'"
When in New York, Putnam's headquarters were on Bowling Green, where he
later had with him members of his family, including his wife, who had
also visited him at Cambridge, and had dispensed a generous hospitality
at the Inman mansion; while Mrs. Washington (with whom both Putnam and
his wife were in high favor) was at the Craigie house. His son Israel
was a member of his military family, which also included Major Humphreys
(who afterward wrote his biography) and Major Aaron Burr, his military
secretary. His justifiable severity in proclaiming martial law, and in
punishing Tories found guilty of harboring or assisting the enemy,
incurred the ill-will of New York's inhabitants, and militated against
his fortunes when later he fell into disrepute.
Plots against his life were formed, among them most conspicuous for its
scheme of wholesale assassinations being that in which one of
Washington's own guards was concerned, and for complicity in which this
same man, Thomas Hickey, paid the penalty with his life, being executed
on the 27th of June. Two days later a large British fleet was reported
off Sandy Hook, and by the 1st of July there were more than a hundred of
the enemy's war-ships and transports in the bay.
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