Benjamin Alexander Putnam (1801 or 1803 - January 25, 1869) was a lawyer, state legislator, state surveyor, officer in the military during the Seminole Wars, judge, and president of the Florida Historical Society. He was born in 1800 or 1801 on the Putnam Plantation near Savannah, Georgia. He was the grandson of Israel Putnam. In 1830 he married Helen Kirby, daughter of Ephraim Kirby. Benjamin attended Harvard and then studied law privately in Saint Augustine where he established a law practice. He served in the Seminole Wars from 1835 until 1842 rising in rank from major to adjutant general.