PUTNAM
PUTNAM
and was present at the disastrous defeat of the
Colonial army by Baron Dieskau in the woods
near Ivike George, Sept. 8, 175.1, followed by
the successful battle that resulted in the anniiii-
lation of the arniy of Dieskau, and the baronetcy
of William Jolinson. Putnam displayed such
unusual skill in Indian warfare tliathewas made
an indejHMuK'iit scout, and operated with the
rangers umler Maj. Robert Rogers. After spend-
ing the winter of 1755-r)G at home, he joined
General Aljercrombie at Fort Edward in the
spring, and his exploits in saving the powder
magazine during a tire in the fort, his rescue of a
party of soldiers by passing the rapids of Fort
Miller in a bateau, and his recapture of provisions
and military stores seized by the French, his
capture, torture, miraculous escape and final
exchange, form an important part of the histor}'
of the French and Indian war. He was promoted
lieutenant-colonel and took part in command of
his regiment in the successful expeditions of
General Amherst against Ticonderoga and Crown
Point in 1759, and against Montreal in 17G0. He
accompanied General Lj-man to the West Indies
in 17G0 ; and took part in the capture of Havana,
Aug. 13. 1762, and in 1704 was promoted colonel
and joined Bradstreet in his march to the relief
of Detroit besieged by Pontiac. He had spent
his winters at home, and in 1765 resumed his
farming operations, also conducting a profitable
inn in Mortlake ^lanor, which liad been set off
from Pomfret in 1751. Colonel Putnam became
a member of the church, aselectmanof the town,
deputy to the general assembly, and in the
winter of 1772-73 accompanied General Lyman
to inspect the lands on the Mississippi river near
Natchez given to the soldiers of Connecticut for
their services in the French and Indian war. He
was a Son of Liberty, having joined the order in
1765, and when General Gage was in Boston, he
visited him, and declared his allegiance to the
cause of the colonies. He heard the news of the
battle of Lexington while plowing in his fields,
and at once mounted his horse. After riding all
night he reached Cambridge, Mass., the next
morning, proceeding on the same day to Concord,
Mass., whence he sent a messenger back to Pom-
fret to have the militia in readiness to meet the
emergency. The n»'xt week he returned home and
wjis appointed brigmlier-general by tiie legisla-
ture, having command of the militia of the
colony. He joined the patriot army at Cam-
bridge, and commanded at the battle of Bunker
Hill, June 17. 1775, and on .June 19, was made
major-general in the Continental army, and
placed m command of the division stationed at
Cambridge. He was ordered to New York to
assume chief command of the army, and on his
arrival, April 4, 1770, he proceeded to place the
city in a condition of defence, to this end declar-
ing the inhabitants under martial law. Wash-
ington arrived April 13, and continued the work
so efficiently begun by Putnam, who remained
second in command. On August 17, Putnam an-
nounced to Washington the arrival of General
Howe's fleet off Sandy Hook, and on August 22,
15,000 royal troops crossed the narrows from
Staten Island to Gravesend, Long Island. On
August 24, he succeeded General Sullivan in com-
mand of Brooklyn Heights, and his army was
defeated August 27, and forced to cross the East
River to New York, where his army of 5000 men
found temporary refuge. On the retreat to Har-
lem, he commanded the rear guard, and after
distinguishing himself in the battle of Harlem
Heights, he was sent with a detachment to the
support of General McDougall at White Plains,
but arriving too late, crossed the Hudson River
to Fort Lee, where after the capture of Fort
Washington, Nov. 26, 1776, and the discovery of
the treachery of General Charles Lee, he was
placed in command of the troops in Philadelphia,
where he constructed fortifications and prepared
tlie city against threate.ned British attack. In
January, 1777, he went into winter quarters at
Princeton, N.J.,and in May. 1777, was transferred
to the command of the troops in the Highlands
of the Hudson river, with headquarters at PeelvS-
kill, from which post he was forced by the
British to retreat to Fishkill in October, but re-
occupied Peekskill on the retirement of Sir
Henry Clinton to New York. His delay in com-
plying with Washington's directions to reinforce
the army at Philadelphia now threatened by
Howe and Clinton, cost him his command and a
severe reprimand from the commander-in-chief,
and he was placed on recruiting duty in Connecti-
cut. He defended the state against the raids
of Governor Tryon, when Danbury was burned,
April 26, 1777, and during the winter of 1778-79,
made his escape from Tryon's cavalry, by dash-
ing down the jiiecipice at Greenwood. He com-
manded the right wing of the American army
at the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, and
at West Point on the Hudson. July to December,
1779, and while on his return to Washington's
headquarters at IMorristown after a visit to Pom-
fret, he was stricken with paralysis at Hart-
ford, Conn., and this disease closed his military
career. He married as his second wife, in 1767,
Deborah (Latliroj)) Avery Gardner, widow of
John Gardner, and she accompanied him on most
of his campaigns, and died at his headquarters
in the Highlands in 1777. An equestrian statue
by J. Q. A.Ward was unveiled in Brooklyn, Conn.,
June 14, 1888. Lives of General Israel Putnam
have been written by David Humphreys (1790);
by O. W. B. Peabody in Sparks's "American
