Campus Martius was a defensive fortification at the

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, Mar ...

settlement, and was home to

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 instrumental ...

Benjamin Tupper Benjamin Tupper (March 11, 1738 – June 7, 1792) was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, achieving the rank of Brevet (military), brevet Brigadier general (United ...

Arthur St. Clair Arthur St. Clair ( – August 31, 1818) was a Scottish-American soldier and politician. Born in Thurso, Scotland, he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in Pennsylvania, where he held local office. During ...

, and other pioneers from 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 the

Northwest Indian War The Northwest Indian War (1786–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern ...

. Major

Anselm Tupper Anselm Tupper (1763–1808) was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, a pioneer to the Ohio Country, and one of the founders of Marietta, Ohio, the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Terr ...

was commander of the Campus Martius during the war.Cutler, ''The Founders of Ohio'', 26.Howe, ''Historical Collections of Ohio, Vol. III'', 509. Construction began in 1788 and was fully completed in 1791. The Campus Martius was located on the east side of the

Muskingum River The Muskingum River (Shawnee: ') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country o ...

, and upriver from its confluence with the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

. A firsthand description of the fort is provided in Hildreth's ''Pioneer History'',

Campus Martius is the handsomest pile of buildings on this side of the Alleghany mountains, and in a few days will be the strongest fortification in the territory of the United States. It stands on the margin of the elevated plain on which are the remains of the ancient works ounds mentioned in my letter of May last, thirty feet above the high bank of the Muskingum, twenty-nine perches distant from the river, and two hundred and seventy-six from the Ohio. It consists of a regular square, having a block house at each angle, eighteen feet square on the ground, and two stories high; the upper story on the outside or face, jutting over the lower one, eighteen inches. These block houses serve as bastions to a regular fortification of four sides. The curtains are composed of dwelling houses two stories high, eighteen feet wide, and of different lengths.Hildreth, ''Pioneer History'', 227-28.

The Campus Martius site is now occupied by the Campus Martius Museum. The

Rufus Putnam House The Rufus Putnam House, also known as Campus Martius or Campus Martius Museum State Memorial, is a historic building in Marietta, Ohio. It was built as part of the Campus Martius fortification by General Rufus Putnam, during the early settlement ...

, part of the original Campus, is enclosed in the museum. Campus Martius was located around .

Other Marietta forts

The other fortification at the Marietta settlement was the Picketed Point Stockade, built by associates during 1791 on the east side of the mouth of the Muskingum River at its confluence with the Ohio, and directly across the Muskingum from

Fort Harmar Fort Harmar was an early United States frontier military fort, built in pentagonal shape during 1785 at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Muskingum River, Muskingum rivers, on the west side of the mouth of the Muskingum River. It was buil ...

. Fort Harmar was constructed several years earlier in 1785 by United States troops, on the west side of the mouth of the Muskingum River. File:PicketedPointMariettaOH.jpg, Picketed Point File:FortHarmar.jpg,

Regional forts

Two additional forts, somewhat distant from Marietta, were also built by settlers from the Ohio Company of Associates. A group of associates moved about 15 miles down the Ohio River from Marietta, opposite the mouth of the

Little Kanawha River The Little Kanawha River is a tributary of the Ohio River, 169 mi (269 km) long,Gilchrist-Stalnaker, Joy Gregoire. 2006. "Little Kanawha River." ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia''. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virgi ...

; the settlers constructed the fortification of

Farmer's Castle Farmer's Castle was a defensive fortification built opposite the mouth of the Little Kanawha River on the Ohio River by a group of pioneers from the Ohio Company of Associates. It was located about 15 miles downriver of Marietta, Ohio, the first ...

for protection during the Indian war at the site of modern day

Belpre, Ohio Belpre (historically spelled Belpré; pronounced ) is a city in Washington County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River near Parkersburg, West Virginia. Its name derives from "Belle Prairie" (French for "beautiful meadow"), the name given ...

. Another group of associates moved about 20 miles up the Muskingum River from Marietta, near the mouth of Wolf Creek; they built

Fort Frye Fort Frye was a triangular defensive fortification built by a group of pioneers from the Ohio Company of Associates who moved about twenty miles up the Muskingum River from the settlement of Marietta, Ohio to a location near the mouth of Wolf Cr ...

for protection during the war at the site of modern day

Beverly, Ohio Beverly is a village in Washington County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Parkersburg- Marietta-Vienna, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,313 at the 2010 census. History Beverly was established by the Ohio Com ...

References

Bibliography

* * * {{cite book , first=Henry, last=Howe , authorlink=Henry Howe , title=

Historical Collections of Ohio thumb , right , 300px ''Historical Collections of Ohio'' is a work of history published in one volume in 1847 by Henry Howe (1816–1893). Howe had spent more than a year traveling across the state of Ohio making sketches, interviewing people, ...

, volume=III , publisher=Henry Howe and Son , location=Columbus, Ohio, year=1891 Northwest Indian War Forts in Ohio Pre-statehood history of Ohio Buildings and structures in Marietta, Ohio 1788 establishments in the Northwest Territory

Other Marietta forts

Regional forts

See also

References

Bibliography