26 Facts About Rufus Putnam

1.

Brigadier-General Rufus Putnam was an American military officer who fought during the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War.

2.

Rufus Putnam was known as "Father of the Northwest Territory".

3.

Rufus's father Elisha Putnem died when Rufus was 1 or 2, and Rufus temporarily lived with his paternal grandfather in Rhode Island.

4.

Ann Rufus Putnam, accuser of the Salem witch trials, was a first cousin once removed.

5.

Rufus Putnam served with a Connecticut regiment from 1757 to 1760, during the French and Indian War.

6.

Rufus Putnam later was commissioned in the Continental Army as a lieutenant colonel, under the command of David Brewer.

7.

At the urging of William Heath, Rufus Putnam used his experience working with British military engineers during the French and Indian war to build fortifications in Roxbury and other locations that were critical to the siege.

8.

General Washington appointed Rufus Putnam to be the Chief of Engineers of the Works of New York.

9.

Rufus Putnam was promoted to engineer with the rank of colonel where he directed the building of fortifications which secured victories at Sewall's Point, Providence, Newport, Long Island, and West Point.

10.

Rufus Putnam's resignation was short-lived and he eventually joined the Continental Army and served under Major General Horatio Gates.

11.

Rufus Putnam continued to work on critical fortifications, including Fort Putnam at West Point in 1778.

12.

In 1779 Rufus Putnam served under Major General Anthony Wayne in the Corps of Light Infantry following the capture of Stony Point, commanding the 4th Regiment.

13.

Rufus Putnam returned to working as a surveyor, inspecting lands in Maine.

14.

Rufus Putnam was a strong advocate of granting lands to veterans of the Revolution.

15.

Rufus Putnam was one of the authors of the army's Newburgh Petition, which was submitted to Congress requesting land disbursements.

16.

Rufus Putnam was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and one of the principal benefactors of the Leicester Academy in Leicester, Massachusetts, and served on its board of trustees.

17.

In 1788 Rufus Putnam led a group of Revolutionary veterans to settle the land in what became Ohio.

18.

Rufus Putnam was appointed to serve as one of three judges of the Northwest Territory after Samuel Holden Parsons died.

19.

From 1792 to 1793, Rufus Putnam served as a brigadier general in Anthony Wayne's Ohio campaign against these Native American tribes, including Shawnee, Lenape and Seneca, who were ultimately defeated.

20.

In 1796, Rufus Putnam was appointed by the President as the first Surveyor General of the United States, a position he held until 1803.

21.

Rufus Putnam was appointed as a Trustee of Ohio University, where he served for two decades, from 1804 to 1824.

22.

Rufus Putnam was buried at Mound Cemetery in Marietta, Ohio.

23.

Rufus Putnam is depicted on a commemorative stamp issued on July 13,1937, by the US Post Office which commemorated the 150th anniversary of the North West Ordinance of 1787.

24.

The town of Rufus Putnam, Ohio was named for him.

25.

Fort Putnam is part of the US Military Academy at West Point, New York.

26.

One of his grandsons, Catharinus Rufus Putnam Buckingham, served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.