Excerpt from The Life of Israel Putnam, Major-General in the Army of the American Revolution There are three sources to which the writer of biography may repair, for materials to accomplish his work. The first is an intimate personal acquaintance with his subject, derived from long intercourse, and a daily participation in the scenes which it is his purpose to describe. The next is, a detailed narrative of incidents and events, taken down from the lips of his subject, giving to his delineations the spirit and authenticity of an autobiography. The third is found in the testimony of neighbors and acquaintances, corroborated by contemporaneous history, correspondence, &c. When the veracity and honesty of the party are unimpeachable, there is no source so reliable as that which is here placed second in the list. No person can possibly be so well acquainted with the acts of another as himself. And when, to the proper appreciation of these acts, it is necessary to know something of the motives and purposes from which they sprung, and the feelings with which they were accompanied, this is the only source to which we can look. And when to this is added an intimate personal acquaintance of a compiler of approved integrity and faithfulness, it affords the highest species of evidence in favor of his narrative, which can possibly be desired. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.