son to Pomfret, Connecticut, bought a farm there, and cast in his
lot with the people of this state, so that he is a son of
Connecticut by adoption.

He worked hard in his new home, and in a few years he was in a
fair way to be rich and prosperous. It was at this time that the
incident happened that gave him his nickname of "Wolf Putnam."

Just across the narrow valley from his farm there was a steep
hillside, and among its rocks a wolf had her den. She was old and
wary, and did a lot of damage in the neighborhood by killing
sheep and lambs. Traps were set to catch her and the farmers
often tried to shoot her, but she always got away safely.

In the winter of 1743, she destroyed many of Israel Putnam's fine
flock and he was greatly exasperated and made a plan with five
other men to hunt her regularly, by twos in turn, until she was
found and killed. She had once been nearly caught in a trap, and
had only got out by leaving the claws of one foot behind her, so
that her trail was easy to distinguish on the snow, one foot
being shorter than the other, and making a different mark. One
night they followed her all night long, and in the morning traced
her back to her den in the hillside and made sure of its exact
location. Then all day long they worked hard, trying to get her
out. They burned straw and brimstone in the entrance of the cave,
hoping to smoke her out; they sent in the dogs, but these came
back wounded and bleeding and refused to go again. Putnam's own
fine bloodhound refused to go in, and then he decided to try it
himself and shoot the wolf inside the cave, since there was no
way of making her come out. He took off his coat, tied a rope