Varnum, James M. (James Mitchell), 1748-1789

James Mitchell Varnum (December 17, 1748 – January 9, 1789) was an American legislator, lawyer, general in the Continental Army, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country.

Born in Dracut in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, as a young man, Varnum matriculated at Harvard College only to transfer to the college in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly known as "Rhode Island College" (the college later named Brown University), graduating with honors in their first graduating class. He then studied law under Rhode Island Attorney General Oliver Arnold and was admitted to the bar in 1771. He settled in East Greenwich, Rhode Island and pursued the practice of law. In October 1774, while tensions were rising between the American colonies and Great Britain, Varnum was elected as captain in command of the newly organized Kentish Guards, a chartered militia company in Varnum's home town of East Greenwich. In May 1775, following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Varnum was commissioned as colonel in command of one of the three regiments from Rhode Island, under the command of Brigadier General Nathanael Greene.

Varnum's regiment served throughout the Siege of Boston which ended with the evacuation of the British army on March 17, 1776. In December 1776 Varnum returned to Rhode Island to recruit more soldiers for the Rhode Island units in the Continental Army whose enlistments were about to expire. His stay in Rhode Island was brief because he was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Continental Army in February 1777. He then served as a brigade commander until he resigned in March 1779. In March 1779 Varnum resigned his Continental Army commission because of personal business matters. He was commissioned as the major general in command of the Rhode Island Militia on May 10, 1779, and held the position until May 7, 1788. He represented Rhode Island at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia from May 3, 1780, to May 1, 1782, and in the 8th Confederation Congress which convened in New York from November 6, 1786, to October 30, 1787. On August 29, 1787, he was chosen as one of the directors of the Ohio Company of Associates. On October 14 of the same year, Varnum was appointed as one of two "supreme" judges for the Northwest Territory. He then moved to Marietta, Ohio, to take up his duties. He was one of the early pioneers to the Northwest Territory, arriving in Marietta on June 5, 1788.

General Varnum died in January 1789, only seven months after his arrival in Marietta, of consumption. He was originally interred in the Mound Cemetery near the original settlement and later reburied the Oak Grove Cemetery in Marietta.