Putnam's courage and fighting spirit became known far beyond his home of Connecticut's borders through the circulation of folk legends in the American colonies and states celebrating his exploits.

Putnam then reportedly crawled into the den with a torch, a musket loaded with buckshot, and his feet secured with rope to be quickly pulled out.

The following February, Putnam and his Rangers were still on Roger's Island when fire broke out in the row of barracks nearest the magazine.

[1] Putnam was captured on August 8, 1758, by Kahnawake Indians from a mission settlement south of Montreal during a military campaign near Crown Point in New York.

[20] In 1759, Putnam led a regiment into The Valley of Death in the attack on Fort Carillon and he was with the British army that marched on Montreal in 1760.

Putnam is believed to have brought back Cuban tobacco seeds to New England, which he planted in the Hartford area.

Putnam publicly professed his Christian faith following the Seven Years' War in 1765 and joined the Congregational Church in his town.

Around the time of the Stamp Act crisis in 1766, he was elected to the Connecticut General Assembly and was one of the founders of the state's chapter of the Sons of Liberty.

[23] By the eve of the American Revolution, Putnam had become a relatively prosperous farmer and tavern keeper, with more than a local reputation for his previous exploits.

On April 20, 1775, while plowing one of his fields with his son, he received news of the Battle of Lexington and Concord that started the war the day before.

He literally "came off the plow", leaving it in the field and riding 100 miles (160 km) in eight hours, reaching Cambridge the next day and offering his services to the Patriot cause.

However, Continental Army Brigadier General Nathanael Greene wrote to his brother that "I wish we could sell them another hill, at the same price.

[33] People were shocked by the rancor of the attack, and this prompted a forceful response from defenders of Putnam, including such notables as John and Abigail Adams.

Historian Harold Murdock wrote that Dearborn's account "abounds in absurd misstatements and amazing flights of imagination."

[40][41][42] Putnam subsequently served as temporary commander of the American forces in New York while waiting for Washington's arrival there on April 13, 1776.

Putnam's fortunes declined at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, where he was forced to effect a hasty retreat from the British.

As Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan described it, "...it could be argued that we owe our national existence to the fortifications which General Israel Putnam threw up in April 1776 on the Buttermilk Channel side [of Governors Island, New York]... [British troops] landed on Long Island and headed for George Washington and his army.

He had to flee, and he made it because Putnam's artillery firing on Brooklyn Heights, over the Buttermilk Channel, held Howe back just long enough for Washington to escape to Manhattan and for the Revolutionary War to proceed.

[48] Putnam had personal friendships and deep respect for many of his British former comrades in arms in the French and Indian War, who were now his enemies.

While in command in New York, there were several occasions on which he showed personal courtesies, such as providing newspapers to read or medical attention, to British officers who had become his prisoners of war.

He also showed an "unconquerable aversion" to many of those who were entrusted with the disposal of Tory property who Putnam felt were instead embezzling the funds.

The grave was later exhumed, and it is possible that Putnam learned of the tragic error at the time he received Washington's order.

Putnam's lack of education and unsophisticated manner prompted a captured Hessian officer to comment that "This old gray-beard may be a good honest man, but nobody but the rebels would have made him a general."

Word having been brought to General Putnam that the second Brigade was under arms for this purpose, he mounted his horse, galloped to the Cantonment and thus addressed them: "'My brave lads, whither are you going?

You have behaved like men so far – all the world is full of your praises – and posterity will stand astonished at your deeds: but not if you spoil all at last.

After he finished, "he directed the acting Major of Brigade to give the word for them to shoulder, march to their Regimental parades, and lodge arms.

I would fight them on the retreat, and every stone wall we passed should be lined with their dead ... our men are lighter of foot, they understand their grounds and how to take advantage of them…"[80][81] For one who was not supposed to be much of a strategic thinker, in some cases he was more prescient than his fellow generals.

In discussion with Joseph Warren and General Artemas Ward before the Battle of Bunker Hill, Putnam advocated aggressive action against the British.

In 1888, Putnam's remains were removed from the Brooklyn cemetery and reinterred in a sarcophagus in the base, and the original headstone inscription was recreated on the monument.

His Connecticut farmhouse on Putnam Farm still stands today and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.