This week we decided to hike a trail we haven't been on in awhile. The Wolf Den Trail in Pomfret, Connecticut. Why was this trail named the Wolf Den you may ask? Here I quote from a plaque at the scene which tells this story.
'Putnum and The Wolf'
Following her tracks through one day and night in the early snow of December 1742 to the Connecticut River and back, the early settlers of this region here discovered the den of the she wolf that had for years devastated their flocks and had so far eluded all attempts at capture after all other methods had failed, when both servant and dog held back, Israel Putnam 70 of whose sheep had been slaughtered, at 10 o'clock at night, with a rope tied to his feet, first with a torch, again with a musket, entered this cave, and by the light of her angry eyes, shot and killed the marauder, and entering - a - third time, dragged forth the body of the last wolf in Connecticut.Israel Putnam later went on to fight as an American army Major General at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, where he not only helped plan the battle, but he supposedly ordered his troops to, "Don't fire till you see the whites of their eyes." The order was significant because his troops were low on ammunition, and he needed each lead ball of ammunition to count. The phrase is now known as one of the most remembered of it's time. Major General Putnam later progressed to overall command of the Continental Army until George Washington was given that job by the newly formed Continental Congress.
Our group shot this week was taken at the very spot where Israel Putnam killed the last wolf in Connecticut.
See everyone next week,
Joe
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