Benjamin Tupper

Benjamin Tupper
Benjamin Tupper marker at Mound Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio
Born	(1738-03-11)March 11, 1738 Sharon, Massachusetts
Died	June 16, 1792(1792-06-16) (aged 54) Marietta, Ohio
Place of burial	Mound Cemetery (Marietta, Ohio)
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	Continental Army
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands held	6th Massachusetts Regiment, 10th Massachusetts Regiment, 11th Massachusetts Regiment
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War *Siege of Boston *Battle of Saratoga *Battle of Monmouth
Relations	Huldah White, 1762-1792, sons: Maj. Anselm Tupper Gen. Edward W. Tupper Col. Benjamin Tupper, Jr.
Other work	pioneer to the Ohio Country

Benjamin Tupper (March 11, 1738 – June 16, 1792) was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, achieving the rank of brevet brigadier general. Subsequently, he served as a Massachusetts legislator, and he assisted Gen. William Shepard in stopping Shays' Rebellion. Benjamin Tupper was a co-founder of the Ohio Company of Associates, and was a pioneer to the Ohio Country, involved in establishing Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent settlement in the Northwest Territory.

Benjamin Tupper, the youngest of eight children, was born in a precinct of Stoughton in Massachusetts, now a part of the town of Sharon, Massachusetts. His father died when he was young; Benjamin then worked as an apprentice to a tanner in Dorchester near Boston. At the age of sixteen, he began working on a farm in Chesterfield in western Massachusetts. As a young man, Benjamin Tupper served as a soldier during the French and Indian War for two or three years. During that time, he also ran a district school in Easton, Massachusetts during the winters. At the age of 24, he married Huldah White in Easton, and they subsequently relocated to Chesterfield. He served as a lieutenant of the militia in Chesterfield.

Benjamin Tupper was in the field with the Continental Army throughout the American Revolutionary War. He engaged as major with Col. John Fellows' Massachusetts regiment at the beginning of the war in April 1775, several days after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Maj. Tupper participated in the Siege of Boston during 1775. During the siege he led an expedition against British forces on Castle Island and the Boston Light in Boston harbor. During the expedition, his troops skirmished with British and Tories, and burned the lighthouse to hinder the movement of British naval ships. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in late 1775.