PUTNAM, ISRAEL

that bound the victim. It was Molang, the leader of the French and Indians, who had heard of the dreadful proceedings. Putnam was delivered to Montcalm at Ticonderoga, treated kindly, and sent a prisoner to Montreal. He was afterwards exchanged for a prisoner captured by Bradstreet at Fort Frontenac, and was lieutenant-colonel at the capture of Montreal in 1760, and at the capture of Havana in 1762. He was a colonel in Bradstreet's Western expedition in 1764. After the war he settled on a farm in Brooklyn township, Conn., where he also kept a tavern.

On the morning after the affairs at Lexington and Concord (April 20, 1775) Putnam was in his field, with tow blouse and leather apron, assisting hired men in building a stone wall on his farm. A horseman at full speed acquainted him with the stirring news. He instantly set out to arouse the militia of the nearest town, and was chosen their leader when they were gathered. In his rough guise he set out for Cambridge, and reached it at sunrise, having ridden the same horse 100 miles in eighteen hours. He was appointed a provincial major general; was active

PUTNAM'S SIGN.

ISRAEL PUTNAM IN BRITISH UNIFORM.

that time his services were given to his country without cessation in the Hudson Highlands and in western Connecticut. Paralysis of one side of his body in 1779 affected his physical condition, but did not impair his mind, and he lived in retirement until his death, May 19, 1790.

The sign on Putnam's tavern bore a fulllength portrait of General Wolfe. In the following letter, written at the close of the Revolutionary War, he alludes to his hav ing been an innkeeper:

"BROOKLYN, Feb. 18, 1782. "GENTLEMEN,-Being an Enemy to Idleness, Dissipation, and Intemperance, I would object against any measure that may be conducive thereto; and as the multiplying of public-houses where the public good does not require it has a direct tendency to ruin the morals of the youth, and promote idleness and intemperance among all ranks of people, especially as the grand object of those candidates for license is money, and where that is the case, men are not apt to be over-tender of this town, I think, have run into a great The authority of people's morals or purses. error in approbating an additional number From of public - houses, especially in this parish.

in the battle of Bunker Hill; and was appointed one of the first major-generals of the Continental army.

PYLE

appointed chief engineer (August, 1776), but soon afterwards left that branch of the service to take command of a Massachusetts regiment. He was with the Northern army in 1777, and in 1778 he, with General Putnam, superintended the construction of the fortifications at West Point. After the capture of Stony Point he commanded a regiment in Wayne's brigade, and served to the end of the campaign. He was made a brigadier-general in 1783. He was aide to General Lincoln in quelling Shays's insurrection (1787), and in 1788, as superintendent of the Ohio Company, he founded Marietta, the

efforts of Cornwallis to embody the loyalists of North Carolina into military corps. In this movement the gallant Col. Henry Lee, with his "Legion," was conspicuous. At the head of his cavalry, he scoured the country around the head-waters of the Haw and Deep rivers, where, by force and stratagem, he foiled Tarleton, who was recruiting among the Tories there. Colonel Pyle, an active loyalist, had gathered about 400 Tories, and was marching to join Cornwallis. Lee's Legion greatly resembled Tarleton's, and he made the country people believe that he was recruiting for Cornwallis. Two prisoners were com

pelled to favor the deception or suffer instant death. Two well-mounted young men of Pyle's corps were SO deceived, and informed Lee (supposing him to be Tarleton) of the near presence of that corps. Lee sent word to Pyle, by one of the young men, of his approach, and, assuming the person of Tarleton, requested him to draw up his corps on one side of the road, that his wearied troops might pass without delay. The order, or request, was obeyed. Lee intended, when he should secure the complete advantage of Pyle, to reveal himself and give his Tory corps the choice, after being disarmed, to join the patriot army or return home. He had ordered Pickens to conceal his riflemen near. Just as Lee (as Tarleton) rode along Pyle's line (March 2, 1781), and had grasped the hand of the latter in an apparently friendly salute, some of the loyalists discovered Pickens's riflemen. Perceiving that they were betrayed, they commenced firing upon the rear-guard of the first permanent settlement in the eastern cavalry, commanded by Captain Eggleston. part of the Northwest Territory. He was That officer instantly turned upon the foe, judge of the Superior Court of that Terri- and the movement was followed by the tory in 1789, and was a brigadier-general whole column. A terrible fight and in Wayne's campaign against the Indians. slaughter ensued. Of the loyalists, ninety As United States commissioner, he made were killed and a large portion of the re important treaties with some of the mainder wounded in a brief space of time. tribes. He was United States surveyor- A cry for mercy was raised by the loyalgeneral from October, 1793, to September, ists. It was granted when the Americans 1803. He died in Marietta, O., May 1, were assured of their safety. Colonel Pyle, wounded, fled to the shelter of a

1824.

RUFUS PUTNAM.

Pyle, DEFEAT OF. Recrossing the Dan pond near by, where, tradition says, he after his famous retreat into Virginia, laid himself under water, with nothing but General Greene attempted to frustrate the his nose above it, until after dark, when 337

VII.-Y

PYLE

Q.

Quackenbos, JOHN DUNCAN, physi- under D'Estaing, occupied Narraganset cian; born in New York City, April 22, 1848; graduated at Columbia University in 1868; College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1871; appointed Professor of English Language and Literature in Columbia University, 1884. Since 1895 he has devoted himself to his profession, making a specialty of diseases of the nervous system. Dr. Quackenbos is the author of History of the World; Appleton's Geographies; New England Roads; Hypnotism in Mental and Moral Culture, etc.

Bay and opened communication with the American army, then near, and 10,000 strong. The French fleet even entered Newport Harbor, and compelled the British to burn or sink six frigates that lay there. There was a delay of a week before the American army could be made ready to move against the foe. Greene and Lafayette had both been sent to aid Sullivan, and success was confidently expected. On Aug. 10 the Americans crossed over the narrow strait at the north end of Quaker Hill, BATTLE AT. In the sum- the island in two divisions, commanded mer of 1778 there were 6,000 British respectively by Greene and Lafayette,

troops in Rhode Island, commanded by where they expected to be joined by the General Pigot. His headquarters were at Newport. They had held the island since late in 1776. An attempt had been made, by a force under General Spencer, of Connecticut, the year before, to expel them from the island, but it failed, and that officer resigned his commission and shortly after entered Congress. General Sullivan was his successor, and he had been directed to call on the New England States for 5.000 militia. The call was promptly obeyed. John Hancock, as general, led the Massachusetts militia in person. There was much enthusiasm. The French fleet,

4,000 French troops of the fleet, according to arrangement. But at that time Howe had appeared off Newport with his fleet, and D'Estaing went out to meet him, taking the troops with him. A stiff wind was then rising from the northeast, and before the two fleets were ready for attack it had increased to a furious gale, and scattered both armaments. The wind blew the spray from the ocean over Newport, and the windows were incrusted with salt. The French fleet, much shattered, went to Boston for repairs, and the storm, which ended on the 14th, spoiled much of the