Mound Cemetery in

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

, is a historic cemetery developed around the base of a prehistoric Adena

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

known as the Great Mound or ''Conus''. The city founders preserved the Great Mound from destruction by establishing the city cemetery around it in 1801. The city of Marietta was developed in 1788 by pioneers from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, soon after 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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

and organization of the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...

. Many of the founders were officers of the Revolutionary War who had received federal land grants for military services. Among high-ranking officers buried at the cemetery are generals Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper, who were founders 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 Americans in the United States, Native American group to permanently settle west of the Alle ...

; as well as Commodore Abraham Whipple and Colonel

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 variety ...

. The cemetery has the highest number of burials of

officers in the country.Johnson, ''What to See in America'', 224.

Great Mound or Conus

Marietta Works Squier and Davis Plate XXVI

The conical Great Mound at Mound Cemetery is part of an Ohio Hopewell culture mound complex known as the Marietta Earthworks. Archaeologists estimate that it was built between 100 BC and 500 AD. Early European American settlers gave the structures

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

names. The complex includes the ''Sacra Via'' (meaning "sacred way"), three walled enclosures, the ''Quadranaou'', ''Capitolium'' (meaning "capital") and at least two other additional

platform mound A platform mound is any earthwork or mound intended to support a structure or activity. It typically refers to a flat-topped mound, whose sides may be pyramidal. In Eastern North America The indigenous peoples of North America built substru ...

s, and the ''Conus'' burial mound and its accompanying ditch and embankment. The complex was surveyed and drawn in 1838 by Samuel R. Curtis (at the time a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

for the state of Ohio). This survey was incorrectly attributed to Charles Whittlesey by E. G. Squier and E.H. Davis in their ''

Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley ''Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley'' (full title ''Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the Results of Extensive Original Surveys and Explorations'') (1848) by the Americans Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton ...

'', published by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

in 1848. At the time the complex "included a large square enclosure surrounding four flat-topped pyramidal mounds, another smaller square, and a circular enclosure with a large burial mound at its center." The ''Conus'' mound was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on February 23, 1973 as the Mound Cemetery Mound, site listing number 73001549. In 1990 archaeologists from the

Cleveland Museum of Natural History The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in University Circle, a district of educational, cultural and medical institutions approximately five miles (8 km) east of Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The ...

excavated a section of the ''Capitolium'' mound and determined that the mound was definitely constructed by peoples of the Hopewell Culture.

American Revolutionary War soldiers

The city of Marietta was developed in 1788 by migrant pioneers from

, soon after the

and organization of the

. The cemetery has the highest number of burials of

officers in the country. The original pioneers, city founders from the

, preserved the Great Mound from destruction by establishing the city cemetery around it. Many of the founders were officers of the Revolutionary War who had received federal land grants for military services. Among high-ranking officers buried at the cemetery are generals Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper, who were founders of the Ohio Company of Associates; as well as Commodore Abraham Whipple and Colonel

. In 1825, General Lafayette of France, who fought with the Americans during the Revolution, visited Marietta. He said of the city's veterans: "I knew them well. I saw them fighting the battles of their country ... They were the bravest of the brave. Better men never lived."Cutler, ''Life and Times of Ephraim Cutler'', 202–03. The Washington County Historical Society compiled the a list of

Revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

soldiers buried in Mound Cemetery, notable persons in that list shown below:Washington County Historical Society plaque at Mound Cemetery, dated 1968. * Col. Robert Taylor, ''first burial in the cemetery'' * Gen. Rufus Putnam *

Griffin Greene Griffin Greene (1749–1804) served as a commissary, paymaster, and quartermaster to the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was subsequently a American pioneers to the Northwest Territory, pioneer to the Ohio Country, helpi ...

, Sr., Quartermaster * Commodore Abraham Whipple * Col.

Ebenezer Sproat Ebenezer Sproat (February 9, 1752 – January 7, 1805), surname also spelled Sprout, 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 fir ...

* Col.

, Sr. * Gen. Benjamin Tupper * Maj. Anselm Tupper * Capt. Nathaniel Saltonstall * Samuel Hildreth, Sr. (''father of Samuel Prescott Hildreth'', ''also buried here'') The books of Samuel Prescott Hildreth (1783–1863), buried here, provide insight into the early history of Marietta and the Northwest Territory, and the lives of the soldiers and early pioneer settlers.Hildreth, ''Pioneer History''.Hildreth, ''Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio''. Major General James Mitchell Varnum (1748–1789) was originally buried in the Mound Cemetery. His remains were later moved to Oak Grove Cemetery in Marietta.

Gallery

File:MoundCemetery1846.jpg, Drawing of Mound Cemetery, 1846 File:MariettaMoundsOldDrawing.jpg, Drawing of Marietta Earthworks File:RufusPutnamMarker.jpg, Rufus Putnam marker File:BenjaminTupperMarker.jpg, Benjamin Tupper and Anselm Tupper marker File:AbrahamWhipple marker 2.jpg, Abraham Whipple marker File:NathanielSaltonstallMarker2.jpg, Nath. Saltonstall marker File:SamuelHildreth marker.jpg, Samuel Hildreth marker File:Mound Cemetery. Marietta, Ohio.jpg

References

Bibliography

* * Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR): ''American Monthly,'' Vol. 16, Jan–Jun 1900, R. R. Bowker Co., New York (1900) p. 329. * Hawley, Owen: ''Mound Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio,'' Washington County Historical Society, Marietta, Ohio (1996). * 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). * Johnson, Clifton: ''What to See in America'', Macmillan Co., New York (1919) p. 224. * Snow, Dean R. ''Archaeology of Native North America'', Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2010. * Summers, Thomas J.: ''History of Marietta'', The Leader Publishing Co., Marietta, Ohio (1903) pp. 301–09.

External links

Mounds of Marietta, by Wesley Clarke

Marietta Earthworks, by Chris Sandford
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cemetery, Mound Ohio Hopewell Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Buildings and structures in Marietta, Ohio Cemeteries in Washington County, Ohio American Revolutionary War Ohio in the American Revolution Pre-statehood history of Ohio American pioneers Protected areas of Washington County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Ohio Mounds in Ohio 1801 establishments in the Northwest Territory Native American cemeteries