Category: Key Figures

Birth/Death: January 7, 1718 – May 29, 1790

Summary

Israel Putnam (1718–1790) was an American military officer whose distinguished service during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War made him one of the Continental Army’s most recognized early commanders. Born in Sutton, Massachusetts (later Danvers), Putnam became famous across colonial New England as a soldier of extraordinary courage and personal daring before the Revolution began. In 1777, holding a major general’s commission, Putnam commanded forces defending the Hudson Valley and New York Highlands against British offensives—a demanding assignment that tested his ability to coordinate militia and Continental troops across a vast and vulnerable frontier. Though his tenure in the Highlands attracted controversy following the October 1777 fall of Forts Clinton and Montgomery, Putnam remained in Continental service until illness and the effects of a debilitating stroke in December 1779 forced his retirement.

Early Career and Colonial Reputation

Born on January 7, 1718, in Sutton (later Danvers), Massachusetts, Israel Putnam grew up in rural New England before purchasing a farm in Pomfret, Connecticut, in 1739, where he would live for most of his adult life. His colonial celebrity rested partly on a famous episode from approximately 1742 in which he reportedly descended into a Connecticut wolf’s den on a rope, killed the last wolf in the region, and was hauled back out alive—an act of recklessness that earned him lasting fame as a man of unusual physical courage.

French and Indian War Service, 1755–1763

The French and Indian War transformed Putnam from a locally known farmer into a continental military figure. He served as a Connecticut Provincial officer from the war’s early years, participating in multiple campaigns:

  • Battle of Lake George (1755): Putnam served in the broader Lake George operations, gaining experience with frontier warfare and mixed British-colonial forces.
  • Campaigns of 1757–1758: Serving under colonial and British regular commanders, Putnam participated in operations along the Lake Champlain–Lake George corridor, including the disastrous British defeat at Fort Ticonderoga in July 1758 under General James Abercrombie, where British and provincial troops suffered catastrophic losses attacking Montcalm’s French fortifications.
  • Capture of Havana (1762): In the war’s final stages, Putnam sailed with a Connecticut contingent that participated in the British expedition against Havana, Cuba—one of the war’s most remarkable operations and a demonstration of British strategic reach. The Havana expedition claimed thousands of lives to disease; Putnam survived.
  • Rogers’ Rangers Operations: Putnam worked alongside Robert Rogers’ famous ranging unit, developing expertise in the wilderness scouting and irregular tactics that would later inform his Revolutionary War approach.

During these years Putnam also survived being captured by Native American warriors allied with France. His vivid account of being bound to a stake for burning—rescued only by a French officer’s intervention—circulated widely in colonial New England and burnished his reputation as a figure of remarkable fortune and endurance.

The Road to Revolution, 1764–1775

After the French and Indian War, Putnam returned to Pomfret farming but remained involved in Connecticut’s public life. He served in the Stamp Act resistance, joined the Sons of Liberty, and became an active figure in Connecticut’s pre-Revolutionary political networks. When tensions with Britain escalated, Putnam was among the first Connecticut officers prepared to mobilize.

The famous story that Putnam was plowing his Pomfret farm when news of Lexington and Concord arrived in April 1775—and that he left his plow in the field mid-furrow and rode immediately to Cambridge without returning home—may be embellished but reflects his reputation for instant, decisive action.

Bunker Hill and the Army’s Formation, 1775

Putnam played a significant role in the campaign that culminated in the Battle of Bunker (Breed’s) Hill on June 17, 1775, one of the most consequential engagements of the Revolution’s first year. He was among the senior American officers present on the Charlestown peninsula, and his exhortations to the troops during the battle contributed to the famous American resistance that cost the British nearly 1,000 casualties before American defenders were finally forced to withdraw.

The famous order “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes”—the instruction that encapsulated the battle’s tactical discipline—has been attributed to multiple officers including Putnam, Colonel William Prescott, and General John Stark. Historical evidence suggests Prescott was the most likely source, but Putnam’s loud presence throughout the engagement made the attribution plausible to contemporaries.

By the time Washington took formal command of the Continental Army in July 1775, Putnam held a major general’s commission—making him one of the four original major generals of the Continental Army, alongside Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, and Philip Schuyler. Only Washington himself outranked these four officers.

The New York Campaign, 1776

Putnam commanded forces in New York City during and after the disastrous Battle of Long Island in August 1776. When Howe’s British and Hessian force outflanked the American position and drove the Continental Army from Long Island, Putnam helped organize the famous overnight retreat across the East River to Manhattan—a withdrawal that saved the main army from capture. His role during the subsequent defense of Manhattan and the retreat through New Jersey was later scrutinized, with some critics arguing he moved too slowly and left valuable men and materiel exposed.

The Hudson Valley Theater, 1777

In 1777, Putnam received command of the Hudson Valley theater—a vast and complex assignment. His responsibilities included:

  • Defending the Hudson Highlands (Forts Clinton and Montgomery, and the planned fortifications above)
  • Coordinating militia forces across a region extending from Westchester County north toward Albany
  • Maintaining supply lines connecting the Continental Army with northern garrisons
  • Responding to British naval movements on the Hudson

The fundamental strategic tension Putnam faced was unresolvable with available resources: the Highlands required concentrated defense, but the broader region required coverage from British raids and Loyalist activity. Washington’s main army in Pennsylvania had priority for experienced Continental troops, leaving Putnam with militia-heavy forces inadequate for the demands placed on them.

When General Henry Clinton’s British force ascended the Hudson in early October 1777 and assaulted Forts Clinton and Montgomery on October 6, Putnam’s regional command suffered its most severe setback. Despite his efforts to rush reinforcements toward the Highlands, the forts fell within hours. Governor George Clinton—commanding the forts directly—managed to escape; his brother Brigadier General James Clinton was wounded in the melee. Putnam’s critics argued he had not adequately reinforced the garrisons or concentrated forces in anticipation of the British move. Defenders countered that the force ratios made British success virtually inevitable regardless of preparation.

Washington did not formally censure Putnam but expressed concern about the loss and subsequently paid closer personal attention to Hudson Valley defenses, including the fortification of West Point.

Coordination with Frontier Operations

Beyond the Highlands, Putnam worked to coordinate militia forces responding to the constant raids and frontier threats characteristic of warfare in the Lower Hudson and Mohawk Valleys. The same autumn that saw the British assault on the Highlands witnessed intensifying Loyalist Ranger and Iroquois operations along the frontier—raids that would escalate over the following year into events such as the Cherry Valley Massacre of November 1778. Putnam’s command intersected with the broader regional defense against these threats, though the frontier operations were primarily in other commanders’ areas of direct responsibility.

Later Service and the Horseneck Escape, 1779

Putnam continued in Continental service through 1778 and into 1779, commanding forces in the Highlands and lower Hudson. One of the Revolutionary War’s most celebrated anecdotes involves Putnam’s escape from a British cavalry raid at Horseneck, Connecticut (now Greenwich), in February 1779. According to widely circulated accounts—first published during his lifetime—Putnam, then 60 years old, fled a British dragoon force by galloping his horse down a steep flight of stone church steps that the pursuing cavalry horses could not safely descend. He then escaped across a frozen inlet while enemy fire fell around him.

Whether every detail of this account is accurate remains uncertain, but contemporaries found it entirely plausible as a description of “Old Put.” The story entered American popular mythology as an example of revolutionary resourcefulness and physical daring in a man past sixty.

In December 1779, Putnam suffered a severe stroke while at his winter quarters in Greenwich, Connecticut. The stroke partially paralyzed him and ended his active military career. He officially resigned his Continental Army commission in 1783, though he had not returned to field service after December 1779. He died at his Pomfret, Connecticut, farm on May 29, 1790, at the age of 72.

Legacy and Historical Assessment

Putnam occupies an interesting position in Revolutionary War historiography. His early fame—from the French and Indian War and Bunker Hill—made him one of the most celebrated figures of the Revolution’s first years. Jedediah Morse and other early biographers presented him as a nearly legendary figure of American courage. Later critical assessments, particularly around the 1776 New York campaign and the 1777 Highlands defense, were more measured.

Modern historians generally regard Putnam as an effective militia general and frontier commander whose skills were best suited to the war’s irregular and decentralized aspects. His management of regular Continental operations—particularly in the complex multi-theater environments of 1776 and 1777—was less distinguished. He was better at inspiring troops and responding boldly to immediate threats than at the administrative planning and logistical management required for sustained conventional operations.

His career illustrated the continuity between the colonial and Revolutionary periods: a veteran of three decades of frontier and inter-colonial warfare, Putnam brought to the Revolution the accumulated experience of the full cycle of Anglo-American military development from the 1740s through the 1770s.

Sources

  • Flexner, James Thomas. George Washington in the American Revolution. Little, Brown, 1967.
  • Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. Penguin Press, 2010.
  • Humphreys, David. An Essay on the Life of the Honourable Major-General Israel Putnam. Hudson and Goodwin, 1788. (Contemporary biography, primary source)
  • Wikipedia contributors. “Israel Putnam.” In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Putnam
  • American National Biography Online. “Putnam, Israel.” Accessed 2024. https://www.anb.org
  • U.S. National Archives. “Continental Army Officer Records.” Accessed 2024. https://www.archives.gov