hamseley--walked with ous--shewed ous all ye Works and the mills to
grind ye _Cain_ and as we went thare was a dog atacked ye manegor and in
ye fight I tumbelled into won of the vats that was full of Liquer to
make rum of--shifted all my Cloths and went on borde."

They finally arrived at Pensacola, where, learning to their sorrow that
no lands had been granted them, they set out on a short exploring trip
of the Mississippi, by the way of New Orleans, which ended north of
Natchez, to which spot General Lyman later returned and founded a
settlement, where he passed his last days. The gallant adventurers
returned to Pensacola, thence sailed to New York, where they arrived the
first week in August, 1773.

It was Colonel Putnam's intention to invest in lands on the Mississippi,
it is believed, but the events that shaped toward and brought about the
Revolution were yearly getting more exciting, intense, and his soldier
instinct was aroused. He keenly watched the trend of events, he
discussed in his tavern the exciting news of the day with visitors from
all parts of the country, and his convictions were becoming stronger and
stronger that something dire and dreadful was to happen.

The Boston massacre of the 5th of March, 1770, fired our hero almost to
a frenzy, and while there may have been men more eloquent in their
denunciations of the British soldiery, like Otis and Adams, there was
none more emphatic and in earnest. Between the massacre and the Boston
"Tea Party" in 1773, Putnam made his journey to the Mississippi; but he
was home, and as usual alert and anxious, when the latter event
occurred.

From that moment he was most attentive to what was going on in Boston,
which was then the "danger spot" of the Colonies. He gave his time
freely to the anticipatory work of organizing his fellow citizens into
military companies and drilling them into proficiency, and he was made
chairman of the "Committee of Correspondence" for Brooklyn. As such he
bore to Boston, when the infamous "Port Bill" was passed, the
condolences and sympathy of his fellow citizens, in a letter eloquently
phrased, and--what was more satisfactory and substantial--the gift of a
flock of sheep.

"We send you," the committee wrote, "one hundred and twenty-five sheep
as a present from the inhabitants of Brooklyn, hoping thereby you will
stand more firm (if possible) in the glorious cause in which you are
embarked." And Israel Putnam, always the man for th