History of public land law development

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252 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT erals serving in the Virginia regiments of the Continental Army were promised bounties of 15,000 and 10,000 acres, respectively, and all officers in either the Continental or Virginia regiments were granted an additional bounty of one-third of that previously promised. Finally, in 1782, all officers and men who served 3 years and had not been cashiered or superseded were entitled to have their respective bounties increased one-sixth for every year served beyond 6. The military bounty lands were to be located in the district between the Green, the Ohio, and the Mississippi Rivers in present Kentucky which was set aside for that purpose. When it became evident that the Kentucky district was not large enough to satisfy all the bounties, Virginia reserved, in its cession of lands north of the Ohio, the Virginia Military Tract between the Scioto and the Little Miami Rivers to take care of the balance.8 New York provided land bounties for its officers and soldiers in the Continental Line on a scale less generous than that of Virginia, perhaps because it had less land to distribute. Major generals were to have 5,500 acres; brigadier generals, 4,250 acres; colonels, 2,500 acres; majors, 2,000 acres; captains, 1,500 acres; subalterns, 1,000 acres; and noncommissioned officers and privates, 500 acres. In 1782 the state authorized the establishment of a military tract in central New York but not until 1789 were Indian rights extinguished and the tract ready for surveying.9 Land Bounties of the Revolution Continental Congress" Virginia New York North Carolina Pennsylvania Major Generals___ Brigadier Generals. Colonels 1,100 acres 850 500 15,000 10,000 5,000 5,500 4,250 2,500 2,000 1,500 800 12,000 7,200 Lieutenant Colonels 450 4,500 5,760 Majors 400 300 200 4,000 3,000 2,000 2,000 1,500 1,000 4,800 3,840 2,560 1,000 Captains 500 Lieutenants 400 Noncommissioned officers Privates 100 300 500 640 200 a Bounties given by the Continental Congress were in addition to those given by the states to its men in the Continental Line. North Carolina, third of the states in population, had an abundance of land west of the mountains in what is now Tennessee, and granted the largest bounties to officers and soldiers of the Continental Line. Its first act promised 200 acres and a prime slave to every soldier who served for 3 years in the Continental Army; the land was to be located west of the mountains and north of the Tennessee River. In 1780 the bounty was increased. Privates were to receive 640 acres; noncommissioned officers, 1,000 acres; subalterns, 2,560 acres; captains, 3,840 acres; majors, 4,800 acres; lieutenant colonels, 5,760 acres; colonels, 7,200 acres; and brigadier generals, 12,000. In addition 25,000 acres, a "little dukedom," a Tennessee representative called it, was granted to General Nathaniel 8 Hening, X, 55, 84, 375, 465. 9 Wayne R. Merrick, "The Military Tract of New York State," Ms. Study, pp. Iff.