So without waiting to change his soiled farm-clothes, Putnam put spurs to his horse and in a single day rode all the way to Cambridge.
He attended a council of war held by the Americans, returned to Connecticut, raised a regiment, and went back to Cambridge in time to take part in the Battle of Bunker Hill. There on Prospect Hill he unfurled the new Banner of Connecticut, which, as a cannon fired a salute, was seen to rise and unroll itself to the wind.
When Washington, appointed by Congress to be Commander-in-Chief, arrived at Cambridge, and saw the redoubts that had been cast up by Putnam and his men, he said to Putnam:—
“You seem, General, to have the faculty of infusing your own spirit into all the workmen you employ.”
Washington had brought with him a commission from Congress, making Israel Putnam a Major-General.
HE MADE WASHINGTON LAUGH
General Putnam once had the honour of making Washington laugh heartily.
It was during the Siege of Boston.
There was a traitor in camp. No one knew who he was. A strange woman—a spy—had delivered a letter, intended for him, to the wrong person. It was laid before Washington. It was in cipher. Washington ordered the woman to be arrested, but she was gone.
Not long after, as Washington was standing in the upper window at Headquarters, he saw the oddest sight.