From the letters of Capt. John Chester of
Connecticut, stationed in
Cambridge on 13 Feb 1776:
Sunday night as [Gen. Israel] Putnam was passing by Colledge and on the west side the street, a Centry haild from the far part of the Colledge Yard. He could not think he called to him as he had yt. moment passd one & given ye Con. Sign & was just that minute hailed by another. However the Centry in ye Yard not finding an answer up & fired as direct as he could at the Genl which providentially escaped him tho’ he heard the ball whistle.
Unfortunately, there’s no record of what Old Put said in response.
Ol' Put probably would've added some new Americana words to the list that Webster was accumulating at the time.
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