National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1871-04-21


party and the enemy ragged round him Tor
an hour, The tree against which he was
placed was part of the time in the hottest
fire A French officer, passing by, struck
/ him in the jaw with the butt Of his gun.
An Indian amused himself for some time
by hurling his tomahawk into the trunk Of
the tree, TO satisfy himself how near he
could come to the prisoners body and yet
miss il. A'length the pal ty Of French and
Indians were forced to retreat. but carried
with them their captive, whom the sava-
gcs determined TO roast alive. lie was
tied to tree, aud the tire was already blaz-
ing furiously, when his life was saved by
the intervention of the French commander
Molang."
My informant was positive, however
| that the adventure with the Indians which
nefshs hi ther oe ssea ted to @, Lin s Ms. an sn.
pears to have been so unlike this, and the
early experience Of Putnam in command Of
a company Of rangers in the old French
war was unqucstionably filled with hazards
and escapes not noticed by history, it ap-
pears to me that he is correct, and that
the whole story may be taken as a new
one For greater convenience, | will allow
the father to speak in the first person.
There was IN my company, in the Con
necticut regiment that | served in during
the Revolution, soldier by the name of
Patterson. He was young man, and his
| father and grandfather before him had
served in Putnam's rangers against the
French and Indians. His grandfather Of
I course was too old TO take the field in the
Revolution, and his father was id 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,
/ Three or four times during our cam
paigns when we happened to see General
Putnam riding by the camp, or on :he
march, Rufus would say TO me,
Stephen, the first good chance | get,
I'm going to speak to the General and ask
him ifhe remembers my father and grand
father in the old war twenty years ago"
knew what he particularly had in his
mind il was an adventure that the ten
I eral, then Captain Putnam, had with the
Indians, in company with these men, IA
ther and son. | had often heard Rufus
tell it, as they told it to him. IL seems
that Putnam was out scouting in the woods
with only hall dozen men, these two with
the Others, when they We're he'd by
a much larger party Of Indians. The first
voley disabled three Of the men; the Pat
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
] ,.,,N nod
bound and helpless, Putnam saw his unior-
tunate comrades taken one by one from
| his side, stripped, bound to a tree and
slowly tortured with deyiliSh ingenuity,
the details of which are too shocking to
repeat When death had mercifully re
lieved the last of them from his torments,
/ Putnam was himself tied to the tree, and
the Indians began their caperings' about
him, brandishing their knives and shouting
their exultation. The captive was iortify
ing his soul for the horrors Of the fate that
seemed To have oycrtaken him, and had
abandoned all hope Of earthly salvation,
when il reached him in a most unexpected
manner. The reports OF two rifles were
heard close to the ring of dancing Indians,
and two Of them fell cad. Two Others
were wounded by the same balls; and the
sayages, panic cstruck at the suddenness OF
the attack, and probably thinking that a
large re,cuing party was at hand, took to
flight and disappeared.
The rescucIs, however, Were only she
two Pattersons, who, finding that they
had effected their own escape by their
feetness, concluded that they could not
leave their captain and comrades in the
hands of the Indians without some attempt
to deliver them. With a daring character
istic of the scout, they made their way in
the darkness to n 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 their
attack insured its success. \ few strokes
of their knife released the captive, and the
three FASTENED with all speed from the
scene Of their peril. After proceeding a
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 tight lay before
them to the nearest place Of safety, he
proposed to take Just five minutes rest.
"Onlv five minutes, mind !" he said CIV
inc 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
w fell into sound smmber, while his hum
Bile 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
before they aroused him, He sprang up
and looked at the time piece ; and discover
ing what time had passed, he flew into a
rage, and reprimandcd the men who had
lust saved his life, in the severest terms,
and not without few round oaths, for
venturing to dsobey his orders. They re-
ceived it, on their part, without anger, as
they perfectly knew the man, and under
stood that he was a generous friend as well
as "A Jealous disciplinarian. From this point
the escape of the trio to the nearest settle
ment was prosecuted without further re-
markable peril.
/ Rufus Patterson frequently told me tGat
since the disbandment of the colonial forces
at the close Of the French war; his father
and grandfather had never met Putnam. |
inferred, 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 was
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 his country in bis high
position; but being verv poor as well as
very humble, and, since The infirmities of
the one and the lamencss OF the other, new
er travelling beyond their little garden, no