• General of the Continental Army Israel Putnam, 1718
• Colonel of the Continental Army William Prescott, 1726

According to oral tradition Putnam in his youth killed the last wolf in Connecticut with the help of a group of farmers from Mortlake. The tradition describes Putnam crawling into a tiny den with a torch, a musket and his feet secured with rope as to be quickly pulled out of the den. While in the den, he allegedly killed the she - wolf, making sheep farming in Mortlake safe. There is a section of the Mashamoquet Brook State Park in modern day Pomfret named "Wolf Den" (which includes the 'den' itself), as well as a "Wolf Den Road" in Brooklyn, Connecticut.

Putnam took part in the French and Indian War as a member of Rogers' Rangers, later leading a similar company of rangers from Connecticut. He was promoted to captain in 1756 and to major in 1758. He was captured by the Caughnawaga Indians during a military campaign in New York, and was saved from being roasted alive only by a providential thunder storm which extinguished the fire and the last minute intervention of a French officer.

In 1759, Putnam led a regiment in the attack on Fort Carillon and in 1760 was with the army that marched on Montreal. In 1762, he survived a shipwreck during the British expedition against Cuba that led to the capture of Havana. It is believed that Major Putnam returned to New England from Cuba with Cuban tobacco seeds that he planted in the Hartford area, resulting in the development of the renowned Connecticut Wrapper (shade tobacco) agricultural product.

Putnam was sent to relieve Pontiac's 1763 siege of Fort Detroit during Pontiac's Rebellion.

Putnam was outspoken against British taxation policies and around the time of the Stamp Act crisis in 1766, he was elected to the Connecticut General Assembly and was one of the founders of the Connecticut Sons of Liberty.

In the fall of 1765 Putnam threatened Thomas Fitch, the popularly elected Connecticut Governor, promising that Fitch's house "will be leveled with the dust in five minutes" if Fitch did not turn over the stamp tax paper to the Sons of Liberty. Also in 1765 Putnam made a public profession of Christian faith and joined the Congregational Church in Brooklyn, Connecticut.

By the eve of the Revolution he had become a relatively prosperous farmer and tavern keeper, with more than a local reputation for his previous exploits. On April 20, 1775, when Putnam received news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord that started the war the day before, he left his plow in the field and rode 100 miles (160 km) in eight hours, reaching Cambridge the next day and offering his services to the patriot cause. Putnam was named major general, making him second in rank to General Artemas Ward in the Army of Observation that preceded the founding of the Continental Army. He was one of the primary figures at the Battle of Bunker Hill, both in its planning and on the battlefield. During that battle Putnam may have ordered William Prescott to tell his troops "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" (It is debated exactly who said these words first; they are attributed to a number of officers). This command has since become one of the American Revolution's more memorable quotes. This order was important, because the New England troops entrenched on the hill were low on ammunition. He joined the Continental Army when it was organized in July 1775, was appointed colonel of the 3rd Connecticut Regiment, and later became brigadier of the Connecticut militia.

After Bunker Hill, Putnam progressed to temporary command of the American forces in New York, while waiting for the arrival of the commander - in - chief, Lieutenant General George Washington, on April 13, 1776. The Battle of Bunker Hill must count as the greatest achievement in Putnam's life, for thereafter, his fortunes took a downturn at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, where he was forced to effect a hasty retreat. Washington did not blame Putnam for this failure as some in the Second Continental Congress did. However, Washington reassessed the abilities of his general and assigned him to recruiting activities. In 1777 Putnam received another, though lesser, military command in the Hudson Highlands and his headquarters was at the Bush - Lyon Homestead. With future Vice President Aaron Burr in his charge, Putnam was fooled in October 1777 by a feint executed by British troops under the command of General Sir Henry Clinton, making way for Clinton's capture of Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton. Putnam was brought before a court of inquiry for those actions, where he was exonerated of any wrongdoing. On Feb. 26, 1779, Putnam did his famed escape from the British, riding down a steep slope in Greenwich. A statue commemorating this escape may be found at Putnam Memorial State Park in Redding, CT. Redding, CT sculptress Anna Hyatt Huntington created the bronze statue in 1969. During the winter of 1778 - 1779, Putnam and his troops were encamped at the present day site of the Putnam Memorial State Park in Redding, Connecticut. In December 1779, Putnam suffered a paralyzing stroke, which ended his military service.

Putnam died in Brooklyn, Connecticut in 1790, and was buried in an above ground tomb in Brooklyn's South Cemetery. Within a few years, however, so many people visited Putnam's tomb that the badly mutilated marble marker was removed for safe keeping to the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. In 1888, Putnam's remains were removed from the Brooklyn cemetery and placed in a sarcophagus built into the foundation of a monument, newly erected on a plot of ground near the Brooklyn town green.

In the early days of the war, Putnam was regarded by Washington as one of America's most valuable military assets, but this view was probably based primarily upon earlier exploits from his colorful past. In the Revolution, however, Putnam, as did many American generals, led more strategic defeats than offensive victories and was largely known for his reckless courage.

Today there are many places named for Israel Putnam. Eight Putnam Counties, including Putnam County, New York, which embraces the east bank of the Hudson Highlands he once held command over, bear his name, as does a Brooklyn, New York elementary school. Both Putnam, New York, and Putnam, Connecticut, only miles north of his monument in Brooklyn, CT, were named in his honor. There is also an East Putnam Avenue in Greenwich, Connecticut, which is named after the path in which he retreated from British forces; Putnam's cottage, an eighteenth century residence that may have served as a tavern at the time of Putnam's escape, is located on this avenue. Putnam State Park is also named for him.

Putnam has been characterized in numerous biographies and works of fiction, including an 1876 book by Increase N. Tarbox, acclaimed historian, theologian and author.

General Putnam is an ancestor to famed 20th century newsman and former Marine Corps Officer George Putnam.

Recently a mural depicting General Putnam was to be returned to the newly renovated Hamilton Avenue School in Greenwich, CT. An article of April 1, 2006, entitled "Mural deemed too violent for school", explains the mural's reception:

After a debate that divided members largely along the lines of generation and gender, the Chickahominy Neighborhood Association voted unanimously yesterday not to bring a controversial Revolutionary War mural back to Hamilton Avenue School because its content is too violent. Instead, the group agreed to leave the mural, "The Life and Times of General Israel Putnam of Connecticut," at its current location at Greenwich Library. Painted by James Daughtery of Weston as part of the Works Progress Administration program in 1935, the mural depicts Putnam, Greenwich's war hero, aiming his musket at snarling wolves while all around him Native Americans hurl tomahawks and men armed with guns and knives tussle. It hung high in the gymnasium of Hamilton Avenue School for nearly 60 years, often knocked by errant basketballs, before it was removed in 1998 and restored with $54,145 donated by the Ruth W. Brown Foundation. It is located in Maine. Putnam's descendants are located in Burtonsville, Maryland, Salem, Oregon, San Francisco, California, and Williamsburg, Virginia.

Prescott was born in Groton, Massachusetts, to Benjamin Prescott (1696 – 1738) and Abigail Oliver Prescott (1697 – 1765). He married Abigail Hale (1733 – 1821) on April 13, 1758, and they had one son, also named William, in 1762. Prescott owned a house in Pepperell, Massachusetts, on Prescott Street.

Prescott served in the provincial militia in King George's War where he served in the 1745 Siege of Louisbourg under William Pepperrell. He may have played a role in the naming of the town of Pepperell, Massachusetts, after his commander when it was separated from Groton in 1753. In 1755, when the French and Indian War widened, he saw action at the Battle of Fort Beausejour. He turned down an offer to join the Royal Army for his service in that war.

In 1774, when Massachusetts towns began forming militia companies, Prescott was made a colonel commanding the Pepperell company. The alarm that was raised on the evening of April 18, 1775, that British troops were marching on Concord reached Pepperell about 10 a.m. on April 19. Prescott immediately alerted the companies of Pepperell, Hollis and Groton, and rode toward Concord. The companies arrived too late to participate in the day's battles, but they became part of the small army that laid siege to Boston afterward.

When the American military commanders were alerted to British plans to capture undefended high ground at Dorchester Heights and Charlestown, Prescott was chosen to lead 1,200 men onto the Charlestown peninsula and erect defenses on Bunker Hill on the night of June 16, 1775. The actual defenses were built on Breeds Hill, as it was lower and closer to the harbor. The next day, his troops, who were tired from working to construct a redoubt and other defensive works, and had only limited ammunition, formed the centerpiece of the American defenses when the British attacked the position. The British began firing from the ship Lively at 4 a.m. attacked at 3 p.m. In spirited battle, Prescott's men twice threw back British assaults on the redoubt. When the British made a third attempt, his men were almost out of ammunition; after an initial volley, he ordered a retreat from the redoubt. He was one of the last men to leave the redoubt, parrying bayonet thrusts with his ceremonial saber. While the British successfully captured Bunker Hill, the poorly organized colonial forces inflicted significant casualties, and the British were unable to capitalize on their victory. They lost 50 percent of the force commanded by General Howe, that were killed or wounded. Prescott is widely seen as having played a key role in the battle, keeping the relatively poorly trained militia under his command well disciplined.

When the Second Continental Congress established the Continental Army it sent George Washington to take command of the forces besieging Boston. Prescott received a colonel's commission, and his unit became the 7th Continental Regiment. The regiment saw service in the 1776 defense of New York. While he appears to have given up command of the regiment after that campaign, he apparently participated in some capacity in the 1777 Saratoga campaign, for he is depicted in the painting of the Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga by John Trumbull, which hangs in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. His departure from military service may be due to injuries sustained in an accident on his farm.

Prescott served in the Massachusetts General Court in later years, and served in militia called out to suppress the Shays' Rebellion in 1786. He died in 1795.

His grandson William H. Prescott was a noted historian and author, who married the granddaughter of Captain John Linzee, captain of the HMS Falcon, one of the British ships that fired on Bunker Hill. The city of Prescott, Arizona, was named in honor of him.

The former town of Prescott, Massachusetts, was named in his honor. The town was disincorporated in 1938 as part of the building of the Quabbin Reservoir, and the land now makes up Prescott Peninsula, which divides the main branches of the reservoir.

Prescott's likeness was made into a statue for a memorial for the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Prescott's house is located in North Pepperell, Massachusetts.