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N the month of August, 1758, five hundred men were employed, under the
orders of Majors Rogers and Putnam, to watch the French and Indians,
near Ticonderoga. At South Bay, they separated the party into two
equal divisions, and Rogers took a position on Wood creek, twelve miles
distant from Putnam.
Upon being, sometime afterwards, discovered, they formed a re-union, and
concerted measures for returning to Fort Edward. Their march through the
woods, was in three divisions, by files, the right commanded by Rogers,
the left by Putnam, and the centre by Captain D’Ell. The first night
they encamped on the banks of Clear river, about a mile from old Fort
Ann, which had been formerly built by General Nicholson.
Next morning, Major Rogers and a British officer, named Irwin,
incautiously suffered themselves, from a spirit of false emulation, to
be engaged in firing at a mark. Nothing could have been more repugnant
to the military principles of Putnam than such conduct, or reprobated by
him in more pointed terms. As soon as the heavy dew which had fallen the
preceding night would permit, the detachment moved in one body, Putnam
being in front, D’Ell in centre, and Rogers in the rear. The impervious
growth of shrubs, and underbrush, that had sprung up, where the land had
been partially cleared some years before, occasioned this change in the
order of march. At the moment of moving, the famous French partisan,
Molang, who had been sent with five hundred men, to intercept our party,
was not more than a mile and a half distant from them. Having heard the
firing, he hastened to lay an ambuscade precisely in that part of the
wood most favorable to his project. Major Putnam was just emerging
from the thicket, into the common forest, when the enemy rose, and with
discordant yells and whoops, commenced an attack upon the right of his
division. Surprised, but undismayed, Putnam halted, returned the fire,
and passed the word for the other divisions to advance for his support.
D’Ell came. The action, though widely scattered, and principally fought
between man and man, soon grew general and intensely warm. It would be
as difficult as useless to describe this irregular and ferocious mode of
fighting. Rogers came not up; but, as he declared afterwards, formed a
circular file between our party and Wood creek, to prevent their being
taken in rear or enfiladed. Successful as he commonly was, his conduct
did not always pass without unfavorable imputation. Notwithstanding, it
was a current saying in the camp, “that Rogers always _sent_, but Putnam
_led_ his men to action,”--yet, in justice, it ought to be remarked
here, that the latter has never been known, in relating the story of
this day’s disaster, to fix any stigma upon the conduct of the former.
Major Putnam, perceiving it would be impracticable to cross the creek,
determined to maintain his ground. Inspired by his example, the officers
and men behaved with great bravery: sometimes they fought collectively
in open view, and sometimes individually under cover; taking aim from
behind the bodies of trees, and acting in a manner independent of each
other. For himself; having discharged his fuzee several times, at length
it missed fire, whilst the muzzle was pressed against the breast of a
large and well proportioned savage. This warrior, availing himself of
the indefensible attitude of his adversary, with a tremendous war-whoop
sprang forward, with his lifted hatchet, and compelled him to surrender;
and having disarmed and bound him fast to a tree, returned to the
battle.
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The intrepid Captains D’Ell and Harman, who now commanded, were forced
to give ground for a little distance; the savages, conceiving this to be
the certain harbinger of victory, rushed impetuously on, with dreadful
and redoubled cries. But our two partisans, collecting a handful of
brave men, gave the pursuers so warm a reception as to oblige them
in turn, to retreat a little beyond the spot at which the action had
commenced.
Here they made a stand. This change of ground occasioned the tree, to
which Putnam was tied, to be directly between the two parties. Human
imagination can hardly figure to itself a more deplorable situation.
The balls flew incessantly from either side, many struck the tree, while
some passed through the sleeves and skirts of his coat. In this state of
jeopardy, unable to move his body, to stir his limbs, or even to incline
his head, he remained more than an hour. So equally balanced, and so
obstinate was the fight! At one moment, while the battle swerved in in
favor of the enemy, a young savage chose an odd way of discovering his
humor. He found Putnam bound. He might have despatched him at a blow;
but he loved better to excite the terrors of the prisoner, by hurling a
tomahawk at his head, or rather it should seem his object was to see how
near he could throw it without touching him--the weapon struck in the
tree a number of times at a hair’s breadth distant from the mark. When
the Indian had finished his amusement, a French officer, (a much
more inveterate savage by nature, though descended from so humane and
polished a nation,) perceiving Putnam, came up to him, and levelling a
fuzee within a foot of his breast, attempted to discharge it; it missed
fire--ineffectually did the intended victim solicit the treatment due
to his situation, by repeating that he was a prisoner of war. The
degenerate officer did not understand the language of honor or of
nature; deaf to their voice, and dead to sensibility, he violently
and repeatedly pushed the muzzle of his gun against Putnam’s ribs, and
finally gave him a cruel blow on the jaw with the butt of his piece.
After this dastardly deed he left him.
At length the active intrepidity of D’Ell and Harman, seconded by the
persevering valor of their followers, prevailed. They drove from the
field the enemy, who left about ninety dead behind them. As they were
retiring, Putnam was untied by the Indian who had made him prisoner, and
whom he afterwards called master.
Having been conducted for some distance from the place of action, he was
stripped of his coat, vest, stockings, and shoes; loaded with as many
packs of the wounded as could be piled upon him: strongly pinioned, and
his wrists tied as closely together as they could be pulled with a cord.
After he had marched through no pleasant paths, in this painful manner,
for many a tedious mile, the party, who were excessively fatigued,
halted to breathe. His hands were now immoderately swelled from the
tightness of the ligature; and the pain had become intolerable. His feet
were so much scratched that the blood dropped fast from them. Exhausted
with bearing a burden above his strength, and frantic with torments
exquisite beyond endurance, he entreated the Irish interpreter to
implore as the last and only grace he desired of the savages, that they
would knock him on the head and take his scalp at once, or loose his
hands.
A French officer, instantly interposing, ordered his hands to be
unbound, and some of the packs to be taken off. By this time the Indian
who captured him, and had been absent with the wounded, coming up, gave
him a pair of moccasins, and expressed great indignation at the unworthy
treatment his prisoner had suffered.
That savage chief again returned to the care of the wounded, and, the
Indians, about two hundred in number, went before the rest of the party
to the place where the whole were, that night, to encamp. They took with
them Major Putnam, on whom (besides innumerable other outrages) they had
the barbarity to inflict a deep wound with a tomahawk, in the cheek.
His sufferings were in this place to be consummated. A scene of horror,
infinitely greater than had ever met his eyes before, was now preparing.
It was determined to roast him alive. For this purpose they led him into
a dark forest, stripped him naked, bound him to a tree, and piled dried
brush with other fuel, at a small distance, in a circle round him. They
accompanied their labors, as if for his funeral dirge, with screams and
sounds inimitable but by savage voices. Then they set the piles on fire.
A sudden shower damped the rising flame. Still they strove to kindle it,
until, at last, the blaze ran fiercely round the circle. Major Putnam
soon began to feel the scorching heat. His hands were so tied that he
could move his body. He often shifted sides as the fire approached. This
sight, at the very idea of which all but savages must shudder, afforded
the highest diversion to his inhuman tormentors, who demonstrated
the delirium of their joy by corresponding yells, dances, and
gesticulations. He saw clearly that his final hour was inevitably come.
He summoned all his resolution and composed his mind, as far as the
circumstances could admit, to bid an eternal farewell to all he held
most dear.
To quit the world would scarcely have cost a single pang, but for the
idea of home; but for the remembrance of domestic endearments, of the
affectionate partner of his soul, and of their beloved offspring. His
thought was ultimately fixed on a happier state of existence, beyond the
tortures he was beginning to endure. The bitterness of death, even of
that death which is accompanied with the keenest agonies, was, in a
manner, past--nature, with a feeble struggle, was quitting its last hold
on sublunary things--when a French officer rushed through the crowd,
opened the way by scattering the burning brands, and unbound the victim.
It was Molang himself--to whom a savage, unwilling to see another
human sacrifice immolated, had run and communicated the tidings. That
commandant spurned and severely reprimanded the barbarians, whose
nocturnal powwows and hellish orgies he suddenly ended. Putnam did not
want for feeling and gratitude. The French commander, fearing to trust
him alone with them, remained until he could deliver him in safety into
the hands of his master.
The savage approached his prisoner kindly, and seemed to treat him with
peculiar affection. He offered him some hard biscuit, but finding that
he could not chew them, on account of the blow he had received from the
Frenchman, this more humane savage soaked some of the biscuit in water
and made him suck the pulp-like part. Determined, however, not to lose
his captive (the refreshment being finished) he took the moccasins from
his feet and tied them to one of his wrists; then directing him to lie
down on his back upon the bare ground, he stretched one arm to its full
length, and bound it fast to a young tree; the other arm was extended
and bound in the same manner--his legs were stretched apart and fastened
to two saplings. Then a number of tall, but slender poles were cut down;
which, with some long bushes, were laid across his body from head
to foot: on each side lay as many Indians as could conveniently find
lodging, in order to prevent the possibility of his escape. In this
disagreeable and painful posture he remained until morning. During this
night, the longest and most dreary conceivable, our hero used to relate
that he felt a ray of cheerfulness come casually across his mind, and
could not even refrain from smiling, when he reflected on this ludicrous
group for a painter, of which he himself was the principal figure.
The next day he was allowed his blanket and moccasins, and permitted to
march without carrying any pack, or receiving any insult. To allay his
extreme hunger, a little bear’s meat was given him, which he sucked
through his teeth. At night, the party arrived at Ticonderoga, and the
prisoner was placed under a French guard. The savages, who had been
prevented from glutting their diabolical thirst for blood, took other
opportunities of manifesting their malevolence for the disappointment,
by horrid grimaces and angry gestures; but they were suffered no more to
offer violence or personal indignity to him.
After having been examined by the Marquis de Montcalm, Major Putnam was
conducted to Montreal, by a French officer, who treated him with the
greatest indulgence and humanity.
At this place were several prisoners. Colonel Peter Schuyler, remarkable
for his philanthropy, generosity, and friendship, was of the number.
No sooner had he heard of Major Putnam’s arrival, than he went to the
interpreter’s quarters, and inquired whether he had a provincial
major in his custody. He found Major Putnam in a comfortless
condition--without hat, waistcoat, or hose--the remnant of his clothing
miserably dirty, and ragged--his beard long and squalid--his legs torn
by thorns and briers--his face gashed with wounds, and swollen with
bruises. Colonel Schuyler, irritated beyond all sufferance at such a
sight, could scarcely restrain his speech within limits consistent
with the prudence of a prisoner, and the meekness of a Christian. Major
Putnam was immediately treated according to his rank, clothed in a
decent manner, and supplied with money by that liberal and sympathetic
patron of the distressed.
The capture of Frontenac, by General Brad-street, afforded occasion
for an exchange of prisoners: Colonel Schuyler was comprehended in the
cartel. A generous spirit can never be satisfied with imposing tasks for
its generosity to accomplish. Apprehensive if it should be known that
Putnam was a distinguished partisan, his liberation might be retarded,
and knowing that there were officers, who, from the length of their
captivity, had a claim of priority to exchange; he had, by his happy
address, induced the governor to offer, that whatever officer he might
think proper to nominate, should be included in the present cartel. With
great politeness in manner, but seeming indifference as to object, he
expressed his warmest acknowledgments to the governor, and said: “There
is an old man here, who is a provincial major, and he wishes to be at
home with his wife and children. He can do no good here, or any where
else: I believe your excellency had better keep some of the young men,
who have no wife or children to care for, and let the old fellow go home
with me.” This justifiable finesse had the desired effect.
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