Military officer; a cousin of
Gen. Israel Putnam; born in
Sutton, Mass., April 9, 1738; served in the
French and Indian War from 1757 to 1760, and on the surrender of
Montreal (1760) married and settled in
Braintree, Mass., as a mill-wright.
He was studious; acquired a good knowledge of mathematics, surveying, and navigation; was a deputy surveyor in
Florida before the Revolution; and entered the army at
Cambridge in 1775 as lieutenant-colonel.
The ability he displayed in casting up defences at
Roxbury caused
Washington to recommend him to Congress as superior, as an engineer, to any of the Frenchmen then employed in that service.
He was
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appointed chief engineer (August, 1776), but soon afterwards left that branch of the service to take command of a Massachusetts regiment.
He was with the
Northern army in 1777, and in 1778 he, with
General Putnam, superintended the construction of the fortifications at
West Point.
After the capture of
Stony Point he commanded a regiment in
Wayne's brigade, and served to the end of the campaign.
He was made a brigadier-general in 1783.
He was aide to
General Lincoln in quelling
Shays's insurrection (1787), and in 1788, as superintendent of the Ohio Company, he founded
Marietta, the
first permanent settlement in the eastern part of the
Northwest Territory.
He was judge of the Superior Court of that Territory in 1789, and was a brigadier-general in
Wayne's campaign against the Indians.
As
United States commissioner, he made important treaties with some of the tribes.
He was
United States surveyorgeneral from October, 1793, to September, 1803.
He died in
Marietta, O., May 1, 1824.
