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Bounty Lands
Land
offered in return for military service was an old tradition and had been
carried on in the New World from the very beginning for those who served in
the colonial Indian wars.
It served 2 purposes:
Enticed men to enlist
Promoted settlements on the frontier with people who knew how to defend
those settlements.
in the American Revolution
America had little or no money to pay its soldiers. States offered
lands on their western frontiers instead. They had little to lose because
if the colonies lost the war they wouldn’t have to make good the promises
but if they won new people on the frontier would fortify the western
borders.
Original Colonies believed they owned whatever
land was west of them
Most bounty land
warrants were granted from 1788-1855
Colonial wars
1675-1763 [includes French – Indian Wars]
Revolution
1775-1783
War of 1812
1812-1815
Indian Wars
1815-1858
Mexican War
1846-1848
To get their
bounty the soldier or his heirs had to apply. These applications are
at the national archives and may be requested with the same request form as
for military records.
Applications
often left a wealth of information -
especially when heirs claimed land.
Individual
states also made offers -
Massachusetts offered land in Maine.
New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, & the
Carolinas on their Western Frontiers.
Virginia
granted
bounties for revolutionary service south of Green River Kentucky in Ohio
After the Revolution
CONGRESS WAS SLOW
to move on it’s promises. The warrant market was big business. major
brokers in the east bought them up and sold them for profit.
Loyalist
Lands - 1200 estates confiscated in New Jersey alone. Check out
records filmed by Salt Lake
Revolutionary Land Bounties were dispersed in:
Ohio
[Va Military District / U. S. Military District / Refugee Tract / Ohio
Company/ Symmes Purchase],
Kentucky,
Georgia,
S. Carolina, Alabama
War of 1812 & Mexican American War -
Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri
check
Sources to Go 1812 Warrants
Acts of 1850-1855
1850 - Rewards
for any officers & enlisted men who had not previously claimed a bounty,
but had served in any war since 1790, including Indian wars
9 months brought 160
acres
4 months brought 80
acres
1 month brought 40
acres
1855:
Made 160 acres the
minimum settlement and reduced service requirement to 14 DAYS - sometimes
even less, if they had travelled over 1,200 miles in service. A veteran
and his heirs, who had previously received less than 160 acres could apply
for the balance. Eligibility was extended to chaplains, wagon masters and
volunteers as in the Black hawk War etc.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
GAVE NO MORE BOUNTY LANDS FOR SERVICE AFTER 1855
because the Homestead
act was on its way [but Union officers were given special homestead
rights; such as the right to deduct their length of war service from the
5 year residency needed to prove their homestead]
TO FIND BOUNTY LAND RECORDS
Always check the
state archives for the state you are working in to see what they
have for military or land records - more and more land bounty info is coming
online.
Google using terms like "bounty land"
Kentucky to see if any kinds of databases come up that will help in your
search.
Forms for ordering Bounty Land records from the
National Archives
.
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