Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Tupper, Benjamin

TUPPER, Benjamin, soldier, b. in Stoughton, Mass., in August, 1738; d. in Marietta, Ohio, in June, 1792. He served as a soldier in the French war of 1756-'63, and afterward taught. Soon after the battle of Lexington he was a major at Boston, and distinguished himself in a boat expedition at Castle island, Boston harbor. He became a lieutenant-colonel, 4 Nov., 1775, colonel of the 11th Massachusetts early in 1776, and in August of the same year commanded the gun-boats and galleys on the North river. He served under Gen. Horatio Gates at Saratoga, was at the battle of Monmouth in 1778, and was brevetted a general before the close of the war. With Gen. Rufus Putnam he originated the Ohio land company, was appointed in 1785 surveyor of Ohio lands, and served against Shays's rebellion in 1786. He settled at Marietta, Ohio, in 1787, and became a judge in 1788. — His son, Edward W., was a brigadier-general of Ohio volunteers, and served under Gen. Harrison in 1812. He died at Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1823.