He lived for ten years thereafter, though his paralysis never left him.  He felt keenly the ingratitude of the Republic which he had served so well, and which yet, in his old age, abandoned him to want, and the story is told that, when the state of Virginia sent him a sword of honor, he thrust it into the ground and broke it with his crutch.

“I gave Virginia a sword when she needed one,” he said; “but now, when I need bread, she sends me a toy!”

* * * * *

In the settlement of the country north of the Ohio, one man, a veteran of the Revolution, was foremost.  His name was Rufus Putnam, and he was a cousin of that Israel Putnam, some of whose exploits we will soon relate.  He has been well called the “Father of Ohio,” for he was the founder of the first permanent white settlement made within the borders of the state.  He was born in 1738, at Sutton, Massachusetts, and his early life was a hard and rough one.  Left an orphan while still a child, he was put to work as soon as he was big enough to be of any use, and received practically no education, although he managed to teach himself to read and write.  He earned a few pennies by watering horses for travelers, and with this money purchased a spelling-book and arithmetic.

He served through the French war and the Revolution, rendering distinguished service and retiring with the rank of brigadier-general; and at its close, finding that Congress would be unable for a long time to pay many of the soldiers for their services, he became interested in the suggestion that payment be made in land along the Ohio river, and offered to lead a band of settlers to their new homes.  In March, 1786, in Boston, he and some others formed the Ohio Company, and one of their directors, Manasseh Cutler, a preacher of more than usual ability, was selected to lay the company’s plan before Congress.  The result was the famous ordinance of 1787, providing for the establishment and government of the Northwest Territory, of which Arthur St. Clair was named governor.  Cutler also secured a large land grant for the new company, and in the following year, Putnam started across the mountains with the first band of emigrants.

They reached the vicinity of Pittsburg after a weary journey, and there built a boat which they named the Mayflower, and in it floated down the river, until they reached the mouth of the Muskingum.  On April 17, 1788, they began the erection of a blockhouse, which was to be the nucleus of the new settlement, and a place of defense in case of Indian attack.  The settlement was named Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France; it prospered from the first, and in a few years was a lively little village.  There were Indian alarms at first, but General Wayne’s victory secured a lasting peace.  Putnam served as a brigadier-general in Wayne’s campaign, and was one of the commissioners who negotiated the peace treaty.