t of "fifty Spanish milled dollars" as an honorable
gift. He was famous also for Yankee ingenuity. A colonial newspaper
relates an anecdote illustrative of this. The British general was sorely
perplexed by the presence of a French man-of-war commanding a piece of
water which it was necessary for him to cross.

"General," said Putnam, "that ship must be taken."

"Aye," replied the general, "I would give the world if she was taken."

"I will take her," said Putnam.

"How?" asked the general.

"Give me some wedges, a beetle, and a few men of my own choice."

When night came, Putnam rowed under the vessel's stern, and drove the
wedges between the rudder and the ship. In the morning she was seen with
her sails flapping helplessly in the middle of the lake, and she was
soon after blown ashore and captured.

Among other adventures, Putnam was taken prisoner by the Indians, and
carried to his grave great scars of the wounds inflicted by the savages.
He served to the very end of the war, pursuing the enemy even into the
tropics, and assisting at the capture of Havana. He returned home, after
nine years of almost continuous service, with the rank of colonel, and
such a reputation as made him the hero of Connecticut, as Washington was
the hero of Virginia at the close of the same war. At any time of public
danger requiring a resort to arms, he would be naturally looked to by
the people of Connecticut to take the command.

Eleven peaceful years he now spent at home. His wife died, leaving an
infant a year old. He joined the church; he married again; he cultivated
his farm; he told his war stories. The Stamp Act excitement occurred in
1765, when Putnam joined the Sons of Liberty, and called upon the
governor of the colony as a deputy from them.

"What shall I do," asked the governor, "if the stamped paper should be
sent to me by the king's authority?"

"Lock it up," said Putnam, "until we visit you again."

"And what will you do with it?"

"We shall expect you to give us the key of the room where it is
deposited; and if you think fit, in order to screen yourself from
blame, you may forewarn us upon our peril not to enter the room."

"And what will you do afterwards?"

"Send it safely back again."

"But if I should refuse you admission?"

"Your house will be level with the dust in five minutes."

Fortunately, the stamped paper never reached Connecticut, and the act
was repealed soon after.

The eventful year, 17