Thomas G. Putnam

Thomas G. Putnam was born in 1844 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Thomas left Ohio and came to western Michigan where by 1860 he was a farm laborer and attending school in Grattan, Kent County, and working for and/or living with the family of F. Chapman, a wealthy farmer.

He stood 5’4” with gray eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion and was 17 years old and still living in Kent County when he enlisted with the consent of the Justice of the Peace in Company A on May 13, 1861. Thomas was described by George Miller of Company A and a tentmate in the winter of 1861-62, as “a good little fellow.”

Thomas was wounded slightly in the leg on August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run, and by early September was a patient in Columbian College hospital in Washington, DC. He remained hospitalized until November when he was discharged for consumption on November 12, 1862, at Armory Square hospital, Washington, DC.

Thomas returned to Grattan after his discharge from the army.

In December of 1862 he applied for a pension (no. 6542), but the certificate was never granted, and the claim presumably abondoned.

Although no record of his death or interment is available, Thomas was reportedly buried in Ashley cemetery, Grattan.