President of Congress, dated “At camp above Trenton Falls, Dec. 20, 1776,” he speaks of the fact, that, owing to a neglect on the part of the Government to place the Engineer Department upon a proper footing, “Colonel Putnam, who was at the head of it, has quitted, and taken a regiment in the State of Massachusetts.”  He expresses the opinion, that Putnam’s qualifications as a military engineer were superior to those of any other man within his knowledge, far superior to those of the foreign officers whom he had seen.  In a letter to the same, dated “Pompton Plains,” July 12, 1777, speaking of General Schuyler’s army, he says, “Colonel Putnam, I imagine, will be with him before this, as his regiment is a part of Nixon’s Brigade, who will answer every purpose he can possibly have for an engineer at this crisis.”  The high opinion of Washington took effect in his promotion as brigadier-general.  At the end of the war, he returned to civil life, but was soon called back and re-commissioned as brigadier-general.  Washington felt the need of him.  In a letter to General Knox, Secretary of War, dated Aug. 13, 1792, he says, “General Putnam merits thanks, in my opinion, for his plan, and the sentiments he has delivered on what he conceives to be a proper mode of carrying on the war against the hostile nations of Indians; and I wish he would continue to furnish them without reserve in future.”  During Washington’s administration of the government under the Constitution, Rufus Putnam held the office of Surveyor-General of the United States.  In addition to his military reputation, he will be for ever memorable as the first settler of Marietta, and founder of the State of Ohio.

Israel Hutchinson was born in 1727.  In 1757 he was one of a scouting-party under the command of his neighbor, Captain Israel Herrick, that penetrated through the wilderness in Maine in perilous Indian warfare.  He fought at Ticonderoga and Lake George, and was with Wolfe when he scaled the Heights of Abraham.  On the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, he led a company of minute-men, who met and fought the British in their bloody retreat from Lexington.  He was prominently concerned during the siege of Boston; and, on its evacuation, took command at Fort Hill.  He was afterwards in command at Forts Lee and Washington.  Throughout the war, he, like both the Putnams, had the confidence of his commander-in-chief.  For twenty-one years, he was elected to one or the other branch of the Legislature, or to the Council.  He was distinguished for the courtesy of his manners and the dignity of his address.  Colonel Enoch Putnam was also at the battle of Lexington, and served with honor through the Revolutionary War, as did also Captain Jeremiah Putnam, both of them descendants of John.  Captain Samuel Flint was among the bravest of the brave at Lexington, exciting universal admiration by his intrepidity; and fell at the head of his company at Stillwater, Oct. 7, 1777.