The British were greatly chagrined at this second defeat, the firstengagement after the Concord-Lexington fight, but at an exchange ofprisoners, conducted, on the one hand, under Putnam and Warren, and onthe other under Majors Small and Moncrief, the sixth of June, no illfeeling was shown. Putnam and Small (whose life the former wasinstrumental in saving at Bunker Hill, and who were oldcompanions-at-arms), embraced, and one eye-witness said, kissed eachother, in the excess of their joy at meeting; yet less than two weekslater they were opposed in a fight to the death. 

CHAPTER XII

AT THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

General Putnam was greatly elated over the exchange of prisoners, recognizing, with the prescience of a statesman, that General Gage hadconceded a point of importance as to the status of his opponents. "Hemay _call_ us rebels now, if he will, " he said to his son, "but why thendoesn't he hang his prisoners instead of exchanging them? By this act hehas virtually placed us on an equality, and acknowledged our _right_ ofresistance. " That was one point gained by the general; another was, theconsent of the Committee of Safety to his plan of operations against theBritish in Boston. 

General Ward and Dr. Warren were in favor of moderation, and opposed tothe scheme advanced by Putnam, of forcing the enemy to either fight orretire. They urged that they had no battering cannon and but littlepowder, there being but sixty-seven barrels in the whole army, and nomills to make any more when that was gone. And again, they feared forthe steadiness of the men, once they found themselves opposed by thebest of Britain's soldiers. But Putnam was persistent, not in advocatingthe bombarding of Boston, or of a large expenditure of powder and ballin trying to force the British from their position; but in fortifyingthe heights of Dorchester and Charlestown, which completely commandedthe city. 

He knew the British mode of attack and defense, knew their tacticsthrough long observation in the ranks; and yet for him and hiscompatriots those same British professed to feel naught but contempt. They had always ignored the Provincials' claims to advancement on equalterms with their own officers; they thought their soldiers in the Indianwars were boorish and uncouth, merely because they paid little attentionto dress or discipline; yet here was one of those least regardful ofappearances (though an advocate of discipline) who knew them and theirtactics through and through. And he also knew the men of his commandbetter than any officers of inferior rank knew them. His one cry was, "fight, fight; bring our men into contact with the enemy, in order thatthey shall gain confidence and learn that they are really their equals, and more than that. Fight and entrench, entrench and fight; run awaywhen it comes to a pinch, fight while you run; but fight!"

"But will our men stand before an enemy?" queried the timid ones. "Yes, they will, " declared Putnam with a laugh. "Our troops are not all afraidof their heads, though very much concerned for their _legs_, and if youcover these they'll fight forever!" In other words, put them behindentrenchments, and he would pit them against the finest fighters thatcould be brought against them. The result at Bunker Hill was avindication of his belief. 

As Putnam had all along declared, it was in the nature of animpossibility for sixteen thousand armed men to besiege ten thousandother armed men without something happening partaking of violence. Thewar was "on, " there was no doubt of that, why then hesitate at warlikemeasures? Still the commander-in-chief hesitated and paltered, whilePutnam fumed, but labored hard. 

What Putnam had advocated as the highest strategy, the seizing of someheight commanding the British position, was forced upon the irresolutecommander-in-chief by the British themselves. Shortly after GeneralGage's four thousand soldiers had been reenforced by six thousand more, under Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, the Americans learned that the enemyintended to take and fortify the heights of Charlestown or Dorchesterthemselves. As it was then the sixteenth of June, and their move was tobe made on the eighteenth, there was no time to lose if they were to beforestalled; so orders were issued by the Committee of Safety, sanctioned by a council of war, for taking possession of Bunker Hill inCharlestown. 

A detail of a thousand men was made from three Massachusetts regiments, to which, in order to placate General Putnam, two hundred Connecticutsoldiers were added under his friend, Captain Knowlton. This small bodyof militia, with a few field pieces as artillery, was to sally forth torouse the British lion in his lair. The detachment was placed underColonel William Prescott, of Massachusetts, General Putnam "having thegeneral superintendence of the expedition, " and about nine o'clock atnight, after having been paraded on Cambridge Common, and listened toprayer by the president of Harvard College, this devoted band set forthon its mysterious mission. 

Striding ahead of his men, all of whom had perfect confidence in theirbeloved officer, Colonel Prescott led the way, accompanied by twosergeants carrying lanterns. Not until they had reached the foot ofBunker Hill, where they found entrenching tools awaiting them which hadbeen sent ahead in wagons, did the rank and file know the object oftheir march in the night; yet they faltered not, nor displayed adisposition to retreat. Their leaders knew, of course; but even theywere in doubt, when once arrived at Charlestown, which of its eminencesto select. Their orders explicitly indicated Bunker Hill as the one tofortify, but, "though this was the most commanding and most defensibleposition, it was too far from the enemy to annoy their army andshipping. " Situated nearer the British general position was anotherelevation, Breed's Hill; but this was only sixty-two feet in height, ascompared with Bunker Hill's one hundred and ten. This was finallyselected, but only after a long consultation, which lasted until nearmidnight, when the veteran military engineer, Colonel Gridley (who hadbeen awaiting the decision in great anxiety, owing to the loss ofvaluable time), at once proceeded to lay out the works. 

On the summit of Breed's Hill the skilled engineer quickly ran the linesof that world-famous redoubt in which our immortal freemen inflicted atechnical defeat upon Britain's bravest soldiers. It was planned andconstructed with a redan facing Charlestown which protected the southside of the hill, and was only about eight rods square, continued by abreastwork on its eastern side, from which it was separated by asallyport protected in front by a "blind, " with a passage-way openingrearward as a provision for retreat. The men were given picks andshovels, and at once bent to their task with feverish energy. Scant fourhours they had before them, when daylight would reveal them and theirposition to the enemy, for June's longest days and shortest nights werenear, with daylight at four in the morning. They all labored for theirlives, both officers and men, and toiled without cessation to the end. The night was dark, but the stars shone bright, and by their lightColonel Prescott and another officer, Major Brooks, stole down to theshore to observe the enemy, where they were reassured by the "All'swell" from the British sentries on board the ships off shore. 

All was not well--for them--most assuredly; but it was not until themorning mists rolled away from the rounded summits of the hills in frontthat they found it out. Then they might well gaze in wrath and wonder, beholding that work as if of enchantment going on before them, on thathill-top within short cannon-shot of their shipping. But they did notspend much time in rubbing their eyes and in vain speculation, beingwell assured at a glance that the "rascally American militia" had stolena march upon them in the night and brought all their plans to naught. 

A brisk cannonade was opened from the war-ships upon the weary, toilingmen in the entrenchment; but they still worked on, incited to theirutmost by the gallant Prescott, who himself is said to have lent a handwith pick and shovel. General Putnam's predictions as to their coolnessunder fire were more than verified, and had he been there then he wouldhave been surprised at their indifference to the cannonading now goingon so furiously. One man only was killed in this preliminary firing, andhe had strayed outside the breastwork. 

"Man killed, what shall we do with him?" asked a subaltern of Prescott. 

"Bury him, " was the laconic answer; and buried he was, in the ditch, while the work on the redoubt went on. 

General Putnam was not on the hill when the cannon-fire began, havinggone back to camp to change his tired horse for a fresher one; for hisgait, says the historian, was always fast and furious. At the firstreport, however, he pricked up his ears and sent to Commander Ward foranother horse; but before his orderly returned, he had procured stillanother and was already on his way to Charlestown. He had tried toprocure for his men not only reenforcements but refreshments, for theyhad taken with them only one day's rations. In this he was disappointed, General Ward refusing to send over any more men, at that time, believing the British would take advantage of his weakened force to makea direct attack upon the main army at Cambridge. But when, havingarrived at the hill, Putnam conversed with Prescott and noted thenecessitous condition of the men, he again mounted and in hot haste rodeback to Cambridge, with an urgent plea to the commander for assistance. This time it was not refused, and again gallant Putnam rode acrossCharlestown Neck, at the risk of his life, to take part in the comingconflict. 

Meanwhile, there was a great commotion in the British camps, and fromtheir place of vantage on Breed's Hill the patriots could see thegathering soldiers marching for the shore. General Gage had quicklycalled a council, which instantly decided that the patriots must bedislodged at whatever cost. As the prescient Putnam had foretold, theoccupation of a hill so near their lines made their position untenable. They must move out or fight, and not even Putnam believed they wouldretreat from their snug quarters in Boston town. He knew well what wascoming, and was not at all surprised to see, gathering beneath theblazing morning sun of the torrid day that had succeeded to a sultrynight, the thousands of redcoats, armed and equipped for battle. 

After informing the anxious soldiers on the hill of the promised succorto arrive, Putnam rode along the lines and, casting his eye over thesituation, perceived that it would be a grave strategic omission toneglect to entrench the hill in the rear, which was the original objectof their advance. As the main redoubt was then practically completed, and the men were resting from their toil, he ordered the entrenchingtools to be taken to Bunker Hill, and another work begun which mightserve as a "rallying place" in case they were compelled to retreat--asundoubtedly they would be. This entrenchment was begun but neverfinished, owing to the lack of time. Had it been completed, and had themen been able to avail of its defenses, there might have been adifferent tale to tell of the final finish at Bunker Hill. But noon hadnow arrived, the British frigates and floating batteries were by thistime not only raining shot like hail upon and around the redoubt, butsending a scathing fire across the Neck, under cover of whichbarge-loads of soldiers were landing on the peninsula preparatory to anadvance. 

Noon came, but not the reenforcements which had been promised by GeneralWard, so General Putnam "seized the opportunity of hastening toCambridge, whence he returned without delay. He had to pass a gallingenfilading fire of round, bar, and chain shot, which thundered acrossthe Neck from a frigate in the Charles River, and two floating batterieshauled close to the shore, " wrote one who had conversed witheye-witnesses of this scene. The neck, or narrow passage-way between theCharles and Mystic Rivers, was only about one hundred and thirty yardsacross and exposed to that terrible cannonade; yet over it flew thereckless rider, coat off, in shirt-sleeves, an old white hat on hishead; back and forth he rode, fearless and unscathed. The great painterTrumbull, who produced the celebrated picture of the Battle of BunkerHill, which has excited the admiration of thousands, represented GeneralPutnam conspicuously placed in that scene, but arrayed in an immaculateuniform, with ruffles and frills, and such like accessories which "OldPut" would have spurned. 

Still, the _man_ was there, if not the uniform. His appointment asmajor-general was dated two days after that memorable 17th of June; buthe was then, as brigadier-general, the ranking officer present, untilbrave Warren appeared upon the scene. The latter was discovered byPutnam just as he was wheeling about after meeting and posting thegallant Colonel Stark and his New Hampshire reenforcements behind therail fence and grass breastwork, where they gave such a good account ofthemselves that day. Turning about, he saw the slender figure of thenewly-made major-general before him, a sword at his side, but a musketon his shoulder. 

"What, Warren, you here?" he is said to have exclaimed. "I am sorry tosee you . .. But I'm ready to submit myself to your orders. "

"No, no, I came only as a volunteer, " replied Warren. "Tell me where Ican be most useful. "

Pointing to the redoubt, Putnam said, "You will be protected there. "

"I am not seeking a place of safety, " rejoined Warren with warmth; "tellme where the onset will be most furious. "

"There, " answered Putnam. "That will be the enemy's object. Prescott isthere and will do his duty; if that can be defended, the day will beours. "

The shouts of the soldiers announced to Putnam the arrival of Warren intheir midst, and not long after another cheer proclaimed the arrival ofan old friend and comrade of his, Colonel Seth Pomeroy, a veteran of theIndian wars, who, twenty years before, had succeeded to the command ofColonel Ephraim Williams's regiment at the battle of Lake George. He hadbeen aroused by the tidings from the seat of war, and though, likePutnam, he lived nearly or quite a hundred miles away, he had hastenedto be in the thick of the fight. He had borrowed a horse from GeneralWard, but, with characteristic Yankee caution, had left it the otherside of the Neck, in charge of a sentry, and had walked over, amid thehail of shot from the frigates and batteries. 

Pomeroy and Putnam would have made a good pair to represent Valor andIntrepidity, were statues desired for those noble qualities. When Putnamsaw him he cried out: "You here, Pomeroy? By God! a cannon-shot wouldwaken you out of your grave!" He was in his seventieth year, having beenborn in 1706, and twelve years Putnam's senior. 

So they gathered, the young and the old, the learned doctor and thepractical mechanic, for the defense of Freedom--a magnet that drew bothPomeroy and Warren to that since-famous redoubt on the summit of Breed'sHill. They offered their services to Colonel Prescott, and he gladlyaccepted them, demurring as to Warren, and tendering him the command, which was his by right of rank. But the patriot simply said, as before, that he had come to fight as a volunteer, and at once mingled with themen within the redoubt. 

The movements of the British were slow, and mid-afternoon had arrivedbefore the agonizing suspense was over and they began their advance upthe hill. The eager Americans were hardly to be kept behind theirearthworks, much less restrained from firing at the advancing foe, asthe solid ranks came marching up the acclivity, ominously silent, withdeadly intent. But Putnam was with them, riding slowly up and down thelines. 

"Don't waste your powder, boys, " he shouted. "Wait for orders, then firelow, take aim at their waistbands. Aim at the handsome coats, pick offthe commanders!" They did as commanded, only a few anticipating orders, and at the fatal command, "Fire!" the ranks in front of them melted awaylike snow before the sun. 

It was the same at the breastwork as at the redoubt, and at the secondor third volley the remaining redcoats broke and fled promiscuously downthe hill. It was not in the nature of even the bravest men to march tocertain destruction, and General Howe had difficulty in re-forming hisdefeated troops for a second assault; but on they came, the intrepidHowe in advance and on foot, until within even a shorter distance ofredoubt, breastwork, and rail fence, when a sheet of flame burst forththat carried all before it to destruction. 

The scene outspread from the hill was perfectly appalling, and, to addto the terrors of thunderous artillery, from frigates, floatingbatteries and field-pieces, clouds of smoke came pouring out fromCharlestown, which had been set on fire, enveloping the contestants, atfirst, in semi-obscurity. It was the intention of the British, insetting fire to Charlestown, to veil their movements as they marched upthe hill; but this was frustrated by the rising wind, which carried thesmoke aloft and away. 

In the second advance, as in the first, the soldiers were led by GeneralHowe, who seemed, like Putnam, to bear a charmed life, at this timehaving all his staff officers killed or wounded but one. For theProvincials had strictly obeyed Putnam's orders, to pick off the men inhandsome coats. He himself was touched to the heart. 

"Oh, my God, what carnage!" he cried, as he saw his former friends andcomrades fall before the withering blast. Seeing several of his menaiming their pieces at the only officer remaining unhurt, he dartedforward and struck up their muskets, exclaiming: "For God's sake, lads, don't fire at that man! I love him as I do my brother. " It was MajorSmall, a former companion of the Indian wars, who owed his life toPutnam's intervention, and who afterward tried to requite thefavor--though vainly--when brave Warren fell, by entreating him tosurrender. 

The sword with which Old Put struck up the muskets of his men was alwaysvisible in the thickest of the fight, waving in air, descending withresounding whacks--the flat of it--upon recreant soldiers' shoulders;held threateningly against the breast of cowardly artillerymen, when, their cartridges proving inadequate, they were about abandoning theirguns. 

The little field-pieces were too puny to do much harm, but they countedfor something, Putnam said, as he tore a cartridge in pieces and, ladling the powder and canister into the gun, aimed and discharged itinto the advancing ranks of the foe, with effect. But all was of noavail. The Americans had good cause to believe the enemy had had enough;but Putnam knew the foe and cautioned them against overconfidence. Trueto his predictions, they reformed for a third charge upon the hill, led, as before, by the gallant Howe, and this time, as the Provincials hadnearly exhausted their supply of ammunition, they were forced toextremities. 

Yet nearer than before, the British were allowed to approach, and, withtheir artillery enfilading the redoubt and the breastwork with deadlyeffect, the brave Provincials waited till they were within twenty yardsbefore they fired their last rounds into the foe. Then they clubbedtheir muskets, dashed stones into the faces of the foe, fighting hand tohand, as the British poured over the earthworks in a stream. Seeing hisforlorn position, Prescott ordered a retreat, and his men sullenlyobeyed, fighting to the last, stubbornly contesting every foot. 

Down below, on the slope near the Neck, was the infuriated Putnam, doinghis utmost to urge forward the belated reenforcements. When he saw theonpouring mass of men in retreat he was wild with rage. "Halt, youinfernal cowards!" he yelled. "Halt here and make a stand. We can stopthem yet!" But he was overborne by the resistless stream, and with animpious imprecation on his lips he dismounted, near a field-piece, "andseemed resolved to brave the foe alone. " One man only, a sergeant, tookhis stand beside him, but he was soon shot down, and brave Old Put wasleft without support. "The enemy's bayonets were just upon him when heretired, " probably the last unwounded warrior to retreat from BunkerHill!

CHAPTER XIII

HOLDING THE ENEMY AT BAY

The battle had been fought, and had resulted even better than the thenenraged Putnam himself could have anticipated, for although technicallydefeated, the Provincials had achieved a real victory, the fruits ofwhich were to be enjoyed by generations then unborn. For they hadconquered themselves as well as the enemy, whom they had met with calmconfidence; and had they been better supplied with ammunition, thatenemy would never have seen the inside of the redoubt and thebreastworks. 

British bayonets defeated them finally, as opposed to clubbed musketsand stones cast by despairing men, whose very last thought was ofretreat. Many and many a man besides Prescott and Putnam, Stark andPomeroy, Knowlton and McClary, raged like wolves that day at its ending, to find themselves compelled to accept a retreat as the alternative ofcapture or death. Like lions making for their lairs in the hills, Prescott and Putnam gave way at last before the overwhelming forces ofthe enemy; and, after passing through the storm of cannon-balls stillhurtling across the Neck, they had leisure to count up their losses; forthe British were too exhausted, too much in awe of their prowess, even, to pursue. 

It was a very good showing for green troops, that which told therespective losses of British and Americans: more than a thousand of theformer, as against less than five hundred of the latter. Each side lost, in killed and wounded, about one-third the total number of its men, forthe British brought about four thousand five hundred troops into thefield; while the Americans in active conflict, including suchreenforcements as reached the hill, scarcely exceeded fifteen hundred. 

A very good showing, a "great victory"--yet purchased at fearful costto both sides. A host of British officers, many of them bearing namesdistinguished for valor and honorable lineage, went down before thevolleys of the Provincials, while the latter had also a sorrowful taleto tell. Warren had fallen, one of the last to leave the redoubt; oldPomeroy had his musket shattered, but drew off in good order, taking italong with him for repairs; McClary was killed by a cannon-ball, whileboasting that the shot was not cast that would end his life; and so thestory went. 

One of the strangest happenings was the end of Major Pitcairn, who hadordered the first shots fired at Lexington, and who, one of the firstover the redoubt, was killed by a negro soldier named Salem, fallinginto the arms of his son. It came about, some time after, that thepistols he had carried at Lexington (which were taken from his holsterswhen his horse was shot under him, and he lay on the ground feigninghimself dead) were presented to General Putnam. He carried them throughall his subsequent campaigns, and at present they may be found in thecustody of the Library at Lexington. 

One field-piece only was saved out of six guns taken by the Provincialsinto battle, and it was near the last one left in the field that theenraged Putnam took his stand, between his retreating men and theadvancing foe, until "his countrymen were in momentary expectation ofseeing this compeer of the immortal Warren fall. "

That was Putnam: one of the first in the field, the last to leave it. Wehave seen (as all his biographers and many historians have agreed instating) that he took a most active part throughout, exposing himselfcontinually to the shots of the enemy, guiding, directing, leading; andthat no man's commands were so eagerly received and so promptly obeyedas his. And yet there are cavilers who have raised the question as towhether he or Prescott commanded at the battle of Bunker Hill--as thoughit mattered much. Both were sons of Massachusetts, and Putnam anadoptive son of Connecticut, fighting on Massachusetts soil. 

It is certain that neither he nor Prescott gave a thought to thismatter, especially at the time the balls flew thickest. [2] They may havehad differences of opinion, as, for instance, when Putnam attempted totake away some of Prescott's men from the redoubt to throw up earthworkson Bunker Hill. Subsequent events proved that Putnam's scheme of defensewas the right one, and only lack of time and men prevented its beingcarried out. 

[Footnote 2: "Putnam, " says Irving, in his Life of Washington, "also wasa leading spirit throughout the affair; one of the first to prompt andthe last to maintain it. He appears to have been active and efficient atevery point, sometimes fortifying, sometimes hurrying up reenforcements;inspiriting the men by his presence while they were able to maintaintheir ground, and fighting gallantly at the outpost to cover theirretreat. "]

As soon as once assured that the defeat of the Provincials wasoverwhelming, Putnam lost no time in entrenching at Prospect Hill, thefirst spot at which he could halt his fleeing troops. Here he stayed, working like a beaver and digging like a badger, and this strategicposition, which he had seized and selected almost intuitively, hecontinued to occupy until appointed to the command of the centerdivision of the army at Cambridge, where, on July 2, 1775, he for thefirst time met General Washington, who had come with his appointment asCommander-in-Chief recently received from the Continental Congress. 

Not long after formally taking command of the army, beneath the historicelm at Cambridge, Washington made a tour of the fortifications and wasastonished at the progress Putnam had made at Prospect Hill, as well asat the military skill he had shown in taking and fortifying it. Two dayslater he presented him with his commission as a _Major-General_ in theContinental Army, which had been unanimously bestowed by Congress on the19th of June, two days after the battle of Bunker Hill, and which hereceived on the 4th of July. Putnam's commission was the only one thenpresented in person by Washington, though three others had beenappointed major-generals under him: Lee, Ward, and Schuyler. A greatdeal of jealousy and heart-burning resulted from the appointments, oneof the brigadiers, General Spencer, over whom Putnam had been advanced, threatening to resign. 

In these days began the friendship which existed between theCommander-in-Chief and Major-General Putnam during the remainder oftheir lives. Putnam's honesty, industry, frankness, and integrityinterested General Washington, who was delighted with this bluff oldsoldier who wore his laurels so modestly. "You'll find, " wrote acontemporary to a friend, "that Generals Washington and Lee are vastlyfonder and think higher of Putnam than any man in the army; and he trulyis the hero of the day!"

On the 6th of July, 1775, the Continental Congress sent out its formalStatement, which was read at headquarters in Cambridge on the 15th, andto Putnam's division, then at Prospect Hill, on the 18th. At the sametime the new standard recently sent from Connecticut was unfurled, tothe acclaim of a mighty "_Amen!_" and the thunder of cannon from thefort. The commotion aroused the British in their dearly-boughtstronghold over at Charlestown. In the language of the Essex Gazette, proclaiming this event: "The Philistines on Bunker Hill heard the shoutsof the _Israelites_, and being very fearful, paraded themselves inbattle array. "

Putnam's bold stand at Prospect Hill, so promptly taken and so stoutlymaintained, kept the enemy within the territory they had purchased withthe blood of their best soldiers, and they never advanced any fartherinto the country they coveted. The lines of investment around Bostonwere drawn closer and made more nearly impregnable, yet weeks and monthswent by without any material change in the relative positions of Britishand Provincials, save that Putnam still kept on digging, and creepingnearer and nearer to the foe. By fortifying Cobble Hill, an elevationthat more completely commanded the Charles than his main fortress atProspect Hill, Putnam was enabled to open fire upon the Britishmen-of-war and floating batteries, and soon silenced and drove themaway. Not satisfied with this achievement, a few days later his men wereat work upon an entrenchment within half a mile and under the fire of aBritish man-of-war, a squad of these intrepid soldiers being commandedby his eldest son, Israel. 

The British were now alarmed, and doubtless believed, in the language ofa writer commenting on these events, that "every fort which was defendedby General Putnam might be considered as impregnable, if daring courageand intrepidity could always resist superior force. "

Still, while the British feared to advance upon the Americans, thelatter, though eager to drive them out of their stronghold, were unableto do so from lack of artillery and ammunition. This lack was to someextent supplied by the capture of some ordnance ships by our gallantprivateers, though as late as January, 1776, one of the Provincialcolonels wrote to another: "The bay is open; everything thaws hereexcept Old Put. He is still as hard as ever, crying out for_powder--powder_--ye gods, give us powder!"

Cannon-balls, several hundred of them, he had secured (if we may credita story told at the time) by conspicuously posting some of his men on anelevation in front of a sandy hill in sight of a British war-ship, fromwhich by this ingenious ruse he drew a rain of shot, which supplied hisneeds for the time being, as they were afterward easily dug out of thesand!

Among the captures by the privateers was a 13-inch brass mortar weighingnearly three thousand pounds, which was taken to Cambridge, where(according to the same veracious narrator of the "powder cry, " the wittyProvincial colonel), it was the occasion of a great jubilation. "Tocrown the glorious scene, " he says, "there intervened one trulyludicrous, which was Old Put mounted on the large mortar, which wasfixed in its bed for the occasion, with a bottle of rum in his hand, standing parson to christen, while godfather Mifflin, thequartermaster-general, gave it the name of Congress!"

Old Put never lost a chance for fun and frolic, though he was as stern adisciplinarian as Washington himself, who, however, must have beengreatly shocked at this horse-play in which his favorite General tookpart. But the rank and file were delighted; and it was the possession ofjust such qualities, of hilarious good-humor combined with sturdycommon-sense, that made Old Put a universal favorite. For dignity hecared nothing at all; for discipline he was a "stickler"; and, as themen hated the one as much as they disliked the other, yet loved andadmired their rough-and-ready General intensely, Putnam proved thecoherent factor in the combination that held the army together. Atanother "truly ludicrous" scene, somewhat later, in which Putnam was oneof the participants, the dignified Commander-in-Chief is said to havelaughed until his sides ached. Looking from a window of his chamber inthe Craigie mansion, one morning, Washington perceived Putnamapproaching on horseback, with a very stout lady mounted behind hissaddle, and riding as if for dear life. The woman was an accessory of aBritish spy, whom Putnam had arrested, and had brought to his commanderto be disciplined. It was a long while before Washington could recoverhis countenance sufficiently to proceed with the business. 

At last, after months of waiting, the arrival of General Knox withfifty-five cannon and a quantity of ammunition, which, with magnificentdaring, he had collected and brought from the forts on the frontier, putthe Provincials in possession of the means they needed for compellingthe British to retire. Following a council of war, Dorchester Heightswere occupied on the 4th of March, the attention of the enemy beingfirst diverted from the real object by a two-days' cannon-fire upon theother side of the city, and after a futile attempt by General Howe toassault the works erected by the Americans, on the 17th the Britishhastily took to their ships. 

Had this intended assault by the British taken place, Washington wasready to make a direct attack upon Boston with the troops in twodivisions, under the command of General Putnam. At the last council ofwar, it is narrated, when General Washington had requested Putnam togive more attention to the matter in hand, he replied: "Oh, my dearGeneral, plan the battle to suit yourself, and I will fight it!"

CHAPTER XIV

IN COMMAND AT NEW YORK

The British had been forced out of Boston; they had embarked aboardtheir fleet; but for more than a week they lingered in the outer harbor, as if uncertain whither to go. While Washington was in doubt as to theirnext movement, he shrewdly guessed that the city of New York, being soadvantageously situated, especially commanding communication with Canadaby the valley of the Hudson River, would be their ultimate, if notimmediate objective. He had already despatched thither General Lee, whowas planning defenses for the harbor; but as he desired Lee to commandin the South, he looked around for another man to take his place. Troopswere on the way, also, under Generals Heath and Sullivan, to be followedby many more, and there was every indication that soon a large armywould be concentrated in and around New York. 

Who to trust with this important command was a serious question for theCommander-in-Chief, but he finally pitched upon Putnam, in whom heseemed to have confidence, though with some misgivings whichforeshadowed the accuracy of his final estimate of the man. In a lettertreating of a similar situation, two months previously, Washington hadwritten to Congress: "General Putnam is a most valuable man and a fineexecutive officer; but I do not know how he would conduct in a separatedepartment. "

But he resolved to entrust him with the command, and on the 29th ofMarch, only twelve days after the British had left, gave him his orders, which concluded with this expression of confidence: "Your long serviceand experience will, better than my particular directions at thisdistance, point out to you the works most proper to be raised; and yourperseverance, activity, and zeal will lead you, without my recommendingit, to exert every nerve to disappoint the enemy's designs. "

With his customary expedition, General Putnam lost no time in getting toNew York, arriving there on the 4th of April, whither he was followed byWashington nine days later. The Commander-in-Chief found, when hearrived, little to criticize and much to commend in what Putnam haddone, for he had already stopped the Tories from furnishing supplies tothe British fleet, had commenced to fortify Governor's Island and RedHook, increased the efficiency of the works on Brooklyn Heights, barricaded the streets of New York with mahogany logs from the WestIndies, and organized a "navy" of schooners and whale-boats, to cruisein the North and East rivers. 

As Washington was absent much of the time in consultation with Congressat Philadelphia, Putnam was practically in supreme command; yet hisarduous and important duties did not prevent him from attending a dinneron the first anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. In a letterwritten by an American officer describing this event, it is more thanintimated that he was ever ready to accommodate when called upon for asong or a speech on such an occasion, for he says: "Our good GeneralPutnam got sick and went to his quarters before dinner was over, and wemissed him a marvel, as there is not a chap in the camp who can lead himin the 'Maggie Lauder's song. '"

When in New York, Putnam's headquarters were on Bowling Green, where helater had with him members of his family, including his wife, who hadalso visited him at Cambridge, and had dispensed a generous hospitalityat the Inman mansion; while Mrs. Washington (with whom both Putnam andhis wife were in high favor) was at the Craigie house. His son Israelwas a member of his military family, which also included Major Humphreys(who afterward wrote his biography) and Major Aaron Burr, his militarysecretary. His justifiable severity in proclaiming martial law, and inpunishing Tories found guilty of harboring or assisting the enemy, incurred the ill-will of New York's inhabitants, and militated againsthis fortunes when later he fell into disrepute. 

Plots against his life were formed, among them most conspicuous for itsscheme of wholesale assassinations being that in which one ofWashington's own guards was concerned, and for complicity in which thissame man, Thomas Hickey, paid the penalty with his life, being executedon the 27th of June. Two days later a large British fleet was reportedoff Sandy Hook, and by the 1st of July there were more than a hundred ofthe enemy's war-ships and transports in the bay. The presence of thisimmense fleet did not prevent the proper reception of the immortal_Declaration of Independence_, proclaimed by the Continental Congress atPhiladelphia on the 4th of July, 1776, and which was read to the troops, amid loud acclaim from officers and common soldiers, on the 9th. 

[Illustration: Israel Putnam. 

From a painting by Trumbull. ]

The arrival of the vast fleet, the subsequent landing of an army ofnearly twenty-five thousand men, and the warlike preparations which theBritish were feverishly making looking to the capture of the city, didnot alarm Old Put, with his total force of scarcely seventeen thousand. He went on as calmly and as determinedly as though himself commander ofthe larger army, for the hero of Bunker Hill never anticipated defeat. He always fought to the last, after making every needful preparation forwhatever event, and at New York, although the chances were all againsthim, he did his utmost to bring about success. He had fortifiedGovernor's Island and Red Hook in order to prevent the enemy's ships ofwar from ascending the Hudson; he now sank several old hulks in thechannel for the same purpose; but, notwithstanding, two war-vesselssucceeded in getting up the North River, which they afterward descended, without injury to themselves. 

It having been recommended by Congress that "fire-rafts be prepared andsent among the enemy's shipping, " Putnam acted in accordance with thesuggestion by fitting out fourteen fire-ships for the purpose, thoughnothing was accomplished with them. Still persistent in his endeavors todrive off the enemy, he adopted the invention of David Bushnell, anative of his own State, which the inventor called the "great AmericanTurtle, " and which, in fact, was a submarine torpedo, probably the firstone thus used in warfare. It was to be guided by one man, and that manwas to have been Bushnell himself; but, unfortunately, he fell sick, andthe "turtle" boat with its infernal machine was entrusted to aConnecticut sergeant named "Bije" Shipman, who promised to row the"submarine"--diminutive prototype of all those which have committed suchdestruction since--down the bay and attach the torpedo to the bottom ofthe British admiral's ship. He reached the ship without beingobserved--strange to say--and attempted to attach the torpedo; but theattaching screw struck against an iron plate and caused great delay. Coming up to get a breath of fresh air, "Bije" was seen and fired uponby a sentinel, and at once rowed away as fast as his oars could carryhim. The torpedo, the explosion of which was regulated by clockworkoperating on a gun-lock, actually exploded about half an hour after, sending up a great geyser of water, which frightened the British admiralso that he gave orders to up anchor and seek another mooring-place. 

The Yankee navigator of the submarine declared that when he struck theiron plate he got "narvous, " and couldn't affix the screw properly; butthat if he had had a fresh "cud of terbacker, " he would have been allright and the admiral's ship would have gone "a-kiting" into the air. The attempt was not repeated, for some reason or other, probably becausethe British got wary and kept farther away from shore. The next year, however, inventor Bushnell succeeded in blowing up a British schoonerwith his torpedo; but neither he nor quaint "Bije" Shipman everreceived the credit that was their due, the latter being one of theforgotten heroes of the Revolution. 

About this time the Putnam family entertained as guest the prettydaughter of a British officer, Major James Moncrieffe, the same one towhom, at the siege of Boston, "Old Put" had sent a present ofprovisions, even though they were opposed as enemies. This young ladywas received by the family with affection, presented to General and Mrs. Washington, and afterward provided with a pass through the lines andsent to her father, accompanied by a letter of which (as she wittilysaid to a friend) "the bad orthography was amply compensated for by themagnanimity of the man who wrote it. " Here is the letter: "GinralePutnam's compliments to Major Moncrieffe, has made him a present of afine daughter, if he don't lick [like] her he must send her back again, and he will provide her with a good twig [Whig] husband. "

General Putnam's humor, like his generosity, was never-failing; but, as"Josh Billings" once remarked of himself, "he was a bad speller" to theend of his life. But he could spell _f-i-g-h-t_ as well as anybody; andwhat is more, he could forgive his enemies, not only after the fight wasover, but while it was going on--as witness his generous actions on manyoccasions. 

Though kept busy as a bee from morning to night, yet General Putnamfound life in New York irksome, and was glad enough when ordered byWashington over to Long Island, to command at Brooklyn Heights and tosupersede Sullivan, who had superseded Greene, then sick with fever, whohad planned and erected the fortifications on the island. It was perhapsthis "lightning change" of commanders that was responsible for thebitter defeat of the Americans in that encounter known as the "Battle ofLong Island. " By the third week of August, when this battle took place, the British were near New York with more than three hundred ships andthirty thousand troops, including those of Clinton, Cornwallis, andHowe. The last named was in command, and on the 22d of August he landedtwenty thousand troops, including five thousand hireling Hessians, atGravesend Bay, with the intention of flanking the Americans out of theirpositions at Flatbush and the Heights and then advancing across theisland to East River and New York. 

It was not until two days later that (in the words of a soldier writingto his wife at that time) "General Putnam was made happy by obtainingleave to go over--the brave old man was quite miserable at being kepthere, " in New York. Only three days after his arrival the battle wasfought, which (in brief) was brought about by the British surprising anoutpost at one of the three passes to the American rear, on the night ofthe 26th of August and thus turning the patriots' position. With morethan three times the numerical strength of the Americans, the Britishwere successful, and the former lost more than a thousand men, most ofthem made prisoners, including Generals Sullivan and Stirling. 

Washington hurried over reenforcements, until there were nearly tenthousand men at the Heights; but Putnam soon found it impossible toconduct its defense against twenty thousand of the enemy, with tenthousand more in reserve, and, with Washington's sanction andcooperation, he withdrew his men from their perilous position by a nightretreat across the river, which was a triumph of military sagacity andachievement. The more than nine thousand men, with their ammunition, arms, provisions, etc. , were safely over the river before the Britishbecame aware of what was going on. Then it was too late, andnotwithstanding that the Americans had been outflanked and defeated bythe most skilful strategy, the British lost the chief fruits of theirvictory by procrastination. 

The loss of Long Island meant, of course, the evacuation of New York, since the city could now be commanded by the enemy's guns on theHeights. This movement was decided upon by Washington and his generalsat a council of war; the garrison was withdrawn from Governor's Island, and after the surplus ammunition and military stores had been forwardedto a point of safety, the troops leisurely followed after toward thenorth. Putnam, Heath, and Spencer were placed in command of the threegrand divisions into which the army was divided preparatory for retreatand stationed along the East River, Putnam, as usual, having the mostperilous situation, at the lower end of the city. To him was committedthe removal of the troops and military stores, so that he had no moretime at command than formerly. 

Yet the British did not move upon the city with precipitation. Commander-in-Chief Howe had learned his lesson by heart at Bunker Hill, and was no longer in haste to attack his brave opponents unless withoverwhelming numbers, whether entrenched or otherwise. He had resolvedupon a series of flank movements, for the purpose of cutting off theAmerican retreat northward, and on the 15th of September put the firstin execution. Washington was at his new headquarters, the Jumel mansion, at Harlem Heights, and Old Put was busy hurrying off the last of thedetachments down in the city, when both heard the booming of cannon atKip's Bay. They met at Murray Hill, and together galloped toward thesound of firing, but before they reached East River were met by theirown troops fleeing before the British advance. 

CHAPTER XV

WASHINGTON'S CHIEF RELIANCE

It was at the retreat of the Americans before the British, who hadlanded at Kip's Bay, that the unique spectacle was afforded of bothWashington and Putnam acting in unison, both in a towering rage, andboth attempting with all their might to turn their cowardly soldiersface-about to stand against the foe. But all their efforts were in vain, though Washington, in his endeavors to stem the tide of retreat, camenear being made prisoner, and would have been, probably, if one of thesoldiers had not taken his horse by the bridle and turned him in anotherdirection. 

In the actual retreat to Harlem Heights that then followed, brave Putnamtook the post of danger again, and, while nearly everybody else washeading northward, he himself went the other way in search of hisdetachment, which, fortunately, his aide-de-camp, Major Burr, had takenthe liberty of setting on the move. He and his men were the last to gainthe Heights, barely escaping the British as they tried to hem them in, and reaching the rendezvous long after dark. 

It was a current rumor in camp, later, that his escape was notaltogether due to celerity of movement, nimble as he was, but to theclever ruse of a fair Quakeress, Mrs. Murray (mother of Lindley Murray, the renowned grammarian), who, being known to the British officers, invited them in, as they filed past her door, to refresh themselves withcake and wine. Being fatigued with their labors, and considering theAmericans as good as captured by their clever flanking movement, theyaccepted the invitation gladly and remained enjoying her hospitalityabout two hours, or just long enough for Putnam and his men to slip outof the trap and scamper along the North River roads to the rendezvous. 

Their joy at their escape when (as Major Humphreys, who was with them, said) they had been given up for lost by their friends, was temperednext day by the death of Colonel Knowlton, who had been sent out withhis rangers to reconnoiter the enemy. In the ensuing engagement, knownas the Battle of Harlem Heights, the gallant Knowlton was killed, besides about one hundred and seventy of his men. Knowlton, who hadtaken a prominent part in the battle of Bunker Hill, was an old friendand comrade of Putnam in the Indian wars, as well as at Havana, and thelatter felt his loss most keenly. 

There was no time for vain regrets, since the enemy were pushing afterthe Americans, giving them no pause for a while. When at last there wasa cessation in their endeavors at direct assault, Washington was moreuneasy than before, and did not rest until he had discovered what itmeant. In short, General Howe was about trying the second in hisremarkable series of flanking movements, by which he hoped to get inthe rear of the Americans, and, with his overwhelming force, "bottlethem up" and compel a general engagement. But, with a force far inferiorto the British, Washington not only succeeded in avoiding a pitchedbattle (for which he was wholly unprepared), but finally extricated hisarmy from the net which his enemy had spread on two sides and was nowattempting to sweep around to cut off his retreat. 

Sending several war-vessels up the North River, or Hudson (which had notrouble in breaking through the barrier stretched across it), GeneralHowe embarked the main body of his troops in flatboats for Westchester, landing at a point about nine miles above the Heights of Harlem. Theenemy's object was then apparent, and Washington set about defeating itby one of the most complicated and ingenious military movements onrecord. 

Leaving General Greene in command of Fort Washington, on the Hudson, notfar from Kingsbridge and the Heights, Washington hastened northwardtoward White Plains, seizing upon every naturally strong position by theway, and establishing a chain of entrenchments on the hill-crests thatcommanded all the roads leading from the North River to the Sound. Thelast week in October the opposing forces came in collision at ChattertonHill, where was fought the so-called Battle of White Plains, at which, wrote Rufus Putnam, who had planned the defensive works, "the wall andstone fence behind which our troops were posted proved as fatal to theBritish as the rail-fence with grass hung on it did at Charlestown, June17, 1775. "

General Putnam was ordered to reenforce General McDougall, who was incommand at the hill; but before he arrived the British had flanked theAmericans and driven them from their position. Putnam's men coveredtheir retreat by firing at the British and Hessians from behind fencesand trees, Indian and Ranger fashion, and that night Washingtonpractically began his famous retrograde movement to Fort Washington andManhattan Island. "By folding one brigade behind another, " in rear ofthose ridges he had fortified, he "brought off all his artillery, stores, and sick, in the face of a superior foe. " He took position, first, at North Castle Heights, which he deemed impregnable; but after afew days the British left for the Hudson, with the purpose (as wasafterward ascertained, and at the time divined by Washington) ofattacking forts Washington and Lee and invading New Jersey. Inanticipation of this move Putnam was detached with about four thousandmen and ordered into New Jersey. Crossing the Hudson, he penetratedinland as far as Hackensack, near which place he encamped and awaiteddevelopments. 

General Lee was left at North Castle Heights with seven thousand men towatch the movements of the foe, while Washington followed after Putnamto Hackensack. He was shortly recalled to the Hudson by a despatchinforming him that the British were before Fort Washington inoverwhelming force, and had demanded a surrender. Brave Colonel Magaw, in command of the garrison, refused a reply until he had consulted hissuperior officers, and as General Greene, in charge of both forts, wasof the opinion that they could be held, the result was the storming ofthe fort and the loss of more than two thousand men. 

The assault of the British, who had threatened to put the garrison tothe sword, was witnessed by Washington, Greene, and Putnam from the westbank of the Hudson. Their distress may be imagined at beholding theslaughter that ensued, and there must have been some searchingself-questioning by the Commander-in-Chief as to the wisdom of hispolicy, by which his divided forces became such an easy prey to the foe. 

Lee could hardly be induced to leave his secure retreat, from which hedeparted only after repeated requests from Washington, whose greatreliance at this time was sturdy Israel Putnam. He assisted at theevacuation of Fort Lee (now rendered useless by the loss of its sisterfort across the river), and piloted the commander and his friends to hiscamp at Hackensack. 

British troops under Lord Cornwallis had landed above Fort Lee at thebase of the Palisades, and were now coming down to attempt to cut offthe Americans before they could extricate themselves from the marsheslying between the Hudson and the Hackensack rivers. The latter left soprecipitately that their fires were burning, with camp kettles overthem, and tents still standing, when the British reached Fort Lee. 

Parallel with the Hackensack River runs the Passaic, and across countrybetween the two Washington was compelled to hasten, lest he be hemmed inagain by the pursuing enemy. It was now late in November, the weatherwas cold, and gloomy were these "dark days of the Revolution, " when themilitia left the army by hundreds, their terms of enlistment havingexpired, and no others took their places. While the little army of lessthan four thousand men was constantly depleted, it seemed as if its foesincreased, in that country of loyalists and British sympathizers. It waswith only the "skeleton of an army" that Washington, on the eighth ofDecember, crossed the Delaware at Trenton, less than three thousandtroops remaining by him then. Cornwallis and his soldiers were not farbehind, during a portion of that gloomy retreat, a few days measuringthe distance between the rival armies; but they did not catch up withthe Americans that time. 

The very day after his arrival at Trenton Washington ordered Putnam toPhiladelphia, where he was placed in absolute command, and where hedisplayed the same energy and integrity of purpose that had alwaysanimated him hitherto. He had been a sustaining force to theCommander-in-Chief on that march across New Jersey, and of the fewgenerals who had stood by him, no one had endured with less complaint orperformed with more alacrity than Old Put. He was one upon whom to relyin the proposed scheme of fortifying the city, and his long experienceat entrenching made him peculiarly fit for the work. 

His sturdy nature, good sense, and ready wit made him at once a favoritewith the Continental Congress and the Committee of Safety; though theformer, acting on his advice, soon left the city for the greatersecurity of Baltimore. Putnam soon placed the city under martial law, drafted all the citizens, except the Quakers, into the military service, and put the place in the best posture for defense of which it wascapable. "There were foes within the city as well as foes without, " forthe Tory element was strong in Philadelphia, and it was because of itthat Putnam was unable to cooperate with Washington when he dealt theenemy the first of those telling blows at Trenton and Princeton. Hedared not withdraw his men from the city, even for a short absence, inorder to create a diversion while his Commander-in-Chief made the directattack. Had he done so, and also the other generals to whom wereentrusted the details of this affair, the Hessians might have beenentirely cut off in their retreat from Trenton and practicallydestroyed. As it was, Putnam held to his command in Philadelphia, andsoon had the pleasure of entertaining some of the Hessian captives, forwhom he was obliged to provide quarters while passing through the city. 

It must have fretted him vastly to be kept in Philadelphia whileWashington was pursuing the very tactics he himself would have usedagainst the enemy. After his first success Washington ordered Putnam outto Crosswicks, a small place southeast of Trenton, "a very advantageouspost" for him to hold while his superior was planning his descent uponPrinceton. On the 5th of January, after Washington had launched histhunderbolt at Princeton (of his intention to do which Putnam had beeninformed by a letter from his adjutant, written at midnight precedingthat eventful third of January, 1777), he wrote at length to his trustyfriend and General: "It is thought advisable for you to march the troopsunder your command to Crosswicks, and keep a strict watch upon the enemyin that quarter. If the enemy continue at Brunswick you must act withgreat circumspection, lest you meet with a surprise. As we have made twosuccessful attacks upon the enemy by the way of surprise, they will bepointed with resentment, and if there is any possibility of retaliatingthey will attempt it. _You will give out your strength to be twice asgreat as it is. _ Forward on all the baggage and scattered troopsbelonging to this division of the army as soon as may be. "

In accordance with Washington's suggestion as to the augmenting of thenumber of his men, Putnam availed himself of the request of a woundedBritish officer, who was his prisoner, that a friend in Cornwallis'sarmy might be sent for to make his will, to practise a ruse. It was inPrinceton, whither he had been ordered from Crosswicks. As he had but afew hundred men, in order to prevent his weakness from being known tothe military visitor he was brought in after dark, all the windows inthe college buildings and private houses were lighted up, "and thehandful of troops paraded about to such effect during the night that thevisitor, on his return to the British camp, reported the force under theold general to be at least five thousand strong!" In this manner theshrewd but kind-hearted Putnam complied with his prisoner's request, andat the same time turned it to his own and his soldiers' advantage. 

Having failed in his attempt to "bag that old fox" (Washington), LordCornwallis had scurried back to protect his baggage and communicationsat New Brunswick, while Washington ensconced himself in the ruggedcountry about Morristown, and Putnam was left to protect the lowlandsand harass the enemy. So effectually did he perform the latter that hisaggregate of prisoners taken during the winter exceeded the numbercaptured by Washington at Trenton, and his captures of wagons ladenwith provisions for the enemy were highly important. 

CHAPTER XVI

DEFENDING THE HUDSON HIGHLANDS

Snugly and safely entrenched in the Morristown hill-country, Washingtonleft to Putnam the post he so dearly loved, that of real danger, withinfifteen miles of New Brunswick, where the enemy lay in strength. AtPrinceton, thirty miles from headquarters, Putnam remained until May, when he was detached and sent into the Hudson Highlands. The British hadlost fewer men at Trenton and Princeton than the Americans had lost atFort Washington, yet the former were singularly dispirited. With theCommander-in-Chief withdrawn to the hills, the road to Philadelphia layopen to the enemy, and only Old Put opposing them, like a lion in thepath; but for some reason they did not avail themselves of thesituation. 

Putnam's division formed the right wing of the American army incantonment that winter, with the center at Morristown and the left wingon the Hudson. At the opening of the spring campaign of 1777 Washingtonwas uncertain whether the British would leave their winter quarters inNew York for New England, the Hudson Highlands, or for Philadelphia. Hewas inclined to believe that Philadelphia would be the first and chiefobjective, and wished to hold himself in readiness for marching thitherat a moment's warning; but again there were rumors of an invasion fromCanada by way of the lakes and the Hudson, so this region must beprotected. 

Existing forts must be strengthened, others erected, a boom stretchedacross the Hudson to impede the passage of British ships, and obstaclesof all kinds placed in the path of the British, should they advancenorthward. Needing a reliable man in this emergency, Washington sentPutnam to Peekskill, on the Hudson, preceded by a letter to GeneralMcDougall, then in command there, which was, to say the least, not veryflattering to the gallant soldier who had been his right-hand man inthe various retreats through the Jerseys. "You are acquainted with theold gentleman's temper, " he wrote; "he is active, disinterested, andopen to conviction, " etc. 

Washington would have been more fortunate if all his officers had beenas "active, disinterested, and open to conviction" as Old Put--forinstance, Lee, Arnold, Gates, and others--but he had allowed hisprejudices to warp his former opinion of Putnam's sterling qualities. 

Hardly had Putnam begun his work on the Hudson before there was a mightymovement in the port of New York, and, fearing there might be an attemptupon Philadelphia, Washington drew upon the old soldier's command untilhe had scarcely a thousand men at call. Then followed the commander'smagnificent strategy at Middlebrook, whereby he finally defeated theBritish plans and brought about the complete evacuation of New Jersey, after which Putnam was strengthened in his position; only to be weakenedagain, the process being repeated until he felt called upon to protest. 

Putnam was later accused by Hamilton, Washington's aide-de-camp, ofmaking a "hobby-horse" out of his desire to march upon New York, and ofriding it on all occasions; but it was no less a hobby-horse with himthan the defense of Philadelphia was with his Commander-in-Chief, whomany times imperiled the safety of other sections by withdrawing troopsin hot haste and flying to the succor of a city which was captured andoccupied by the British notwithstanding. 

Washington rode his hobby-horse full-tilt at the unfortunate Putnam andthrew him to the ground. With one hand, as it were, he wrote him to keepan eye on the movements of the enemy and be fully prepared to meet them;but with the other he signed an order for the weakening of his force. The consequences came when Burgoyne, having descended from Canada andinvaded northern New York, Putnam found himself between two fires, thatof the former and that of Sir Henry Clinton, who finally set out on thelong-meditated trip up the Hudson in order to cooperate with thesouthward-marching army. 

Putnam had learned of the successive moves on the military chess-boardas Burgoyne progressed in his triumphal march. First, of the fall ofTiconderoga, in June; then of Fort Edward; finally, of the gloriousvictory achieved by his former comrade in the Indian wars and at BunkerHill, the redoubtable General Stark, at Bennington. He was called uponto furnish reenforcements not only to Washington, unfortunate in hisdefense of Philadelphia, but to Schuyler and Gates in the north. 

The post of danger, as usual, Old Put occupied in the Highlands, and hewas delighted; only repining that whenever he was nearly ready to dosomething, away went his troops on some wild-goose mission, of which heknew neither the end or aim. 

Washington surmised that Howe's scheme of sailing southward with anarmy aboard his ships was for the purpose of luring him away from thereal point of attack, which was to be in the Highlands, so he wrotePutnam to be on the alert and to send spies down to New York toascertain Clinton's plans. "If he has the number of men with him that isreported, it is probably with the intention to attack you from below, while Burgoyne comes down upon you from above. " Thus wrote Washington inAugust, but still the depletion of the perplexed Putnam's command wentsteadily on. When he protested he was recommended to hurry up themilitia from Connecticut, or some other New England State, and thussupply the place of the seasoned troops he had trained, with rawrecruits. 

"The old general, whose boast it was that he never slept but with oneeye, was already on the alert. A circumstance had given him proofpositive that Sir Henry was in New York, and had aroused his militaryire, " writes Washington Irving. This paragraph refers to one ofClinton's spies, who was captured while gathering information inPutnam's camp at Peekskill. When Clinton heard of it he sent awar-vessel up the Hudson with a flag of truce, claiming the man as oneof his officers. This was Old Put's reply:

 Headquarters, _7th August, 1777_. 

 Edmund Palmer, an officer in the enemy's service, was taken as a spy lurking within our lines. He has been tried as a spy, condemned as a spy, and shall be executed as a spy; and the flag is ordered to depart immediately. 

 I have the honor to be, etc. , etc. , Israel Putnam. 

 P. S. --Afternoon. He is hanged!

The last week in September, Washington drew upon the patient commanderin the Highlands for more soldiers, so that he had only eleven hundredmen left with which to meet and withstand the British invasion of histerritory, which began on the 5th of October. Putnam was fully cognizantof the situation, for he wrote to Governor Clinton, his coadjutor inthe defense of the Highlands, on the 29th of September: "I have receivedintelligence on which I can fully depend that the enemy received areenforcement at New York last Thursday of about 3, 000 British andforeign troops; that General Clinton has called in guides who belongabout Croton River; has ordered hard bread to be baked; that the troopsare called from Paulus Hook to Kingsbridge; and the whole are now undermarching orders. I think it highly probable that the designs of theenemy are against the posts of the Highlands, or of some parts of thecounties of Westchester or Duchess. P. S. --The ships are drawn up in theriver, and I believe nothing prevents them paying us an immediate visitbut a contrary wind!"

Within a week the enemy were in force on the river near Putnam'sposition, and within ten days they had completely outmaneuvered bothPutnam and Clinton, and had taken forts Montgomery and Clinton, theirchief defenses, with great loss to the Americans. Clinton had made afeint on Tarrytown and Peekskill, and after this diversion, under coverof the river mist, landed troops on the west shore of the Hudson, andmarched rapidly through ravines and dense woods to the rear of the twoforts, which were carried by the bayonet, the defenders being taken bysurprise. 

The British had twice the number of men that Putnam commanded in thisattack, and also the advantage of ships of war in the river, but it isthought that results would have been different from what they were had adespatch for reenforcements from Governor Clinton reached him. It wassent by a messenger who proved a traitor and carried it within theenemy's lines. As it was, however, the British have the credit ofconsummate strategy on this occasion, and poorly as he was equipped, OldPut was greatly mortified over the defeat. He had good occasion forwriting to Washington, as he wrote on the 8th of October: "I haverepeatedly informed your Excellency of the enemy's design against thispost, but from some motive or other you always differed from me inopinion. As this conjecture of mine has for once proved right, I can notomit informing you that my real and sincere opinion is that they mean tojoin General Burgoyne with the utmost despatch. "

Further proof of British intentions was afforded by the capture of aspy, who, on being arrested, was seen to swallow a silver bullet which, being recovered, was found to contain a message written on very thinpaper and dated October 8th--the day before. This message read: "Here weare, and nothing between us and Gates. I sincerely hope this littlesuccess of ours will facilitate your operations. " It was from Sir HenryClinton to General Burgoyne, and showed conclusively that the former hadset out to join with the latter. But events had so shaped in the norththat poor Burgoyne was then past all aid, General Gates then having himat bay. Within a few days was fought the decisive battle that broughtabout Burgoyne's surrender, and when the news reached Sir Henry Clintonhe immediately set about returning to New York, there being no longerany incentive for action in the Highlands. Putnam and Clinton, afterblowing up their two vessels in the river, had effected their retreat toFishkill, where they entrenched; but on learning of the British retreatthey moved down to their former positions. 

The saying that "troubles never come singly" proved true for GeneralPutnam that month of October, 1777, for on the 14th he lost by death hisfaithful wife, who had been with him at headquarters. Washington wrotehim, on being informed of the bereavement: "I am extremely sorry for thedeath of Mrs. Putnam, and sympathize with you upon the occasion. Remembering that all must die, and that she had lived to an honorableage, I hope you will bear the misfortune with that fortitude andcomplacency of mind that become a man and a Christian. "

The surrender of Burgoyne left the north free from foes, andconsequently with no use for great numbers of soldiers, so that Putnamwas soon in command of more than nine thousand men, mainly drafts fromGates's army. He was then determined to carry out his twice-frustratedscheme of marching upon New York, and was pushing forward his plans withgreat confidence, when there appeared a marplot on the scene in theperson of Colonel Alexander Hamilton, at that time aide-de-camp toGeneral Washington, who peremptorily ordered Putnam to forward all thenew arrivals to the Commander-in-Chief and fill their places withmilitia. 

The order was a verbal one and delivered by a slender "snip of a boy"scarcely out of his teens, so it received scant attention from Old Put, who went on with his plans, while Colonel Hamilton mounted a fresh horseand posted off to Albany, where he had also great difficulty inimpressing General Gates with the need of Washington for the best men inhis command. But he succeeded in detaching a few regiments, and thenhastened back to Peekskill, there to find, to his surprise andindignation, that Putnam still had all his men--and what was more, seemed inclined to keep them with him. 

 "I am pained beyond expression, " wrote this precocious youth to Washington on the 10th of November, "to inform your Excellency that, on my arrival here, I find everything has been neglected and deranged by General Putnam. .. . Not the least attention has been paid to my order, in your name, for a detachment of one thousand men from the troops hitherto stationed at that post. Everything is sacrificed to the whim of taking New York. .. . By Governor Clinton's advice, I have sent an order, in the most emphatical terms, to General Putnam, immediately to despatch all the Continental troops under him to your assistance, and to detain the militia instead of them. "

This order "in the most emphatical terms" finally moved the general tocompliance; but it quite naturally excited his just resentment, and hesent it to the Commander-in-Chief, with his comments. It would have beena serious matter--detaching such a large body of troops on a mere verbalorder from a hot-headed stripling; yet Washington in effect reprimandedthe honest veteran by writing:

 I can not but say, there has been more delay in the march of the troops than I think necessary; and I could wish that in future my orders may be immediately complied with, without arguing upon the propriety of them. If any accident ensues from obeying them, the fault will be upon me, not upon you. 

Death, defeat, a reprimand--all within one short month--might haveaffected a stouter heart than Old Put's. But was there ever a stouterone?

CHAPTER XVII

LAST YEARS IN THE SERVICE

Care sat lightly on Israel Putnam, who never went about looking fortrouble, nor gave it more than a scant welcome as a guest. Possessed ofsturdy common sense, an unblemished character, and a conscience "void ofoffence, " Old Put did not long harbor the hasty words of Hamilton, nordwell upon the tacit reprimand of his chief. He still sat astride his"hobby-horse, " as Hamilton had contemptuously termed his desire fordescending upon New York, and as soon as the latter had departed withthe reenforcements for Washington, he resolved to take a look at thecity, anyway. Taking some of his men down the east bank of the Hudson, he himself reconnoitered to a point within three miles of the enemy'soutpost, and went to New Rochelle with the intention of invading LongIsland. The British got wind of his intent, and hastily left theirforts, having no relish for a brush with their dreaded enemy. 

Although accused to Washington of being very lenient to Tories and otherdisaffected persons, Putnam knew how to be severe on occasion, and inreprisal for the repeated outrages committed by Governor Tryon'smurderous marauders, he destroyed by fire several residences of notedloyalists, and fell upon Colonel DeLancey's infamous "Cowboys, " takingseventy-five prisoners, including the Tory officer himself, who wasdrawn out from beneath a bed, where he had taken refuge at the approachof Putnam's scouts. 

Washington himself had given Putnam the idea of descending upon NewYork, some time before; but circumstances had changed, and along withthem the need for this diversion. Having satisfied himself with thisreconnoitering expedition, however, Old Put went back very amiably tohis post in the Highlands, and proceeded to carry out his commander'sinstructions respecting the selection of a new fort for the defense ofthe Hudson. In January, 1778, we find him at West Point, directing themen of Parson's brigade where to break ground--frozen ground, at that, with snow two feet deep above it--for the first fort at the picturesquepost on the Hudson since become historic. It was subsequently named FortPutnam, either after Old Put himself, or his cousin Rufus Putnam, whosegreat natural talents as an engineer were subsequently availed of here, as they had been before Boston, at Dorchester Heights. 

About mid-February, Putnam wrote to Washington, who had been constantlyand urgently pressing him to complete the work without delay, that "thebatteries near the water, and the fort to cover them, are laid out. Thelatter is, within walls, 600 yards around, 21 feet base, 14 feet high, the talus two inches to the foot. This I fear is too large to becompleted by the time expected. " Even his placid disposition was by thistime slightly ruffled at the scarcely veiled distrust of hiscapabilities by his chief, who had veered about with the wind blowingfrom New York, and seemed to trust him no longer. His letter beginsstiffly: "The state of affairs now at this post, you will please toobserve, is as follows, " and after this business has been stated, hegoes on to give some of the reasons for delay. One of his regiments wasat White Plains, "under inoculation with the smallpox. Dubois's regimentis unfit to be ordered on duty, there being not one blanket in theregiment. Very few have either a shoe or a shirt, and most of them haveneither stockings, breeches, or overalls. .. . Several hundred men arerendered useless, merely for want of necessary apparel, as no clothingis permitted to be stopped at this post. "

No complaint was made, but merely a statement of facts; for Putnam musthave known that many of the soldiers under his commander were at thatvery time half starved and half naked at Valley Forge. The day afterwriting this letter to Washington, having secured permission for abrief furlough, General Putnam went home to attend to private affairswhich demanded his attention. He had applied for this leave of absencetwo months previously, but before receiving it had attended to theexigent matter of fortifying West Point, like the good soldier that hewas. 

Since he last left home much had happened to distract and break himdown, including the loss of his wife by death, and the loss ofWashington's friendly support, through no fault of his own. He wasdeeply grieved over the change in the commander's attitude toward him, as well as puzzled to account for it, knowing full well that he had donenothing to incur his displeasure, now so plainly manifested, not aloneto General Putnam but to others. 

The change was probably due to their radical differences of temperament, habits of life and education. While Washington the soldier recognizedthe sterling qualities of Old Put, the veteran fighter, yet Washingtonthe aristocratic planter shrank from contact with Putnam the blunt, andat times perhaps uncouth-appearing, farmer. Writing about that time, asurgeon in the American army said: "This is my first interview with thiscelebrated hero, Putnam. In his person he is corpulent and clumsy, butcarries a bold, undaunted front. He exhibits little of the refinementsof a well-educated gentleman, but much of the character of the veteransoldier. "

This was not the style of soldier that the Commander-in-Chief liked tohave about him, and he allowed his personal prejudices to pervert hisjudgment. 

"What shall I do with Putnam?" he breaks out in a letter to GouverneurMorris. "If Congress mean to lay him aside _decently_, I wish they woulddevise the mode. "

"It has not been an easy matter to find a just pretense for removing anofficer from his command" (he writes to Chancellor Livingston on the12th of March, 1778) "where his misconduct rather appears to result fromwant of _capacity_ than from any real intention of doing wrong. .. . "Livingston had written complaining of Putnam's "imprudent lenity to thedisaffected, and too great intercourse with the enemy"--or, in otherwords, that he had not persecuted the people Livingston disliked, andhad shown generosity to the foe when in distress. Yet he felt compelledto add: "For my own part, I respect his bravery and former services, andsincerely lament that his patriotism will not suffer him to take thatrepose, to which his advanced age and past services justly entitle him. "

But Congress did not, fortunately, share the views of thesewhite-fingered, thin-skinned gentlemen, to whom a man's personalappearance was vastly more than his distinguished services. They held, with the doughty hero of many battles himself, that, as a soldier's dutyin war was to fight, it mattered not so much how he fought, nor in whatgarb, so long as he won the victories. As to lack of capacity, and beingresponsible for the loss of Forts Clinton and Montgomery, the court ofinquiry, which sat in the spring of 1778, entirely vindicated him, holding that they fell, "not from any fault, misconduct, or negligenceof the commanding officers, but solely through the want of an adequateforce under their command to maintain and defend them. "

Who was responsible for the lack of that "adequate force" none knewbetter than the Commander-in-Chief, who had withdrawn Old Put's veteranson six different occasions and compelled him to clothe the skeletonranks with raw militia, so that it ill became him to write (in hisletter to Livingston): "Proper measures are taking to carry on theinquiry into the loss of Fort Montgomery, agreeable to the direction ofCongress, and it is more than probable, from what I have heard, that theissue of that inquiry will afford just grounds for the removal ofGeneral Putnam. "

But the "issue of that inquiry" was in favor of Putnam, who demanded notonly a court of inquiry, but a trial by court-martial, "so that mycharacter might stand in a clearer light in the world. " For, as hejustly observed in a letter to Congress, "to be posted here as a publickspectator for every ill-minded person to make remarks upon, I think isvery poor encouragement for any persons to venture their lives andfortunes in the service. "

General Putnam received notice of this court of inquiry and of hissuspension from command pending its proceedings, as he was returningfrom Connecticut, in March; but the month of July had arrived, thebattle of Monmouth fought, and General Lee's court-martial had beenordered, before he was reinstated. Then Washington rather grudginglygave him command of the right wing of the grand army, at White Plains, near or on Chatterton Hill, where he had vainly tried to reenforceMcDougall, in the fierce fight that took place there not quite two yearsbefore. The three armies were then collectively of "greater strengththan any force that had been brought together during the war, "consisting, says Major Humphreys, of sixty regular regiments of foot, four battalions of artillery, four regiments of horse, and several corpsof State troops. "But, as the enemy kept close within their lines onYork Island, nothing could be attempted. "

Putnam was afterward sent across the Hudson, where, notwithstanding theprejudices alleged against him in that region, where he had formerlycommanded, he was retained until the army was ordered into winterquarters. These quarters were finally located in his own State, and wereadmirably chosen for the purpose at that time, which was to hold thetroops together until the spring campaign should open. "The site for thewinter cantonment became an important question, " writes Charles B. Todd, a talented son of Connecticut, and an authority on her history, "and waslong and anxiously debated. Many of the general officers were forstaying where they were in the Highlands. Putnam pronounced in favor ofsome central location in western Connecticut, where they could protectboth the Sound and the Hudson, and especially Danbury, which was asupply station, and which had been taken and burned by the enemy theyear previous. General Heath's brigade had been on guard in Danburyduring this summer of 1778, and while visiting him Putnam had no doubtdiscovered the three sheltered valleys formed by the Saugatuck and itstributaries which lie along the border line of what was then Danbury(now Bethel) and Redding. These valleys, open to the south, are warm, sunny, well watered, and in that day were well wooded, and so defendedby dominating hills and crags, that a handful could hold them against anarmy. They were but three days' march from the Highlands. "

Putnam himself superintended the laying out of the three camps, one foreach valley, where, in log huts similar to those erected at Valley Forgethe winter previous, the soldiers were quartered. Here the Army of theNorth, consisting of two brigades of Continental troops, two ofConnecticut, one brigade from New Hampshire, with artillery andcavalry, wore away the long and weary winter of 1778-'79. There were twomajor-generals, including Putnam as commander-in-chief, and fivebrigadiers, so it will be seen that the cantonment was one of greatimportance. 

"Putnam pilgrims" should by all means refresh their patriotism by avisit to the site of that winter camp in western Connecticut, for it hasbeen carefully preserved by the State, which has laid out a magnificentpark, erected a monument, restored some of the huts, and collected everyrelic available of that noble Army of the North. The house which Old Putoccupied that winter, as headquarters, was on Umpawaug Hill and is stillpointed out, while at a little distance stands the one-time residence ofJoel Barlow, the Revolutionary poet, who, with Major Humphreys, Putnam'saide-de-camp and later his biographer, enlivened the camp that winter. From the summit of Gallows Hill, where General Putnam hung a spy, andhad a deserter shot to death, one may see the sites of the originalcamps, the only visible remains of which are rude piles of stones, theruins of the "chimney-backs. "

In or near the camp preserved within the park, General Israel Putnamonce performed a deed which some have called his greatest act. "Greatestif measured by results, and most typical of him. Who is not thrilledwith the poem of Sheridan's ride--turning a panic-stricken army, andsnatching victory from defeat; and here, near a century before, Putnamrode after a deserting army and brought them back to victory . .. Avictory over themselves. "

These remarks refer to the defection of the Connecticut troops, thatwinter, who, half starved and half frozen in their narrow quarters, "badly fed, badly clothed, and worse paid, " resolved to march toHartford, lay their grievances before the General Assembly, and demandredress at the point of the bayonet. 

 "Word having been brought to General Putnam, " says Major Humphreys, who was present, "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 are 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? You have behaved like men so far--all the world is full of your praise--and posterity will stand astonished at your 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 yourselves? But we all expect better times, and that the country will do us ample justice. Let us all stand together, then, and fight it out like brave soldiers. Think what a shame it would be for Connecticut men to run away from their officers!'"

The gallant general's rude eloquence prevailed, the men saw their error, were indeed ashamed of it; they listened with attention, presented arms, as their beloved commander rode along the line to the din of the drums, and about-faced for camp, which they did not desert again during thewinter. "Thus was a great and mighty battle fought and won. A battlefought with the British far away. A battle fought with hunger, want, cold, and banishment from home. A battle fought in the wilderness, wheremost of the world's greatest battles are fought. "[3]

[Footnote 3: From an historical address by Prof. George A. Parker, ofHartford, Conn. , on the occasion of the visit of the famous PutnamPhalanx to Putnam Park and Camp, June 17, 1903. ]

This episode of the winter camp of 1778-'79 forms a fitting prelude toanother feat performed by Old Put, this time a physical one, which, while not so worthy of renown, perhaps, as the great moral victory heachieved over his men, has brought him greater fame. Both taken togetherabsolutely refute the insinuations of his enemies, to the effect that hehad suffered a decline of mental, moral, or physical force. Washingtonwrote, commending him for his action in suppressing the mutiny; and asfor the feat now to be mentioned, it may be said to speak for itself. Infact, it has been speaking, now, for a century and a quarter, since itis that famous ride down the stone steps of Horseneck Height to whichreference is made. 

It took place one morning in the last week of February, toward the closeof the long winter's vigil at Redding. Putnam and his men were out assoon as the sap in the trees was flowing, and long before, in fact, keeping watch upon and trying to check the operations of the notoriousTryon and his crew. It chanced that he met the British, fifteen hundredstrong, when on a visit to his outpost at Horseneck, now "Putnam'sHill, " in Greenwich, Conn. Having but one hundred and fifty men and twoold iron guns, which latter he had posted "on the high ground by themeeting-house, " he was obliged to retreat. Ordering his men to seekshelter in a near swamp, Old Put waited till the British dragoons werealmost within sword's length of him, when he put spurs to his horse anddashed over the brow of the hill, zigzagging down a rude flight ofseventy stone steps set into the precipitous declivity. 

The dragoons dared not follow after this intrepid horseman, but theysent a flight of bullets, one of which passed through his hat. Arrivedon level ground he made no halt until he had reached Stamford, where hecollected a force of militia in short order, with which he turned uponTryon, compelling him to retreat, and chasing him to his lair, capturingforty prisoners and retaking a large amount of plunder. 

CHAPTER XVIII

THE DISABLED VETERAN

General Putnam was sixty-one years old at the time of his famous exploitat Horseneck, and apparently in the full possession of his powers; but, as it eventuated, this was the beginning of his last campaign, whichactually opened with the removal of the soldiers from Redding to theHudson, about the last of May, where Putnam was appointed to the commandof the right wing of the army, with headquarters on the west bank of theriver. Previous to removal, he wrote the following interesting letter toa friend, Colonel Wadsworth, of Hartford, which the author of thismemoir copied from the original in possession of the ConnecticutHistorical Society:

 Redding, _ye 11 of May, 1779_. 

 Dear Sir: On my arrivol to this plas I could hear nothing of my hard mony and so must conclud it is gon to the dogs we have no nus hear from head Quarters not a lin senc I cam hear and what my destination is to be this summer cant even so much as geuss but shuld be much obbliged to you if you would be so good as to send me by the teems the Lym juice you was so good as to offer me and a par of Shoes I left under the chamber tabel. I begin to think the nues from the sutherd is tru of ginrol Lintons having a batel and comming of the leator it is said he killed 200 hundred and took 500 hundred what makes me creudit it is becaus the acounts in the New york papers peartly agree with ours

 my beast Respeacts to your Lady and sistors and Litel soon. 

 I am dear sir with the greatest respects your most obed and humbel Sarvant

 Israel Putnam. 

Old Put's anxiety as to his destination having been allayed, heestablished his military family at or near Buttermilk Falls, about twomiles below West Point, where, says Major Humphreys, "he was happy inpossessing the friendship of the officers of the line, and in living onterms of hospitality with them. Indeed, there was no family in the armythat lived better than his own. The General, his second son, MajorDaniel Putnam, and the author of these memoirs, composed that family. "

Putnam was probably at this point when, on that dark and stormy night ofthe fifteenth of July, "Mad Anthony" Wayne stormed and captured StonyPoint, on the river not far below. This remarkable exploit was not onlythe most important event of the year, but, like the battle of Monmouthof the year previous, almost the only action worthy of note. It had theeffect, probably, of causing the British to withdraw their troops fromalong the Sound, where they were engaged in ravaging the seaboard placesof Connecticut; but the post was again taken by the enemy, who, like theAmericans, did not find it worth the while to hold it. 

The most important members of Putnam's military family, his son Danieland Major Humphreys, accompanied him home on leave of absence, inNovember, whence, early in December, the General set out on his returnto the army, which was to winter at Morristown. Soon after leavingBrooklyn, and while on the road to Hartford, he "felt an unusual torporslowly pervading his right hand and foot. This heaviness crept graduallyon until it had deprived him of the use of his limbs on that side, in aconsiderable degree, before he reached the house of his friend ColonelWadsworth"--the gentleman to whom he had written the letter of theeleventh of May previous. 

Having tried, though vainly, to shake off the terrible torpor and regainthe use of his limbs by exercise, the stricken soldier was at lastcompelled to admit defeat and resign himself to the inevitable. Hereturned home after a short tarry with his friend, and passed theremainder of that winter at the farmhouse he had built in his youngerdays, surrounded with loving care and affection by his children. Atfirst disposed to rebel against this stroke that had rendered himuseless while his country still stood in need of his services, eventually he regained his cheerfulness and gave himself up to theenjoyment of the home comforts of which for so many years he had beendeprived. 

The partial paralysis from which he suffered was premonitory of thefinal stroke; but it was eleven years before it came and removed fromearth this stout-hearted man who had given his best years and his bestefforts to battling for his native land. There is no doubt that hismighty struggles in the several wars--his daylight marches and nighttimevigils; his tremendous exertions in emergencies like the fire at FortEdward, the running of the rapids at Fort Miller; long hours withoutrest in the saddle, and in the trenches, with wet and frozen clothingsometimes unchanged for days--all conduced toward the weakening of thatmighty frame prematurely stricken with paralysis. 

But he had regrets only for what he was prevented from doing; not forwhat he had done. Having recovered somewhat, he entertained hopes--vainhopes--of rejoining the army; but was finally convinced that his activecareer was ended. Major Humphreys having visited him in May, 1780, byhis hand he sent a missive to Washington, informing him of hiscondition, and ending with this pathetic postscript: "I am making agreat effort to use my hand to make the initials of my name for thefirst time. "I. P. "--Israel Putnam. "

Washington replied in July, congratulating him on his improved state ofhealth, and four years later, after peace was declared between GreatBritain and the United States, he wrote a long and cordial letter, whichthe old General regarded as one of his most precious treasures. Theopening paragraph shows Washington's real and lasting estimate of hisformer comrade in adversity, and is as follows:

 Your favor 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 throughout this war, and from whom I have had cheerful assistance in the various and trying vicissitudes of a complicated contest, the name of a Putnam is not forgotten; nor will it 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 preservation and establishment of the Rights, Liberties, and Independence of our Country. 

It was not like Old Put to give up the fight so long as life held out, and by the exercise of his iron will he kept up and about for years. Within less than a twelvemonth from having been disqualified fromservice on account of his affliction, he paid a visit to his formercommand on the lower Hudson, where one of his old friends, GeneralGreene, complains, in a letter, that he is "talking as usual, andtelling his old stories. "

It can not be denied that he was somewhat loquacious, especially in hislater years, and those "old stories" were not alone his solace, but thedelight of numerous audiences of admiring friends and neighbors. AtMajor Humphreys's request he retold them, two or three years before hedied (1788) and they form the basis of his first biographical memoir. But they were doubtless very stale to those of his hearers who hadlistened to them again and again, as plainly intimated by GeneralGreene. 

As they were mainly about himself and his exploits, and as many of themwere of events that happened in the distant past, it is not unlikelythat some of them were slightly exaggerated, to say the least. Someothers told of Old Put and his doings are perhaps not entitled tocredence. Among these latter may be the tales of his dueling days, as, for instance, the story of his challenge by an English officer onparole, who, when he came to the place appointed, found Old Put seatednear what appeared to be a keg of powder, serenely smoking his pipe. Asthe officer reached the rendezvous, Putnam lighted a slow-match from hispipe and thrust it into a hole bored in the head of the keg, upon whichwere scattered a few grains of gunpowder. Viewing these sinisterpreparations for the "duel, " the Englishman concluded that the bestthing he could do was to run away, which he did very promptly. "O ho!"shouted Putnam after him, taking his pipe from his mouth. "You are justabout as brave a man as I thought, to run away from a keg of onions! Ha, ha, ha!"

No date is given to this occurrence, nor to another account of the"duel" he didn't fight with a brother officer whom he drove from thefield at the muzzle of a loaded musket. In fact, the "field of honor"was not much frequented by Putnam, who preferred the field of battle, where he always gave a good account of himself. 

During his declining years he was cheered by the companionship of hischildren, most of whom were married and settled near him, and being inthe enjoyment of a competence, he was vastly better off than themajority of the soldiers who had fought with and under him during theRevolution, for many of them were impoverished. 

He preserved his strong will-power and great physical strength to theend of his days, notwithstanding the ravages of disease, and in 1786, four years before he died, performed a journey to his birthplace inDanvers, riding all the way on horseback, though with frequent stops bythe way not only for rest, but on account of the people who flocked outto see him and desired to entertain the famous fighter in so many wars. 

This was the last of his ventures afield, and henceforth he confined hisexcursions to visiting the homes of his sons and daughters, and to tripsaround his farm, though on Sundays and "prayer-meeting nights" he wouldalways be found in the meeting-house at the Green, where he was aregular attendant. It is related that at one of the evening meetings oneof his fellow worshipers aroused him, by expressing his own convictionthat any person who had ever used profane language could hardly beconsidered a model Christian. Old Put at once accepted the reproof asintended, for it was well known that in moments of excitement, whencarried away by the furore of battle, he had often used words which hewould not care to review in print. He detested a coward, and when he metone in retreat he did not hesitate to employ strong language inexpressing his opinion. At Horseneck, declared the only witness of hisreckless ride down the hill, "Old Put was cursing the British terribly. "There was no evading his friend's pointed remarks, so the honest old manrose from his seat and "confessed the failing which he had finallyovercome"; but he added, with a twinkle in his eye, "it was enough tomake an angel swear at Bunker Hill to see the rascals run away from theBritish!"[4]

[Footnote 4: Livingston's Life of Israel Putnam. An exhaustive work, bya conscientious and painstaking author. ]

In this respect he was no worse than his former Commander-in-Chief, though he may have been oftener culpable, being so much more excitablethan the phlegmatic Washington. 

The final summons came on Saturday, the twenty-ninth of May, 1790, when, in a lower room of the house he had built nearly fifty years before, thebattle-scarred warrior, life's fitful fever ended, passed peacefullyaway to his rest. 

Israel Putnam was well prepared to die, declared his pastor in hisfuneral sermon, and perfectly resigned to the will of God. 

"He had been for years, " says Major Humphreys, "in patient yet fearlessexpectation of the approach of the King of Terrors, whom he had fulloften faced on the field of blood. "

On the first day of June the earthly remains of Israel Putnam, attendedby a distinguished company of former comrades and sorrowing friends, were taken to the Brooklyn burying-ground, and placed in a brick tomb. 

Upon the slab of the tomb was carved the lengthy epitaph, printed on thenext page, as composed by Dr. Timothy Dwight, Putnam's former friend andchaplain in the army, who subsequently became President of Yale College. 

[Illustration: Statue to General Putnam at Brooklyn, Connecticut. ]

 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 seventh day of January AD. 1718, And died On the twenty-ninth day of May AD. 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 services Rendered thy Country By the Patriot who sleeps beneath this Monument; If thou art Honest, generous & worthy Render a cheerful tribute of respect To a Man Whose generosity was singular Whose honesty was proverbial Who Raised himself to universal esteem And offices of Eminent distinction By personal worth And a Usefull life. 

With the passing of the years, Putnam's tomb in the pleasant littlecemetery in Brooklyn became defaced through the ravages of time andheartless relic hunters, so the State resolved to erect a more enduringmonument to "Connecticut's hero of the Revolution. " This monument wasdedicated June 14th, 1888, nearly a century after the death of the oneit is intended to commemorate, and is in the shape of a beautiful bronzestatue, representing Putnam on his war-horse, beneath the pedestalsupporting which, embedded in the foundation, is a sarcophaguscontaining his ashes. It stands near the old church which Putnam helpedto build, and not far distant from the field in which he was plowingwhen the call came from Lexington and Concord. Dr. Dwight's originalepitaph is inscribed on the tablets, and a wolf's head in bronzeornaments the pedestal on each side. 

Little now remains to be added, except to call attention to Putnam'scharacter, eulogies upon which have been delivered by the ablest men ofhis time and of the generations after him. This sterling character hasshone resplendent in his deeds, which we have noted; and we may almostsay of him, as of Washington, his great commander, "Whatever good mayat any time be said, it can never be an exaggeration!"

General Putnam, remarked his first biographer, "is universallyacknowledged to have been as brave and honest a man as ever Americaproduced. .. . He seems to have been formed on purpose for the age inwhich he lived. His native courage, unshaken integrity, and establishedreputation as a soldier, were necessary in the early stages of ouropposition to Great Britain, and gave unbounded confidence to our troopsin their first conflicts on the field of battle. "

Over his open grave, on that day in June so long ago, were pronouncedthe following words, as true now as yesterday, as they will behenceforth, forever: "Born a hero, whom nature taught and cherished inthe lap of innumerable toils and dangers, he was terrible in battle. .. . But from the amiableness of his heart, when carnage ceased, his humanityspread over the field like the refreshing zephyrs of a summer's evening. . .. He pitied littleness, loved goodness, admired greatness, and everaspired to its glorious summit. "

The name of Putnam, as Washington declared, is not forgotten--nor willbe, until time shall be no more. 

 "He dared to lead Where any dared to follow. In their need Men looked to him. A tower of strength was Israel Putnam's name, A rally-word for patriot acclaim; It meant resolve, and hope, and bravery, And steady cheerfulness and constancy. And if, in years to come, men should forget That only freedom makes a nation great; If men grow less as wealth accumulates, Till gold becomes the life-blood of our States; Should all these heavy ills weigh down our heart, We'll turn to him who acted well his part In those old days, draw lessons from his fame, And hope and strength from Israel Putnam's name. "

THE END.