Putnam, Rufus

Putnam, Rufus,1738–1824, American Revolutionary general, one of the founders of theOhio Company of Associates, b. Sutton, Mass.; cousin of IsraelPutnam. In the French and Indian War he joined (1757) the army and saw action around Lake Champlain. In theAmerican Revolution, Putnam was an engineering officer at Boston, New York, and West Point; he also served as a field officer, most notably under Horatio Gates in theSaratoga campaign(1777) and under Anthony Wayne at Stony Point (1779). He was made a brigadier general in 1783, after the war's end. In 1786 he, with other veterans, formed the Ohio Company of Associates. Putnam helped the passage of the Ordinance of 1787, and in 1788 he and ManassehCutlersupervised the building of Marietta, Ohio. Putnam was appointed (1790) judge of theNorthwest Territoryand later was (1796–1803) U.S. surveyor general.

See his memoirs, ed. by R. Buell (1903).

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