Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/108

 100 PUTNAM and 15,466 swine; 8 manufactories of car- riages and wagons, 1 woollen mill, 6 flour mills, and 14 saw mills. Capital, Ottawa. VII. A W. county of Indiana, drained by a branch of Eel river and several creeks ; area, 486 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 21,514. It has an undulating surface and fertile soil. It is inter- sected by the Indianapolis and Illinois canal and several railroads. The chief productions in 1870 were 297,797 bushels of wheat, 988,- 919 of Indian corn, 68,565 of oats, 57,710 of potatoes, 15,990 tons of hay, 125,320 Ibs. of wool, 332,383 of butter, 33,289 of maple sugar, and 21,207 gallons of sorghum molasses. There were 8,274 horses, 2,416 mules and asses, 5,729 milch cows, 19,236 other cattle, 34,227 sheep, and 26,777 swine; 16 manufactories of carriages and wagons, 3 of furniture, 2 of cur- ried leather, 3 of pumps, 6 of tin, copper, and sheet-iron ware, 3 founderies, 1 woollen mill, 4 flour mills, and 1 6 saw mills. Capital, Green- castle. VIII. A N. central county of Illinois, intersected by the Illinois river and drained by its branches; area, 200 sq. in.; pop. in 1870, 6,280. It has an undulating surface and fer- tile soil. It is traversed by the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific railroad. The chief productions in 1870 were 28,933 bushels of wheat, 334,259 of Indian corn, 86,519 of oats, 73,707 of potatoes, 10,571 Ibs. of wool, 47,6'.9 of butter, 4,916 gallons of sorghum molasses, and 5,080 tons of hay. There were 2,420 horses, 1,406 milch cows, 2,899 other cattle, 1,987 sheep, and 5,431 swine. Capital, Hen- nepin. IX. A N. county of Missouri, border- ing on Iowa, bounded K. by the Chariton river and drained by its branches; area, about 550 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 11,217, of whom 9 were colored. It has an undulating surface, diver- sified by prairies and forests, and a fertile soil. The chief productions in 1870 were 62,308 bushels of wheat, 458,582 of Indian corn, 146,- 152 of oats, 34,979 of potatoes, 12,911 tons of hay, 39,200 Ibs. of tobacco, 63,800 of wool, 194,098 of butter, 10.885 of cheese, 26,365 of honey, and 32,483 gallons of sorghum and 14,- 731 of maple molasses. There were 5,329 horses, 515 mules and asses, 4,137 milch cows, 9,351 other cattle. 26,227 sheep, and 21,789 swine. Capital, Unionville. PUTNAM, Israel, an American soldier, born in the part of Salem now constituting the town of Danvers, Mass., Jan. 7, 1718, died in Brook- lyn, Conn., May 19, 1790. He was the llth in a family of 12 children, and in his boyhood was noted for his physical strength and bra- very ; but he had few educational advantages. On coining of age he bought a farm in Pom- fret, Conn., and fixed his residence there. Here occurred his famous encounter with a she wolf that had for several years preyed upon the flocks and cattle of the neighborhood. Having discovered her den, Putnam entered it alone by creeping into a narrow opening, and shot and killed the wolf as she was advancing to attack him. This adventure, which gave him a wide reputation for courage, took place when he was 25 years old. The next 12 years he spent as a careful and successful farmer. In 1755 he was appointed by the legislature a captain in Col. Lyman's regiment, and fonned a strong company from among his neighbors, who were employed chiefly on special service as rangers. His first expedition was under Sir William Johnson against Crown Point. In 1756 he was reappointed under his old com- mander Lyman, and in 1757 the legislature of Connecticut gave him the commission of major. Perhaps the most important service rendered by him during that year was the saving of the powder magazine of Fort Edward at the con- flagration of the barracks. For an hour and a half he contended with the fire, and he was severely burned in his efforts to arrest its progress. In 1758, to escape from a strong party of Indians, he descended with a few men the falls of the Hudson at Fort Miller in a bateau. The savages with admiration beheld him unharmed by their balls steering his boat down rapids never before passed. The same year, when returning to Fort Edward from an expedition to watch the enemy in the neigh- borhood of Ticonderoga, his corps was sur- prised by a party of French and Indians, and lie himself captured and bound to a tree. White in this situation a battle between his own party and the enemy raged around him for an hour, the tree being for part of the time in the hot- test fire. At length the French and Indians were forced to retreat, but carried with them their captive, whom the savages determined to roast alive. He was tied to a tree, and the fire was already blazing, when his life was saved by the French commander, Molang. The next day he was taken to Ticonderoga, and after- ward to Montreal, where among other prison- ers he met Col. Peter Schuyler, through whose intervention he was treated according to his military rank and exchanged. In 1759, having meanwhile been made lieutenant colonel, he served under Gen. Amherst. In 1762 he com- manded a Connecticut regiment in the expedi- tion against Havana. In 1764 Putnam, now a colonel, at the head of 400 Connecticut men ac- companied Col. Bradstreet to Detroit in the Pontiac war. For some years afterward he kept an inn at Brooklyn, the capital of Wind- ham county, and during the same period fre- quently represented the town in the legislature. In 1773 he was engaged in the expedition that went up the Mississippi to survey a tract above Natchez for settlement. In the revolutionary war Putnam from the beginning embraced zealously the cause of the colonists. In April, 1775, at the alarm occasioned by the battle of Lexington, he left his plough in the field, turned loose the oxen, and rode to Boston in one day, a distance of 68 m. Learning that the British were besieged in Boston, he went to Hartford to meet with the legislature, of which he was a member. Being elected by that body brigadier general, he promptly gath-