om
service on account of his affliction, he paid a visit to his former
command on the lower Hudson, where one of his old friends, General
Greene, complains, in a letter, that he is "talking as usual, and
telling his old stories."

It can not be denied that he was somewhat loquacious, especially in his
later years, and those "old stories" were not alone his solace, but the
delight of numerous audiences of admiring friends and neighbors. At
Major Humphreys's request he retold them, two or three years before he
died (1788) and they form the basis of his first biographical memoir.
But they were doubtless very stale to those of his hearers who had
listened to them again and again, as plainly intimated by General
Greene.

As they were mainly about himself and his exploits, and as many of them
were of events that happened in the distant past, it is not unlikely
that some of them were slightly exaggerated, to say the least. Some
others told of Old Put and his doings are perhaps not entitled to
credence. Among these latter may be the tales of his dueling days, as,
for instance, the story of his challenge by an English officer on
parole, who, when he came to the place appointed, found Old Put seated
near what appeared to be a keg of powder, serenely smoking his pipe. As
the officer reached the rendezvous, Putnam lighted a slow-match from his
pipe and thrust it into a hole bored in the head of the keg, upon which
were scattered a few grains of gunpowder. Viewing these sinister
preparations for the "duel," the Englishman concluded that the best
thing he could do was to run away, which he did very promptly. "O ho!"
shouted Putnam after him, taking his pipe from his mouth. "You are just
about as brave a man as I thought, to run away from a keg of onions! Ha,
ha, ha!"

No date is given to this occurrence, nor to another account of the
"duel" he didn't fight with a brother officer whom he drove from the
field at the muzzle of a loaded musket. In fact, the "field of honor"
was not much frequented by Putnam, who preferred the field of battle,
where he always gave a good account of himself.

During his declining years he was cheered by the companionship of his
children, most of whom were married and settled near him, and being in
the enjoyment of a competence, he was vastly better off than the
majority of the soldiers who had fought with and under him during the
Revolution, for many of them were impoverished.

He preserved his stro