After the Rev. O. M.²Ovid Miner (1803-91) was born in Middletown, Vermont, and trained as a journalist while working for the in nearby Poultney. In 1824 he started the , which remained in publication in Castleton until 1855. Miner next published the Middlebury from 1828 to 1831. In 1834 he graduated from Auburn Theological Seminary and moved to Peru, New York, quitting journalism to become a Congregational minister. Miner was actively involved with the Underground Railroad and cofounded the Ticonderoga Anti-Slavery Society. He also gained notoriety for campaigning against masonry. Thomas E. Boyce, (Middlebury, Vt., 1890), 158; Abby Maria Hemenway, ed.,, 5 vols. (Claremont, N.H. 1877), 3:516; Calarco, , 144-45. came to Rochester as pastor, and gained free access to your ear, I received the impression that your manner toward me was not so full of brotherly confidence as formerly. I did not enquire into reasons, for it has long been a practice with me, to let such matters work themselves clear. For some years past, I have been accustomed to regard the sayings and doings of the Rev. O. M. as of minor .

But whether I charge that “pious” man with more than what is just—in regard to his influence on your mind, to my disadvantage, or not—I think that from some source, you received the impression that I was not as thoroughly a friend to you, and to your paper, as I had professed to be.

I shall present no extended argument in my defense. I will simply make a short quotation from “A. G. B.” in your paper of Aug. 3d, '55.³Johnson refers to and later quotes an article, “An Ecclesiastical Ordination,” in the of 3 August 1855, by the Reverend Amos G. Beman, dated 30 July 1855.

In mentioning Greenport, L. I.,⁴A terminus of the Long Island Rail Road, Greenport is a village in Suffolk County, New York, which is twenty miles northeast of River Head. Established in 1838, the town was originally known for manufacturing barrels and awnings, shipbuilding, and several fisheries. It was also once notorious for residents’ involvement in offshore whaling. Seltzer, , 718; Cohen, , 1170. and the condition and aspects of the colored people in that vicinity, he says: “A lecture there some time since, by Mr. J. R. J., a correspondent of your paper, was the means of doing much good. It caused your paper to be read there; and how can they but improve with it as a missionary of light in their midst.” I am thankful for this incidental, this unsought testimony. It is from a good witness. At such results I have aimed in regard to your paper.

I am reading your book with great interest. I am noticing the in your being brought to your present position for doing good. I wish I could be at Boston with you, and other friends, next week. Perhaps I may—I will see if I can. The descendants of Gen. Israel Putnam⁵Israel Putnam (1718-90) was born in Salem Village, now Danvers, Massachusetts. A successful farmer, he married Hannah Pope in 1739, with whom he had ten children. In 1755, while serving in the Connecticut militia during the French and Indian War, he gained a reputation for valor, which contributed to his promotion to captain in 1755 and major in 1758. In 1758, Indians captured Putnam and were in the process of burning him alive when a French officer, Captain Molang, saved him. As a lieutenant colonel in 1759, Putnam received his first command assignment, to attack Fort Ticonderoga. After the war, he returned to his farm, but soon became involved with the Sons of Liberty and the Committee of Correspondence. In June 1775, Washington appointed Putnam one of the Continental Army’s first four major generals. Though who was in charge at the Battle of Bunker Hill is a matter of dispute, Putnam is most widely known for his participation in that battle and his words to his soldiers, “Men, you are marks-men. Don’t one of you fire until you see the white of their eyes.” Putnam was later criticized for his performance in the Battle for Long Island in August 1776. In 1779, Putnam suffered a stroke, ending his military career, and he retired to Brooklyn, Connecticut. A self-made man, brave and compassionate, Putnam is better remembered for his personal virtues than his military accomplishments. ACAB, 5:139-41; ANB, 18:11-12. meet here on the same days of our Boston Convention:⁶Johnson alludes to the upcoming General Convention of Radical Political Abolitionists, to be held in Boston on 23-25 October 1855. That convention would adopt a constitution for the newly formed American Abolition Society. , 9 November 1855. quite a number of them are members of my congregation, and they wish me to be with them. I will consider the matter.

I can so arrange it (if the Lord will) as to itinerate again, as soon as next April, or May, and lecture and preach against Slavery. I wo’d like Connecticut as my field. If the question about employing lecturers comes up at the Boston Convention you may consider my name as on the list. I will be ready to go out, if the means of proper support can be definitely pledged.

If you get time to answer this, I should be happy to receive a line from you, (if we do not meet at Boston,) though I do not write this to place you under any obligation to write to me, for your hands must be tenfold full.

May the Lord guard, and guide you.

Yours, ,

J. RAWSON JOHNSON.

PLSr: FDP, 26 October 1855.