The Whites of Their Eyes: The Life of Revolutionary War Hero Israel Putnam from Rogers' Rangers to Bunker Hill

“Shay remembers a hero of the colonial wars and American independence who is too often relegated to a footnote in the shadow of the better-remembered leaders of the Revolution.”

Michael E. Shay, in The Whites of Their Eyes: The Life of Revolutionary War Hero Israel Putnam from Roger’s Rangers to Bunker Hill, seeks to “demonstrate the relevance of his subject to the reader.” That adds a special dimension to filling a need for a biography of a patriot remembered in popular public history, but not precisely for why.

The author, refreshingly, seeks to understand his subject’s failures and flaws while balancing the virtues. Shay remembers a hero of the colonial wars and American independence who is too often relegated to a footnote in the shadow of the better-remembered leaders of the Revolution.

The Whites of Their Eyes begins with all that might be known of Putnam’s early life, reflecting characteristics he would be remembered for when he rose to prominence. Israel Putnam started his military career in the Seven Years' War in America against the French and Indians.

Inauspiciously, Putnam only began that war as a 37-year-old apple farmer and father of six children with no particular prominence in Connecticut in 1755. For reasons not now known, Putnam was placed in command of a company and then joined Robert Rogers famous Rogers Rangers, a band of American irregulars serving the British army. He saved Rogers’ life at Crown Point.

Shay rightly devotes much of the book to the colonial wars. After many adventures and years of service, Putnam ended the war as a scarred hero, former captive, and a lieutenant colonel. He even survived a shipwreck in an invasion of Spanish Cuba! He had spent nine out of ten years as a provincial soldier.

The colonial wars were followed by British policies imposed upon Americans concerning currency, land, and stamp-taxed paper. As many as half of the men of New England had served in the previous fighting and had done so under men like Putnam. British leaders had created all of the ingredients for the coming Revolution.

Old leaders of the colonial wars like Putnam would play significant roles in the American Revolution. New England would supply the majority of the soldiers in that conflict.

In 1765–1766, Putnam used his reputation as a military leader in organizing opposition to the Stamp Act in Connecticut. He reached out to the Sons of Liberty in other colonies and served in the Colonial Assembly. In 1775, Putnam led Connecticut troops in Boston as the American Revolution finally began.

Israel Putnam had his greatest moment while boldly leading troops under fire at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Despite his participation in the rebellion, the British army offered him a commission, which he declined. He served well under Washington in the New York campaign, where the American army is presented as behaving better than usually given in public history.

Much of The Whites of Their Eyes discusses aspects of the Revolution now as little remembered as Putnam and the Seven Years War in America, such as why the British failed to take over the New York Highlands and reach John Burgoyne’s doomed army. The problems of the civil war between Americans, draft evasion, miscommunication, mutiny, and personal politics receive attention here.

Putnam’s long military career ended with his reputation under a cloud but as a senior officer commanding the right wing of Washington’s army. A stroke finally brought him down, where battle and politics failed. He spent his last years as the apple farmer he had begun his career; even then, he made a difference that has gone little noted.

Shay’s straightforward narrative makes following Putnam's story easy and the corresponding military campaigns understandable. In some instances, such as when the author writes about different Clintons in the same paragraphs, better editing would have helped. The author, however, fails to explain how the public had and has not remembered him and his service.

The author covers sidebars to the main story, such as Putnam’s involvement with the Company of Military Adventurers, who tried to settle western lands acquired in Mississippi and elsewhere after the Seven Years’ War. Similarly, the issue of enslaved labor is brought up, although Putnam had little to do with it; he owned only two servants.

Shay uses an unusual encyclopedic format in this biography that can be confusing and disjointed. The Whites of Their Eyes has annotation and bibliography, as well as excellent maps.