The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-26
GEN. PUTNAM AT THE TREE
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE
 OLD HERO's CAPTURE.

OLD HERO'S CAPTURE.
 His Miraculous Escape After Having Been
 Tied to Tree Around Which Fagots Had
 Been Piled and Ignited.
 Deputy Sheriff George H. Allen of Willimantic has presented to Mrs. John L. Hunter Of Wllimantic for the Anne Wood Elderken chapter, D. A. R., a piece of the tree to which General Isra- el Putnam was tied after being capt. ured by the Indians at Crown Point in 1758. General Putnam, it will be re- membered, after his capture, was taken into camp by the Indians, tied to a tree and the faggots piled around him and ignited, when he was rescued through the intervention of Molang, a French officer. The relic was secured by MT. Allen while on a visit to Crown Point about two years ago, and the fact that it came from the identical tree to which General Putnam was tied | is fully authenticated. The piece is about six inches long and about one and one-half inches square. It will be a valuable addition to the already large collection of historical relics which the Willimantic chapter has gathered. The 1 following is a page from sketch of Gen. Putnam by Alfred P. Putnam, D. D., of Danvers, Mass, and will be read | Nxrit1, ty,tn i,,t 1,fe aoti iS,,. 'On the Srd of ugust, 1757, Montcalm, 1 the French commander, arriving with a large force from Ticonderoga, laid siege to Fort William Henry, whose surrender after six days was followed by dreadful massacre of the garrison. Putnam had vainly endeavored to pro- cure endorsements from Fort Edward. 1 His saving the powder magazine of Fort Edward, amidst the terrible con- fiagration that visited it, was one of the numerous daring deeds which he accomplished. His descent of the falls of the Hudson, at Fort Miller, and his happy escape from strong party of Indians who fired at him necessarily as ne skilfully steered his bateau down the dangerous rapids, was another of his characteristic achievements, which made his savage foes think that he was under the special protection and smile of the Great Spirit. Yet he was not so successful in escaping their bar barities, when once he was in their power. For it was about the same time, in 175S, that in one of the forest expeditions in which he and Rogers and five hundred men were engaged, they took him prisoner and subjected him to the most brutal treatment. Judge Putnam's letter states that they tied him to tree to be put to death &C., cording to their custom under such cir cumstances, and then goes on to say: They threw their tomahawks into the tree by the side of his head, and after amusing themselves in this way for sometime they lighted up the fire, and danced and yelled around him. When they were thus engaged, one of the tribe, chief, who had been once a prisoner of Putnam and treated kindly by him, arrived on the spot and, rec ognizing his friend in their intended victim, immediately released him from impending slaughter. Gen. Putnam said that their gestures in the dance were so inexpressibly ridiculous that he could not forbear laughing. I express ed some surprise that he could laugh under such circumstances, at which he mildly replied that his composure had no merit that it was constitutional and said that he had never felt bodily fear. I can as easily credit that asser- tion as the one Gouverneur Morris made of himself, viz: that he never felt embarrassed by the presence of any one whomsoever, in his life; and l am inclined to think that both of them spoke the truth concerning their own sensations The wounds which these cowardly savages inflicted upon the fearless but helpless sufferer left scars which he long afterward carried with him to the grave. The almost incredi- ble outrages and tortures which they perpetrated upon him were not brought to an end by the cutting of the cord that bound him to the tree, but were still continued, in other forms, all the while they marched him through a , rugged country to Ticonderoga and thence to Montreal There Col. Peter , Schuyler, who had been held prisoner in that city, hearing of his miserable , condition, hastened to his rescue SUD- piled him with clothing and other ne CtSSiIieS, anu HltIdReu LO procure HIS release. Putnam's tenth and last chil6 was born afterward, and he named il , In grateful honor of this noble friend and ben efactor. Nor was this the only kindness which the generous mar , rendered at this juncture. Among those , whom the Indians had made captives was Mrs. Howe, whose first and sec. ond husbands the redmen had murder. ed and the story of whose wretched lot under her inhuman masters is familiar
 to American readers. Schuyler pait the price of her ransom and entrusted her to the care of Putnam, who on his return. safely conducted her beyond tn, reach of her prosecutors"
 MEMORIAL FOR BRUCE
 State Sumner League VIII Have g