around his waist, and with a torch and a gun, crawled in on his
hands and knees as well as he could. Far back in the deep
darkness the blazing eyes of the wolf showed him her lair. She
growled and made ready to spring at him, but he fired and
fortunately killed her with the first shot, and the men outside
dragged him and the wolf out together. Israel Putnam was a young
man then and almost a stranger in the place, but his courage and
resourcefulness that day made him known to the people and gave
him a reputation among them.

In some ways he had been at a disadvantage in Pomfret, for the
people there, even in those early times, cared much about
education. Soon after the place was settled, a library association
was formed to provide reading matter for the families living near.
Ten young men from Pomfret graduated at Yale College in the class
of 1759. Now, Israel Putnam's early education had been neglected.
He did not love study, he loved outdoor life, and there was no
schoolhouse near his home in Salem. He never learned to spell correctly.
Some of his letters, which have been preserved, are almost impossible
to read now, the spelling is so very curious. Later in his life, when
he became a general in the army and was brought in contact with
Washington and other educated and trained men, he was mortified and
much ashamed of his own lack in this respect. He tried then to dictate
his letters as often as possible so that people should not laugh at
his ignorance. It made him careful to give his children a better
education than his own.

In 1755, when he was thirty-seven years old, Israel Putnam
entered the Provincial army for service in the French-and-Indian
War, and rose to the rank of colonel before the war was over in