Any number of stories are told of "Old Put," as the soldiers
called him, of his adventures, and his odd humor. It is said that
once "a British officer challenged him to fight [a duel]; and
Putnam, having the choice of weapons, chose that they should sit
together over a keg of powder to which a slow match was applied.
The officer sat till the match drew near the hole, when he ran
for his life, Putnam calling after him that it was only a keg of
onions with a few grains of powder sprinkled upon it."

We have several descriptions of his personal appearance. He "was
of medium height, of a strong, athletic figure, and in the time
of the Revolutionary War weighed about two hundred pounds. His
hair was dark, his eyes light blue, and his broad, good-humored
face was marked with deep scars received in his encounters with
French and Indians,"

"Putnam, scored with ancient scars,
The living record of his country's wars,"

as a poet of those days expressed it.

[Illustration: GENERAL PUTNAM--A drawing from life by John
Trumbull]

There were greater generals in the Revolution than Israel Putnam,
men who, partly because they were better educated, were better
fitted than he to plan and carry out large operations. But he
excelled as a pioneer, as a bold leader, and a brave, independent
fighter. As a well-known historian says, "He was brave and
generous, rough and ready, thought not of himself in time of