Editing Israel Putnam (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Israel putnam birthplace.jpg|thumb|[[General Israel Putnam House|Israel Putnam's birthplace]], Danvers, Massachusetts; the house still stands and is owned by the Danvers Historical Society.]]
[[File:1911-08-12 MA Danvers Birth Room, Gen. Israel Putnam 01.jpg|thumb|Birth room of General Putnam in Danvers, Massachusetts]]
[[File:Major Israel Putnam in British Uniform 1758.jpg|thumb|Major Israel Putnam in British uniform, 1758]]
Putnam was born in 1718 in Salem Village (now [[Danvers, Massachusetts|Danvers]]), [[Massachusetts]] to Joseph and Elizabeth (Porter) Putnam, a prosperous farming [[Puritan]] [[Putnam family|family]]. His parents had opposed the [[Salem witch trials]] in the 1690s.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Root |editor-first1=Mary Philotheta |title=Chapter Sketches, Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution: Patron Saints |date=1901 |publisher=Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution |page=127 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wQgWAAAAYAAJ |access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref>

Putnam moved west in 1740 at age 22 to [[Mortlake, Connecticut]]<ref name=" McCullough Book">[[#McCullough|McCullough, 2005]], pp. 34–35</ref> (today [[Brooklyn, Connecticut|Brooklyn]]) where land was cheaper.<ref>[[#Tarbox|Tarbox, 1876]], p. 36</ref> While living in Connecticut, Putnam purchased several [[Slavery in the colonial history of the United States|enslaved Africans]] to work on his lands.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.courant.com/courant-250/moments-in-history/hc-250-israel-putnam-0507-20140524-story.html|title=Israel Putnam, A Man of Legendary Courage}}</ref> He killed a wolf in 1743 with the help of a group of farmers from Mortlake seeking to safeguard their sheep. They tracked the wolf to its den and tried sending in their dogs, but all the dogs returned frightened or injured by the wolf. They tried smoking out the wolf and burning sulfur at the mouth of the cave, all to no avail. After Putnam arrived, he tried getting his dog to enter the den, with no luck. He also tried to get his servant to enter with a torch and gun to shoot the wolf. His servant refused, as did all the other farmers. 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. While in the den, he killed the wolf.{{sfn|Hubbard|2017|p=14-18}}

In celebration of the event, Putnam was carried in a torch-lit procession through Pomfret in a celebration that lasted until about midnight. He earned the nicknames "Wolf Putnam" and "Old Wolf Put", which stayed with him for decades afterward.{{sfn|Hubbard|2017|p=15, 16, 17, 18}}{{sfn|Livingston|1901|p=11-16}}{{sfn|Humphreys|1855|p=10-20}}<ref>Putnam, Daniel.  ''Memoirs of the Life, Adventures and Military Exploits of Israel Putnam,'' pp.7-10, Mack & Andrus, Ithaca, New York, 1834.</ref> A section of [[Mashamoquet Brook State Park]] in Pomfret, including the den, is named "[[Israel Putnam Wolf Den]]". The name "Wolf Den Road" in adjacent Brooklyn also attests to the days of wolves.<ref name=Bragg>[[#Bragg|Bragg, Essay]]</ref>

Putnam married twice, first to Hannah Pope in 1739, the mother of his children.{{sfn|Hubbard|2017|p=11, 14}} Two years after her death in 1765, he married Deborah Lothrop.{{sfn|Hubbard|2017|p=49-50}}