American Pioneers to the Northwest Territory
Encyclopedia
American pioneers to the Northwest Territory included soldiers of the Revolution
and members of the Ohio Company of Associates
. During 1788 these pioneers to the Ohio Country
established Marietta, Ohio
as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States
in the Northwest Territory
, and opened the westward expansion of the new country. General George Washington
commented about these pioneers: “I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community.” General Lafayette
of France, who fought with the Americans during the Revolution, visited Marietta on his US tour
during May 1825 http://www.lafayettehotel.com/pages.php?name=history and described these pioneers and former officers: “They were the bravest of brave. Better men never lived.”
The first group of these early American
pioneers to the Northwest Territory is sometimes referred to as “the forty-eight” or the “first forty-eight”, and also as the “founders of Ohio”. These first forty-eight men were carefully chosen and vetted by several of the co-founders of the Ohio Company of Associates, Rufus Putnam
and Manasseh Cutler
, to ensure not only men of high character and bravery, but also men with proven skills necessary to build a settlement in the wilderness. On the centennial anniversary of the Marietta settlement, Senator George F. Hoar
of Massachusetts
orated, “It was an illustrious band; they were men of exceptional character, talents and attainments; they were the best of New England culture; they were Revolutionary heroes”.
, cutting trails westward through the mountains during an uncommonly severe winter. One party departed from the towns of Ipswich, Massachusetts
and Danvers, Massachusetts
on December 3, 1787; the other party departed from Hartford, Connecticut
on January 1, 1788. The pioneers crossed the mountains and met at Sumrill’s Ferry (present-day West Newton, Pennsylvania
) on the Youghiogheny River
. During the bitterly cold winter, the men built two flatboats, the forty-five ton ‘Adventure Galley’ also known as the ‘Mayflower’ in honor of their Pilgrim ancestors, and the three-ton ‘Adelphia’. They also built three log canoes. This small fleet of boats carried the pioneers down the Youghiogheny River to the Monongahela River
, and then to the Ohio River
, and onward to the Ohio Country and the Northwest Territory. They arrived at their final destination, the mouth of the Muskingum River
at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, on April 7, 1788.
“Can too much be said in praise of the noble heroes who opened to settlement the Great Northwest Territory? These men had been trained in army life and discipline and were anxious to take this country as the payment due them for military service. They were men who had fought valiantly to preserve the principles of their government and were ready for other great achievements. They were men who had assisted in making this territory a part of the United States and had, in great measure, assisted in the formation and adoption of the Ordinance of 1787 which was to govern it. Indeed, a better company of men could scarcely have been selected than those who were directed by General Putnam.”
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
and members of the Ohio Company of Associates
Ohio Company of Associates
The Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company which is today credited with becoming the first non-American Indian group to settle in the present-day state of Ohio...
. During 1788 these pioneers to the Ohio Country
Ohio Country
The Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...
established Marietta, Ohio
Marietta, Ohio
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...
as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the Northwest Territory
Northwest Territory
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
, and opened the westward expansion of the new country. General George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
commented about these pioneers: “I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community.” General Lafayette
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
of France, who fought with the Americans during the Revolution, visited Marietta on his US tour
Visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States (1824-25)
From July 1824 to September 1825, the last surviving French General of the Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, made a famous tour of the 24 states in the United States...
during May 1825 http://www.lafayettehotel.com/pages.php?name=history and described these pioneers and former officers: “They were the bravest of brave. Better men never lived.”
The first group of these early American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pioneers to the Northwest Territory is sometimes referred to as “the forty-eight” or the “first forty-eight”, and also as the “founders of Ohio”. These first forty-eight men were carefully chosen and vetted by several of the co-founders of the Ohio Company of Associates, Rufus Putnam
Rufus Putnam
Rufus Putnam was a colonial military officer during the French and Indian War, and a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
and Manasseh Cutler
Manasseh Cutler
Manasseh Cutler was an American clergyman involved in the American Revolutionary War. Cutler was also a member of the United States House of Representatives and a founder of Ohio University....
, to ensure not only men of high character and bravery, but also men with proven skills necessary to build a settlement in the wilderness. On the centennial anniversary of the Marietta settlement, Senator George F. Hoar
George Frisbie Hoar
George Frisbie Hoar was a prominent United States politician and United States Senator from Massachusetts. Hoar was born in Concord, Massachusetts...
of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
orated, “It was an illustrious band; they were men of exceptional character, talents and attainments; they were the best of New England culture; they were Revolutionary heroes”.
Massachusetts to Ohio
Under the leadership of Rufus Putnam, two parties of pioneers comprising the first forty-eight men, departed New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, cutting trails westward through the mountains during an uncommonly severe winter. One party departed from the towns of Ipswich, Massachusetts
Ipswich, Massachusetts
Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,987 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island...
and Danvers, Massachusetts
Danvers, Massachusetts
Danvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts, Danvers is most widely known for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials, and for its famous asylum, the Danvers State Hospital.-17th century:The land...
on December 3, 1787; the other party departed from Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
on January 1, 1788. The pioneers crossed the mountains and met at Sumrill’s Ferry (present-day West Newton, Pennsylvania
West Newton, Pennsylvania
West Newton, located southeast of Pittsburgh, is a borough in Westmoreland County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Formerly, the manufacture of radiators and boilers were the chief industries. In 1900, the people living there numbered 2,467. In 1910, 2,880 people lived there...
) on the Youghiogheny River
Youghiogheny River
The Youghiogheny River , or the Yough for short, is a tributary of the Monongahela River in the U.S. states of West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania...
. During the bitterly cold winter, the men built two flatboats, the forty-five ton ‘Adventure Galley’ also known as the ‘Mayflower’ in honor of their Pilgrim ancestors, and the three-ton ‘Adelphia’. They also built three log canoes. This small fleet of boats carried the pioneers down the Youghiogheny River to the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
, and then to the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, and onward to the Ohio Country and the Northwest Territory. They arrived at their final destination, the mouth of the Muskingum River
Muskingum River
The Muskingum River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 111 miles long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country of Ohio...
at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, on April 7, 1788.
“Can too much be said in praise of the noble heroes who opened to settlement the Great Northwest Territory? These men had been trained in army life and discipline and were anxious to take this country as the payment due them for military service. They were men who had fought valiantly to preserve the principles of their government and were ready for other great achievements. They were men who had assisted in making this territory a part of the United States and had, in great measure, assisted in the formation and adoption of the Ordinance of 1787 which was to govern it. Indeed, a better company of men could scarcely have been selected than those who were directed by General Putnam.”
The first forty-eight pioneers, April 1788
- The footsteps of a hundred years
- Have echoed, since o’er Braddock’s Road
- Bold Putnam and the Pioneers
- Led History the way they strode.
- On wild Monongahela stream
- They launched the Mayflower of the West,
- A perfect State their civic dream,
- A new New World their pilgrim quest.
- When April robed the Buckeye trees
- Muskingum’s bosky shore they trod;
- They pitched their tents and to the breeze
- Flung freedom’s star-flag, thanking God.
- As glides the Oyo’s solemn flood
- So fleeted their eventful years;
- Resurgent in their children’s blood,
- They still live on – the Pioneers.
- Their fame shrinks not to names and dates
- On votive stone, the prey of time; -
- Behold where monumental States
- Immortalize their lives sublime!
American pioneers to the Northwest Territory included soldiers of the RevolutionAmerican Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
and members of the Ohio Company of AssociatesOhio Company of AssociatesThe Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company which is today credited with becoming the first non-American Indian group to settle in the present-day state of Ohio...
. During 1788 these pioneers to the Ohio CountryOhio CountryThe Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...
established Marietta, OhioMarietta, OhioMarietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...
as the first permanent American settlement of the new United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the Northwest TerritoryNorthwest TerritoryThe Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
, and opened the westward expansion of the new country. General George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
commented about these pioneers: “I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community.” General LafayetteGilbert du Motier, marquis de La FayetteMarie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
of France, who fought with the Americans during the Revolution, visited Marietta on his US tourVisit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States (1824-25)From July 1824 to September 1825, the last surviving French General of the Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, made a famous tour of the 24 states in the United States...
during May 1825 http://www.lafayettehotel.com/pages.php?name=history and described these pioneers and former officers: “They were the bravest of brave. Better men never lived.”
The first group of these early AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pioneers to the Northwest Territory is sometimes referred to as “the forty-eight” or the “first forty-eight”, and also as the “founders of Ohio”. These first forty-eight men were carefully chosen and vetted by several of the co-founders of the Ohio Company of Associates, Rufus PutnamRufus PutnamRufus Putnam was a colonial military officer during the French and Indian War, and a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
and Manasseh CutlerManasseh CutlerManasseh Cutler was an American clergyman involved in the American Revolutionary War. Cutler was also a member of the United States House of Representatives and a founder of Ohio University....
, to ensure not only men of high character and bravery, but also men with proven skills necessary to build a settlement in the wilderness. On the centennial anniversary of the Marietta settlement, Senator George F. HoarGeorge Frisbie HoarGeorge Frisbie Hoar was a prominent United States politician and United States Senator from Massachusetts. Hoar was born in Concord, Massachusetts...
of MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
orated, “It was an illustrious band; they were men of exceptional character, talents and attainments; they were the best of New England culture; they were Revolutionary heroes”.
Massachusetts to Ohio
Under the leadership of Rufus Putnam, two parties of pioneers comprising the first forty-eight men, departed New EnglandNew EnglandNew England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, cutting trails westward through the mountains during an uncommonly severe winter. One party departed from the towns of Ipswich, MassachusettsIpswich, MassachusettsIpswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,987 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island...
and Danvers, MassachusettsDanvers, MassachusettsDanvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts, Danvers is most widely known for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials, and for its famous asylum, the Danvers State Hospital.-17th century:The land...
on December 3, 1787; the other party departed from Hartford, ConnecticutHartford, ConnecticutHartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
on January 1, 1788. The pioneers crossed the mountains and met at Sumrill’s Ferry (present-day West Newton, PennsylvaniaWest Newton, PennsylvaniaWest Newton, located southeast of Pittsburgh, is a borough in Westmoreland County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Formerly, the manufacture of radiators and boilers were the chief industries. In 1900, the people living there numbered 2,467. In 1910, 2,880 people lived there...
) on the Youghiogheny RiverYoughiogheny RiverThe Youghiogheny River , or the Yough for short, is a tributary of the Monongahela River in the U.S. states of West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania...
. During the bitterly cold winter, the men built two flatboats, the forty-five ton ‘Adventure Galley’ also known as the ‘Mayflower’ in honor of their Pilgrim ancestors, and the three-ton ‘Adelphia’. They also built three log canoes. This small fleet of boats carried the pioneers down the Youghiogheny River to the Monongahela RiverMonongahela RiverThe Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
, and then to the Ohio RiverOhio RiverThe Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, and onward to the Ohio Country and the Northwest Territory. They arrived at their final destination, the mouth of the Muskingum RiverMuskingum RiverThe Muskingum River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 111 miles long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country of Ohio...
at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, on April 7, 1788.
“Can too much be said in praise of the noble heroes who opened to settlement the Great Northwest Territory? These men had been trained in army life and discipline and were anxious to take this country as the payment due them for military service. They were men who had fought valiantly to preserve the principles of their government and were ready for other great achievements. They were men who had assisted in making this territory a part of the United States and had, in great measure, assisted in the formation and adoption of the Ordinance of 1787 which was to govern it. Indeed, a better company of men could scarcely have been selected than those who were directed by General Putnam.”
The first forty-eight pioneers, April 1788
THE FOUNDERS OF OHIO
- The footsteps of a hundred years
- Have echoed, since o’er Braddock’s Road
- Bold Putnam and the Pioneers
- Led History the way they strode.
- On wild Monongahela stream
- They launched the Mayflower of the West,
- A perfect State their civic dream,
- A new New World their pilgrim quest.
- When April robed the Buckeye trees
- Muskingum’s bosky shore they trod;
- They pitched their tents and to the breeze
- Flung freedom’s star-flag, thanking God.
- As glides the Oyo’s solemn flood
- So fleeted their eventful years;
- Resurgent in their children’s blood,
- They still live on – the Pioneers.
- Their fame shrinks not to names and dates
- On votive stone, the prey of time; -
- Behold where monumental States
- Immortalize their lives sublime!
American pioneers to the Northwest Territory included soldiers of the RevolutionAmerican Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
and members of the Ohio Company of AssociatesOhio Company of AssociatesThe Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company which is today credited with becoming the first non-American Indian group to settle in the present-day state of Ohio...
. During 1788 these pioneers to the Ohio CountryOhio CountryThe Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...
established Marietta, OhioMarietta, OhioMarietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...
as the first permanent American settlement of the new United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the Northwest TerritoryNorthwest TerritoryThe Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
, and opened the westward expansion of the new country. General George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
commented about these pioneers: “I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community.” General LafayetteGilbert du Motier, marquis de La FayetteMarie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
of France, who fought with the Americans during the Revolution, visited Marietta on his US tourVisit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States (1824-25)From July 1824 to September 1825, the last surviving French General of the Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, made a famous tour of the 24 states in the United States...
during May 1825 http://www.lafayettehotel.com/pages.php?name=history and described these pioneers and former officers: “They were the bravest of brave. Better men never lived.”
The first group of these early AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pioneers to the Northwest Territory is sometimes referred to as “the forty-eight” or the “first forty-eight”, and also as the “founders of Ohio”. These first forty-eight men were carefully chosen and vetted by several of the co-founders of the Ohio Company of Associates, Rufus PutnamRufus PutnamRufus Putnam was a colonial military officer during the French and Indian War, and a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
and Manasseh CutlerManasseh CutlerManasseh Cutler was an American clergyman involved in the American Revolutionary War. Cutler was also a member of the United States House of Representatives and a founder of Ohio University....
, to ensure not only men of high character and bravery, but also men with proven skills necessary to build a settlement in the wilderness. On the centennial anniversary of the Marietta settlement, Senator George F. HoarGeorge Frisbie HoarGeorge Frisbie Hoar was a prominent United States politician and United States Senator from Massachusetts. Hoar was born in Concord, Massachusetts...
of MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
orated, “It was an illustrious band; they were men of exceptional character, talents and attainments; they were the best of New England culture; they were Revolutionary heroes”.
Massachusetts to Ohio
Under the leadership of Rufus Putnam, two parties of pioneers comprising the first forty-eight men, departed New EnglandNew EnglandNew England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, cutting trails westward through the mountains during an uncommonly severe winter. One party departed from the towns of Ipswich, MassachusettsIpswich, MassachusettsIpswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,987 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island...
and Danvers, MassachusettsDanvers, MassachusettsDanvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts, Danvers is most widely known for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials, and for its famous asylum, the Danvers State Hospital.-17th century:The land...
on December 3, 1787; the other party departed from Hartford, ConnecticutHartford, ConnecticutHartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
on January 1, 1788. The pioneers crossed the mountains and met at Sumrill’s Ferry (present-day West Newton, PennsylvaniaWest Newton, PennsylvaniaWest Newton, located southeast of Pittsburgh, is a borough in Westmoreland County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Formerly, the manufacture of radiators and boilers were the chief industries. In 1900, the people living there numbered 2,467. In 1910, 2,880 people lived there...
) on the Youghiogheny RiverYoughiogheny RiverThe Youghiogheny River , or the Yough for short, is a tributary of the Monongahela River in the U.S. states of West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania...
. During the bitterly cold winter, the men built two flatboats, the forty-five ton ‘Adventure Galley’ also known as the ‘Mayflower’ in honor of their Pilgrim ancestors, and the three-ton ‘Adelphia’. They also built three log canoes. This small fleet of boats carried the pioneers down the Youghiogheny River to the Monongahela RiverMonongahela RiverThe Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
, and then to the Ohio RiverOhio RiverThe Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, and onward to the Ohio Country and the Northwest Territory. They arrived at their final destination, the mouth of the Muskingum RiverMuskingum RiverThe Muskingum River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 111 miles long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country of Ohio...
at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, on April 7, 1788.
“Can too much be said in praise of the noble heroes who opened to settlement the Great Northwest Territory? These men had been trained in army life and discipline and were anxious to take this country as the payment due them for military service. They were men who had fought valiantly to preserve the principles of their government and were ready for other great achievements. They were men who had assisted in making this territory a part of the United States and had, in great measure, assisted in the formation and adoption of the Ordinance of 1787 which was to govern it. Indeed, a better company of men could scarcely have been selected than those who were directed by General Putnam.”
The first forty-eight pioneers, April 1788
THE FOUNDERS OF OHIO
- The footsteps of a hundred years
- Have echoed, since o’er Braddock’s Road
- Bold Putnam and the Pioneers
- Led History the way they strode.
- On wild Monongahela stream
- They launched the Mayflower of the West,
- A perfect State their civic dream,
- A new New World their pilgrim quest.
- When April robed the Buckeye trees
- Muskingum’s bosky shore they trod;
- They pitched their tents and to the breeze
- Flung freedom’s star-flag, thanking God.
- As glides the Oyo’s solemn flood
- So fleeted their eventful years;
- Resurgent in their children’s blood,
- They still live on – the Pioneers.
- Their fame shrinks not to names and dates
- On votive stone, the prey of time; -
- Behold where monumental States
- Immortalize their lives sublime!
—William Henry VenableWilliam Henry VenableWilliam Henry Venable was an American author and educator.-Biography:He was born in Warren County, Ohio. He began to teach at seventeen years of age, and during his vacations attended teachers' institutes in Oxford, Ohio, being one of the first teachers in the state upon whom the Ohio board of...
, April 1888.
The first forty-eight pioneers included the following men. This group of pioneers arrived on April 7, 1788, except for Col. Meigs, who arrived several days later on April 12, 1788, and Anselm Tupper, who arrived on April 25, according to Rufus Putnam's journal.
- General Rufus Putnam
Rufus PutnamRufus Putnam was a colonial military officer during the French and Indian War, and a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
, superintendent of the settlement, co-founder of the Ohio Company of AssociatesOhio Company of AssociatesThe Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company which is today credited with becoming the first non-American Indian group to settle in the present-day state of Ohio...- Colonel Return J. Meigs, Sr.
Return J. Meigs, Sr.Return Jonathan Meigs [born December 17 or December 28 , 1740; died January 28, 1823] was a colonel who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, was one of the founding settlers of the Northwest Territory in what is now the state of Ohio, and later served as a federal...
, surveyor- Colonel Ebenezer Sproat
Ebenezer SproatEbenezer Sproat , surname also spelled Sprout, was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, a pioneer to the Ohio Country, and one of the founders of Marietta, Ohio, the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory...
, surveyor (married to daughter of Commodore Abraham WhippleAbraham WhippleAbraham Whipple was an American revolutionary naval commander in the Continental Navy. Whipple was born near Providence, Rhode Island and chose to be a seafarer early in his life. He embarked upon a career in the lucrative West Indies trade, working for Moses and John Brown...
)- Major Anselm Tupper
Anselm TupperAnselm Tupper was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, a pioneer to the Ohio Country, and one of the founders of Marietta, Ohio, the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory...
, surveyor (son of General Benjamin TupperBenjamin TupperBenjamin Tupper was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, achieving the rank of brevet brigadier general. Subsequently, he served as a Massachusetts legislator, and he assisted Gen. William Shepard in stopping Shays'...
)- John Mathews, surveyor
- Major Haffield White, quartermaster
- Captain Ezekiel Cooper
- Captain Daniel Davis
- Captain Jonathan Devoll (Devol)
- Captain Peregrine Foster
- Captain William Gray
- Captain Josiah Munroe (Munro)
- Captain Jethro Putnam
- Jabez Barlow
- Daniel Bushnell
- Phineas Coburn
- Ebenezer Corey (Cory)
- Samuel Cushing
- Jarvis (Jervis) Cutler (son of Manasseh Cutler
Manasseh CutlerManasseh Cutler was an American clergyman involved in the American Revolutionary War. Cutler was also a member of the United States House of Representatives and a founder of Ohio University....
)- Israel Danton
- Jonas Davis
- Allen Devoll
- Gilbert Devoll, Jr.
- Isaac Dodge
- Oliver Dodge
- Samuel Felshaw
- Hezekiah Flint
- Hezekiah Flint, Jr.
- John Gardner
- Benjamin Griswold
- Elizur (Elisur) Kirtland
- Theophilus Leonard (Learned)
- Joseph Lincoln
- Simeon Martin
- Henry Maxom
- William Maxom (Mason)
- William Miller
- William Moulton
- Edmond (Edmund) Moulton
- Amos Porter, Jr.
- Allen Putnam
- Benjamin Shaw
- Earl Sproat
- David Wallace (Wallis)
- Joseph Wells
- Josiah White
- Peletiah White
- Josiah Whitridge
Arrivals the following month, May 1788
LANDING OF THE PIONEERS
At the Mouth of the Muskingum, Ohio, April 7, 1788.
- “A song of the Early Times out West,”
- And that bold adventurous band
- Who first set foot upon these shores
- Where now their children stand;
- Who fell’d the lordly forest tree
- And built the Cabin Home,
- Resolved on meeting valiantly
- All dangers that might come.
- A strong and hardy race were they,
- To wield the axe and hoe,
- When first they came as Pioneers,
- Just sixty years ago!
- The April winds swept o’er the hills
- And bowed the forest tree,
- And wild-wood flowers were blossoming,
- And birds were singing free,
- The wild deer bounded o’er the plain,
- The wolf’s long howl was heard
- And oft the panther’s fearful scream
- The stoutest bosom stirr’d,
- The wily Indian roam’d the wood
- And sprung his bended bow,
- When first they came as Pioneers,
- Just sixty years ago!
- But like a band of brothers then
- Our worthy Fathers stood,
- And met with firm and cheerful front
- The dangers of the wood;
- E’en woman’s heart grew bold and strong
- Amid the toil and fear,
- And with unshrinking heart and hand
- Gave comfort, aid, and cheer.
- Sweet were the social joys of life-
- Few others did they know-
- When first they came as Pioneers,
- Just sixty years ago!
- But years rolled on and swept away
- Their trials and their foes,
- And soon the wilderness was made
- To blossom as the rose,
- The bleating of the gentle sheep,
- The lowing of the kine,
- Were heard, where once the panther screamed
- In days of Old Lang Syne.
- Our worthy Sires, all danger o’er
- Now felt life’s joyous flow-
- Nor mourned that they were Pioneers,
- Just sixty years ago!
- But few are left to bless us now
- Of all the honored band-
- And they, ere long, must pass away
- Into the spirit land.
- Oh may their fleeting years be blest
- By Sympathy and Love!
- Till God shall call each wanderer home
- To dwell with him above.
- And may we all by well spent lives,
- Of strength and virtue show
- We’re worthy of the Noble Sires
- Of sixty years ago!
—Frances Dana GageFrances Dana Barker GageFrances Dana Barker Gage was a leading American reformer, feminist and abolitionist. She worked closely with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, along with other leaders of the early women's rights movement in the United States...
, circa 1848.
Arrivals the following month, May 1788, included:
- General Samuel Holden Parsons
Samuel Holden ParsonsSamuel Holden Parsons was an American lawyer, jurist, and military leader.Parsons was born in Lyme, Connecticut, the son of Jonathan Parsons and Phoebe Parsons...- Colonel John May
- Colonel Israel Putnam (son of General Israel Putnam
Israel PutnamIsrael Putnam was an American army general and Freemason who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War...
)- Colonel William Stacy
William StacyWilliam Stacy was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country...- Major Winthrop Sargent
- Captain William Dana
- Aaron Putnam
- Jonathan Stone
June 1788
During June 1788, several more pioneers arrived, including the first woman settler:
- James Owen and his wife, Mary Owen, the first woman settler
- Dr. Jabez True
- General James Varnum
James Mitchell VarnumJames Mitchell Varnum was an American legislator, lawyer and a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.-Early life:James Mitchell Varnum was born in Dracut, Massachusetts...
August 1788
During August 1788, General Benjamin Tupper and his extended family arrived.
- General Benjamin Tupper
Benjamin TupperBenjamin Tupper was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, achieving the rank of brevet brigadier general. Subsequently, he served as a Massachusetts legislator, and he assisted Gen. William Shepard in stopping Shays'...
, co-founder of the Ohio Company of AssociatesOhio Company of AssociatesThe Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company which is today credited with becoming the first non-American Indian group to settle in the present-day state of Ohio...- Colonel Ichabod Nye and his wife Minerva Nye (daughter of Gen. Tupper)
- Major Asa Coburn
- Andrew Webster
- The Cushing and Goodale families
Legacy
“The forty-eight persons who disembarked from the ‘Adventure Galley’ at the mouth of the Muskingum, April 7, 1788, had come out into the wilderness to lay the corner-stone of one of the greatest political edifices that has ever sheltered millions of brave, prosperous and happy freemen. They were certainly the progenitors of the state builders of the great Northwest. Within fifty years of their coming, Ohio had a million and a half of people, and had already made such rapid strides in its internal improvement, its systems of navigation, its jurisprudence, and its enlargement of public education, as to become an example to some of the older states.”
These early American pioneers to the Northwest Territory have been memorialized in poetry. The poem, Landing of the Pioneers, was written sixty years after the landing by Frances Dana GageFrances Dana Barker GageFrances Dana Barker Gage was a leading American reformer, feminist and abolitionist. She worked closely with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, along with other leaders of the early women's rights movement in the United States...
, and included in her book of poems published in 1867.
The poem, The Founders of Ohio, was written in 1888 during the centennial of the event by William Henry VenableWilliam Henry VenableWilliam Henry Venable was an American author and educator.-Biography:He was born in Warren County, Ohio. He began to teach at seventeen years of age, and during his vacations attended teachers' institutes in Oxford, Ohio, being one of the first teachers in the state upon whom the Ohio board of...
, and was published later in several books of poems.
Many of these early pioneers are buried in MariettaMarietta, OhioMarietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...
at Mound Cemetery.
Film
- Opening the Door West, aired on Ohio PBS during the 2003 Ohio Bicentennial, available on DVD, Shelburne Films, Reedsville, Ohio (2003). The film website is located at Opening the Door West.
