Winthrop Sargent Winthrop Sargent ( May 1 , 1753 – June 3 , 1820 ) was a United States patriot , politician , and writer ; and a member of the Federalist party . Biography . Sargent was born in Gloucester , Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College before the Revolution . He spent some time at sea , as captain of a merchantman owned by his father . He enlisted in Gridley ' s Regiment of Massachusetts Artillery on July 7 , 1775 as a lieutenant , and later that year was promoted to captain lieutenant of Knox ' s Regiment , Continental Artillery , on December 10 . He was with his guns at the siege of Boston , as well as the battles of Long Island , White Plains , Trenton , Brandywine , Germantown , and Monmouth . He was promoted to captain in the 3rd Continental Artillery on January 1 , 1777 , and brevet ted major on August 25 , 1783 . In 1786 , he helped to survey the Seven Ranges , the first lands laid out under the Land Ordinance of 1785 . With inside knowledge of the area , he went on to form the Ohio Company of Associates , was an important shareholder in the Scioto Company , and as of 1787 , secretary of the Ohio Company . Sargent was appointed by the Congress of the Confederation as the first Secretary of the Northwest Territory , a post second in importance only to the governor , Arthur St . Clair . He took up his post in 1788 , and in 1789 he married Roewena Tupper , a daughter of Gen . Benjamin Tupper , at the settlement of Marietta in the first marriage ceremony held under the laws of the Northwest Territory . Like St . Clair , Sargent would function in both civil and military capacities ; he was wounded twice at the Battle of the Wabash , on November 4 , 1791 . He also served in the Indian wars of 1794 - 5 and became adjutant general . On August 15 , 1796 , he would , as Acting Governor , proclaim the establishment of Wayne County , the first American government in what is now Michigan . President John Adams then appointed Sargent the first Governor of the Mississippi Territory , effective from May 7 , 1798 to May 25 , 1801 . His last entry as Northwest Territory ' s secretary was on May 31 , 1798 ; he arrived at Natchez on August 6 , but due to illness was unable to assume his post until August 16 . Sargent was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , and of the Philosophical Society , an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati as a delegate from Massachusetts , and published , with Benjamin B . Smith , " Papers Relative to Certain American Antiquities " ( Philadelphia , 1796 ) , and “ Boston , ” a poem ( Boston , 1803 ) . Being a Federalist , Sargent was dismissed from his position as territorial governor in 1801 by incoming president Thomas Jefferson . Sargent took up life in the private sector , developing his plantation Gloster Place , the earliest such establishment in Natchez . He died in 1820 in New Orleans . Family . His uncle Paul Dudley Sargent also served in the Continental Army . His elder sister was Judith Sargent Murray , an essayist , playwright , and poet . His grandson Winthrop Sargent ( 23 September 1825 Philadelphia – 18 May 1870 Paris ) was an author . He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1845 , and from Harvard Law School in 1847 , and settled in Philadelphia , and afterward in New York City , where he practiced law . He wrote for the periodical press , especially on genealogical and historical subjects . His publications include " History of an Expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1775 , under Major - General Braddock , edited from Original Manuscripts " , which was commended by George Grote , the historian , and was described by Washington Irving as “ ably edited , with an admirable introductory memoir ” ( Philadelphia , 1855 ) ; " The Loyalist Poetry of the Revolution " ( 1857 ) ; " The Journal of the General Meeting of the Cincinnati " ( 1858 ) ; " Loyal Verses of Joseph Stansbury and Dr . Jonathan Odell , with Introduction and Notes " ( Albany , 1860 ) ; " Life and Career of Maj . John André " ( Boston , 1861 ) ; and " Les États Confédérés et de l ' esclavage " ( The Confederacy and Slavery ; Paris , 1864 ) . For many years he was engaged in preparing a catalogue raisonné of books relating to America , which he left unfinished . Legacy . Although there are at least two Sargent Townships ( in Illinois and Nebraska ) and one Sargent County , it is not known if these are named after Winthrop Sargent . However , a former township of the Northwest Territory ' s Wayne County was designated as Sargent Township or the District of Sargent ; this apparently encompassed the settlements downriver from Detroit and at the River Raisin in what is now Monroe County , Michigan . This township apparently ceased to function after the organization of Michigan Territory , being replaced by the District of Erie .