Rufus Putnam

Rufus Putnam
Born(1738-04-09)April 9, 1738
Sutton, Massachusetts
DiedMay 4, 1824(1824-05-04) (aged 86)
Marietta, Ohio
Buried
Allegiance United States
Service / branchContinental Army
United States Army
Years of service1775–1783
1792–1793
Rank Brigadier-General
Spouse(s)Persis Rice
Signature

Rufus Putnam (April 9, 1738 – May 4, 1824) was an American military officer who fought during the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. As an organizer of the Ohio Company of Associates, he was instrumental in the initial colonization by the United States of former Native American, English, and French lands in the Northwest Territory in present-day Ohio following the war.

Ultimately attaining the rank of brigadier general during the Ohio campaign of 1792–1793, he became known as "Father of the Northwest Territory".[1][2][3]

  1. ^ McCullough, David (2019). The Pioneers. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1501168680.
  2. ^ Benedict, William A. and Tracy, Hiram A. History of the Town of Sutton, Massachusetts from 1704 to 1876, pp. 244-6, Sanford & Company, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1878.
  3. ^ Heitman, Officers of the Continental Army, 455.