RUFUS PUTNAM.
Rufus Putnam, born in Sutton, Massachusetts, on the 9th of April, 1738, after serving his apprenticeship as a millwright, enlisted as a common soldier in the Provincial army in 1757. At the close of the French and Indian War, he returned to Massachusetts, married, and settled in the town of New Braintree as a miller. Finding a knowledge of mathematics necessary to his success, he devoted much time to mastering that science. In 1773, having gone to Florida, he was appointed deputy-surveyor of the province by the governor. A rupture with Great Britain becoming imminent, he returned to Massachusetts in 1775, and was appointed lieutenant in one of the first regiments raised in that State after the battle of Lexington. His first service was the throwing up of defences in front of Roxbury. In 1776, he was ordered to New York and superintended the defences in that section of the country and the construction of the fortifications at West Point. In August, Congress appointed him engineer with the rank of colonel. He continued in active service, sometimes as engineer, sometimes as commander, and at others as commissioner for the adjustment of claims growing out of the war, until the disbanding of the army, being advanced to the rank of brigadier-general on the 7th of January, 1783.
After the close of the war, Putnam held various civil offices in his native State, acted as aid to General Lincoln during Shays’ Rebellion in 1786, was superintendent of the Ohio Company, founded the town of Marietta in 1788, was appointed in 1792 brigadier-general of the forces sent against the Indians of the Northwest, concluded an important treaty with them the same year, and resigned his commission on account of illness in 1793. During the succeeding ten years, he was Surveyor-General of the United States, when his increasing age compelled him to withdraw from active employment, and he retired to Marietta, where he died on the 1st of May, 1824.
ELIAS DAYTON.
Elias Dayton, born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in July, 1737, began his military career by joining Braddock’s forces, and fought in the “Jersey Blues” under Wolfe at Quebec. Subsequently he commanded a company of militia in an expedition against the Indians, and at the beginning of the Revolution was a member of the Committee of Safety. In July, 1775, he was with the party under Lord Stirling that captured a British transport off Staten Island. In 1776, he was ordered to Canada; but upon reaching Albany he was directed to remain in that part of the country to prevent any hostile demonstration by the Tory element. In 1777, he ranked as colonel of the Third New Jersey Regiment, and in 1781, he materially aided in suppressing the revolt in the New Jersey line. Serving to the end of the war, he was promoted to be a brigadier-general the 7th of January, 1783. Returning to New Jersey upon the disbanding of the army, he was elected president of the Society of the Cincinnati of that State, and died in his native town on the 17th of July, 1807.
COUNT ARMAND.
Armand Tuffin, Marquis de la Rouarie, born in the castle of Rouarie near Rennes, France, on the 14th of April, 1756, was admitted in 1775 to be a member of the body-guard of the French king. A duel led to his dismissal shortly after. Angry and mortified, he attempted suicide, but his life was saved; and in May, 1777, he came to the United States, where he entered the Continental army under the name of Count Armand. Being granted leave to raise a partisan corps of Frenchmen, he served with credit and great ability under Lafayette, Gates, and Pulaski. At the reorganization of the army in 1780, Washington proposed Armand for promotion, and recommended the keeping intact of his corps. In 1781, he was summoned to France by his family, but returned in time to take part in the siege of Yorktown, bringing with him clothing, arms, and ammunition for his corps, which had been withdrawn from active service during his absence.
After the surrender of Cornwallis, Washington again called the attention of Congress to Armand’s meritorious conduct, and he at last received his promotion as brigadier-general on the 26th of March, 1783. At the close of the war he was admitted as a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and with warmest recommendations from Washington returned to his native country and lived privately until 1788, when he was elected one of twelve deputies to intercede with the king for the continuance of the privileges of his native province of Brittany. For this he was confined for several weeks in the Bastile. Upon his release he returned to Brittany, and in 1789, denounced the principle of revolution and proposed a plan for the union of the provinces of Brittany, Anjou, and Poitou, and the raising of an army to co-operate with the allies. These plans being approved by the brothers of Louis XVI., in December, 1791, Rouarie was appointed Royal Commissioner of Brittany. In March of the year following, the chiefs of the confederation met at his castle; and all was ready for action when they were betrayed to the legislative assembly, and troops were sent to arrest the marquis. He succeeded in eluding them for several months, when he was attacked by a fatal illness and died in the castle of La Guyomarais near Lamballe, on the 30th of January, 1793.