Anselm Tupper (1763–1808) was an officer of the Continental Army during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, a

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

to the Ohio Country, and one of the founders of

Marietta, Ohio Marietta is a city in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Ohio, United States. It is located in southeastern Ohio at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, northeast of Parkersburg, West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, Ma ...

, the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory. The eldest son of Benjamin Tupper, Anselm enlisted in the fight for independence during 1775, while only eleven years old, achieving the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

before his seventeenth birthday. After the war, he was a pioneer and surveyor in the Northwest Territory, and became major of the

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

at Marietta during the Northwest Indian War. Tupper was the first school teacher at Marietta, and was a classical scholar and poet. He was unmarried, and was known as a favorite in society.

Early life and the American Revolutionary War

Anselm Tupper was born in

Easton, Massachusetts Easton is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,058 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Boston area. Easton is governed by an elected Select Board. Open Town Meeting acts as the legislative br ...

on October 11, 1763,Chaffin, ''History of the Town of Easton, Massachusetts'', 255. and grew up to the age of eleven in Chesterfield in western Massachusetts. His childhood was brief, as he enlisted in May 1775 at the young age of eleven, shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord,''Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors, Vol 16'', 143-44.Chaffin, ''History of the Town of Easton, Massachusetts'', 255-56. likely being one of the younger soldiers in the fight for independence. Anselm joined Captain Robert West's Chesterfield company, assigned to Colonel John Fellows' regiment (17th Massachusetts Bay Provincial Regiment), in which Anselm's father, Benjamin Tupper, was already major. As described in Chaffin's ''History of the Town of Easton, Massachusetts'',

It is interesting to think of this Revolutionary soldier, ''not yet twelve years old'', engaging in all the toil, hardship, and peril of war, and never flinching until his country's independence was achieved.Chaffin, ''History of the Town of Easton, Massachusetts'', 256.

In 1779, Tupper was appointed adjutantCutler, ''The Founders of Ohio'', 26. of Colonel Ebenezer Sproat's (aka Sprout)

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

. He was appointed

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

during 1779 or 1780. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of

and adjutant in the

11th Massachusetts Regiment The 11th Massachusetts Regiment was raised on September 16, 1776, under Colonel Ebenezer Francis at Boston, Massachusetts. The 11th Mass. would see action at the Battle of Hubbardton, Battle of Saratoga and the Battle of Monmouth. The regime ...

on September 1, 1780,Heitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 551. before his seventeenth birthday. He then served in the 10th Massachusetts Regiment during 1781 and 1782, the 6th Massachusetts Regiment during the first half of 1783, and the

2nd Massachusetts Regiment The 2nd Massachusetts Regiment, also known as Thomas' Regiment and Bailey's Regiment, was a unit of the Massachusetts Line in the 1777 establishment of the Continental Army. It was a successor to a number of Massachusetts provincial regiments f ...

from June until November 3, 1783.

Post-war and the Ohio Country

In 1786,

Rufus Putnam Brigadier-General Rufus Putnam (April 9, 1738 – May 4, 1824) was an American military officer who fought during the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. As an organizer of the Ohio Company of Associates, he was instrumenta ...

and Benjamin Tupper founded the

Ohio Company of Associates The Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company whose members are today credited with becoming the first non- Native American group to permanently settle west of the Allegheny mountains. In 1788 they establis ...

. During that year, Anselm joined his father in a survey of the

Seven Ranges The Seven Ranges (also known as the Old Seven Ranges) was a land tract in eastern Ohio that was the first tract to be surveyed in what became the Public Land Survey System. The tract is across the northern edge, on the western edge, with the sou ...

in the Ohio Country.Howe, ''Historical Collections of Ohio, Vol. III'', 509.Smith and Vining, ''American Geographers, 1784-1812'', 214, 279. Anslem became a shareholder of the Ohio Company of Associates, and was engaged as a surveyor with the company.Hulbert, ''Proceedings of the Ohio Company, Volume I'', 26. Subsequently, on April 7, 1788, Anselm Tupper and a group of

American pioneers to the Northwest Territory This is a list of early settlers of Marietta, Ohio, the first permanent settlement created by United States citizens after the establishment of the Northwest Territory in 1787. The settlers included soldiers of the American Revolutionary War an ...

, led by Rufus Putnam, arrived at the confluence of the

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and Muskingum rivers to establish

as the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory.Hildreth, ''Pioneer History'', 206.Hulbert, ''Proceedings of the Ohio Company, Volume I'', 24. Anselm's parents, Benjamin and Huldah, arrived several months later. Anselm Tupper was a notable member of the pioneer settlement of Marietta, and a favorite in society. In September 1788, he served as a juror on the Grand Jury of the first civil court in the Northwest Territory.Hildreth, ''Pioneer History'', 232-33. During the Northwest Indian War in 1789, he was appointed major in the

with command of the

Campus Martius The Campus Martius (Latin for the "Field of Mars", Italian ''Campo Marzio'') was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome. The IV rione of Rome, Campo Marzio, which cove ...

fortification during the war. He was a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati,Drake, ''Memorials of the Society of Cincinnati'', 489. and an original member of the American Union Lodge No. 1 of Freemasons at MariettaSummers, ''History of Marietta'', 294–95. along with others including Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, and

William Stacy William Stacy (February 15, 1734 – August 1802) was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country. Published histories describe Colonel William Stacy's involvement in a variet ...

. Anselm Tupper was the second officer of the vessel ''Orlando'', built at Marietta in 1803; he sailed with the ''Orlando'' from Marietta down the

and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

rivers, across the Atlantic, and through the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

and Adriatic seas to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

.Andrews, ''History of Marietta and Washington County'', 880-81.Chaffin, ''History of the Town of Easton, Massachusetts'', 257. He then returned home to Marietta. He was the first school teacher in Marietta and the Northwest Territory,Venable, ''Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley'', 182-183.''Birthplace of the Northwest Territory'', 45. was a classical scholar, and was also a poet.Barker, ''Recollections of the First Settlement of Ohio'', 31-33. Anselm Tupper died on December 25, 1808. He is buried with his father and many other American Revolutionary War soldiers and pioneers at Mound Cemetery in Marietta.Hawley, ''Mound Cemetery'', 443.

References

External links

American Revolution InstituteAnselm Tupper surveyor's field notes - Manuscripts and Documents of the Ohio Company of Associates - Marietta College

Society of the Cincinnati

Bibliography

* Andrews, Martin R.: ''History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio and Representative Citizens'', Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois (1902). * Barker, Joseph: ''Recollections of the First Settlement of Ohio'', Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio (1958); original manuscript written late in Joseph Barker's life, prior to his death in 1843. * ''Birthplace of the Northwest Territory'', Northwest Territory Celebration Commission, Marietta, Ohio (1938). * Chaffin, William L.: ''History of the Town of Easton, Massachusetts'', John Wilson and Son, University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1886). * Cutler, Julia Perkins: ''The Founders of Ohio, Brief Sketches of the Forty-Eight Pioneers'', Robert Clarke and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio (1888). * Drake, Francis S.: ''Memorials of the Society of Cincinnati of Massachusetts'', Boston (1873). * Hawley, Owen: ''Mound Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio'', Washington County Historical Society, Marietta, Ohio (1996). * Heitman, Francis B.: ''Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution'', Rare Book Shop Publishing Co., Washington, D.C. (1914). * Hildreth, S. P.: ''Pioneer History: Being an Account of the First Examinations of the Ohio Valley, and the Early Settlement of the Northwest Territory'', H. W. Derby and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio (1848). * * Hulbert, Archer Butler: ''The Records of the Original Proceedings of the Ohio Company, Volume I'', Marietta Historical Commission, Marietta, Ohio (1917). * Hulbert, Archer Butler: ''The Records of the Original Proceedings of the Ohio Company, Volume II'', Marietta Historical Commission, Marietta, Ohio (1917). * ''Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution, Vol 16'', Published by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Wright and Potter Printing Co., Boston (1907). * Smith, B. A. and Vining, J. W.: ''American Geographers, 1784-1812'', Praeger Publishers, Westport, Connecticut (2003). * Summers, Thomas J.: ''History of Marietta'', The Leader Publishing Co., Marietta, Ohio (1903). * Venable, W. H.: ''Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley'', Robert Clark and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio (1891). {{DEFAULTSORT:Tupper, Anselm 1763 births 1808 deaths Massachusetts militiamen in the American Revolution Continental Army officers from Massachusetts American pioneers People from Marietta, Ohio American surveyors Burials at Mound Cemetery (Marietta, Ohio)