Rufus Putnam Rufus Putnam ( April 9 , 1738 – May 4 , 1824 ) was a colonial military officer during the French and Indian War , and a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War . As an organizer of the Ohio Company , he was instrumental in the initial settling of the Northwest Territory in present - day Ohio following the war . Early life and career . Putnam was born in Sutton , Massachusetts . Rufus ' s father Elisha Putnam died when Rufus was 6 or 7 , and Rufus temporarily lived with his paternal grandfather in Danvers , Massachusetts . Elisha Putnam and Israel Putnam , who became a renowned general during the American Revolution were cousins . After Rufus Putnam ' s mother married John Sadler , Rufus lived with his mother and stepfather in Sutton , where the family ran an inn . Putnam served with a Connecticut regiment from 1757 to 1760 , during the French and Indian War . During the war , Putnam saw action in the Great Lakes region , and near Lake Champlain . Migration and work . After the war , Putnam relocated to New Braintree , Massachusetts . There , he worked as a millwright from 1761 to 1768 . Marriage and family . Established at work , in April 1761 Putnam married Elizabeth Ayers , the daughter of William Ayers , esquire of the Second Precinct of Brookfield ( now North Brookfield ) , Massachusetts . Elizabeth died in 1762 , possibly in childbirth . On January 10 , 1765 Putnam married again , to Persis Rice , the daughter of Zebulon Rice of Westborough , Massachusetts . Farmer and surveyor . While Putnam worked as a millwright , he devoted his free time to self - education , studying geography , mathematics , and surveying . In 1769 , Putnam became a farmer and surveyor . Rufus Putnam , along with his cousin Israel Putnam and two others , traveled in 1773 to survey near present - day Pensacola , Florida . There , Putnam surveyed and chartered lands along the Mississippi River , which the Crown was going to grant to veteran s of the French and Indian War in lieu of payment for their service . Revolutionary War . After the battle of Lexington , Putnam enlisted the same day , on April 19 , 1775 , in one of Massachusett ' s first revolutionary regiments . Putnam later was commissioned in the Continental Army as a Lieutenant Colonel , under the command of David Brewer . Brewer ' s regiment first engaged with the British Army in Roxbury , Massachusetts . Drawing from his knowledge and skill as a millwright , Putnam constructed the fortifications necessary to obtain victory . His fortifications provided an advantage to the Continental Army , which secured victories at Sewall ' s Point , Providence , New Port , Dorchester Heights , Long Island , and West Point . General Washington appointed Putnam to be the Chief of Engineers of the Works of New York . He was soon promoted to engineer with the rank of colonel . When in December 1776 the Continental Congress rejected his proposition to establish a national corps of engineers , Putnam resigned . He reenlisted in the Northern Army and served under Major General Horatio Gates . Putnam commanded two regiments in the battle of Saratoga . He continued to work on critical fortifications , including Fort Putnam at West Point in 1778 . In 1779 Putnam served under Major General Anthony Wayne in the Corps of Light Infantry following the capture of Stony Point , commanding the 4th Regiment . Putnam ' s remaining military career was less eventful . In January 1783 he was commissioned as brigadier general . Post - war activities . After the war was over , Putnam returned to Rutland , Massachusetts . In 1780 he had bought a farm confiscated from a Loyalist , and he settled there . He returned to working as a surveyor , inspecting lands in Maine ( then part of Massachusetts ) . Putnam was a strong advocate of granting lands to veterans of the Revolution . He was one of the authors of the army ' s Newbergh Petition , which was submitted to Congress requesting land disbursements . There was pent - up land hunger among younger men in New England , where topography and long settlement restricted buying land . The Ohio Company . Putnam ' s advocacy for land grants led him , with partners , to establish the Ohio Company of Associates for the purchase and settlement of Western lands . He established the Company in Boston on March 3 , 1786 together with Benjamin Tupper , Samuel Holden Parsons , and Manasseh Cutler . Its primary purpose was to settle the Northwest Territory , roughly the lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River , which was ceded to the US by Great Britain under the Treaty of Paris ( 1783 ) . After passage of the Northwest Ordinance to organize the territory , the Company bought about of land north of the Ohio River , between the present day sites of Marietta , Ohio , and Huntington , West Virginia . Cutler had tried to purchase all the land between the Ohio and Scioto rivers , but the western half was optioned by the Scioto Company . It later failed without having purchased any of the land . Later life . In 1788 Putnam led a group of Revolutionary veterans to settle the land in what became Ohio . These pioneers arrived at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers on April 7 , 1788 , where they established Marietta , Ohio as the first permanent United States settlement in the Northwest Territory . Putnam was appointed to serve as one of three judges of the Northwest Territory after Samuel Holden Parsons died . The territory had been historically occupied by Native American tribes , and more were driven west by colonial encroachment before the Revolution . As they had not ceded any land , they came into conflict with the arriving pioneers . They organized a coalition of tribes to try to expel the Americans from their territory . Putnam served in General Anthony Wayne ' s Ohio campaign against these Native American tribes , including Shawnee , Lenape and Seneca , who were ultimately defeated . In 1796 , Putnam was appointed by the President as the first Surveyor General of the United States , a position he held until 1803 . As Ohio residents organized to write a constitution and be admitted as a state , in 1802 Putnam was elected a Washington county delegate to the Ohio Constitutional Convention . He was appointed as a Trustee of Ohio University , where he served for two decades , rom 1804 to 1824 . It was constructed on public lands , under the terms of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 . Long participating in the Masons , a fraternal organization that expanded in the early nineteenth century , in 1808 Putnam was elected the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Ohio . Putnam died on May 4 , 1824 . He was buried at Mound Cemetery in Marietta , Ohio . Legacy and honors . Putnam ' s home in Rutland has been designated a National Historic Landmark in his honor . The town of Putnam , Ohio ( now a part of Zanesville , Ohio ) was named for him . One of his grandsons , Catharinus Putnam Buckingham , served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War .