Putnam, Israel

Israel (1718-1790), a soldier of the American Revolution. He was born at Salem, now Danvers, Massachusetts, and died at Punkfort, now Brooklyn, Connecticut. His early education was scanty. He began life as a farmer. Boys delight in the stories of his life. An old wolf annoyed the neighborhood for many years, stealing poultry, sheep, and calves, until "Old Put," as he was familiarly called, traced it to its lair in a rocky den, and crawled in after it, slaying the beast single-handed. As a matter of prosaic fact, the den proves so small when seen that it excites ridicule. He served in the French and Indian War. He commanded Putnam's Rangers in the operations around the southern end of Lake George, and was with Abercrombie in the expedition against Ticonderoga. He was at one time captured by the Indians and tortured, but was rescued by French officers, who sent him to Montreal for exchange. Other events in which he took part were a naval expedition against Havana in 1762, and the expedition against Pontiac in the following year. He was a man of active, impetuous nature.

As might be expected, Putnam took a prominent part in the Revolutionary War. When the news of Lexington arrived, it is said he turned his oxen loose, left his plow in the field, leaped on a horse, and set out for Cambridge. He took part in the battle of Bunker Hill. He afterwards rose in church and offered a public apology for swearing on that occasion. He was with Washington at Long Island. A characteristic anecdote is told of his escape from a reconnoitering force of British under Tryon. He was surprised in a position from which there seemed little chance of escape. He rode his horse at breakneck speed down a seemingly impassable rocky precipice and collected troops with which to attack the British in turn. Owing to frequent and prolonged exposure he was stricken with paralysis and incapacitated for service before the end of the war.