American soldier and pioneer settler in Ohio.

Putnam fought in the French and Indian War from 1757 to 1760, worked as a millwright in 1761–68, and from then on until the outbreak of the American Revolution was a farmer and surveyor. In 1775 he entered the Continental Army as a lieutenant colonel. He organized the batteries and fortifications in Boston and New York City in 1776–77 and then successfully commanded a regiment under General Horatio Gates (Gates, Horatio) at the Battle of Saratoga (Saratoga, Battles of). In 1778 he built new fortifications at West Point, and in 1779 he served under General Anthony Wayne (Wayne, Anthony). He was promoted to brigadier general in 1783.

After the war Putnam became interested in the settlement of the Western lands, and in 1786 he helped found the Ohio Company of Associates with the purpose of obtaining a land grant in the Ohio country for settlement by veterans of the American Revolution. The company obtained a grant from Congress of 1,500,000 acres (606,000 hectares) there, and Putnam was appointed the company superintendent of the colonizing activities. In 1788 he led a small party that founded Marietta, Ohio; this was the first white settlement in the Northwest Territory.

Putnam afterward served as a territorial judge in Ohio and as a brigadier general before being appointed surveyor general of the United States in 1796; his service in this post was less than satisfactory, however, owing to his deficiency in mathematics, and in 1803 he was dismissed by President Thomas Jefferson (Jefferson, Thomas). In 1802 he served as a member of the Ohio state constitutional convention.