By Pete LuPiba
US Navy and Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran
With this week’s observation of Veteran’s Day, it is important to reflect on the contributions – and the sacrifices of our military veterans and their families.
A New England pastor by the name of Manasseh Cutler and a group of American Revolutionary War veterans were pivotal in opening up the Northwest Territory to veterans of the Revolution and their families. These settlers did so within the processes and structure established in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The Ordinance had three remarkable conditions: freedom of religion, free universal education, and most importantly, the prohibition of slavery.
The settlement began in what is now Marietta, on the northwestern banks of the Ohio River. Marietta was named in honor of Marie Antoinette, then the reigning Queen of France, in recognition of French aid during the American Revolution. Mound Cemetery in Marietta, built around an Adena burial mound, is today the final resting place of the largest number of Revolutionary War officers in the country.
U.S. Sailor Neil Alden Armstrong of Wapakoneta and U.S. Marine John Herschel Glenn of New Concord literally saw the globe from as far away as humankind can travel. Our veterans have been putting Ohio on the map for generations.
