Benjamin Tupper Benjamin Tupper ( March 11 , 1738 – June 16 , 1792 ) 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 ' Rebellion . Benjamin Tupper was a co - founder of the Ohio Company of Associates , and was a pioneer to the Ohio Country , involved in establishing Marietta , Ohio as the first permanent settlement in the Northwest Territory . Early life . Benjamin Tupper , the youngest of eight children , was born in a precinct of Stoughton in Massachusetts , now a part of the town of Sharon , Massachusetts . His father died when he was young ; Benjamin then worked as an apprentice to a tanner in Dorchester near Boston . At the age of sixteen , he began working on a farm in Chesterfield in western Massachusetts . As a young man , Benjamin Tupper served as a soldier during the French and Indian War for two or three years . During that time , he also ran a district school in Easton , Massachusetts during the winters . At the age of 24 , he married Huldah White in Easton , and they subsequently relocated to Chesterfield . He served as a lieutenant of the militia in Chesterfield . Revolutionary War . Benjamin Tupper was in the field with the Continental Army throughout the American Revolutionary War . He engaged as major with Col . John Fellows ' Massachusetts regiment at the beginning of the war in April 1775 , several days after the Battles of Lexington and Concord . Maj . Tupper participated in the Siege of Boston during 1775 . During the siege he led an expedition against British forces on Castle Island and the Boston Light in Boston harbor . During the expedition , his troops skirmished with British and Tories , and burned the lighthouse to hinder the movement of British naval ships . He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in late 1775 . After the Battle of Long Island in 1776 , Lt . Col . Tupper commanded gunboats on the North River ( the southernmost portion of the Hudson River ) near New York City . Describing an engagement of Tupper ' s gunboats with the British , Gen . George Washington wrote " . . . our officers and men , during the whole of the affair , behaved with great spirit and bravery . " Benjamin Tupper was promoted to colonel during July 1777 . Later that year , Col . Tupper served under Gen . Horatio Gates at Saratoga . Col . Tupper and his 11th Massachusetts Regiment wintered at Valley Forge with Gen . Washington during the winter and spring of 1777 and 1778 . During 1778 , Col . Tupper served with Gen . Washington at the Battle of Monmouth ; during the action , Tupper ' s horse was killed under him . During 1780 he served in the Highlands Department and was in charge of the Great Chain across the Hudson River at West Point . He served in the northern frontier of New York during the rest of the war as commanding officer of the 10th Massachusetts Regiment , and then the 6th Massachusetts Regiment . During September 1783 , he achieved the rank of brevet brigadier general . Post - war and the Ohio Country . At the close of the war Gen . Tupper returned to his family at Chesterfield , and became a member of the Massachusetts Legislature . During 1786 , Benjamin Tupper and Rufus Putnam founded the Ohio Company of Associates . During that year , Benjamin Tupper was appointed as surveyor for the state of Massachusetts for the surveying of the Seven Ranges in the Ohio Country . During 1787 , he volunteered his services to Massachusetts militia Gen . William Shepard to assist in suppressing Shays ' Rebellion ; Gen . Tupper helped organize volunteers for the militia , and was with Gen Shepard defending the Springfield , Massachusetts armory when Shays attacked and was defeated . During 1788 , Benjamin Tupper and other pioneers of the Ohio Company of Associates arrived at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers to establish Marietta , Ohio as the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory . In August 1788 , he invented a screw propeller , positioned in the stern of a boat , and turned with a crank . Manasseh Cutler wrote about the propeller that " It succeeded to admiration , and I think it a very useful discovery . " During September 1788 , Benjamin Tupper and Rufus Putnam were the justices of the first civil court in the Northwest Territory . Benjamin Tupper was a prominent member of the pioneer settlement of Marietta . He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati , and an original member of the American Union Lodge No . 1 of Freemasons at Marietta , along with several others including his son Anselm Tupper , William Stacy , and Rufus Putnam . Benjamin Tupper ' s sons were Maj . Anselm Tupper , Gen . Edward W . Tupper , and Col . Benjamin Tupper , Jr . His daughters were Sophia , Minerva , and Roewena , who married Gov . Winthrop Sargent in the first marriage ceremony in the Northwest Territory . Another daughter , Huldah , died young . Benjamin Tupper died in June 1792 . A visitor to the Marietta settlement witnessed the funeral , and wrote that : Gen . Tupper , who had died the day before , was buried on the 17th . In consideration of the four different offices which he held , firstly as General in the service of the United States in the late war ; secondly as member of the Cincinnati order ; thirdly as director of the Ohio Company ; and fourthly as master among the Freemasons , therefore , because of these positions , great honors were shown his remains at the funeral . ” Benjamin Tupper is buried with many other Revolutionary War soldiers and pioneers at Mound Cemetery in Marietta .