Life of Rufus Putnam

By Mary Cone

Subjects: United States French and Indian War, 1755-1763, History, Personal narratives

Description: “Rufus Putnam (1738-1824) was a colonial military officer during the French and Indian War, and a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. As an organizer of the Ohio Company, he was instrumental in the initial settling of the Northwest Territory in present-day Ohio following the war. In 1788 Putnam led a group of Revolutionary veterans to settle the land in what became Ohio. These pioneers arrived at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers on April 7, 1788, where they established Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent United States settlement in the Northwest Territory.” -Wikipedia entry for “Rufus Putnam”