though a more commonly accepted explanation involves the later presidential campaign of William Henry Harrison. During the Northwest Indian War he was authorized by Secretary of War Henry Knox to superintend the military affairs of the United States in Washington County. He was a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and helped form the American Union Lodge No. 1 of Freemasons at Marietta along with others including Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, and William Stacy. Ebenezer Sproat was the first sheriff in the Northwest Territory, serving fourteen years from 1788 to 1802 as sheriff of Washington County, the oldest county in Ohio. At that time, the county encompassed lands from the Ohio River in the south, to Lake Erie in the north, embracing half of the eventual state of Ohio. Sheriff Sproat was cheerful and fond of company, and quite attached to horses and dogs. As sheriff, he always rode a horse during his long journeys through the county, accompanied by two or three large dogs. He filled the office of sheriff with dignity, and exhibited a great kindness in his execution of the law. He was often known to furnish a poor family with his own money for repayment of a debt, rather than to make an arrest. Later life In his latter years he was fond of physical labor and of cultivating the land. Ebenezer Sproat died in Marietta in early 1805, either on January 7, or perhaps during February, with his oft-repeated wish of a sudden exit fully answered. He is buried adjacent to his father-in-law, Commodore Whipple, and near many other American Revolutionary War soldiers and pioneers at Mound Cemetery in Marietta. Notes References Andrews, Martin R.: History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois (1902). Barker, Joseph: Recollections of the First Settlement of Ohio, Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio (1958); original manuscript written late in Joseph Barker's life, prior to his death in 1843. Birthplace of the Northwest Territory, Northwest Territory Celebration Commission, Marietta, Ohio (1938). Cutler, Julia Perkins: The Founders of Ohio, Brief Sketches of the Forty-Eight Pioneers, Robert Clarke and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio (1888). Drake, Francis S.: Memorials of the Society of Cincinnati of Massachusetts, Boston (1873). Goodman, R. and Brunsman, B. J.: This Day in Ohio History, Emmis Books, Cincinnati, Ohio (2005). Hawley, Owen: Mound Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio, Washington County Historical Society, Marietta, Ohio (1996).