General Israel Putnam - Brooklyn, CT - Out of Place Graves on Waymarking.com

"After a religious funeral mingled with military honors and a eulogy delivered by a personal friend, he was interred in the Brooklyn cemetery. The tomb was three feet high, constructed of brick and across the top a marble slab with a lengthy epitaph by Rev Timothy Dwight who became the President of Yale. In 1888, General Putnam's remains were removed and reburied under a new bronze equestrian statue in Brooklyn, Connecticut." SOURCE

"Revolutionary War hero Israel Putnam is honored with an equestrian monument at his burial site on Canterbury Road (Route 169) in Brooklyn, CT.

The monument was dedicated in 1888 to honor Putnam, a Massachusetts native who served with distinction during the French and Indian War and who later abandoned his plow in the field to join the Continental Army when the American Revolution began.

Putnam is depicted directing troops on horseback. His horse faces east, and Putnam is looking toward the north. Large granite slabs on the north and south faces bear biographical and inspirational messages that were inscribed on Putnam’s original headstone.

Israel Putnam Monument, The wolves on the east and west faces refer to an incident in which Putnam ventured into a cave to kill a wolf that was helping herself to local farmer’ sheep.

Upon his death in 1790, Putnam was buried in an aboveground tomb in Brooklyn’s South Cemetery. Over the years, souvenir hunters had removed fragments of the headstone and the overall condition of the tomb was deemed unsuitable for General Putnam.

Sculptor Karl Gerhardt, also responsible for the nearby Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument as well as Civil War monuments in New York and New Jersey, was chosen to create a monument that would provide a new home for Putnam’s remains. Putnam was placed in a sarcophagus in the base, and the original headstone inscription was recreated on the monument. (The original headstone was put on display in the state capitol.)

The vintage postcard appearing below was postmarked in 1907. The yellow building next to the monument has since been replaced by a Post Office.

North of the monument, a plaque on a boulder marks the site of Putnam’s Brooklyn farm and tavern.

Israel Putnam Monument, Putnam commanded Continental forces during the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, and may have issued the famous command not to fire until troops saw the white of the British soldiers’ eyes. Putnam was forced to retreat from New York during the 1776 Battle of Long Island.

Putnam’s military career was ended by a stroke in 1779, while the general and the Connecticut militia was in winter camp in Redding. The encampment site is now Putnam State Park.

Putnam was also honored with statues in the state park and Hartford’s Bushnell Park. The town of Putnam, just north of Brooklyn, was named after him, as were eight counties." SOURCE

This bronze sculpture of General Israel Putnam on horseback, standing atop a large grey granite plinth, is described by the Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog as follows:

"The monument consists of an equestrian portrait of General Israel Putnam holding his horse's reins with his proper left hand and pointing forward with his proper right index finger. He is dressed in his Revolutionary War uniform consisting of a tri-cornered hat, boots, knee breeches, and a jacket with fringed epaulets. A sword hangs from his proper left side. His horse walks with it proper left front leg raised. The sculpture rests on an oval base decorated around the top with a garland of oak leaves. On the north and south sides of the base are large plaques with inscriptions. Identical bronze wolf heads (the mascot of the Putnam family) were once located on the east and west sides of the base, but they were stolen in the early or mid 1980s. [The bronze wolf heads have been replaced]

The monument marks the grave of Major General Israel Putnam, 1718-1790, a Revolutionary War hero who was a farmer in Brooklyn, Connecticut. Putnam was originally buried in another location in Brooklyn, Connecticut, but when his gravesite was vandalized, citizens petitioned the General Assembly for funds to create a suitable monument. Gerhardt was commissioned to create the monument for $8,750 or $9,750. Putnam's remains were placed in a new metallic casket and reinterred within the new monument" SOURCE

There are two large polished stone plaques on either side of the plinth. The plaque on the north side reads:

__________

Sacred be this Monument
to the memory of
ISRAEL PUTNAM, Esq.
Senior Major General in the Armies
of the United States of America,
who was born in Salem,
in the Province of Massachusetts
on the 7th day of January,
A.S. 1718
and died on the 29th of May
A.D. 1790

Passenger,
if thou art a soldier,
drop a tear over the dust of a Hero,
who ever attentive
to the lives and happiness of his men
dared to lead
where any dared to follow.

__________

The plaque on the south side reads:

__________

If a Patriot,
remember the distinguished
and
gallant services
rendered thy country
by the Patriot who sleeps
beneath this marble;
if thou art honest, generous and worthy,
render a cheerful tribute of respect
to a man
whose generosity was singular,
whose honesty was proverbial;
who raised himself
to universal esteem and offices of
eminent distinction
by personal worth and a useful life.

__________