How 48 Men Built the First Settlement of the Northwest Territory

In ‘This Week in History,’ the newly formed Ohio Company purchased nearly a million acres and began the arduous task of settling the northwest.

Rufus Putnam and American pioneers to the Northwest Territory at the mouth of the Muskingum River at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers, on April 7, 1788. From John T. Faris's "On the Trail of the Pioneers," published in 1920. Public Domain

The British and the Americans had defeated the French and their Indian allies in the French and Indian War. The Treaty of Paris was signed on Feb. 10, 1763, ceding French lands to the British. The French had created alliances with numerous Indian nations, which included providing gifts. Those alliances abruptly ended, as did the gift-giving.

With the newly won lands, the British colonists did what they'd been accustomed to doing: settling new lands. Colonists began moving west toward and past the Appalachian Mountains. Sensing the loss of more than their French allies, a number of tribes created a new alliance, led by the Ottawa war chief, Pontiac. Furthermore, a Delaware holy man by the name of Neolin, convinced the tribes they would be successful in a rebellion.