 During Col. William Stacy 's post @-@ war life , he was a pioneer , helping to establish Marietta , Ohio as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory . He was active in the Marietta pioneer community , and served as foreman of the first Grand Jury in the Northwest Territory , an event establishing the rule of law in the territory . At the age of 56 , he ice skated thirty miles up a frozen river , warning two of his sons of a possible Indian attack , which occurred several days later as the Big Bottom massacre and marked the beginning of the Northwest Indian War . 
