The Purchase on the Muskingum also called Ohio Company's Second Purchase, was a tract of land in the Northwest Territory, later Ohio, that the Ohio Company of Associates purchased from the United States federal government in 1792.

History

In 1787 the Ohio Company of Associates contracted to buy 1500000 acre of land in southern Ohio for one million dollars. They ended up only being able to raise $500,000, and so were sold a tract of 750000 acre, plus lands set aside for support of local schools, a college, and the clergy, for a total tract size of 913833 acre at the confluence of the Ohio River and the Muskingum River. The community of Marietta, Ohio was established in 1788.

Second Purchase

The United States granted veterans of the Revolutionary war land bounties for their service because money to pay them was short. The bounty depended upon rank. The associates of the Ohio Company gathered together their bounties in 1792 and accumulated a total of 142900 acre. The government allowed a one third discount on purchases by the Ohio Company, so the government allowed a total sale of 214285 acre. These lands were to the north and northwest of the First Purchase in portions of Morgan, Hocking, Vinton and Athens Counties. The Second Purchase was surveyed on the plan of the Land Ordinance of 1785. The Second Purchase had no sections set aside for schools or ministry.