Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File W. 17503, for Daniel Putnam, Connecticut
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SERVICE: Continental / Connecticut

Putnam, Daniel NUMBER W.17503
               Catharine
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1819
1775
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54
16
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70

In compliance with the Law of the United States, intitled "An act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the U. States in the revolutionary War",
I, Daniel Putnam of Brooklyn in the County of Windham & State Connecticut, do hereby on my solemn oath, testify and declare, That in the month of May 1775 I was by direction
of my Father enrolled at the age of sixteen years as a private soldier in Capt. Waterman's Company, belonging to a regiment
of Connecticut troops, commanded by Col. John Darker, and served in that capacity during the time of engagement: That early in the year 1776, when the army became continental
and the officers were appointed by General Washington, I received from his favor a first Lieutenant commission in Capt. Cliff's Company, and Col. Duck's Regiment of the
Cont. line that I accompanied said Regiment from Cambridge to New York in the spring season, and performed all the duties
assigned me in said capacity of first Lieutenant, till a short time after the battle at White Plains in the same year, when being with my Regiment on York Island, advanced from Fort Washington, I was ordered to repair to Head Quarters at White Plains, and received the appointment of Aid de Camp to Major Genl. Putnam, which station I continued to hold and perform the duties thereof till the month of May AD. 1780 when, in consequence of the disability of General Putnam occasioned by a paralytic shock, and his desire of having me near him, I applied for, and
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received a discharge from the commander in chief, after an unremitted service of five years
Daniel Putnam

State of Connecticut ss Windham March 30th AD 1818

Personally appeared before me Zephaniah Swift Chief Judge of the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut, Colonel Daniel Putnam, Subscriber to the foregoing declaration and made solemn oath to the truth of the same.
Zephaniah Swift

To the Honorable John C. Calhoun Secretary of War. It appearing to my satisfaction that the above named Colonel Daniel Putnam served in the revolutionary war against the common enemy in the manner he has stated, I do therefore certify and transmit to you the foregoing testimony in the case, in conformity to the act of Congress entitled an Act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States in the revolutionary war.

Windham March 30th 1818-Zephaniah Swift

We hereby certify that the above is the genuine signature of Judge Swift Washington, April 6. 1818
Nath. Terry
? Moseley
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Brooklyn Connt. 1st June 1820

Sir 

I perceive by the late act of Congress in addition to the Revolutionary Pension law of the 18th March 1818, that no persons are hereafter to remain on the Pension list but such as exhibit a schedule of their property and subscribe and unequivocal declaration of pauperism. It is not my purpose to comment on the severe restrictions of this act, as I should not under it, be an applicant if my last dollar were expended, and I had no other dependence but private charity. But, I cannot
repress the solicitude which I feel to vindicate myself to you, Sir, against any intentional fraud or dishonesty in a former application, made under very different impressions of the
benevolent disposition of government towards the survivors of the revolutionary Army, from those which we are obliged to entertain while considering the restrictions of the late act.

The late war with great Britain found me in a state of comfortable and honorable independence, the fruits of my own
industry; but the embarrassments succeeding the peace, involved my friends in difficulty, and myself in almost that sum, by the fruitless endeavor to save them. I had raised a
family of six children, and educated five Daughters for usefulness in any station of life, and with every reasonable hope of the enjoyment of worldly comfort, when without
declaring myself a Bankrupt, or being so declared by others
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I would gladly have compounded with any one to have taken all I possessed, and relieved me from the pressure of demands which I was unable to satisfy.
Such was the State of my affairs, when the beneficent views of the President in favor of his compatriots of the revolution were made known by his message to Congress. I knew that I had devoted five years of the morning of my life in an arduous and perilous conflict for my country's rights, without any the reward than nominal monthly pay in the miserable paper denominated "Continental money"- that I had literally been starved in the army, and out of it for want of adequate support; I felt the equity of my claim on the justice of my country, and believed myself fairly within the scope of the 
spirit of the act providing for persons who served in the land and naval service of the U. S. during the revolutionary war.
Under these impressions, I made an early application for a Pension, thro my friend Mr. Terry, then a representative from
this State, in the Congress of the U.S. I say an early application for it was made before I had any knowledge of the notice which was afterwards published from the Pension Office, prescribing the forms, and that I did not mistake what was then deemed the spirit
of the act. I appeal to your own decision, which promptly awarded the certificate, notwithstanding my papers were somewhat informal occasioned by the want of information when they were made out.
For this act of kindness and condescension, I shall always retain a grateful remembrance, and I beg you to be assured fair, that this
my situation in life may be obscure, and the means of support for my family very limited, my cause of honor is not lost, and no circumstances of distress will ever lead me to practice
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a known imposition, either of a public or private character. 
It is to justify myself against such an imputation that I now presume to trouble you with this address. The clamor of
the envious and vulgar I care nothing about, for they know little of my affairs, but there was nothing further from my heart than the practiced deception, nor is there any thing which would inflict a deeper wound, than the suspicion of it in the mind of any official character with whom I have had to do. Will you have patience with me Sir, while I advert to circumstances which I hope will convince you of this fact?
On the receipt of Mr. Terry's communication of the 6 of April 1818, in which he says, "Tho' your papers were somewhat defective, and not fully coming up to what the secretary deemed the the law to require, yet the difficulties were gotten over and your name is inscribed on the Pension list".- I immediately addressed a letter
to you, stating the reasons of their informality and intimating at the same time, that had I been fully apprized of the conditions it might have prevented an application. Afterwards, (I believe in the month of April 1819) when relieved in part from some pressing embarrassments. I wrote again to you, while you were absent from the seal of Government, and forwarded the letter under cover to Col. Wadsworth of the Ordinance department, requesting him to deliver it on your return to Washington.
In the meantime  I was urged, not only by a desire of fairness to the Government, but by the apprehension that Mr. Terry, in his zeal
to serve me, might have made stronger representations in my favor than I had dared to make for myself. Soon after the dispatch of this
letter, I had an interview with Mr. Terry at Hartford, and told
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him what I had done. He advised me to write again to Col. Wadsworth, and recall the letter if it should not have been delivered, assuring me at the same time, that no intention of imposition could with any color of justice be imputed either to him or to myself - that no pretense was made, either in my written or
his verbal communication that I was entirely destitute of property; on the contrary, that I had expressly alleged I had property in possession, but was embarrassed with debts- that all he had to say, and all he did say was, that he had the most implicit confidence in the truth of my declaration: - that he did at the time, believe, and still believed, the Secretary gave liberal construction to the law in consideration of my unrequited services, and those of my Father, which had been long and important.
under the influence of this advice, I wrote again to Col. Wadsworth requesting him to retain the letter in his possession till he heard further from me. I now take the liberty of inclosing a note to Col. Wadsworth, desiring him to deliver the letter agreeable to its original destination.
By this statement of parts, I have relieved my own mind, and whether or not, they will give any satisfaction to yours I shall always remain,
Your most respectful
and devoted Servant
Danl. Putnam

Honbl. J C Calhoun

From
Danl. Putney [sic]
No answer required
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(73)
Connecticut. 
Daniel Putnam,
Lieutenant
Army U. S. Connecticut, line
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1775 - 5 years
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At $20 per mo: com. 30 Mar. 1818
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Cert: issued 6th April 1818 & sent
to Hon: Wm. Terry, of Connecticut,
House of Representatives U.S.
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[illegible] to 4th Sept 1818. 5/28 mos. $102.14
---
Revy Claim,
Act 18th March,
1818 

Brooklyn Windham

Copies of the within papers numbered from one to four inclusive made 11th Oct.1821.

no of letters have been recd. from Mr. P but no schedule- copied these papers -
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Let. to A Fowler July 19 1844
2 Certs.
1838} [illegible] see let to age July 16 1844
1843}
Papers under 2d See Act. July 4 '36 inside
[Illegible] See let. 12 Feb 1844
let to [Illegible] Sept 23 1844
let to A Ray May 15, 1845

3360
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Connecticut.
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Catharine Putnam
widow of Daniel Putnam, Conn
who was an Aid de Camp
in the Rev. War.
Increased from $480.00
Inscribed on the Roll at the rate of 600 Dollars 00 Cents per annum, to commence on
the 4th day of March, 1843.
Certificate of Pension issued the
16 day of July 1844 and sent to
A Ray Esq.
Present
[Act of March 3, 1843]
Recorded in Book A
Vol.1 Page 74
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442
Catharine Putnam
widow of Daniel
Con.
Act 7 July 38
5 years
married Sept. 1782
asmd
2 years - Aid de Camp
480$
No deduction
Hon. J. M. Niles
---
Hartford
Con:
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State of Connecticut
County of Windham S S

On this eighth day of August personally appeared before the Court of Probate for the district of Brooklyn in the County aforesaid Catharine Putnam a resident of Brooklyn
in the County of Windham and State of Connecticut aged eighty one years, who being duly sworn according to law doth on her oath make the following declaration - That she is the widow of Daniel Putnam who was a Major in the Army of the Revolution that
said Daniel entered the service soon after the
commencement of the war, that in the
year seventeen hundred and seventy six, he was appointed aid to Major General Israel Putnam - and served in that station till seventeen hundred & eighty, when
the latter was obliged to retire from active service on account of ill health, and for which services the said Daniel Putnam received a pension from Government from the year 1818 to 1820.
She further declares that she was married
to the said Daniel Putnam of the second day
of Sept. 1782 & that her husband the aforesaid
Daniel Putnam died on the 30th day of April 1831. And that she has remained a widow ever since that period, as will more fully appear by reference
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to the proofs hereto annexed-
Catharine Putnam
Sworn to & subscribed on the eighth day
of August 1838 before the Court of Probate for the district of Brooklyn, And the said Court
hereby certifies that after the investigation of the matter, & after putting the appropriate interrogations the opinion, that the declaration is supported and proved.

In testimony whereof I Benjamin B. Spalding
Clerk of the Probate Court for the district of
Brooklyn in the County aforesaid do hereto subscribe my name and affix the seal of said Court on the eighth day of August Anno Domini 1838.

Benjamin B. Spalding Clerk

I certify that the above seal containing the letters B.P.D. is the seal of the Probate Court of the Brooklyn Probate District in Hartford August 23d 1838
J Toucey
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I Deborah Fogg a resident of Brooklyn in
the County of Windham hereby certify that
I have been well acquainted with Daniel
Putnam & Catharine Hutchinson both of Brooklyn aforesaid for about sixty years, that
I well remember the said Daniel Putnam
married the said Catharine Hutchinson
in the month of September 1782, & from
that period till his death which occurred on the 30th of April 1831: they constantly
resided in this town, & that
Catharine Putnam, the widow of the
aforesaid Daniel Putnam has never
again been married. I am the
widow of Rev. Daniel Fogg the former
minister of this parish 
Deborah Fogg
State of Connecticut}
County of Windham}
Brooklyn 8th August 1838
On this 8th day of August 1838 personally
appeared before me the widow Deborah
Fogg a resident of Brooklyn & a creditable
person & made oath to the truth of the foregoing certificate by her subscribed before me
attestd 
Daniel P. Tyler
Justice of the Peace
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Brooklyn Con. 12th May 1821

Sir, 

I hope the contents of the enclosed letter from
the Right Revd. Bishop Brownell will be admitted as an apology for repeating my intrusion at this time, and that the enormity of the charge will then the necessity of
investigating its truth. You will here perceive it distinctly stated, that the evidence of my perjury is furnished by you.

This has been often declared before by the same person, but coming as it now does, from a Clergyman of the Episcopal Ch. to his Diocese, [for Mr. White was at that time the minister of the Parish to which I belong, tho. he has since been dismissed with little or no prospect of ever again finding employment
in his clerical character] the assertion is of too serious a nature to pass any longer without notice.

I have been legally advised, and Clerically solicited to commence a suit against this man for slander, and as there have been libelous publications from the same source, and on the same subject, to couple both in one action.
The latter, I do not feel myself at liberty to adopt without your full consent. I am aware that the early construction of the first pension law was more liberal than
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than subsequent proceedings seemed to authorize; and if your own feelings on the subject were more correspondent with the President's views in favor of men who suffered
much and hazarded all in a perilous contest; and you did thence confer a favor on me transcending perhaps the strict letter of the law; - sooner than become the instrument of bringing one particle of reproach on you,
I will rest content, and bear all the odium of misrepresentation which has been so freely cast upon me.

But the charge of Perjury in the manner it has been made, is what I ought not, and cannot submit to. This slander shall be prosecuted- a suit is already commenced and tho' the burden of proof must rest on the slanderer, yet if,
to remove all doubt from the minds of a Jury it
should become necessary to produce my declaration & the oath subscribed thereto, I confidently rely on your justice to furnish it in such shape, that it will be received as
evidence in a Court of Law.

Will you be so good Sir, as to return Bishop Brownell's letter and accept the unfeigned respect and gratitude of

Your most Obedient, and most humble Servt.

Danl. Putnam

Hon. J C Calhoun
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Brooklyn, Con. 18th April 1818.

Sir
I have this moment received a letter from Nathaniel Terry, Esq which very unexpectedly
conveys the pleasing intelligence that my name has been placed on the Pension List of Revolutionary Officers.

From the recommendation of the
President and the law of Congress, I felt myself entitled to that benefit, and made the application from what was believed to be the spirit of the law. The notice from the Pension Office, which I did not see till after my letter was dispatched, blasted all my hopes not
only because the papers were in some respects wanting in form, but that an oath was also required of the needy circumstances of the applicant; which oath from my understanding of the notice, I could not have taken. For, tho'
my affairs are greatly embarrassed, and I am perplexed with the difficulties attending them, yet I could not have sworn myself to be absolutely in a state of want, and the favor and kindness with which my application has
been heard and granted, notwithstanding some informality attended it, will be registered in my heart while it continues to beat, and the name and character of the Secretary, will ever be remembered with gratitude and affection, by his obliged servant
Danl. Putnam
Hon'ble John C. Calhoun
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Brooklyn Cont. 25 March 1818.
Sir
Accompanying this, you will receive an attested declaration of my services in the Revolutionary war.
The act does not clearly defend the degree of want, or depression in the circumstances of the applicant necessary to make his claim available: but judging from the recommendation of the President, and the latitude given to the Secretary of War, we may presume it to have been the intention of Congress, that a liberal construction should be given to the Law-that, a meritorious applicant, should be saved from want, as well as relieved under the actual pressure of it. It is in this view
of the subject, that I make the present application; - and while candor compels me to say that I am not now suffering for bread, truth bid me declare, that my affairs are in a deep State of embarrassment, and tho' still the holder of a small real estate, part of it is under
Mortgage, and I have heavy debts against me, which it is wholly out of my power to pay. Part of them it is true are due to friends whose
forbearance had hitherto enabled me to live in the decent style of a Connecticut farmer. I have a wife and four unmarried Daughters, who look to me for support, and tho' not advance of fifty-nine years, I am encompassed with many infirmities, and incapable of laborious exercise. It is not probable, if the bounty of my
Country limited by law, should be extended to the last remnant of my life, that it would amount to any considerable sum. An
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an early application of this bounty may 
help to save a family who have known better days from the humiliation of soliciting relief
from private hands, and prevent a future application, when want in its literal sense shall have overtaken me. From such a state
it is believed the recommendation of the President and the views of Congress, were intended to preserve the few surviving objects
contemplated by the Law.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully,
Sir,
your most Obed Servant
Danl. Putnam
John C. Calhoun Esq.
Secretary of War
It may not be improper Sir, to inform you,
that I am personally known, I believe, to every member of the Connt. Delegation - and altho' they may be unapprized of my pecuniary circumstances, I flatter myself, they will not
disagree, in stating my character to be above falsehood and dissimulation in an affair of this nature.
D. P.
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Recd 3 Oct. 1822