Don\'t fire until you see the Whites of Their eyes remains one of the enduring, and most stirring, quotations of the Revolutionary War, and it was very likely uttered at the Battle of Bunker Hill by General Israel Putnam.
The Whites of Their Eyes recoun.
In December 1779 he was returning to Washington\'s Army to rejoin his division when he suffered a stroke and was paralyzed.
Putnam was exonerated by a court of inquiry, but--nearly sixty and opposed by powerful political elements from New York, including Alexander Hamilton--he spent many of the following months recruiting in Connecticut.
In the fall of 1777, the British outmanned Putnam, resulting in the loss of several key forts in the Hudson Highlands near West Point.
During the battles for Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island during the summer of 1776, Putnam proved himself a capable and courageous battlefield commander with a special eye for fortifications, but he sometimes faltered in tactical and strategic decision-making.
Most of the battle would take place on Breed\'s.
Named one of the Continental Army\'s first four major generals, he helped plan and lead at the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he gave the order about the Whites of Their eyes and argued in favor of fortifying Breed\'s Hill, in addition to Bunker Hill.
When the Revolutionary War broke out, Putnam--who had been radicalized by the Stamp Act--was among those immediately considered for high command.
In 1759, Putnam led an assault on French Fort Carillon (later Ticonderoga); in 1760, he marched against Montreal; in 1762, he survived a shipwreck and yellow fever during an expedition against Cuba; and in 1763, he was sent to defend Detroit during Pontiac\'s rebellion.
He served with Robert Rogers, famous Ranger founder and leader, and a popular phrase of the time said, Rogers always sent, but Putnam led his men to action.
During the French and Indian War, Putnam enlisted as a private and rose to the rank of colonel.
National Register of Historic Places.
Born near Salem, Massachusetts, in 1718, Putnam relocated in 1740 to northeastern Connecticut, where he was a slaveowner and, according to folk legend, killed Connecticut\'s last wolf, in a cave known as Israel Putnam Wolf Den, which is on the U.
S.
Shay tells the exciting Life of Israel Putnam.
In The Whites of Their Eyes, Michael E.
Despite this, and Putnam\'s renown as a battlefield commander and his colorful military service far and wide, Putnam has never received his due from modern historians.
Don\'t fire until you see the Whites of Their eyes remains one of the enduring, and most stirring, quotations of the Revolutionary War, and it was very likely uttered at the Battle of Bunker Hill by General Israel Putnam
