Excerpt from
History of Washington County, Ohio,
With
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches,
H.Z. Williams & Bro.
Publishers,
1881. Chapter XXXVI. Pg 439-443
Marietta – The Ancient Remains – Burial Places.
Description of the Mound Builders’ Fortifications and Monuments—Extent of the System of Works—
Quadranaou, Capitolium, and Sacra Via—The Great Mound—Its Partial Excavation in 1788—Measures
for the Preservation of the Works—Marietta Burial Places—Location of the Early Graves—Mound
Cemetery—Harmar Burying Ground—Old Grave at Harmar—Oak Grove Cemetery.
Description of the Pre-Historic Remains at Marietta.
The antiquities of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys afford a rich field for plodding
science, and one of mysterious and romantic interest for poetical imagination.
The vastness of the questions suggested by the simple but enduring earth
monuments which dot the valleys and crown the hills throughout the west and south—the
very fact that absolute knowledge concerning the people who reared them is so meagre,

The pre-historic remains in Marietta have engaged many pens. Probably no others in the Ohio valley or
in the vast basin of the Mississippi have been so often described. This fact is accreditable to two causes:
First, the peculiar character of the ancient works, as compared with others in the Northern Central States;
and second, the marked attention drawn to them by the planting of the colony of the Ohio company upon
the site of the old town. General Samuel Holden Passons wrote of the fortifications in private letters in
1785. Joseph Buell mentions them in his journal for the year 1786. Captain Jonathan Heart, of Fort
Harmar, wrote a letter upon them in January, 1791, which was published in the transactions of the
American Philosophical Society, volume III. Dr. Manasseh Cutler spent considerable time in examining
the works when he visited the settlement in 1788, and assisted Rufus Putnam in making measurements of
them. He afterwards incorporated much information concerning them in his notes to the charge at the
ordination of the Rev. Daniel Story, and constituted a valuable paper to one of the French scientific or
literary societies upon the subject. Caleb Atwater devoted a large space to the Marietta remains in his
general description of antiquities in the west, published in the Archaeologia Americana in 1819. Thaddeus
Mason Harris wrote of them in his Tour, printed in 1805. Ashe, the wholly unreliable English traveler, had
much to say of them in his works, and so had the erudite but eccentric Josiah Priest, whose American
Antiquities was published in 1833. It remained for Charles Whittlesey, esq., of Cleveland, to make the first
survey and accurate map of these wonderful creations of a lost race, in 1837. Among other writers who
have given them consideration we may mention William Henry Harrison, Professor Rofinesque, Dr. S. P.
Hilereth, and Squier and Davis, whose valuable work, published in 1848, formed the first of the
Smithsonian Institute Contributions to Knowledge. In this volume, among a wealth of accurate plates and
fine illustrations, is the map prepared by Mr. Whittlesey, and two views—one of the Great Mound, and one
of the whole system of works—from paintings by Charles Sullivan, now in the possession of A. T. Nye,
esq., of Marietta.
and the domain of speculation so vast, renders the whole subject fascinating in the
extreme.
The student who endeavors to solve any of the mightier problems to which
examination of ancient remains leads, will find himself almost at the outset confronted by
the great black curtain of oblivion through which no gaze can penetrate. He can only
discern what the great mound, the Quadranaou, the Capitolium, the far extending walls
of fortified towns, and the thousands of tumuli occupying coignes of vantage along the
Ohio and its tributaries, silently and solemnly attest that a vast race once dwelt in the land
and has passed away. Concerning the origin, career, and final fate of the people he will
gain no positive information. There is, to be sure, a general trend of evidence that the
race, who have been given the name of Mound Builders, came from Asia, by way of
Behring straits, passed southward to the central region of North America, occupied for a
considerable period the great basin of the Mississippi, and then by a slow, long continued
migration along the shores of the Father of Waters, reached the gulf, and ultimately
Mexico, where they obtained their highest civilization. The wide geographical
distribution of the earthworks received by this people (they extend from the Alleghanies
to the Missouri and Platte rivers), and the great size of many of the remains indicate that
the population must have been very large and was resident in the country. Caleb Atwater
estimated that in 1819 the population of Ohio was no greater than that which the same
territory sustained in the age unknown. It is highly probable that the ancient people were
even more numerous than the present population along the tributaries. The spontaneous
yieldings of earth, and the products of the chase could not have sustained so numerous a
people as the Mound Builders. They undoubtedly followed agriculture. A study of the
graves gives many hints as to the character of the race. There are many indications that
the people were semi-civilized. They had a rude knowledge of the arts. Spinning and
weaving were among the industries they practiced. They constructed pottery, some of
which exhibits of fine workmanship. That they had a knowledge of some science or art
similar to modern surveying is indisputable. Most of the larger earthworks remaining
give proof of this, in the absolute regularity and exactness of the circles, squares and
octagons of which they are constituted. It has been the almost universal opinion of those
who have given the subject much study, that the ancient people were strongly governed,
that they were the devotees of a superstitious religion observed with elaborate rites, and
that some form of vassalage prevailed among them.
That the race was either divided against itself or had an aggressive enemy is
indisputable indicated by the great number of that class of works designed solely for
defence. It is commonly believed by archaeologists that the exodus of this people was
enforced by their antagonists, who, it is supposed, swept down upon them from the north,
and very likely waged war upon them for a long period.
The ancient remains in this State, consisting of the various varieties of mounds,
graded ways, enclosures, etc., are chiefly confined to the valleys of the Ohio and its
tributary streams, and are most numerous along the Scioto, though they abound also upon
the Great and Little Miami, upon the Muskingum and the lesser streams. The number of
tumuli in the State may be safely estimated at ten thousand, and the number of enclosures
at one thousand or fifteen hundred. One circumstance in the location of greater works is
very noticeable. They occupied in numerous instances the sites destined for the present

Squier and Davis’ Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.
cities and village. The centres of the ancient and present population were the same in
southern Ohio. Like Marietta, the towns of Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Portsmouth,
Circleville, and many others that might be mentioned, are built over the embankments
and mounds indicating an ancient occupation of the country.
The ancient works at Marietta occupied the “plain,” and were included within the
territory north of Putnam street and east of Third (with the e3xception of the graded way,
extended down to the lower river terrace, at a point between Second and Front streets).
These works consisted originally of two enclosures (irregular squares, one of
which contained about forty and the other twenty acres), together with several truncated
pyramids or elevated platforms of earth, the graded way, the great mound now enclosed
in the cemetery, several embankments flanking it, and numerous lesser tumuli. The
portions of this interesting group of works remaining are the two truncated pyramids
known as Quadranaou and Capitolium, and the mere bed or bottom of the graded way,
Sacra Via.
When the settlement was made at Marietta these works were covered with a
heavy forest. “When I arrived,” says Dr. Cutler, “the ground was in part cleared, but
many large trees remained on the walls and mounds. The only possible data for forming
any probable conjecture respecting the antiquity of these works, I conceived must be
derived from the growth upon them. By the concentric circles, each of which denotes the
annual growth, the age of the trees might be ascertained. For this purpose a number of
trees were felled; and in the presence of Governor St. Clair and many other gentlemen the
number of circles was carefully counted. The trees of the greatest size were hollow. in
the largest of those which were found to contain at least four hundred and sixty-three
circles. Its age was undoubtedly more than four hundred and sixty-three years. Other
trees in a growing state were, from their appearance, much older. There were likewise
the strongest marks of a previous growth, as large as the present. Decayed stumps could
be traced at the surface of the ground, on different parts of the works, which measured
from six to eight feet in diameter. In one of the angles of a square a decayed stump
measured eight feet in diameter at the surface of the ground; and through the body of the
tree was so moldered as scarcely to be perceived above the surface of the earth, we were
able to trace the decayed wood under the leaves and rubbish for nearly a hundred feet. A
thrifty beech, containing one hundred and thirty-six circles, appeared to have first
vegetated within the space that had been occupied by an ancient predecessor of a
different kind of wood.”
Upon the hypothesis that the growth which he saw had occupied four hundred and
sixty-three years, and that it had been preceded by one of equal size and age, Dr. Cutler
estimated that at least nine hundred years had elapsed since the works had been deserted
by the people who constructed them.
We may remark in this connection that Clavigero, in his History of Mexico, says
that the emigration of the Toltecs commenced from their native country about the middle
of the sixth century.
The larger of the two square (or nearly square), fortifications, of which we have
spoken, was commonly called by the early inhabitants of Marietta, “the town.” The walls
were, at the time when first observed and measured, from six to ten feet in height, and
from twenty-five to thirty-five feet broad at the base. Through these walls there were,
upon three sides, three openings or gateways, of which the central ones were the largest.
The central one in the front facing the Muskingum was one hundred and fifty feet wide.
Immediately in front of this great gateway, and leading from it toward the river, its walls
running at right angles to those of the “the town,” was the covered way, and named by
some pioneer, of classical education, Sacra Via. This was a broad avenue, excavated so
as to descend by a perfect grade to the lower or latest formed terrace of the Muskingum,
at the foot of which it is supposed the stream flowed when the work was constructed.
The grade remains, but the walls thrown up at either side have long since been
demolished. They began at a distance of sixty feet from the gateway, were exactly
parallel, and six hundred and eighty feet long. They were one hundred and fifty feet apart
at their bases and two hundred and thirty feet at their summits, and the broad “way”
between them was rounded and raised like a modern city street. At the base of the grade
the walls were twenty-one feet in perpendicular height, measuring from the inside, while
at the same point upon the outside they were from eight to ten feet high, and much less at
the upper end of the avenue. This portion of the Marietta works along would be a
stupendous piece of conotruction even in this age; and in the era when it was executed
must have been a marvel of engineering and have required the patient, long continued toil
of a vast number of men. Not less remarkable were the four squares or truncated
pyramids (of which the two principal ones have been preserved), enclosed with the walls
of the ancient town. The largest of these, the Quadranaou, the location of which is now
best described by saying that it is upon the west side of Fourth street, north of Warren,
was in the northwest corner of the great enclosure. It was described by Squier and Davis
in 1847 as being one hundred and eighty-eight feet long, by one hundred and thirty-two
wide and ten feet high. Its apparent height is now a little less than this figure. It contains
more than a quarter of a million cubic feet of earth. At the centre of each of the four
sides the earth projects, forming gradual and easy ascents to the top. The elevated square,
next in importance, is the Capitolium, which is situated upon the northwest corner of
Washington and Fifth streets. The southern wall of “the town” originally extended along
Washington street very near the Capitolium. This elevated square is one hundred and
fifty feet long by one hundred and twenty wide, and is about eight feet high. Upon three
sides are projections or inclined ways leading to the level platform, but upon the south
side of the graded ascent is a recess, the measurements of which are equal to those of the
projections, or about twenty feet in width by forty in length. East of this square there was
originally another and a smaller one, which was known in earlier days as St. Cecelia. It
was a truncated pyramid, similar in general characteristics to the Quadranaou and
Capitolium, one hundred and twenty feet long by fifty wide and five or six feet high. It
had graded ascents only at the ends. In the northern angle of the enclosure was another
rectangular elevation which was never of as great a height as the others, and unlike them,
had no ascents.
The purpose for which these elevated squares and the great graded way leading
down to the Muskingum can of course, only be conjectured. The former, it has been
generally thought by students of archaeology, were designed as the sites of temples, and
were originally so occupied, but with edifices which, having been constructed of
perishable material, long since crumbled into dust. The surface of the elevated squares
which we have described is perfectly level, except where it has been upheaved by the
roots of falling trees, or burrowing animals. The squares bear a close resemblance to the
Teocalli of Mexico, upon which temples still stand. In Ohio there are but few of these
peculiar formations in connection with the great groups of works, and, in fact, besides the
Marietta squares there are none, except at Portsmouth, Newark and in the vicinity of
Chillicothe. At no one of these localities are the squares as large as those we have here
described. Works of this kind occur more frequently in the South, and investigators who
have travelled down the valley of the Mississippi and thence into Mexico, report that
there is exhibited quite a uniform and constant increase in the size of the squares until
they lead up to the mighty temple crowned Teocalli, in the land of Montezuma. Upon the
other hand, as we journey southward we find a decrease in the size and in the number of
enclosures of similar nature to those which abound in Ohio.
We have so far said but little of the smaller of the two enclosures which existed at
Marietta. As we have said its area was about twenty acres. This area is now about
equally divided north and south by Wooster street, and lies above Fourth street. This
enclosure, which formed the connection in the great system of the Marietta works
between the larger enclosure and the great mound, was many years ago obliterated. Its
walls were never as high as those of the larger enclosure called “the town.” There were
openings or gateways at the centre of each side and at the corners, which were defended
by mounds. It is conjectured that these two enclosures were not designed for defence
although they may of course have served that purpose. The ditch or fosse which often
occurs in connection with the walls of similar enclosures was wanting here, but it is not
improbably that palisades were planted upon the top of the embankments.
The most reasonable hypothesis to be adopted in accounting for the construction
of the so-called “forts” is that they were simply enclosures designed to protect the
temples and the sacred altars of the ancient people from the profane gaze or touch of an
alien race, or to guard them from the desecration by animals. They may also have served
as the place for great civic or religious assemblages, or the practice of something
analogous to the Olympian games. Very likely they contained the residences of the
priests or rulers of the people.
Most of the earth of which the so-called “forts” were constructed must have been
taken evenly from the surface of the ground within and around them, although
excavations commonly designated as “dug holes” were at an early day observable in
several places not farm from the works. Several of these have been supposed to be wells,
funnel-shaped like those in eastern countries, so that the water-carriers could go down
into them.
The large mound now inclosed in the cemetery, the most interesting feature of the
Marietta group of works, remains to be described. it is not larger than some others in
Ohio, but is probably higher in proportion to its base measurement, and is uniqe in its
accessories of embankment and fosse. It is thirty feet in height and its base is one
hundred and fifteen feet in diameter. It is surrounded by a ditch about fifteen feet wide
and four feet deep, outside of which is a wall about four feet high, and twenty feet or
more in breadth. There is an opening in this wall upon the north side and a filling in the
fosse, each about twenty feet in width. The surrounding wall and ditch do not form a
perfect circle but an ellipse, the longer diameter of which is two hundred and thirty feet,
and the shorter two hundred and fifteen feet. Originally there were a number of
fragmentary walls of slight elevation west and south of the great mound, forming an
imperfect reenclosure. There was also a wall extending from a point near the filling of
the fosse toward the south embankment of the smaller enclosure.
The mound was described by Squier and Davis in 1847 as being truncated. It so
appears at present and the memory of the oldest inhabitant cannot recall a time when it
was otherwise. The writer, however, has reason to believe that the mound as originally
constructed was a perfect mammalian. The Marietta mound is, doubtless, a sepulchral
mound, and it is probable that it contains (or did once contain) two chambers like the
great mound at the mouth of Grave creek, in West Virginia—one chamber being situated
upon a level with the surrounding plain, and the other midway between the base and the
apex of the mound. The flattening of the top my have been caused by the crushing in of
one or both of these chambers (the chambers are, in most cases, constructed of timber), or
by the uprooting of the great oak which Dr. Cutler, as quoted by Mr. Harris,  says that
“an opening being made at the summit of the great conic mound” (and it is worthy of not
that he used the word conic) “there were found the bones of an adult in a horizontal
position, covered with a flat stone. Beneath this skeleton were three stones placed
vertically at small and different distances, but no bones were discovered. That this
venerable monument might not be defaced, the opening was closed without further
search.” The skeleton found was doubtless not lower down than the middle of the
mound, that is to say, fifteen feet from the apex. In everyone of the few large mounds
excavated, which have a chamber near the top, there has been found another at the base,
and hence there is presumptive evidence that the bones of some might personage of the
ancient race lie as they were originally deposited in an unknow age, amidst the pomp and
splendor of strange and superstitious rites. While this mound is undoubtedly monumental
in its character, its unique accessory formations—the fosse and wall—would suggest that
the Builders had in view some other purpose than the rearing of a massive sepulchre. It
may have been utilized as a place for the observance of religious ceremonies.
Small mounds are usually to be found upon the hills overlooking the larger works
in the valleys. These are not wanting at Marietta. Harmar hill and the other eminences in
the vicinity of the great group we have described are crowned with them, and they occur
at intervals along the whole length of the Muskingum valley, and also those of the
Tuscarawas and the Ohio. It is conjectured that these mounds served the purpose of
coignes of vantage from which they approach of an enemy could be descried, and also
that they were signal stations from which beacon lights have flashed forth at night and
columns of smoke arisen in the day time as warnings of impending danger, or the means
of conveying quickly other information. it will be found that from one of these mounds
upon the valley wall, another similar mound can nearly always be seen, and that the
second commands a third, and so on. It is probably that these mounds formed systems
extending along the valleys and across the country. There are in Washington county
many small works and mounds, the most interesting of which are mentioned in the
histories of the localities in which they occur. It is scarcely necessary to say that there are
none which approach in magnitude the ancient remains at Marietta.
Preservation of the Ancient Works
The pioneers at Marietta exhibited a laudable disposition to preserve the strange
monuments left by a prehistoric people, and although much has necessarily been swept

Harris’ Tour, page 152
from existence, the most interesting portions of the great system have been preserved,
and nearly in the condition in which they were found. While the Goths and Vandals at
Circleville were razing to the ground the wonderful works which gave their town its
name, the citizens of Marietta were taking steps not only to guard against the immediate
obliteration of the remains within the town plat, but to secure their protection for all time.
The names which have been used in this chapter, Quadranaou, Capitolium, and the Sacra
Via, were bestowed upon the several works during the year 1788. A little later the Ohio
company passed the following resolution, which was the first measure adopted looking
toward the preservation of the ancient works:
Resolved, That Colonel Battelle, Colonel Crary, and Major Sergeant be a committee to lease the
public squares (to Samuel H. Parsons, Rufus Putnam, and Griffin Green, esqs.), the ones on which the great
mound stands, the Quadranaou, and Capitolium, for so long a time as they are not wanted for the uses for
which they were reserved. The committee are to point out the mode of improvement for ornament, and in
what manner the ancient works shall be preserved, and also to ascertain the amount of what is to be given.
In March, 1791, the company decided to lease public square No. I (Marie
Antoinette), containing the great mound, to Rufus Putnam for twelve years, on condition
that he should set out trees and make other improvements. On similar terms it was
proposed to lease square No. 2 (Capitolium), to Dudley Woodbridge for eight years, and
square No. 3 (Quadranaou), to Benjamin Tupper for ten years. It was resolved at the
same time that Sacra Via be not leased but that General Putnam should retain control of
it, seed it down, plant trees upon it, etc. It was specified that the trees to be set out on the
ancient works were to be of native growth. Subsequently Rufus Putnam, Paul Fearing,
and Dr. Jabez True were appointed trustees to take charge of the public squares until the
town should become incorporated, and lease them to proper persons, the avails of the rent
to be applied to the education of indigent orphans.
The large trees growing upon the Quadranaou are all of second growth and were
set out in accordance with the requirements of the Ohio company. This work, or rather
the question of its preservation and the right of the lessee to obliterate or deface it, was
the subject of a very warm controversy in 1820. The square containing the Quadranaou
had been leased to D. Hartshorn and he had transferred the right of possession to the Rev.
Joseph Willard. He began plowing down the truncated pyramid and the citizens
protested. Caleb Emerson, who was a member of the council, was active in opposing
Willard’s action. The council removed the square from Willard’s possession and leased
to C. D. G. Bonny, and a number of citizens turned out and repaired the damage done by
plowing. A discussion of the merits of the case was carried on for some months in the
newspapers between a writer who signed himself “Fair Play,” and Mr. Willard, and the
case was carried into the court, where it was decided in favor of the town. The council
claimed the square as a reservation granted to the town for public works, or public
buildings, and for the benefit of indigent orphan children.
The public squares had not been fenced, up to 1837, and some damage had been
caused to the ancient works, but in the year mentioned the citizens raised a sufficient sum
of money to repair the injuries effected and to build fences around the squares. Ichabod
Nye and Thomas Vinton were appointed by the council as a committee to make the
needed improvements and restorations. The large mound has, perhaps, been injured more
than either of the other remains, the water having washed the sides where the earth was
loosened by the feet of climbers. The uneven places were filled, the defective trees cut
down, and the entire surface of the mound sown with grass. In order that the symmetry
of the mound should not again be impaired by the displacement of earth consequent upon
many persons climbing its steep sides, a flight of stone steps was constructed by which
the summit could be easily gained. The mound has since been kept, by occasional slight
labor bestowed upon it, in the best possible condition, as have also the other remains.
The Capitolium is, however, at present unprotected by a fence, and is in danger of being
defaced.