Moses Cleaveland

Moses Cleaveland. . , Moses Cleaveland (1754-1806) served during the American Revolution as a captain in one of the three companies of Sappers and Miners in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A native of Connecticut, Cleaveland graduated from Yale University before entering the Army as a lieutenant in 1777. After the war Cleaveland practiced law, rose to the rank of brigadier general in the Connecticut militia, was a delegate to the state convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution, and served for more than 18 years in the general assembly. , Cleaveland took a special interest in western land speculation. He was one of 36 founders who formed the Connecticut Land Company in 1795 to develop 3.3 million acres in Connecticut's Western Reserve (located in the northeast corner of present-day Ohio). Cleaveland became one of the company's directors and superintendent in charge of surveying and settling the territory. In 1796, he led a party of 52 persons to negotiate with local Indian tribes, survey the land, and identify purchases. , That July, General Cleaveland landed at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The surrounding country, with proximity to the river and Lake Erie, had been identified as an excellent location for a town. Cleaveland had the area laid out in lots, and the members of his party named it Cleaveland in his honor. , The town grew slowly at first; the population reached only 150 by 1820. But Moses Cleaveland's little town on the Cuyahoga was destined to become one of the leading cities of the region. , Why did the place called "Cleaveland" eventually become known as "Cleveland"? One explanation as to why the spelling changed is that in 1831, Cleveland's first newspaper, the Cleveland Advertiser, could not fit the "a" in its headline, so the city became Cleveland. An alternative story is that Moses Cleaveland's surveying party misspelled the name of the future town on its original map. Whether these stories are believed to be true or not, no doubt that at some point, the maps or other documents (or newspapers) left the "a" off, and the public adopted the spelling. No matter what, Moses Cleaveland founded what would become his namesake city.