Ebenezer Sproat (February 9, 1752 – January 7, 1805), surname also spelled Sprout, 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. He served throughout the entire American war of independence, from April 1775 through November 1783, achieving the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

. After the war, he was a pioneer and surveyor in the Northwest Territory, and became a leader 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. He was the first sheriff in the Northwest Territory and Ohio, serving fourteen years as sheriff of Washington County, the oldest county in

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 ...

Early life

Ebenezer Sproat was born in

Middleborough, Massachusetts Middleborough (frequently written as Middleboro) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,245 at the 2020 census. History The town was first settled by Europeans in 1661 as Nemasket, later changed to M ...

in 1752. He was the son of Bathsheba (Wood) and Ebenezer Sproat, who owned a farm and was the proprietor of the Sproat Tavern in Middleborough. During his boyhood and youth, he assisted his father in cultivating the farm. When quite young he became interested in the public affairs of the colony. Like his father Ebenezer grew to be a tall man and was of perfect proportions.Hildreth, ''Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio'', 230.Weston, ''History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts'', 322.

Revolutionary War

Ebenezer Sproat was in the field with the Continental Army throughout the

,Heitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 513.''Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors, Vol 14'', 777. and was engaged in the battles of Trenton,

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

, and Monmouth.Hildreth, ''Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio'', 231. He was a disciplinarian, but also of cheerful disposition, and was a favorite with both officers and enlisted ranks. He initially served with Colonel Theophilus Cotton's Massachusetts Regiment during 1775. He joined as captain in April 1775, several days after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and was promoted to major in June 1775.Heitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 32, 513. During 1776 he served with Colonel

Ebenezer Learned Ebenezer Learned (April 18, 1728 – April 1, 1801) was a brigadier general in the American Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Early life and career He was the son of Ebenezer and Deborah Haynes Learned, and was born at Oxford, ...

3rd Continental Regiment The 4th Massachusetts Regiment also known as 3rd Continental Regiment or Learned's Regiment, was raised on April 23, 1775, by Colonel Ebenezer Learned outside Boston, Massachusetts. The regiment saw action at the Battle of Bunker Hill, New Yo ...

.Heitma, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 20. He was subsequently promoted to lieutenant colonel of Colonel

William Shepard William Shepard (Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded his birth as November 20, 1737. The provisions of the British Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, implemented in 1752, ...

4th Massachusetts Regiment The 4th Massachusetts Regiment also known as 3rd Continental Regiment or Learned's Regiment, was raised on April 23, 1775, by Colonel Ebenezer Learned outside Boston, Massachusetts. The regiment saw action at the Battle of Bunker Hill, New Yo ...

and served with this regiment from January 1777 to September 1778.Heitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 37. While with this regiment, he was one of the officers who wintered at

Valley Forge Valley Forge functioned as the third of eight winter encampments for the Continental Army's main body, commanded by General George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. In September 1777, Congress fled Philadelphia to escape the ...

with General

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

during the winter and spring of 1777 and 1778.Heitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 11. He was said to be the tallest man in his regiment. Ebenezer subsequently transferred to the

12th Massachusetts Regiment The 12th Massachusetts Regiment, also known as 18th Continental Regiment and Phinney's Regiment, was raised on April 23, 1775, under Colonel Edmund Phinney outside of Boston, Massachusetts. The regiment saw action at the Battle of Bunker Hill, B ...

, where he served until from September 1778 through year-end 1780.Heitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 39. Ebenezer Sproat next joined 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 ...

where he served from January 1781 until November 1783. During January 1781, he was executive officer under General Robert Howe with a detachment of five hundred men, ordered out to suppress a mutiny of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment at Pompton, New Jersey. Three of the ringleaders of the mutiny were tried on the spot, with Lieutenant Colonel Sproat being president of the court-martial. This was a sorrowful duty for Colonel Sproat; two of the men were sentenced and executed.Hildreth, ''Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio'', 231-33. He often said that duty was the most painful ever imposed upon him.Weston, ''History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts'', 324. Ebenezer Sproat was promoted to colonel during September 1783, shortly before the end of his eight and one-half years of service in the Continental Army. An anecdote illustrating Colonel Sproat's good nature with the enlisted ranks concerns a furlough early in the war when he was home visiting his mother. Three private soldiers asked for lunch at his parents' tavern, and when finished eating, asked him the cost. He informed them that the cost was about a shilling for each man. To their surprise, instead of collecting the money from them, he paid each man a shilling and wished them a good journey.Hildreth, ''Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio'', 234. Colonel Sproat was also on good terms with the officers such as General Von Steuben, and was a friend of General Washington.Weston, ''History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts'', 322-23.

Post-war in Rhode Island

After the war, Ebenezer Sproat lived in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, where he married Catherine Whipple, daughter of Commodore

Abraham Whipple Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...

of the Continental Navy. He purchased a store, and worked as a merchant, but was not successful. In 1786 he was appointed as surveyor for the state of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

. In that role, he participated in the surveying 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.Hildreth, ''Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio'', 234-35.Smith and Vining, ''American Geographers, 1784-1812'', 197.

The Ohio Country

Ebenezer Sproat became a shareholder of 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 ...

, and was engaged as a surveyor with the company.Hulbert, ''Proceedings of the Ohio Company, Volume I'', 26. On April 7, 1788, Ebenezer Sproat 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 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 ...

, arrived at the confluence of the

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.Cutler, ''Founders of Ohio'', 15-17. Ebenezer's wife, daughter, and Commodore Whipple joined him at Marietta the following year. Colonel Sproat, with his tall and commanding presence, was a notable member of the pioneer settlement of Marietta. He greatly impressed the local Indians, who in admiration dubbed him "Hetuck", meaning "eye of the buck dear", or "Big Buckeye".Hildreth, ''Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio'', 237.Ohio Division of Forestry, ''Ohio…The Buckeye State'', brochure.Goodman and Brunsman, ''This Day in Ohio History'', 54. Some historians believe this is how Ohio came to be known as the Buckeye State, though a more commonly accepted explanation involves the later presidential campaign of

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

. During the Northwest Indian War he was authorized by

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

Henry Knox Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806), a Founding Father of the United States, was a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, serving as chief of artillery in most of Washington's campaigns. Following the ...

to superintend the military affairs of the United States in Washington County. He was a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati,Drake, ''Memorials of the Society of Cincinnati'', 463-64. and helped form 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 ...

. Ebenezer Sproat was the first sheriff in the Northwest Territory, serving fourteen years from 1788 to 1802 as sheriff of Washington County, the oldest county in

. At that time, the county encompassed lands from the Ohio River in the south, to

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

in the north, embracing half of the eventual state of Ohio. Sheriff Sproat was cheerful and fond of company, and quite attached to horses and dogs. As sheriff, he always rode a horse during his long journeys through the county, accompanied by two or three large dogs.Hildreth, ''Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio'', 238. He filled the office of sheriff with dignity, and exhibited a great kindness in his execution of the law. He was often known to furnish a poor family with his own money for repayment of a debt, rather than to make an arrest.Hildreth, ''Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio'', 238-39.

Later life

In his latter years he was fond of physical labor and of cultivating the land.Hildreth, ''Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio'', 239. Ebenezer Sproat died in Marietta in early 1805, either on January 7,Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, ''Ebenezer Sprout'', online database. or perhaps during February,Hildreth, ''Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio'', 240. with his oft-repeated wish of a sudden exit fully answered. He is buried adjacent to his father-in-law, Commodore Whipple, and near many other American Revolutionary War soldiers and pioneers at Mound Cemetery in Marietta.Hawley, ''Mound Cemetery'', 415.

Notes

References

* 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). * 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). * Goodman, R. and Brunsman, B. J.: ''This Day in Ohio History'', Emmis Books, Cincinnati, Ohio (2005). * 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.: ''Biographical and Historical Memoirs of the Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio'', H. W. Derby and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio (1852). * 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). * New England Historic Genealogical Society, The Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati Profiles: ''Ebenezer Sprout'', online database, NewEnglandAncestors.org (2004). * ''Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution, Vol 14'', Published by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Wright and Potter Printing Co., Boston (1906). * Ohio Division of Forestry: ''Ohio…The Buckeye State'', Ohio Department of Natural Resources brochure (rev 11/1998) * 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). * Weston, Thomas: ''History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts'', Houghton Mifflin and Co., Riverside Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1906). * Zimmer, Louise: ''True Stories of Pioneer Times'', published by Broughton Foods company, Marietta, Ohio (1987).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sproat, Ebenezer 1752 births 1805 deaths Continental Army officers from Massachusetts American pioneers History of Ohio People from Washington County, Ohio People from Marietta, Ohio Ohio sheriffs American surveyors Burials at Mound Cemetery (Marietta, Ohio) American people of the Northwest Indian War People of colonial Massachusetts American city founders