Memorial honors Revolutionary War patriots in Marietta

Dozens gather to remember ancestors that helped settle the Mid-Ohio Valley.

The Marietta chapters of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution held a memorial at Mound Cemetery.

The ceremony honored patriots who moved to the Northwest Territory, an area provided for in the Ordinance of 1787, after the Revolutionary War. The area now makes up the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and the northeast section of Minnesota.

"Thirty-seven veterans buried here in this cemetery which is probably the largest group in one cemetery," Daughters of the American Revolution member Lila Hill said.

"Marietta and the Northwest territory is a result of the growth after the Revolutionary War," Sons of the American Revolution member Anthony Durm said, "so literally Marietta is the first footprint outside of the first 13 states."

Over 300 veterans of the war for independence are buried in Washington County.