Rufus Putnam (1738-1824) - Find a Grave Memorial

Revolutionary War Continental Army Brigadier General, Western Frontiersman. He enlisted for service in the French and Indian War in 1757. During the Revolutionary War, he entered the Continental Army as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1775 and was in charge of constructing defensive works around Roxbury and Dorchester Heights near Boston that winter. In 1776 he constructed fortifications around Manhattan and was appointed chief engineer of the Continental Army by Congress. Commissioned Colonel and commander of the 5 Massachusetts Regiment, he served in the Saratoga campaign, built fortifications at West Point, and was promoted to Brigadier General in 1783. Appointed by Congress as surveyor of western lands in 1785, he became interested in settling the Ohio country. He helped form the Ohio Company of Associates, which purchased 1.5 million acres in the Ohio country, and founded the settlement of Marietta at the mouth of the Muskingum River in 1788. Appointed by President Washington as judge of the Northwest Territory in 1790, he became a Brigadier General in the United States Regular Army and concluded the Treaty of Vincennes with eight Indian tribes in 1792. Served as Surveyor general of the United States from 1796 to 1803, and a member of the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1802.

Bio by: Garver Graver