The Military Journals of Two Private Soldiers, 1758-1775 With Numerous Illustrative Notes

17 June 1775

Battle of Bunker Hill

[Footnote 34: Israel Putnam, afterward the Revolutionary general. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in January, 1718. He was a vigorous lad, and in 1739 we find him cultivating land in Pomfret, Connecticut, the scene of his remarkable adventure in a wolf's den, so familiar to every reader. He was appointed to the command of some of the first troops raised in Connecticut for the French and Indian war in 1755, and was an active officer during the entire period of that conflict, especially while in command of a corps of rangers. He was ploughing in his field when the news of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord reached him. He immediately started for Boston, and, at the head of Connecticut troops, was active in the battle of Bunker Hill. He was one of the first four major-generals of the continental army appointed by Congress in June, 1775, and he was constantly on duty in important movements until 1779, when a partial paralysis of one side of his body disabled him for military service. He lived in retirement after the war, and died at Brooklyn, Windham county, Connecticut, on the 29th of May, 1790, at the age of seventy-two years.]