David Humphreys was aide-de-camp to Washington during the American Revolution. His Life of Israel Putnam, originally published in 1788, has been described as the first biography of an American written by an American. It is described as a classic of revolutionary writing, demonstrating the temper of the new republic in the period immediately after the American Revolution. The subject is General Israel Putnam, remembered to have commanded American soldiers at the Battle of Bunker Hill not to fire until they saw the whites of the enemy's eyes. All the episodes are retold - Bunker Hill, the...