Gen. Israel Putnam.("Old Put") A biography

Front matter

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Preface

of our day witb those striking and manly characters, that _ i made their mark, deep and lasting, on the history and fortunes of the American Continent.

deeds of these men, it is true, are to be found Abundantly recorded in Histories; but they lie so seatalong their ten thousand pages, and are so interwith the voluminous records of other matters, as to be practically out of the reach of the younger portion of readers, and so of the very ones for whom this series has been undertaken. These want only pictures of actual tnd, if the author shall, in any due degree, succeed even in sketching interesting outlines, he will feel that ho U answering the very purpose that has long lain unperformed within Ilia heart.

Chapter I. Early Life

ALMOST every popular favorite has his nickname. They called General Jackson "Old Hickory;" General Taylor was known everywhere through the camp by the name of " Old Zack ; " and, not to interpose too many instances between our own times and his, General Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary memory, was better known by the whole army under the familiar title of " Old Put" than either by the military rank he had honestly earned, or the simple Scriptural name his father and mother gave him.

Israel Putnam was a marked character in days when it would appear as if almost every man stood out as an exemplar. He lived in stirring times, and was not a whit behind the rest in helping to create the stir. Few among the long roll of the patriots of the Revolution, addressed themselves to the great questions, as they came up, with greater zeal than he, or with a more stout and rugged determination to secure peace on the basis of simple justice. It must be allowed, too, that he had a strong love for adventure in his nature, and was as ready at any time for a warlike foray, or a dangerous expedition into a wilderness swarming with Indians, as he was for a frolic at harvest-time, or an exciting wolf-hunt with the young farmers in midwinter. The life of Putnam was a romance almost from the beginning ; yet no one was apparently better contented than he amid the peaceful scenes of the country life of those days, or enjoyed himself more in the quiet atmosphere of his farm, his home, and his friends. In this respect he might be said, like some other men, to have had tivo natures : one continually exciting him to action and deeds of boldness and bravery, and the other tempering him down to the tone of those homely, every-day joys that, after all, are the richest resources a man's heart ever knows.

Israel Putnam was born in Salem, Mass., on the 7th day of January, 1718. His mother had twelve children, of whom he was the eleventh in order. The house still stands in which he was born, and is exactly half-way, on the turnpike, between Newburyport and Boston. The family emigrated from one of the southern counties of England, in the year 1634, and settled in that part of Salem, known as Danvers. The original family name was spelled Puttenham, instead of Putnam. Israel was the great-grandson of the one who first planted the name in that part of the country, Mr. John Putnam ; his father's Christian name being Joseph, his grandfather's Thomas, and his great-grandfather's John as just mentioned. He was a courageous boy, and many daring acts of his youth are preserved by tradition among the different branches of the old family stock. He loved adventure and excitement, and was apt to be foremost in those bold and reckless undertakings for which boys are generally so ready. His early education was limited, as one must readily infer when he reflects that schools of any kind were not a common privilege in those days. The popula-

Won was very much scattered, instead of being gathered into towns and villages as now, and good schools would have been quite difficult to support. Besides, as he was brought up, the mosl of his lime was required on the farm, helping about the regular work in such ways as boys of his age are taught and expected to do. Had his education been different when he was young, there is no doubt that he would have wrought with a still wider influence on the minds of the men of the Revolution. But it was sufficient proof of his inherent strength and greatness, that he rose, as he did, superior to all the obstacles thai were thrown in his path, and wrote his own inline legibly on the page of his country's history It is not every man, even with the aid of many more advantages than he enjoyed, who succeeds in doing what he did for his countrymen and himself.

W e said that he was courageous, and sometimes reckless, when a boy; but his disposition nol quarrelsome. When he was assailed, he Btood his ground without flinching; but he was n (, i "i the habit of picking quarrels with any one. When he went up to Boston for the first time in his life, one of the young town -fellows, a great deal older and bigger than himself, saw him coming along the street in his dress of plain homespun, staring at the signs and the windows, and taken up, as almost every true rustic is, at least once, with what he saw and heard around him ; and, thinking to have some fun out of the country fellow, he taunted him with his dress, his gait, his manners, and his general appearance. Young Putnam bore it as well and as long as he could. He looked around and saw that a crowd had collected, who seemed to be enjoying themselves at his expense. His blood rose at length, and he determined to submit no longer. Suddenly he turned upon the ill-mannered city youth, and s^ave him such a thorough flos^i 112: on the spot as not only silenced his impudence, but likewise drew forth the instant admiration of the crowd, who were, but a moment before, so willing to enjoy his own humiliation. This single little affair was wholly characteristic of the man, as he afterwards showed himself on a wider theatre.

Very few incidents of a well-defined and authentic nature, have come down to us in illustrillion of the boyhood of Putnam ; indeed, when we consider that he was nothing more than a plain farmer's boy, of whom no one ever thought, except as other boys were commonly thought of, whose advantages were few, and whose education was limited, who had no other aim in life than simply to do his work well and make as respectable a man as his father before him, — it is evident that few facts could have accumulated a1 the most, going to show his native superiority to anybody else of his own age and condition. It was after he made himself conspicuous in the eyes of his countrymen, that his relatives began to collect such scanty materials relating to his youth as family tradition chanced to have handed down; not happening to have been born great, oi renowned, of course no record was kept of early years before he achieved for himself what he afterwards so honorably did achieve.

He was twenty-one years old when he was married, which evenl occurred in the year 1739. His wife was .Miss Hannah Pope, whose father - Mr. John Pope — lived in Salem also; and their family afterwards counted four sons and six daughters. The year after he married, he emigrated from Salem to the town of Pomfret, in Connecticut, where he had bought a tract of land for the purpose. The part of Pomfret in which he settled is now included in the pleasant little inland town of Brooklyn ; and the outlines of the foundation of his house are still to be distinctlytraced in the turf, together with the raised walk up to the door. The well he digged is yet pointed out, though it is not at present used ; and in one of the old elm trees that stood before his door, are the iron staples on which he hung the tavern sign, just before the Revolutionary days, to inform travellers that he could temporarily entertain both themselves and their beasts.

There was no better farmer in his day, the whole country round, than young Mr. Israel Putnam proved himself to be. He opened new and uncultivated lands ; built good walls and fences ; stocked his pastures ; planted his orchards ; erected a comfortable and most delightful homestead ; and, by his thrift, industry, and true agricultural taste, succeeded, in a short time, in establishing himself as a well-to-do and most successful farmer. He had a young family brood growing up about him. His herds and Hocks increased and multiplied. He found that his land -was especially adapted to the raising of sheep, and, accordingly, he bent his energies to the production of wool. So successful was he in this enterprise in a brief period of time, that he was popularly reckoned one of the largest wool growers of the country, and his profits accumulated at a rate that soon put him in cir cumstances beyond the possible reach of poverty or want.

It was owing altogether to his having taken so extensive an interest in the raising of sheep, that his adventure with the wolf became a piece of history. During several seasons he seemed to have suffered from rather hard luck, both in his crops and his live stock ; what with drought, and dry-rot, and hard winters, he felt that his losses, continued through several ensuing years, were quite as large as he felt able to submit to. But when it came to the losses in his sheep-fold, which were more and more severe every winter, he roused himself to see if the mischief could not by some means be stopped where it was. It was pretty conclusively proved that the work of slaughter was performed by a single she- wolf, who, with her new family of whelps every year, came from a long distance to get her regular winter's living off the failings of his hill sides and pastures. Nor was he the only sufferer by her bold depredations. Nearly all the neighboring farmers were forced to submit to these losses, as well as himself, and they were quite ready to undertake, with him, the destruction of the ravenous creature who was committing such a general havoc.

This she-wolf was an old jade, and very sly and shrewd withal. Almost every year the hunters, with their dogs, had fallen in with some of her whelps, and made an end of them on the spot ; but they never could manage to come upon her in a position from which she did not possess the cunning to somehow escape. Once they had succeeded in gelting her to put her foot into their steel-trap ; but rather than wait for them to come to a final settlement with her for her many crimes, she concluded she had better lose her toes and make the best of her way off without them. She preferred to sacrifice these, and so save her skin whole.

Putnam got together five of his neighbors, 2* therefore, and laid before them his proposal to hunt the old wolf down; not to give her anyfurther rest or peace until they got her into a place from which there could be no escape. The arrangement was, that they were to take turns at the business, two at a time, and follow her up day and night, till she was traced to her den, unless they might have the good luck to destroy her before she reached it. It was early in the winter when the pursuit began, and, as it happened, a lighl snow had fallen to aid them in their design. The clipped toes of one of the creature's feet, too, would assist the hunters in following her brack, of which fact they were not slow to take advantage.

They came upon her footprints, after a time, and pursued her along by this single mark of the losl toes through the country to the Connecticut river ; showing that she was at least an extensive I raveller. Reaching the river's bank, and finding hci coarse thus intercepted, back she started I tor Pomfret. The hunters were close upon her, and readily found where she had doubled npon herself They pressed on as hastily as they could, over hill and through vale, pushing through swamps and wooded places after her, as if nothing had stood in her way. At an early hour on the second morning after setting out, they had succeeded in driving her into her den in a rocky ledge, situated some three miles to the north from Putnam's house, and within the limits of the town of Pomfret.

She was carefully watched by one of the men, while the other went to give the alarm to the farmers around. It was not long before the woods in the vicinity of the cave were swarming with the male inhabitants of the town, including a pretty large sprinkling of boys. They brought along with them a liberal supply of dogs, guns, straw, and sulphur, prepared to smoke her out, burn her out, punch her out, or, in any event, to shoot her. The shouting and the clamor resounded a great ways from the steep hill-side where the transaction took place, as if they had come with the intention to make a good time of it. The boys, in particular, were delighted with the prospect of the fun there was ahead, and kicked and capered about in the exuberance of their spirits. It was a great thing for them to be allowed to take a part in such sport with their elders.

After a council of war had been held, and a close scrutiny of the retreat chosen by their crafty enemy had been indulged in, it was generally concluded that the wolf was not such a great fool in going into this cavity as they might have thought her. She was, to all intents and purposes, in her fortress. How should they go to work to get her out ? At first they tried tantalization, — sending in their dogs, who came out again yelping and crying, with lacerated skins, and torn and bloody noses, showing how skilfully she had used her claws in her own defence. They could not prevail on the dogs that had tried the entrance once, to go in the second time. So they next hit upon the plan to stuff in lighted bundles of straw, sprinkled liberally with sulphur, hoping thus to smoke her out. They very truly argued that, if she could stand that, she must be too much for them to think of attacking. Accordingly, the straw was piled in, and set on fire. The dense volumes of smoke rose and rolled slowly into the cave, and they thought they were going to secure their game this time without any further trouble. But they looked, and continued to look in vain for the appearance of anything like a wolf. The smoke could not have reached her ; or, if it did, it failed to have the effect upon her they had calculated.

Time was wearing on in this way, and nothing seemed likely to come of all their labor at last. It wanted now but about a couple of hours to midnight. They were not willing to go home and leave their dreaded enemy where she was, unharmed, and free to repeat her bloody mischief. Again they tried to coax the dogs to go in ; but they could not so readily make the animals forget the rough treatment they had received on a previous visit. Israel Putnam felt the need of some one's making a decisive movement, lest the matter should fall through entirely. He therefore ordered a man-servant to undertake the step needed; but he declined very positively. An appeal was made to the whole company present, to know if there was any one who dared undertake this most undesirable piece of business ; but the appeal was made in vain. Neither man nor boy was willing to risk his life in an encounter with a mad animal at the further end of a subterranean cave, which had already shown such a disposition to stand her ground and face her opponents down at any hazard.

Finally it became difficult to endure this state of suspense any longer, and Putnam took his resolution. It was a bold, and no doubt a very reckless one ; but when he considered, in a flash of his thought, the amount of the losses incurred by his neighbors as well as himself, from the depredations of this ravenous wild beast, he wondered how it was possible for any one to hesitate. He declared he would go down and meet the old wolf himself. The farmers were overwhelmed with astonishment, and tried to dissuade him from carrying out # his rash purpose. But all they could say had no effect whatever upon him. He was determined to put an end to the existence of the wolf, and to do it on that very night.

Well aware of the fear inspired in a wild animal by the sight of fire, he provided himself with a large quantity of birch bark, torn into shreds, before going into the cave, and lighted a sufficient number for his immediate purpose. These furnished all the. light he had by which to guide himself along the winding passages of the rocky cavern. Stripping off his coat and waistcoat, with a lighted torch in one hand, he entered the dark aperture at near midnight, crawling slowly upon his hands and knees.

The mouth of the wolf's den was about two feet square. From this point it proceeds downwards about fifteen feet, then it runs horizontally for some ten feet more, and afterwards it ascends very easily for sixteen feet towards its termination. The sides of the cave are of solid rock, and quite smooth; the top and bottom are of the same material ; it is but three feet in width, and in no part can a man stand upright. Putnam groped his way along by the aid of his flaring and smoking torches, until he reached the level portion of the cavity. All was still as a tomb, and his feeble torchlight was able to penetrate but a little distance into the surrounding gloom. He was obliged to advance but slowly, and every few moments it became necessary for him to renew his torch, which he did with the greatest care, lest it might go out in the lighting, and he be left in the profoundest darkness.

After creeping over the ten feet of the level portion of the cave, he came to the ascent. Onward he dragged his slow and toilsome way, till his progress was suddenly arrested by the sight of a pair of glaring eyeballs at the very extremity of the cavern. There sat the old wolf herself; and, as she saw the flash of the torch he carried in his hand, she gnashed her teeth and utteied a low and threatening growl. The brave and venturesome young farmer took a hasty view of things in the cave, and then gave a kick at the rope which his friends had tied about one of his legs before he made the descent, by way of precaution. Fearing that the worst had befallen him, they pulled more excitedly at the rope than was necessary; and, before he could have protested against such rough treatment, he found himself dragged out upon the ground before the mouth of the cave, with " his shirt stripped over his head, and his skin severely lacerated." They had heard the growl of the wolf outside, and feared that he was involved in a struggle with her for life or death. Besides, it was known that he had carried no weapons into the cave with him, and they were more solicitous on that account.

This time, however, he loaded his gun, took more torches, and went down better prepared for the encounter. He knew his way along of course better than before ; but he was now burdened with his musket. When he came in sight of the wolf again, she was in the same place and position, but appeared a great, deal more dissatisfied with his company. The account of his early biographer and personal friend states that she wore an aspect of great fierceness : '■' howling, rolling her eyes, snapping her teeth, and dropping her head between her legs. She was evidently in the attitude, and on the point of springing at her assailant. At that critical moment he levelled his piece, aiming directly at her head, and fired. Stunned with the shock, and suffocated with the smoke of the powder, he immediately found himself drawn out of the cave." But this time his friends took a little more care not to strip his shirt over his shoulders, nor to tear his skin against the jagged edges of the rock.

He allowed a few moments for the smoke to escape from the chambers of the cavern, and then went in again to secure his prize. On examination he found his old enemy lying dead on the floor of the cave at its further extremity, in a pool of blood. He had taken aim to some purpose. In order to satisfy himself that she was 3 really dead, he applied his torch to her nose ; she made no signs of life. Accordingly, he seized her by her ears, gave the rope around his leg an exulting kick, and out he went, with his precious prize dragging after him, into the midst of the crowd at the mouth of the cavern, who showered their praises and congratulations upon him without stint. They sent up a shout of delight that filled the wintry woods with its echoes. Their arch enemy at length lay stretched out stark and stiff at their feet.

From that hour, Israel Putnam was a hero in the eyes and mouth of everybody. He came very soon to be known far and wide as the slayer of the old she-wolf that had made such havoc with the farmers' folds, and people loved to repeat a story that had such decided elements of romance and daring in it; for it excited them quite as much in the telling as it did others in the hearing. The story grew, too, as it travelled, and Putnam's fame of course grew along with it. He was known among the officers of the army, with whom he fought during the Seven Years' War, as " the Old Wolf ; " and his fame reached England through the aid of the public journals, which are generally not behind in chronicling such a truly bold and daring adventure.

The dozen years that Putnam followed the peaceful pursuits of a farmer, between this notable event and the breaking out of the French war, he industriously made the most of. In that time, by his thrifty management, he laid the foundation of a permanent and abundant fortune, for those days of simplicity, and provided for those wants, which otherwise must have been unprovided for entirely, appertaining to advanced age and a life generously spent in behalf of the liberties of his country. When he retired from public service altogether, it was a comfortable reflection for him that he had a good home to which to withdraw his weary self, where he might pass his latest years unreached by the gripe of poverty and want, and secure in the friendship and affection of the happy family group that there budded and blossomed like beautiful plants around him.

Chapter II. The French War

THE struggle between the English and the French for the mastery of this continent, deserves more than the mere allusion to it as an historical fact, which is all we are able in this place to give. The Indians that swarmed in the northern forests, and about the lakes and streams, were, the greater part of them, enlisted on the side of the French, and showed themselves ready to perform any of those barbarities that were asked of them in the wild excitement of the times. These Indians were the worst foes that ever white men were forced to meet. They were stealthy and secret ; they skulked and hid in every nook and corner; they started out unexpectedly from every tree in the forest. In their dispositions they were vindictive and remorseless ; they would fight for pay rather than from friend-

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ship, and hence employed both the tomahawk and the seal ping-knife without either measure or mercy. Such an enemy was a thousand times more dangerous to encounter than an open enemy; because the English were at no time certain that he would not come upon them when they were least expecting it.

It required unusually prudent, sagacious, and brave men to officer a force that should be sent out to meet an enemy, too, with such an ally. Hence, the colonial governments were frequently at a loss how to act, so as not to compromise the safety of the people for whom they were authorized to act.

This so-called French War began in the year

1755, with three separate military expeditions :

one of General Shirley against Fort Niagara; one

of General Braddock, against Fort Duquesne ;

and a third of Sir William Johnson against

Baron Dieskau, at Fort Edward, situated on Lake

George. This last had a successful termination ;

the others were fruitless and unfortunate. Israel

Putnam received an appointment to the captaincy

of a company of provincial soldiers, volunteers of

Connecticut, and this company composed a part o of the regiment under command of General Lyman. Everybody knew Putnam for a fearless and trusty man ; and although it is positive that he had had no previous military experience, yet his winning frankness and hearty honesty soon attracted to his standard a crowd of the finest young men the whole colony afforded. It was a deserved compliment to such a man, and he would certainly have been the last one to betray the high confidence thus reposed in him.

The expedition, of which his company and regiment formed a part, had for its object the reduction of Crown Point, a fortified place on Lake Champlain. Massachusetts Colony started the project, and she, together with Connecticut and New York, was determined to carry it out, if possible, to success. The command of the entire expedition was given to General William Johnson, one of the leading men in the New York Colony, and the troops were to collect at Albany as a central depot. It was late in June when they assembled. Early in August they began to move forward, and reached the point from which all the necessary accompaniments of warlike operations were to be transported across the land to Lake George. Gen. Lyman had already begun to erect a fortification at this point, which went by the name of Fort Edward.

Later in August, the main body of the army took up its march, and pressed on till it reached the southern point of Lake George. It was learned from Indian scouts that a large body of French and Indians were stationed at Ticonderoga, since become an immortal name, which is the point at which Lake George empties, with its thundering sound, into Lake Champlain. They had not yet thrown up any works there, and Johnson therefore felt more desirous to proceed as soon as possible, with a part of his army, and seize the place before they could recover sufficiently from their astonishment at his appearance, to make a proper defence.

But Baron Dieskau, the French commander, had, in the meantime, become apprised of the position and projects of the provincial forces at Fort Edward, and hastened to attack them before their works were all completed. If he could succeed in this plan, it was then his determination to move down upon Albany, and the other towns within reach, and lay them waste with all possible celerity. Accordingly, he took two thousand men with him from Crown Point, and, landing at South Bay, started across the land for Fort Edward. He even kept the design of this movement a secret until he had come within a couple o r miles of the provincial forces. When he at length made his plans known, the Indians murmured, declaring they never would fight against the cannon and musketry of the English. This obliged him, therefore, to change his purpose, and he pushed on towards the north, to surprise the English at the southern point of Lake George. General Johnson was in command there, as already stated. His scouts came into camp and informed him of the approach of Dieskau, with his Canadian and Indian allies.

It was at once determined to send forward a detachment to meet them, and offer them battle. Col. Williams commanded the entire body, which consisted of a thousand provincials and about two hundred friendly Indians. They came upon the French some four miles out from the camp, and found the latter all skilfully prepared to meet them. Dieskau had arranged the French troops in the centre, while the Canadians and Indians were stationed along in the woods on either wing, so as to surround the English forces as soon as they had advanced far enough into this well-set trap. Had not the engagement begun as soon as it did, the plan of the French Baron would unquestionably have worked well ; but, as it was, it did not operate quite so exactly to his mind. The provincials fought like the brave men they were, and were forced at last to fall back. Col. Williams was slain in the battle, and so was Hendricks, the famous Mohawk Indian chief, who had been a firm friend to the English and provincials.