Israel Putnam, popularly known as "Old Put", was an American military officer and landowner who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War.
47 Facts About Israel Putnam
2.
Israel Putnam served as an officer with Rogers' Rangers during the French and Indian War, when he was captured by Mohawk warriors.
3.
Israel Putnam was saved from the ritual burning given to enemies by the intervention of a French officer with whom the Mohawk were allied.
4.
Israel Putnam was born in 1718 in Salem Village, Massachusetts, to Joseph and Elizabeth Putnam, a prosperous farming Puritan family.
5.
Israel Putnam's parents had opposed the Salem witch trials in the 1690s.
6.
In 1740, at the age of 22, the young Israel Putnam moved west to Mortlake, where land was cheaper and easier for young men to buy.
7.
Israel Putnam killed a wolf in Connecticut in 1743 with the help of a group of farmers from Mortlake seeking to safeguard their sheep.
8.
Israel Putnam tried to get his servant to enter with a torch and gun to shoot the wolf.
9.
Israel Putnam's servant refused, as did all the other farmers.
10.
In celebration of the event, the 24-year-old Israel Putnam was carried in a torch-lit procession through Pomfret in a celebration that lasted until about midnight.
11.
Israel Putnam earned the nicknames of "Wolf Israel Putnam" and "Old Wolf Put", which stayed with him for decades afterward.
12.
Israel Putnam married twice, first to Hannah Pope in 1739, the mother of his children.
13.
In 1755, at the age of 37, Israel Putnam was one of the first men in Connecticut to sign up to serve as a private in the militia in the French and Indian War.
14.
The danger of an explosion was imminent, but Israel Putnam took a position on the roof and poured bucket after bucket of water upon the flames, only descending when the buildings fell only a few feet from the magazine.
15.
Israel Putnam was laid up for a month due to burns and exposure.
16.
Israel Putnam was saved from being ritually burned alive by a rainstorm and the last-minute intervention of a French officer.
17.
Major Israel Putnam is believed to have brought back Cuban tobacco seeds to New England, which he planted in the Hartford, Connecticut Hartford area.
18.
In 1763, during Pontiac's Rebellion, Israel Putnam was sent with reinforcements to relieve Chief Pontiac's siege of Fort Detroit.
19.
Israel Putnam publicly professed his Christian faith following the Seven Years' War in 1765 and joined the Congregational church Congregational Church in his town.
20.
Israel Putnam was among those who objected to Kingdom of Great Britain British tax action policies.
21.
Israel Putnam said that Fitch's house "will be leveled with the dust in five minutes" if Fitch did not turn over the stamp tax paper to the Sons of Liberty.
22.
Israel Putnam literally "came off the plow", leaving it in the field and riding 100 miles in eight hours, reaching Cambridge the next day and offering his services to the Patriot cause.
23.
Israel Putnam was named a major general, making him second in rank to General Artemas Ward in the Army of Observation, which preceded the founding of the Continental Army.
24.
Years after the battle, and after Israel Putnam's death, he was accused by Henry Dearborn of failing to supply reinforcements and even of cowardice during the battle.
25.
People were shocked by the rancor of the attack, and this prompted a forceful response from defenders of Israel Putnam, including such notables as John and Abigail Adams.
26.
Israel Putnam had been relieved of one of the top commands in the War of 1812 due to his mistakes.
27.
Israel Putnam had been nominated to serve as US Secretary of War by President James Monroe, but was rejected by the United States Senate.
28.
Israel Putnam had to flee, and he made it because Putnam's artillery firing on Brooklyn Heights, over the Buttermilk Channel, held Howe back just long enough for Washington to escape to Manhattan and for the Revolutionary War to proceed.
29.
Israel Putnam had personal friendships and deep respect for many of his British former comrades in arms in the French and Indian War, who were now his enemies.
30.
Israel Putnam showed an "unconquerable aversion" to many of those who were entrusted with the disposal of Tory property who Putnam felt were instead embezzling the funds.
31.
The grave was later exhumed, and it is possible that Israel Putnam learned of the tragic error at the time he received Washington's order.
32.
Israel Putnam was later put in command of the Eastern Division, consisting of three brigades of New Hampshire and Connecticut troops.
33.
Israel Putnam did not fit the stereotype of the taciturn New Englander.
34.
Israel Putnam was a gregarious tavern-keeper, a very industrious farmer, and an aggressive soldier, always looking for an excuse to discipline his soldiers.
35.
Israel Putnam's farm was one of the most productive in the area.
36.
Israel Putnam served as Washington's second in command, and the two shared some key characteristics that other general officers of the time did not.
37.
Israel Putnam, whose spelling was a language all its own, nevertheless had a way with words.
38.
Biographer David Humphreys, who witnessed the Israel Putnam event, wrote about it as follows:.
39.
Israel Putnam has been criticized by historians as having not been a great strategic thinker, and during one of the planning sessions during the siege of Boston with Washington and his senior officers, Israel Putnam grew tired of the endless discussion, and went to the window and started observing the British.
40.
However, Israel Putnam was not without the ability to foresee both effective battlefield strategy and the big picture.
41.
Israel Putnam ordered his men to aim for the British officers, knowing the crippling effect it would have.
42.
Israel Putnam had a feel for the common soldier and how to make good use of him.
43.
In discussion with Joseph Warren and General Artemas Ward before the Battle of Bunker Hill, Israel Putnam advocated aggressive action against the British.
44.
Israel Putnam was buried in an above-ground tomb in the town's South Cemetery.
45.
Israel Putnam is honored with an equestrian monument near his original burial site on Canterbury Road.
46.
In 1888, Israel Putnam's remains were removed from the Brooklyn cemetery and reinterred in a sarcophagus in the base, and the original headstone inscription was recreated on the monument.
47.
Israel Putnam appeared in Assassin's Creed III in a minor role.