The Switchel Traveler: Connecticut's Valley Forge

In the middle of the American Revolutionary War, a portion of the Continental Army spent the winter of 1778-79 at three camps in southwestern Connecticut. The main camp in Redding is remembered today as Putnam Memorial State Park, so named because the troops were under the command of Major General Israel Putnam.

The park's nickname is "Connecticut's Valley Forge." Why this nickname?

The previous winter (1777-78) the Continental Army under General George Washington had encamped at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania. It was a difficult winter for the army and a significant event in the national memory:

Few places evoke the spirit of patriotism and independence, represent individual and collective sacrifice, or demonstrate the resolve, tenacity and determination of the people of the United States to be free as does Valley Forge.

(source)

While the Connecticut encampments were smaller than Valley Forge, about 3,000 men as compared to 12,000 men, the winter conditions and lack of supplies were equally challenging.

Israel Putnam (1718-1790) was born and raised in Massachusetts, but he lived his adult life in Connecticut. He was a successful farmer and tavern keeper. At the relatively old age of 37 he volunteered for military service in the French and Indian War (1754-63) and achieved renown as a military leader. The Continental Congress appointed Putnam one of four major generals under General George Washington in the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), and for much of the war he was Washington's second in command.

Many of the displays at Putnam Memorial State Park are about Major General Israel Putnam – understandably so, since he was from Connecticut. Israel Putnam was a character, and there are many stories about him. Following are two that are told at the park.

On April 20, 1775, Israel Putnam was plowing a field on his farm in northeastern Connecticut when a messenger on horseback delivered the electrifying news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord the day before – "the shot heard round the world." Putnam unhitched his horse from the plow, leaving the plow in the field, and rode away to volunteer his services in the war that he knew had now begun. He was 57 years old. He rode 80 miles to Cambridge, Massachusetts, arriving the next day. Two months later, on June 17, he was one of the commanders of the colonial forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The "Putnam Plow" is now in the visitors center at the park:

Later in the war, during the winter of "Connecticut's Valley Forge," Putnam was pursued by the British in Greenwich, Connecticut. He barely escaped on his horse by riding down a steep hillside where the British chose not to follow. They shot at him but hit only his hat. He was then 61 years old. It is unclear if he actually rode down stone steps on that winter day in February 1779, but that is how the story was told – as depicted by this statue by Anna Hyatt Huntington near the park entrance: