Haldimand S. Putnam was appointed as a cadet at West Point Academy at the age of 16 and graduated with high honors in 1857.  He served in the regular army and was stationed prior to the Civil War in the western frontier.  Lieutenant Putnam was called to Washington at beginning of the war and was commissioned by the governor of New Hampshire as colonel of the Seventh New Hampshire Volunteers in October 1861.  Colonel Putnam was well liked by the men who served under him, though he was reputed to be a strict disciplinarian.  Putnam was shot through the head while leading a charge on the parapet of Fort Wagner in July, 1863.  He died instantly, but his body was not  recovered.   (pp. 460-463).