" This monument was
dedicated June 14th, 1888, nearly a century after the death of the one
it is intended to commemorate, and is in the shape of a beautiful bronze
statue, representing Putnam on his war-horse, beneath the pedestal
supporting which, embedded in the foundation, is a sarcophagus
containing his ashes. It stands near the old church which Putnam helped
to build, and not far distant from the field in which he was plowing
when the call came from Lexington and Concord. Dr. Dwight's original
epitaph is inscribed on the tablets, and a wolf's head in bronze
ornaments the pedestal on each side.
Little now remains to be added, except to call attention to Putnam's
character, eulogies upon which have been delivered by the ablest men of
his time and of the generations after him. This sterling character has
shone resplendent in his deeds, which we have noted; and we may almost
say of him, as of Washington, his great commander, "Whatever good may
at any time be said, it can never be an exaggeration!"
General Putnam, remarked his first biographer, "is universally
acknowledged to have been as brave and honest a man as ever America
produced.
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