Litchfield enquirer., 1879-03-06

''What shall I do if the stamped paper should be sent to me ?" asked the governor.
 ''Lock it up until we shall visit you again"
 And what will you do then?'
 eve shall expect you to give us the key ?"
 ''And what will you do afterwards?'
 ."Send it back again"
 1 ''But if 1 should refuse your admission?" i ~ our house will be leveled with the dust i in five minutes 1 Here is our border soldier reaching out and clutchiDg at the forbidden fruit of parliament ary enactments. He fought beside Lord Howe ! and caught him in his arms when he fell, but i the tears that he shed were for the man, not 1 for the nobleman. He has taken the measure Of Abercrombie, Webb, Loudon. Familiarity i has done it's work; and now he is ready to 1 pluck Lord Grenvlle by the beard. The far mer's homestead is too remote from the throne to be overshadowed by 1t. The roof-tree casts an ampler shade. Then came the Boston port bill, non-impertation, agreements of men and women, cloth bleaching and the age of l universal homespun. The news of Lexington found Putnam at work on his farm. He paid brief visit to Governor Trumbull and rode into Concord in eighteen hours.
 BUNKER HILL. PUTNAM THE AUTHOR OF BAT TIE AND COMMANDER.
 The attempt to rob Putnam of the honor of originating and experimenting the plan of the intrenchments on the heights commanding Charleston, has been so well sustained by an organized corps of writers and speakers of ac- knowledged reputation, that it will take many years to put the matter in it's true light. The contemporary evidence all tends to show that Putnam was the author of this measure and urged it upon the council of war and the con- mttee of safety, in the face of the most dis couraging opposition. General Ward, the | comnander-in chief of the American forces, had under him about fifteen thousand men and expected an attack would be made upon him at Cambridge. He opposed Putnam's plan and was seconded by Warren and by most of the officers of the army. Putnam pushed the measure with all his enthusiasm and finally carried it. How he set about executing his plan, how he rode from the Neck to the camp, and from the camp to the Neck, soliciting, expostulating. demanding both men and am munition, how coldly he was received and how poorly ne was sustained by the timid cemman- der, how he exposed his person, his omnipres- ence in every part of the field his superlnten- dence of the cannon tho orders that he gave, and hn~ he brought up the rear of the retreat was too well known at that time by British | and Americans to need confirmation. One quarter of the men kept by Ward in the camp as Idle spectators of the battle would have
 
 Even the regiment that Putnam had brought with him from Connecticut would have changed the fate of the day.
 PUTNAM NO LONGER A BORDER CHIEF.
 Putnam was now no longer looked upon as border chief. He was at once recognized in England and America as a military leader of an original type; bold in planning, daring in execution, careful in the details of organizing supplying, managing a campaign ; skilful in handling troops, and in the words of Washing ton, capable "of infusing his own industrious spirit into his men," From that time to the close of his life, he shared the confidence and affection of his chiet.
 On the Beth of March 1776, he was ordered to New York to assume command there His conduct at this post and in that series of dis astrous battles and retreats which followed, added day by day to his fame. This was the darkest era of the revolution and through it all Putnam was by the side of Washington He was in the rear of the army when it crossed the Delaware and formed it's shattered frag- ments in solid columns on the other bank of the river. His defense of Philadelphia, his conduct at Princeton, his success in protecting the country from marauders showed him equal to the most pressing emergencies
 His next post was at Peekskll for the pro-
  The task of stretching a boom across the river for the obstruction of British ships was assign ed to him. The fatigues and exposure attend ing this enterprise greatly impaired his consti- tuition. During his stay in the Highlands he selected as a site for a military post, West Point. the seat of our academy. In the winter of IT'S, Putnam was stationed at Bedding in Fairfield county with three brigades, compos- cd of New Hampshire and Connecticut troops Hazens infantry and Shelden's cavalry, to protect the towns on the coast, the magazines on the Connecticut river, and if necessary to reinforce McDougall in the Highlands. He kept strict watch over whole of this border territory, the old stalking ground of General Iryen, whose depredations were usually sig nalized by some wanton destruction of such property as he could not steal. AS this bandit was advancing with body of about fifteen hundred men upon West Greenwich, which was one of Putnam's outposts, the general hap pened to be there in person with picket of only hundred and fifty men and tive small field pieces. He took his stand on the brow of the hill by the Congregational church not with any hope of making permanent resis- tance, but simply to do what harm he could to the enemy and then retire. This unexpected reception was very telling and the dragons supported by infantry made ready to charge upon him. Putnam ordered his men to take refuge ln neighboring swamp while he put spurs to his horse and rode down the main street at full gallop, hotly pursued by the ene- my's cavalry, until he came to the summit of another hill, on the brow of which stood the Episcopal church. An irregular flight of about seventy stone steps helped the worshippers to climb and descend the steepest portion ot the precipice The remainder of it was very diff ticult even for persons on foot and probably no one had ever thought of traversing it on horse back. Down this precipice and flight of stairs Putnam plunged and succeeded in reaching the plain at it's foot. No British officer dared to follow him. A volley from the astonished rangers and bullet hole in his hat did no harm to the intrepid old man, who rode on to Stamford, rallied the militia and turned upon the marauders. They fled, leaving about fifty prisoners in his hands. During the whole of that winter Putnam lowered like an eagle over the coast, sweeping down upon this noisome fish, hawk whenever he showed himself and snatching his prey from his talons. It should be theme of cherished pride with you who live in these favored towns, that they were watched over in their infancy by this kindly, fatherly soldier who devoted the ripest and latest hour of his public life to protect them from the rapacity of the invader.
 This meager outline of the events of Put nau's military career will be the mere readily excused because you have here an historian of such acknowledged competency to deal with them. The fame of Putnam has pervaded the l continent It has gone into the log huts of the prairie; 1t has descended into the shafts of Nevada; it flows in the gold-bearing streams of California; and in all languages into which the letters and dispatches of Washington have been translated it lives and blooms perennial flower.
 sPoNTANEITY OF TEMPERAMENT. It has often been asked how it is that with so slight apparent differences between individ uals in blood and culture, there should be so 1 little uniformity in results. One man is pre- | eminent while he lives and after his death penetrates to remote ages keeping among men kind of earthly immortality; while myriads fall in the race of life and drop into nameless graves 1 am inclined to think that Putnams success in life and his posthumous fame grew largely out of his spentaneity of thought and action, or, in other words, that he committed his powers to the current of his temperament Hp rbt hon