The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

by David McCullough

Simon & Schuster, 330 pages, $30

David McCullough is, without question, one of the premiere U.S. historians and author of books that bring history to life in our country. Two of his most acclaimed publications, Truman (1,117 pages) and Adams (751 pages), are among the best presidential biographies I ever read. A few years ago, HBO created a seven-part mini-series based his book about Adams.

At only 330 pages, The Pioneers seems like a short story compared to the two aforementioned books. However, it gives great insight about the men and women who had the courage and wherewithal to leave their homes, and often families, behind in the northeast to venture west to seek what they hoped would be a more prosperous life. This is their story—their hardships and determination to bring to a territory virtually unknown the values of their religious beliefs, tremendous desire for public education for all, and the abolition of slavery, to create the new state of Ohio.

Here, we are introduced to five heroic individuals in particular, who, in addition to many others, struggled to make these ideals come to fruition: Rev. Manasseh Cutler; his oldest son, Judge Ephraim Cutler; Gen. Rufus Putnam; Joseph Barker; and Dr. Samuel Hildreth.

The book is separated into three periods, 1787-1794 (which begins before Washington assumed the presidency in 1789 and the beginning efforts to design a plan for Ohio), 1795-1814 (which carries us through the Country's post-Revolutionary War of 1812 with Britain and the treasonous efforts of the disgraced former Vice President Aaron Burr to destroy the young democracy after his fateful duel with Alexander Hamilton) and 1815-1863 (highlighting the major advancements, especially modes of travel on the waterways, that developed in the region over a span of 75 years and how Ohio continued to thrive after the above mentioned pioneers passed on).

On March 1, 1786, Rev. Cutler, 45, from Ipswich Hamlet, Mass., the father of eight and a graduate of Yale, met with 10 others gathered in Boston at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern "to launch a highly ambitious plan involving the immense reach of unsettled wilderness known as the Northwest Territory." The group was made up of veteran officers of the Continental Army. Gen. Putnam, a hero from the Revolutionary War, farmer and surveyor, was the driving force behind the meeting to plan for a permanent settlement in the area that would later become Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. The few who had previously ventured west had to confront the "Indian Menace" that continued for years during the settlement of Ohio. The outcome of the meeting was the creation of the Ohio Company of Associates with Putnam as its chair and Cutler as its secretary with the goal of negotiating with the Continental Congress to purchase the land and selling shares to investors and those who sought to eventually live there.

As it was Cutler's role to meet with Congress and other prominent leaders of the time, he set forth alone to New York and Philadelphia. The resulting passage of the Northwest Ordinance provided that the entire territory would have absolute freedom of religion, an emphasis on education and the prohibition of slavery.

McCullough provides the reader with Cutler's impressions during his journey, based on his diaries, and considered his stay in Philadelphia and time spent with Benjamin Franklin as "among the most stimulating experiences ever."

Reverend Cutler did not join the initial expedition west, led by Gen. Putnam, but one of his sons, Jervis, age 19, did. Those who went were limited in what they could bring not to exceed 30 pounds including tools, one ax and one hoe per man, one good musket and one pound of musket balls and buckshot each, a half-pound of powder, six flints and a bayonet. Their monthly wages would be $4.

The party was to settle at the mouth of the Muskingum River at its "confluence" with the Ohio River. Under Putnam's direction, the first task was to clear the forest to build shelter. Putnam himself designed a square fortress that could house 864 people and named it Camp Martius ("Field of Mars").

North of the Camp was an area of more than 90 acres filled with earthworks and mounds, the largest of which was known as the "Great Mound", in excess of 30 feet in height. Putnam believed it to be the remains of ancient structures and a burial site from thousands of years prior. It was at this location that the first permanent settlement was established and on July 2, 1787, the directors of the Ohio Company passed a resolution naming it Marietta after the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. In mid-August of that year, Rev. Cutler made his first and only trip to Marietta that lasted three weeks. He was in awe of the giant trees and "utterly fascinated" by the mound. He was also "pleased[ ] to no end" by "[t]he conspicuous presence of the natives of different tribes in the daily life of the community."

Unsuccessful as a farmer, Jervis Cutler returned to New England where he extolled upon his older brother, Ephraim, how much he missed Marietta and would love to return but for his wife's fear of pioneer life.

On June 15, 1795, Ephraim, along with his ill wife and four children, began their venture to Ohio. As the Reverend's son, Ephraim's arrival at Marietta "lifted the spirits" of the earlier settlers. Although he planned on becoming a full time farmer, he received commissions by the Territory's new governor to become captain of the militia, a Justice of the Peace and a Judge of the first Court of Common Pleas which kept him extremely busy and often away from home for extended periods due to his travels to distant locations.

On her death bed, Ephraim's wife Leah encouraged him to remarry and suggested a woman that she had not met but heard good things about named Sally Parker. She was 10 years younger than Ephraim, but Leah encouraged him to pursue her. Upon Leah's death, Judge Cutler was "destitute". After a few months passed, adhering to his first wife's request, he wrote numerous letters to Sally. Having never met him but "given his reputation as a gentleman" she agreed to come to Marietta. They ended up getting married and had five children of their own. Together they became pillars of the Marietta community. Their marriage would last 38 years until Sally's death in 1846.

At the same time that Rev. Cutler was eventually elected to Congress from Massachusetts, Judge Cutler became a member of the Ohio Legislature. Years later, William Cutler, the youngest son of Sally and Ephraim, would attend Ohio University, which his father was essential in establishing, and go on to become Speaker of the House of the Ohio Legislature and, thereafter, a member Congress.

Joseph Barker was a person of "noble importance" in the settlement because of, among other things, his talents as a carpenter, boat builder and architect who designed and built many of the major buildings of Marietta. In 1797, he built the largest home in the region known as Blennerhassett Mansion, on an island 12 miles below the mouth of the Muskingum and part of Virginia which was purchased by a man of great wealth, Harmen Blennerhassett. This house, once completed, "would far exceed in size and elegance any structure to be seen the length of the Ohio Valley."

On May 5, 1805, less than a year after he killed Hamilton and only a few months after he ceased being Vice President, Burr arrived at Blennerrhassett Mansion which he described as a "castle in the wilderness." The people of Marietta denounced him as a "murderer" and a "ruined politician." Gen. Putnam and others thought his arrival as "an evil hour" and that his visit to this "earthly paradise" was "only to deceive and destroy." "Only days after Burr's visit, Blennerhassett confided to a neighbor that 'under the auspice of Colonel Burr, a separation of the Union was contemplated.'" Soon articles began appearing that Burr was "employed in executing, a scheme highly injurious to the interest, the tranquility and the well-fare of the U.S." In pursuit of his plans, Joseph Barker was indirectly contracted to build the boats that Burr would use to carry out his nefarious intentions. On orders from President Jefferson, Burr, who had escaped from Ohio and tried to disguise his appearance, was captured on Feb. 18, 1807 and was indicted for treason on June 24th. On Sept. 1, 1807 he and Blennerhassett were acquitted.

McCullough devotes an entire chapter to the intrigue of Aaron Burr's secret conspiracy to divide the country and his eager desire to engage "the ever-gullible" Blennerhassett to become a major participant and financial backer in this scenario. He provides the reader with a fascinating account as to how Blennerhassett Island became Burr's "main staging ground" and how, in the end, the Blennerhassetts ended up penniless. In 1811, the Blennerhassetts' "dream" home, from which they were forced to flee because of Harmen's involvement with Burr, accidently burned to the ground.

Dr. Samuel Hildreth came to Marietta in his twenties. He knew no one when he arrived in 1806 and soon moved about 15 miles south to Belpre where he met his wife. Two years later they relocated to Marietta where they lived the remainder of their lives. Dr. Hildreth soon established himself as being indispensable. He became the most prominent doctor in Marietta and "monopolized" the profession even as other, younger, doctors were moving west to Ohio and settling in Marietta. He also became a renowned scientist, historian of the pioneers in Ohio, the author of many published books and a member of the Ohio Legislature.

While the history and accomplishments of the above pioneers individually are impressive, McCullough's seamless overlapping of their lives in the development of Ohio, and Marrietta in particular, over the span of three-quarters of a century, is compelling.

The creation and enactment of the Northwest Ordinance and settlement of Ohio, ensuring there would be no slavery, is credited to Manasseh Cutler. His emphasis for public education inspired his son, Ephraim, to oversee the establishment of Ohio University in 1804 and Marietta College in 1832. Following the customs in New England, one of Manessah's final request to his son, before his death in 1821, was that a building be named in his honor. It wasn't until 1914 that the very first building, and the centerpiece, on the Ohio University was officially named Cutler Hall.

Three years later, in 1824, Rufus Putnam, "the most notable and admired of the first pioneers", died. As McCullough points out, Putnam "led the way in establishing Marietta's first school, its first church, first bank, served in the state legislature as an ardent supporter of the first state university, and with Ephraim Cutler stood firm against the acceptance of slavery in Ohio."

The death of Joseph Barker was particularly difficult for his dear friend and family doctor, Samuel Hildreth. Barker helped Hildreth by providing him with a "colorful account of his life" that helped Hildreth, along with Ephraim Cutler, write his memoirs on pioneer life that were later published. His first published work in 1848 titled Pioneer History was a "long-awaited" book "like no other until then" would be followed with a second book, Memoirs of the Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio.

On July 8, 1853, Ephraim Cutler died at age 86 from internal injuries he sustained from being thrown from a horse. Ten years later, on July 24, 1863, the last remaining of these early pioneers, Samuel Hildreth died in his home built by, none other than, Joseph Barker. Like Putnam before him, he was buried at the Mound Cemetery next to his father who died in 1823 while visiting his son.

Ohio was now a state with a population in excess of two million people, bustling cities such as Columbus and Cincinnati and the still thriving city of Marietta. Railroad and telegraphs had improved the methods of travel and communication on land from that of the horse and buggy. Transportation on the Ohio River, which became an important "highway", had come a long way from the initial "flatboats, rafts, barges of all sizes and keelboats" to steamboats that could travel to and from the Mississippi at its southernmost end to Lake Erie in the north covering a 100 miles a day.

For all who love American History, The Pioneers is an opportunity to discover the intricacy of life on the frontier that is glossed over in the classrooms and places the reader front and center with those who put their lives on the line to expand the American ideals of our founders in an unsettled territory that beckoned for new inhabitants.

George M. Heymann is a retired NYC Housing Court Judge, adjunct professor of law at Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, certified Supreme Court mediator, and of Counsel, Finz & Finz PC.