(Image from Samuel Hildreth’s Pioneer History) Sketch of Fort Harmar. Garden area is in the foreground.

The 240th Fort Harmar Anniversary program will take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 100 Fort Square in Marietta.

The public is invited to attend and celebrate the milestone at the Fort Harmar Monument next to Harmar School. The Marietta Chapter Sons of the American Revolution Color Guard will present the Colors, wearing the uniform of those soldiers of 240 years ago. Historian Scott Britton will share stories of the frontier fort.

A special WMOA radio recording from their Pioneer City Past series featuring the late Louise Zimmer will be shared. The recording recounts the pageantry of Capt. David Ziegler’s company of 55 sharpshooters escorting Chief Cornplanter’s contingent from the Seneca Nation “in full ceremonial dress,” arriving for treaty talks at Fort Harmar.

Refreshments at the Fearing House Museum will follow the program. In case of bad weather, the program will be held at the Fearing House, 131 Gilman St., Marietta.

More information about Fort Harmar is available at https://www.mariettasar.com/fort-harmar

The 1st American Regiment of the United States was the first peacetime regular infantry unit authorized by the Confederation Congress after the American Revolutionary War. Organized in August 1784 at an authorized strength of 700 soldiers, it served primarily on the early American frontier west of the Appalachian Mountains.

On Nov. 5, 1785, 150 of these soldiers arrived at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers to establish Fort Harmar. Their task was to drive off squatters, restore order and lead America’s effort to establish new governance in the Northwest Territory.

More information is available at mariettasar.com or by contacting Sons of the American Revolution Secretary Jean Yost at 740-336-8060 or jean.yost@gmail.com.