WAS COUNTY NAMESAKE ISRAEL PUTNAM A PERSON? By W. Calvin Dickinson ‘Cumberland Tales’ Herald•Citizen, Cookeville, TN Sunday, 1 December 2013
In the first part of the 19th century, patriotism was characteristic of our new country. The United States had fought two wars with Great Britain, our country was growing in size – adding the Louisiana Territory and the Mexican Cession, our economy was booming, and society was optimistic. New states were added to the union, and new counties were organized in older and new states.
National heroes were lionized on this atmosphere, heroes who had fought the battles that created the nation, and heroes who had created the nation out of those battles. It is interesting that new states were not often named after the national heroes – Washington being the exception – but many counties gained their names in memory and honor of those men.
Most Tennessee counties were named for state or national heroes, either military or government men. Only one county was named for a woman, and two were named for Indian men. Crockett, DeKalb, Houston, Jackson, Jefferson, Monroe, Sevier, Scott, and Washington were memorialized with county names. Some of these men lived in Tennessee – Crockett, Houston, Jackson, and Sevier – but some never even visited the state.
Israel Putnam was a native of Massachusetts, born near Danvers in 1718. With no formal education, he followed his father’s occupation as a farmer. Moving to Connecticut in 1739, he joined many other American farmers in the French and Indian War in 1754. Entering as a lieutenant, his bravery and leadership ability advanced him in rank to major as the war progressed. Experiencing capture, burns, and narrow escapes during the conflict, Putnam received as his bounty a grant of land in Mississippi.
As soon as the American Revolution started, Putnam’s experience and fame from the French and Indian War earned him the rank of major general, appointed by George Washington. At the battle of Bunker Hill Putnam commanded more than 1,000 men. As British troops advanced upon their entrenchments, Putnam ordered his soldiers to shoot at the enemy only when they could see the “whites of their eyes.” Putnam repulsed two charges with this tactic, but was overwhelmed by a third assault. This battle made him a military hero, both in his day and in ours.
After the war George Washington correctly predicted, “The name of Putnam is not forgotten, nor will it be.” Nine states have Putnam counties – Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indian, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia. Most of these counties were created in the first half of the 19th Century, when patriotism inspired the country to honor heroes of the revolutionary period.
Although Israel Putnam did not visit Tennessee and Putnam County, his great•grandson, Albigence Waldo Putnam, lived, worked, and died in Tennessee. A. W. Putnam, as he was known, was born in Ohio. His father was Aaron Waldo Putnam, so neither father nor son’s name memorialized Israel Putnam.
A. W. earned a degree at Ohio University and studied law in the state. Moving to Mississippi in 1822, he married Catherine Ann Sevier, the eldest daughter of John Sevier’s son George. In this way, Putnam acquired his first important connection with Tennessee. After his wife died in 1834, he married her sister, Cornelia Virginia Sevier. Practicing law in Mississippi brought financial security to A. W. and his family, but after a financial setback in the mid 1830s, he moved to Nashville, where he bought Waverly Place two miles south of town on Franklin Pike. He lived there until 1858.
In the latter years of his life, A. W. devoted much of his time to studying Tennessee history, publishing a number of essays in the Port Folio. In 1849, he was in the forefront of a successful effort to revitalize the Tennessee Historical Society. He served as president of the organization from 1857 to 1861, frequently preparing and reading historical essays to the membership at Society meetings. His major work was History of Middle Tennessee, published in 1859. This work is still respected and is still used by Tennessee historians.
Unsuccessful financial ventures in Nashville created distress for Putnam in the 1850s and 1860s, and he died in the city on Jan. 20, 1869. An obituary noted that “the community suffers the loss of a valuable member.” Putnam was buried in Nashville’s Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
There is no evidence that A. W. visited Putnam County, but he must have been aware of the county, and he must have known that it was named for his ancestor.
Putnam County, Tennessee, probably has a closer connection to its namesake than the counties in some of the other states named after Israel Putnam.
“Cumberland Tales,” created by Calvin Dickinson and Michael Birdwell and sponsored by the Cookeville History Museum, welcomes any tale of this region’s history. For more information, contact Dickinson at [email protected] or Birdwell at [email protected].
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