EXCELSIOR 
II Park Row, New York. 
M2 liuflitlo St., Rochester. 
$3.00 PER YEAR. 
Single No., Eight Cents 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18,1860 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1809, by D. D. T. Moors, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.] 
Indian wars, rising through every grade, 
from captain to the command of a regiment, 
passing through dangers and hardships al¬ 
most incredible, he returned to the quiet life 
of his farm and the enjoyment of his family. 
He was met by the gratcf\il friendship of Ids 
neighbors and fellow-citizens, who immedi¬ 
ately sought his aid in the management of 
their civil affairs. 
But shortly alter his return he met with 
his saddest affliction in the loss of the wife 
of his youth. 
Between this and the breaking out of the 
Revolution, some nine years, he remained at 
home, the pains-taking, methodical farmer. 
He sought the best stock, and was especially 
interested in the improvement of horses, an 
animal of which he was passionately fond. 
The wild and daring spirit of this animal 
seemed to accord more nearly with his own, 
ami found its full play, afterward, in the mar¬ 
velous descent at. “Horseneok.” lie was 
noted in ius day for raising the beat cattle, 
sheep and horses, and for being an excellent 
judge of all their tine points. 
He was often chosen to decide disputes be¬ 
tween farmers, because of the Impartiality of 
his judgment, and the infinite good humor 
by which he would soften an adverse de¬ 
cision to the losing party. 
lie was not a farmer by proxy, or as it is 
now expressed, “ a sidewalk farmer,” but he 
held to the good old maxim of Poor Richard, 
“He who by the plow would thrive, 
Himself must either hold or drive;” 
and when the tocsin of war was sounded 
from Lexington, it found him in the field 
guiding his plow, which he left in the Itirrow, 
and mounting his faithM steed, without 
family adieus, hurried to the front. 
As wc write the history of the farmer, and 
not the warrior, he disappears from our 
view during all those bloody years, and only 
reappears upon our page when stricken 
with partial paralysis, and filled with pain 
and disappointment, he leaves the scene of 
his glory and retires again to the peaceful 
farm. 
He hoped soon to recover and rejoin the 
veterans in the field, but Providence hud or¬ 
dered otherwise. His wonderfully rugged 
constitution had finally yielded to the great 
and constant strain upon it, and he found 
himself a cripple for the rest of his days. 
Yet it was a great, consolation that he 
could retire to the spot his own hands had 
cleared of the forest, under the shade of his 
own trees, with the accumulated fruits of 
his own early toil, live in ease and inde¬ 
pendence, surrounded by the affectionate 
care of Ids family and the devoted attach¬ 
ment of friends, with the comforting reflec¬ 
tion that his efforts for human liberty had 
not been in vain. 
Although he was not able now, as of yore, 
to follow his team afield, yet lie continued to 
take a lively interest in all the operations of 
the farm, and lie lived eleven years, after 
being disabled, to enjoy its fruits. There are 
many anecdotes of his wit and wisdom 
which are not within the limits of this paper. 
Perhaps it should be mentioned here, as 
an evidence of the steady prosperity of ag¬ 
riculture, that the descendants of the first 
Putnam still occupy the farm, hewed out of 
the wilderness two hundred and thirty-five 
years ago. There are not many instances 
where property obtained by trade has re¬ 
mained so long in one family. 
In Concilia ion: — Our hero, educated only 
in a limited parish school, a successful 
farmer before lie became a soldier, rising to 
be the senior Major-General under Wash¬ 
ington, filling every employment with rep¬ 
utation, possessing a vigorous intellect, a 
pungent wit, a nerve above fear, a spirit to 
dare all, a pleasant and sportive disposition, 
the soul of uprightness and honor, full of 
years, honors and good works, surrounded 
by loved ones, in sight of his fields and 
flocks, passed from the scene of his earthly 
labors. 
mxmtrt jrarnurs 
CELEBRATED FARMERS.—II, 
Hi-ncrul Israel I'utuniu. 
In tracing the history of early agricultur¬ 
ists, we shall have occasion, sometimes, to 
compare tills with other occupations, in pro¬ 
moting the happiness and well-being of its 
followers. Perhaps the subject of this sketch 
will afford u fair opportunity for such a con¬ 
trast. The immediate, ancestors of the Gen¬ 
eral had all been fanners since coming to 
America, having followed it as the only re¬ 
source for a livelihood; and, as an evidence 
of prosperity, each reared a very large fami¬ 
ly ; the General having no less than eleven 
brothers and sisters. 
In this respect, IsRAEr,, liimseif, did not 
fall much behind, as he had ten children by 
bis first wife, and he was indebted, for the 
comfort of his declining years, to the steady 
ancl safe profits of his farm, acquired in his 
early manhood. While it Is well known 
that many of those whose patriotism led 
them, like him, to devote themselves to their 
eauntry in irtriv^k< lor liberty ; (k'lfcing 
from other occupations, which had not en¬ 
abled them to accumulate a fund, like the 
ever-producing farm, on which to fall back 
when the struggle was over, found them¬ 
selves with a broken constitution, in their 
declining years, thrown upon the charity of 
the world, with no solid remembrance from 
the Republic they lmd helped to save. 
Our hero’s great-grandfather, John Put¬ 
nam, settled in that part of Salem, Massa¬ 
chusetts, now Danvers, in 1084. His father 
was Capt. Joseph Putnam. Isuaei, was 
horn January 7, 1718. The house in which 
he was born is still standing, hi good preser¬ 
vation, and occupied by his grand-nephew. 
His literary advantages were very small, 
obtaining all his education in the common 
school, which, at that period, was very lim¬ 
ited. The few colleges or high schools of 
that day were familiarly called “ the schools 
of the prophets,” as the clergy and other 
professions were educated in them. 
The Bird’s Nest. 
Young Putnam’s first daring exploit was 
ir. attempting to get a bird’s nest attached 
to a slender limb at the top of a tall tree. 
He walked out on the limb below, but just 
as he touched the nest and exclaimed, “ I’ve 
got it—it is mine,” the limb broke, and he 
fell till he caught on another limb by bis 
pantaloons, where he hung, head down¬ 
wards. Hanging thus, where he could get 
neither up nor down, in a position where 
death must come in a few minutes, he called 
to a boy in the frightened group below to 
shoot off the limb with iiis rifle. After 
seme hesitation, he did this, and young Put¬ 
nam fell to the ground somewhat bruised. 
Determined not to be defeated, a few days 
afterwards he returned to the tree, alone, 
and with much difficulty secured the nest, 
which he brought to his companions in 
triumph. He excelled in all athletic exercises. 
Hi* First Visit to Boston. 
On his first visit to Boston, one of the 
young bloods of the city, much older and 
larger than he, assailed him so rudely and 
treated him with such contempt that young 
Putnam, after bearing liis insults till it 
ceased to be a virtue, turned upon bis tor¬ 
mentor and gave him such a complete 
thrashing that he went off humiliated, to 
the great amusement of a large crowd of 
spectators. 
He Settle* Uawu iu Hite. 
At the age of twenty-one he was married 
to Aliss Hannaii Pope of Salem. The next 
year he settled on a farm he had bought in 
Pomfrot, Connecticut. The soil was good, 
and he became a successful farmer. The 
habits of the people, at this period, were 
Gfiujsr. isnA.B]L i- > ua'fsr^\.jvx-iiisToi?.iCA.x J Kviufsrrs li^x.us'i'UA/ricij 
simple aud inexpensive, and with no arti¬ 
ficial tastes to drain oft' the fruits of their 
toil, the active and industrious farmer was 
sure of success. 
A few years of active and judicious enter¬ 
prise placed Mr. Putnam in the enjoyment 
of a comfortable home. He had made ex¬ 
tensive clearings, surrounded them with 
good fences, and stocked his pastures with 
tine animals, for those times, both of cattle 
and sheep. 
He seems to have taken a particular pride 
in liis sheep, and could show as large flocks 
and as flue fleeces as any farmer in the State. 
Iiis pastures were, admirably adapted to 
sheep grazing, and he made the most of 
them, finding his gains quite satisfactory. 
He had a quick eye and a strong hand. 
His judgment, however impulsive his nature, 
was rarely at fault. What would seem rash¬ 
ness in other men was but prudent foresight 
in him. 
The Wolf Hunt. 
Finding much profit aud pleasure in his 
sheep, and studying how to increase both, 
yet be and his neighbors suffered great losses, 
now and then, from the depredations of 
wild animals; and this led to that famous 
adventure with the wily old she wolf in her 
den, which has so frequently excited the in¬ 
terest of the young reader of the life of 
Putnam. Just before this adventure he had 
lost seventy sheep in one night. The story 
of Putnam and his neighbors tracking this 
old offender, who had lost one of her toes in 
a trap, over hill, through valley, forest and 
swamp to the Connecticut River, and back 
to her den in Pomfret; how, after trying to 
drag her out with dogs anil smoke her out 
with fire, all in vain, lie went into her den 
through a small zigzag entrance, discovered 
her glaring eyeballs in the darkest recess, 
returned for a musket, re-entered, shot her, 
(almost stunning himself,) and dragged her 
to the light, has been too often told to be re¬ 
peated here in detail. This adventure gave 
Putnam a great reputation among liis fel¬ 
low farmers, and caused him to be familiarly 
known among his brother officers in flic 
army as “ the Old Wolf.” 
lit- Cha*tiMt-H u Bull. 
He was a man of great personal strength, 
as an incident occurring at this period will 
show. He had an eye for fine cattle, and 
having reared a ball of beautiful proportions, 
which he highly valued, but having a vi¬ 
cious temper had become the terror of his 
neighbors, lie determined to chastise and 
conquer him, and look the following very 
novel way to do it. Coming up to the ani¬ 
mal in the pasture, while in one of his vicious 
moods, “ be Seized him suddenly by the tail, 
and twisting it around a small tree, held him 
fast.” with one hand, while he severely chas¬ 
tized him with an ox-gad, in the other. The 
bull bellowed and tore up the earth in bis 
rage, but all in vain, sis the grip that held 
him was inexorable. From that time the 
bull had a master, and the sight of the rod 
made him submissive. 
lie Use* the Beetle uiul Wetlite* iu War. 
After some twelve years of most active in¬ 
dustry as a farmer, and laying the foundation 
for a comfortable independence for life, lie 
enters the French war as a captain. AVe 
shall not follow him through the incidents of 
tliis remarkable service, where the unlettered 
farmer was found the equal of the best 
trained English officers, in any emergency. 
But one specimen of bis ready invention of 
means to accomplish an object, under pecu¬ 
liar difficulty, illustrates the farmer so aptly, 
that we cannot omit it . 
During the expedition of Gen. Amherst, 
it became necessary to take Fort Oswe- 
gatchie, at the mouth of that river, but two 
armed vessels kept possession of the stream, 
and the General had no means of combat¬ 
ing them. 
Putnam came to him, and pointing to one 
of them, said :—“ General, that ship must be 
taken.” 
“Ay," replied Amherst, “ I would give 
the world if It were taken.” 
“ I’ll take her,” said Putnam, coolly. 
“JIow?” asked the General, smiling in¬ 
credulously. 
“ Give me wedges, a beetle and a few men 
of my own choosing, and I will soon put 
her out of your way.” 
He took Iiis beetle and wedges and five 
men in a light boat, with muffled oars, and, 
under cover of the darkness, rowed under the 
stern of the vessel, imperceived, and drove the 
wedges between the rudder and the stern- 
post so firmly that the rudder could not be 
moved. He then escaped unperceived. The 
vessel, without a helm, drifted ashore and 
surrendered without firing a gun, and her 
companion followed her example.* 
To show the wonderful nerve of Putnam, 
an anecdote is related, that while a prisoner, 
and on the march to Montreal, the party ac¬ 
companying him awaking one morning, 
while lie was still iu a sound slumber, pro¬ 
posed to frighten him. So a musket, loaded 
with a double charge, strongly rammed, was 
placed close to liis head and discharged. 
Without a start, or even opening his eyes, 
he muttered, “ That’s a good one,” turned on 
the other side ready for another nap. 
Return 11 omo. 
After ten years’ service in his country’s 
cause, in what is known as the French and 
Cutter’s Life of Putnam. Wo are Indebted to this 
work for many facts givcu iu this paper. 
