He keenly watched the trend of events, he
discussed in his tavern the exciting news of the day with visitors from
all parts of the country, and his convictions were becoming stronger and
stronger that something dire and dreadful was to happen.
The Boston massacre of the 5th of March, 1770, fired our hero almost to
a frenzy, and while there may have been men more eloquent in their
denunciations of the British soldiery, like Otis and Adams, there was
none more emphatic and in earnest. Between the massacre and the Boston
"Tea Party" in 1773, Putnam made his journey to the Mississippi; but he
was home, and as usual alert and anxious, when the latter event
occurred.
From that moment he was most attentive to what was going on in Boston,
which was then the "danger spot" of the Colonies. He gave his time
freely to the anticipatory work of organizing his fellow citizens into
military companies and drilling them into proficiency, and he was made
chairman of the "Committee of Correspondence" for Brooklyn. As such he
bore to Boston, when the infamous "Port Bill" was passed, the
condolences and sympathy of his fellow citizens, in a letter eloquently
phrased, and--what was more satisfactory and substantial--the gift of a
flock of sheep.
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