Campus Martius was a defensive fortification at the 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...

 settlement, and was home to 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...

, Benjamin Tupper

Benjamin Tupper

Benjamin 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'...

, Arthur St. Clair

Arthur St. Clair

Arthur St. Clair was an American soldier and politician. Born in Scotland, he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in Pennsylvania, where he held local office...

, and other pioneers

American Pioneers to the Northwest Territory

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,...

 from 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 the Northwest Indian War

Northwest Indian War

The Northwest Indian War , also known as Little Turtle's War and by various other names, was a war fought between the United States and a confederation of numerous American Indian tribes for control of the Northwest Territory...

. Major Anselm Tupper

Anselm Tupper

Anselm 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...

 was commander of the Campus Martius during the war. Construction began in 1788 and was fully completed in 1791. The Campus Martius was located on the east side 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...

, and upriver from its confluence with 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...

. A firsthand description of the fort is provided in Hildreth's Pioneer History,

Campus Martius is the handsomest pile of buildings on this side of the Alleghany mountains, and in a few days will be the strongest fortification in the territory of the United States. It stands on the margin of the elevated plain on which are the remains of the ancient works [mounds], mentioned in my letter of May last, thirty feet above the high bank of the Muskingum, twenty-nine perches distant from the river, and two hundred and seventy-six from the Ohio. It consists of a regular square, having a block house at each angle, eighteen feet square on the ground, and two stories high; the upper story on the outside or face, jutting over the lower one, eighteen inches. These block houses serve as bastions to a regular fortification of four sides. The curtains are composed of dwelling houses two stories high, eighteen feet wide, and of different lengths.

The Campus Martius site is now occupied by the Campus Martius Museum

Campus Martius Museum

The Campus Martius Museum interprets Ohio history.Campus Martius was the second fortification in Marietta, Ohio and the first primarily for civilian defense. The Rufus Putnam House, incorporated in the Museum is the only remaining part of the fortification. The museum also includes the Ohio...

. The Rufus Putnam House

Rufus Putnam House

The Rufus Putnam House, also known as Campus Martius or Campus Martius Museum State Memorial, is a historic building in Marietta, Ohio...

, part of the original Campus, is enclosed in the museum. Campus Martius was located around 39°25′17"N 81°27′40"W.

Other Marietta forts

The other fortification at the Marietta settlement was the Picketed Point Stockade

Picketed Point Stockade

Picketed Point Stockade was the last of three fortificatons built at Marietta, Ohio. This defensive stockade was built by pioneers during the Northwest Indian War in 1791 on the east side of the mouth of the Muskingum River at its confluence with the Ohio River, and directly across the Muskingum...

, built by 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 1791 on the east side of the mouth of the Muskingum River at its confluence with the Ohio, and directly across the Muskingum from Fort Harmar

Fort Harmar

Fort Harmar was an early United States frontier military fort, built in pentagonal shape during 1785 at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers, on the west side of the mouth of the Muskingum River. It was built under the orders of Josiah Harmar and took his name...

. Fort Harmar was constructed several years earlier in 1785 by United States troops, on the west side of the mouth of the Muskingum River.

Regional forts

Two additional forts, somewhat distant from Marietta, were also built by settlers from the Ohio Company of Associates. A group of associates moved about 15 miles down the Ohio River from Marietta, opposite the mouth of the Little Kanawha River

Little Kanawha River

The Little Kanawha River is a tributary of the Ohio River, 169 mi long, in western West Virginia in the United States. Via the Ohio, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 2,320 mi² on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau...

; the settlers constructed the fortification of Farmer's Castle

Farmer's Castle

Farmer's Castle was a defensive fortification built by a group of pioneers from the Ohio Company of Associates who moved about 15 miles down the Ohio River from the first settlement of Marietta, Ohio to a location opposite the mouth of the Little Kanawha River...

 for protection during the Indian war at the sight of modern day Belpre, Ohio

Belpre, Ohio

Belpre is a city in Washington County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. It is part of the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,441 at the 2010 census....

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Another group of associates moved about 20 miles up the Muskingum River from Marietta, near the mouth of Wolf Creek; they built Fort Frye

Fort Frye

Fort Frye was a triangular-shaped defensive fortification built by a group of pioneers from the Ohio Company of Associates who moved about twenty miles up the Muskingum River from the settlement of Marietta, Ohio to a location near the mouth of Wolf Creek...

 for protection during the war at the sight of modern day Beverly, Ohio

Beverly, Ohio

Beverly is a village in Washington County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,282 at the 2000 census...

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