tales go far to make up the popular reputation of the
hero, and it was as a man of the people that Putnam first appears upon
the public scene.

On the breaking out of the old French war, as it was termed, at the
age of thirty-seven, he drew together a band of his neighbors and
reported himself with the Connecticut contingent before Crown Point.
He appears to have been employed in this service under Major Rogers,
the celebrated partisan "ranger," whose life he is said to have saved
in an encounter with a stalwart Frenchman. Putnam conducted himself as
a man of resources and valor in this mixed species of warfare, in
achieving a reputation which brought him, in 1757, the commission of a
major from the Connecticut Legislature. It was the year of the
memorable massacre of Fort William Henry. Putnam was with the forces
whose head-quarters were at the neighboring Fort Edward, under command
of General Webb, and made several vigorous attempts to assist in the
support of the beleaguered fortress, but his efforts were not seconded
by the commander, who ungenerously left the fort a prey to Montcalm
and the Indians. These adventures of Putnam displayed his personal
courage, in approaching the enemy on Lake George, and subsequently in
command of his Rangers in rescuing a party of his fellow-soldiers from
an Indian ambuscade at Fort Edward.

The year 1758 saw Major Putnam again in the field, under the command
of Abercrombie, at the scene of his former labors, in the vicinity of
Lake George. In the early movements of the campaign, Putnam
distinguished himself in an ambuscade, by a destructive night attack
upon a party of the enemy at Wood Creek. When the main line advanced
toward Ticonderoga, he was, with the lamented Lord Howe, in the front
of the centre, when that much-loved officer was slain upon the march.
It was the first meeting, after landing from Lake George, with the
advance of the French troops. There was some skirmishing, which
attracted the attention of the officers. Putnam advanced to the spot,
accompanied, contrary to his dissuasions, by Lord Howe, who fell at
the first fire. The party of Putnam, enraged by this disaster, fought
with gallantry, and inflicted a heavy loss upon their opponents. The
result of this miserably conducted expedition, however, made no amends
for the loss of the gallant Howe. Two thousand men were blunderingly
sacrificed before Ticonderoga, and the threatened siege was abandoned.

The life of