Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/168

142  of Gen. Washington and Gen. Charles Lee, and the former wrote to congress that the millwright was a more competent officer than any of the French gentlemen to whom it had given appointments in that line. On 20 March, 1776, he arrived in New York, and, as chief engineer, superintended all the defences in that part of the country during the ensuing campaign. In August he was appointed chief engineer with the rank of colonel, but during the autumn, from some dissatisfaction with congress in regard to his corps, he left it to take command of the 5th Massachusetts regiment. In the following spring he was attached to the northern army, and served with great credit at the battle of Stillwater at the head of the 4th and 5th regiments of Nixon's brigade. In 1778, with his cousin, Gen. Israel Putnam, he superintended the construction of the fortifications at West Point. After the surprise of Stony Point he was appointed to the command of a regiment in Gen. Anthony Wayne's brigade, in which he served till the end of the campaign. From February till July, 1782, he was employed as one of the commissioners to adjust the claims of citizens of New York for losses occasioned by the allied armies, and on 7 Jan., 1783, he was promoted to be a brigadier-general. He was several years a member of the legislature, and acted as aide to Gen. Benjamin Lincoln in quelling Shays's rebellion in 1787. As superintendent of the Ohio company, on 7 April, 1788, he founded Marietta, Ohio, the first permanent settlement in the eastern part of the Northwest territory. In 1789 he was appointed a judge of the supreme court of the territory, and on 4 May, 1792, he was appointed brigadier-general under Gen. Wayne to act against the Indians. From May, 1792, till February, 1793, he was U. S. commissioner to treat with the latter, and concluded an important treaty with eight tribes at Port Vincent (now Vincennes), 27 Sept., 1792. He arrived at Philadelphia, 13 Feb., 1793, to make a report of his proceedings, and then resigned his commission. He was made surveyor-general of the United States in October of that year, and held this office till September, 1803. In 1803 he was a member of the Ohio constitutional convention. At the time of his death he was the last general officer of the Revolutionary army excepting Lafayette. Gen. Putnam was deeply interested in Sabbath-schools and missions, and with others, in 1812, formed the first Bible society west of the Alleghanies. Gen. Putnam's manuscript diary is in the Astor library, New York city. — Israel's nephew, founder of Saratoga Springs, b. in Sutton, Mass., in 1764; d. in Saratoga Springs, 1 Dec., 1812, set out for the west in 1789, seeking a suitable place for business, and finally settled at what has since been known as Saratoga Springs. He married Doanda Risley, of Hartford, Conn., and their first child was the first white child born in Saratoga. In 1802 he built and conducted the first hotel of consequence, which he called Putnam's Tavern, but which his neighbors called “Putnam's Folly.” Putnam's tavern of that day is now the Grand Union hotel. Mr. Putnam proceeded to amuse and amaze his fellow-pioneers by purchasing the land on which the village of Saratoga Springs now stands, and on which are some of the most famous and lucrative mineral springs in the world, several of which he excavated and tubed. In laying out the village he so broadened and arranged the streets as to leave the springs in the middle of the public thoroughfares, and absolutely five to all. A public park was also included in his plans, which were suddenly cut short by his accidental death. He died of a fall while assisting in the erection of Congress Hall hotel, of which he was the projector, and he was the first to be buried in the cemetery that he presented to the village. — Israel's great-grandson, author, b. in Marietta, Ohio, 11 March, 1799; d. in Nashville. Tenn., 20 Jan., 1869, studied law, practised in Mississippi, and in 1836 settled in Nashville, Tenn., and was president of the Tennessee historical society, to whose publications he was a contributor. In addition to articles in periodicals, he wrote a “History of Middle Tennessee” (Nashville, 1859); “Life and Times of Gen. James Robertson” (1859); and a “Life of Gen. John Sevier,” in Wheeler's “History of North Carolina.” — Israel's nephew, lawyer, b. in Boston in 1778; d. in Brunswick, Me., in 1822. He studied law in Boston, and became distinguished as a jurist. — His wife, b. in Framingham, Mass., 1 March, 1792; d. in New York city. 8 Jan., 1869, was a daughter of Gen. Palmer of the army of the Revolution, married Henry Putnam in 1814, and passed most of her married life in Boston. She was noted for her benevolence, and wrote “Scripture Text-Book” (New York, 1837); and “The Old Testament Unveiled; or, The Gospel by Moses in the Book of Genesis” (1854). — Israel's grandnephew, publisher, b. in Brunswick, Me., 7 Feb., 1814; d. in New York city, 20 Dec., 1872, entered the book-store of Daniel and Jonathan Leavitt, New York, in 1828, in 1840 became a partner in the house of Wiley and Putnam, and in 1841 went to London and established a branch. In 1848 he returned to New York, dissolved the partnership with Mr. Wiley and engaged in business alone. He early interested himself in the production of fine illustrated books, and in 1852, with the assistance of George William Curtis and others, established “Putnam's Magazine.” In 1861 Mr. Putnam planned and organized the Loyal publication society. In 1863 he retired from active business to become U. S. collector of internal revenue, which post he held till 1866, when, in conjunction with his sons, he founded the publishing house of G. P. Putnam and Sons (now G. P. Putnam's Sons). Mr. Putnam was for many years secretary of the Publishers' association. As early as 1837 he issued “A Plea for International Copyright,” the first argument in behalf of that reform that had been printed in this country. He was a founder of the Metropolitan museum of art, of which in 1872 he was honorary superintendent. He had been appointed chairman of the committee on art in connection with the Vienna universal exposition. He wrote “Chronology; or, An Introduction and Index to Universal History, Biography, and Useful Knowledge” (New York, 1833); “The Tourist in Europe: A Concise Guide, with Memoranda of a Tour in 1836” (1838); “American Book Circular, with Notes and Statistics” (1843); “American Facts: Notes and Statistics relative to the Government of the United States” (1845); “A Pocket Memorandum-Book in France, Italy, and Germany in 1847” (1848); and “Ten Years' of the World's Progress: Supplement, 1850-'61, with Corrections and Additions” (1861). — George Palmer's son, publisher, b. in London, England, 2 April, 1844, studied at Columbia in 1860 and at Göttingen in 1861-'2, but was not graduated, as he left college to enter the United States military service during the civil war, in which he rose to the rank of brevet major. He was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue in 1866, and in this year engaged in the publishing business in New York, in which he has continued