35 The Winning of the West 



out a territory, in what is now the State of Ohio, 

 as the seat of a distinct colony, in time to become 

 one of the confederated States ; and they asked that 

 their bounty lands should be set off for them in this 

 territory. Two hundred and eighty-five officers of 

 the Continental line joined in this petition ; one hun 

 dred and fifty-five, over half, were from Massachu 

 setts, the State which had furnished more troops 

 than any other to the Revolutionary armies. The 

 remainder were from Connecticut, New Hampshire, 

 New Jersey, and Maryland. 



The signers of this petition desired to change the 

 paper obligations of Congress, which they held, into 

 fertile wild lands which they should themselves sub 

 due by their labor ; and out of these wild lands they 

 proposed to make a new State. These two germ 

 ideas remained in their minds, even though their pe 

 tition bore no fruit. They kept before their eyes the 

 plan of a company to undertake the work, after get 

 ting the proper cession from Congress. Finally, in 

 the early spring of 1786, some of the New England 

 officers met at the "Bunch of Grapes" tavern in Bos 

 ton, and organized the Ohio Company of Associates. 

 They at once sent one of their number as a delegate 

 to New York, where the Continental Congress 

 was in session, to lay their memorial before that 

 body. 



Congress was considering another ordinance for 

 the government of the Northwest when the me 

 morial was presented, and the former was delayed 

 until the latter could be considered by the commit- 



