SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER.

GENERAL WARD received from the General Congress the appointment of first major general and second in command of the American army. On the arrival of General Washington at Cambridge, he assumed the command of the right wing at Roxbury, and his general disposition of the troops about Boston was sanctioned by the approbation of the commander in chief.* From extreme ill health, he resigned his commission in April, 1776; but notwithstanding his resignation was accepted, at the earnest request of Congress and General Washington, he continued in command, near Boston, until the 20th of March, 1777. He was afterward a member of Congress under the old confederation and present constitution, and died in 1800, aged seventy three.

The life of General Putnam has been detailed by abler hands.

*Marshall, vol. 2, p. 242.

General Thomas was appointed first brig-
adier general under the United States, in
1776 was appointed major general, and on the
death of Montgomery repaired to Canada to
command the American forces before Quebec.
Their situation was nearly desperate; but he
was too adventurous to relinquish the enter-
prise without one attempt to secure the fa-
vors of fortune. He endeavoured to burn
the enemy's naval force before the city by a
fire ship, intending to attack the place during
the conflagration; but the fire ship miscarried,
and the general was compelled to order a re-
treat, during which he died of the small pox
at Chamblee.

General Pomeroy expressed his strong
sense of the blindness of fortune, that, of the
two volunteer generals in the battle, Warren,
the young and chivalrous soldier, the eloquent
and enlightened legislator, should fall, and he
escape, old and useless, unhurt. From age
he declined the honorable appointment of
brigadier general of the United States army,
and retired from service. But, like the vete-
ran war horse, when the echoes of his majestic
Connecticut rang with the clarion of battle,
he spurned the peaceful retreat which his
long life and long services demanded. He
preferred even a regiment to inaction, and as
a colonel marched to join the kindred spirits
who composed our army in the Jerseys. His

exposures produced a pleurisy, which proved fatal at Peckskill in New York, where his country owes him a monument, and bravery and patriotism perennial fame.

When Putnam was ordered on what may well be styled a forlorn hope, to land at Boston with a detachment, in face of the army and batteries of the enemy, Colonel Prescott solicited of him the honor of participating the desperate undertaking. But heaven frowned at an excess of presumption which her past favors had encouraged; a violent hurricane arrested the enterprise.

The colonel continued in the service of the United States, accompanied General Washington to New York, and on the disastrous retreat through the Jerseys, he alone was able to keep his men in the ranks. They proved themselves worthy the hero of Bunker Hill, kept the enemy in respect, were exhibited to the army as an example worthy imitation, and the colonel received the cordial thanks of Washington in general orders.

In 1777 he, with a corps of volunteers, joined General Gates, and served with him till victory crowned our arms, and Burgoyne's whole army was the trophy.

When peace ensued, he became a member of the legislature, and in 1787 distinguished himself as a magistrate as he had in 1775 as a soldier. From the miseries and poverty which succeeded the war, many of the sufferers were driven to oppose the course of legal authority. The enlightened patriot employed his potent influence to stay the tempestuous waves of insurrection. He collected his friends and proceeded to Concord armed to protect the court in session there against the conspirators. He lived to advanced age, and we are happy to add he was a christian.

The veteran Colonel Joseph Frye,* who had served in the war of 1756, was at the siege of Louisbourg, and taken prisoner in Fort William Henry, immediately after the battle the 21st June, was appointed major general by the Provincial Congress. He serv ed some time in the revolutionary war, and lived to a very advanced age, at Fryeburgh, which received its name from his family.

Colonel Gardner lived a few days after the battle, and on being asked if he was well enough to see his son, "yes," answered the hero, "if he has done his duty.' Being informed that he had distinguished himself, he

* Brother of Colonel James Frye.