Litchfield enquirer., 1870-10-13
A NEW STORY OF GEN. PUTNAM.
From Putnain's for October, from Notes of an .... -t4 ...,t..,.s Old Pioneer."]

mere was Tn my company, ln the Con- necticut Regiment that I served in during the Revolution, soldier by the name oi
 Patterson. He was a young man, and his
 father and grandfather before him had serv- ed in Pntnam's Rangers against the French and Indians. His grandfather was, of conrse, too old to take the field in the Rev. olatlon. yandshis father was laid up with rheumatism, ,or, something of that kind; so Rufus, my comrade, had to sustain the honor of the family in this war, and well
 he did it. @' 1'"7'E- "'.t
 Three or four times during our cam
 paigns. when We happened 10 see General Putnam riding by the camp, or on tue march, Rufus would say to me: 4. Stephens j. the first good chance I get. I'm going, to speak to the General, and ask him if he remembers my father and grand father in the old war, twenty years ago.
 Iknew what he particularly had in his mind-it was an adventure that the Gene ral. then Captain Putnam, had with the h. dians, in company with these men, father and son. I had often heard Rufus tell it as they told it to him. It seems Putnam was out scouting in the woods with half a dozen men, when they were ambushed by a much larger party of Indians. Tbe first
 
 tersons escaped by flight, but Putnam, for some reason, was taken prisoner with the wounded men. The savages immediately proceeded to their horrible work of tor ture. Lying on the ground unarmed, bound and helpless, Putnam saw bis un- fortunate comrades taken one by one from his side, stripped, bound to a tree, and slowly tortured with devilish ingenuity, the details of which are too shocking to repeat. When death had mercifulIy re- leased the last of them from his torments, Putnam was himself tied to the tree, and the Indians began their caperings about him, blandishing their knives and Ioma- hawks in his face, and shouting their exul- tation. The captive was fortifying his soul for the horrible fate that seemed to have oyertaken him, and had abandoned all hope of earthly salvation, when it reached him in a most unexpected man. her. The reports of two rifles were heard close to the ring of dancing Indians, and two of them fell de4d. Two others were wounded by the same balls-and the sava- ges, panic-struck at the suddenness of the attack, and probably thinking that a large rescuing party was at hand. took to flight and disappeared. :. ,-t -~
 The rescuers, however, were only the two Pattersons, who, finding that they had effected their own escape by their feet ness, concluded that they could not leave their Captain and comrades in the hands of the Indians without some. attempt to deliver them. With daring characteris- tic of the scouts, they made their way in the darkness 10 shelter within few feet of the tree selected for the sacrifice, reach ing the place just as Putnam was dragged up- The boldness and desperation of tAeir attack insured its success. A few strokes of the knife released the captive, and the three hastened with all speed from the scene of their peril. After proceeding few miles through the forest, Putnam halt ed, and told his companions that he had been without sleep for thirty hours, and that, as long and difficult flight lay be- fore them to the nearest place of safety, he proposed to take just five minutes rest. Only five minutes, mind!" he said, giv- ing to the elder Patterson his. silver-cased watch. "We can spare that much time, and the sleep will do me wonderful good. "
 He lay down on the ground and instant ly fell into sound slumber, while his hum ble companions watched over him. So sound and refreshing was his sleep that they hesitated to wake him as he had en- joined, and full fifteen minutes had passed be fore they aroused him. He sprang up and looked at the time.piece; and discov- ering what time had passed, he flew into rage, and reprimanded the men who had just saved his life in the severest terms, and not without. few round oaths, for venturing to disobey. his orders. They re- ceived it, on their part, without anger, as they perfectly knew the man, and under stood that he was generous friend as well as jealous disciplinarian. From this point the escape of the trio to the nearest settle ment was prosecuted without further re- markable peril at fas1i.-. -lt-
 Rufus Paterson often told me that since the dlsbandment of the colonial forces at the close of the French war, his father and grandfather had never met Putnam. I in- ferred. indeed, from all that he said-and he naturally liked to talk of the subject that after this adventure they were detailed upon such service that neither of them were brought particularly to the notice of the Captain again. They heard, in common with their neighbors, that Congress had made him Major General, and they learn ed with eager interest, as the war went on, of the valiant service which their former captain was giving bis country in his posi- tion; but being very poor as well as very humble, and, since the infirmities of the one and the 1ameness of the other, never travelled beyond their little garden, no op- portunity had offered since the beginning of the. war for meeting with the General. My comrade, in telling me this, always con- lcluded by declaring that before a great while he should seek ont General Putnam, and ask him if he remembered the Patter- sons. sxa< rs.z5 s5"of course, I wouldn't ask nor take any reward, 'heiwould say; "but the General is great man now, and I should be proud to tell him that am the son of one of the men that saved him from torture and death by the Indians, and the grandson of the other" a y3 gefsat5:.4 te ~2'a se
 His opportunity came in the spring of 1779, I think; certainly, just before the British under Tryon. invaded the State. It so happened that brigade of Continen. tals was stationed within half mile of the Pattersons' house, and change in the diss visions brought our regiment into that brigade, much to the delight of my comrade. The morning we reached this place, and before Rufus had obtained leave to visit his home, we received an order to be'ready for muster and inspection at two o'clock when General Putnam would re- view the brigade. am.t Ye. t.s.a -naf
 s.Now is your time, Rufus" remarked. as we were furnishing our accoutrements. A. a-A Il L 1oF