Agricultural colleges located by the several States, &c.—Continued.

Name and location.

Amount derived from sale

of United States land or
scrip.

Number of acres received from the United States in land in place, or scrip in lieu, by the several States.

University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebr..

University of Nevada, Elko, Nev.

New Hampshire College of Agricultural and the Mechanic Arts, Hanover, N. H..

Pennsylvania State College, State College, Pa
Brown University, Providence, R. I

439, 186

780, 000, scrip.

Tennessee Agricultural College, Knoxville, Tenn.

University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis..

South Carolina Agricultural College and Mechanics' Institute, Orangeburg, S. C

Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, College Station, Tex.
University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, Burlington, Vt..
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, Blacksburg, Va.
Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton, Va..
West Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va...

Total of 9,600,000 acres: In place, 1,770,000 acres; scrip, 7,830,000 acres.

*Prospective endowment is the Congressional grant to agricultural colleges, amounting in Colorado

to 90,000 acres; not yet in the market.

f Receives annually from the University of Georgia $3,500, part interest of the land scrip fund. :$327,000 of State bonds scaled to $196,200 of new State bonds. Estimated.

50,000

120, 000, scrip.

CHAPTER XIV.

LAND BOUNTIES FOR MILITARY AND NAVAL SERVICES.

From the earliest era of our history the policy of rewarding the defenders of the country has been marked by great liberality, and land bounties were promised at a period prior to the Nation's possessing public domain. These grants under general laws to June 30, 1880, amount to 61,028,430 acres.

CONGRESSIONAL ACTION.

The Colonial Congress, by a resolution passed September 16, 1776, made grants to the officers and soldiers who should engage in the service, and continue therein to the close of the war, or until discharged by Congress, or to the representatives of such officers and soldiers as should be slain by the enemy. Such lands to be provided by the United States-and the expense in procuring them to be borne by the States, as other expenses of the war: For a colonel, 500 acres; for a lieutenant-colonel, 450 acres; for a major, 400 acres; for a captain, 300 acres; for a lieutenant, 200 acres; for an ensign, 150 acres; to each non-commissioned officer and soldier, 100 acres.

September 20, 1776, the Colonial Congress amended the above resolve by providing that Congress should not grant lands to any person or persons claiming under the assignment of an officer or soldier.

August 12, 1780, the Continental Congress resolved that the land resolution of September 16, 1776, be extended so as to give a major-general 1,100 acres and a brigadiergeneral 850 acres.

April 23, 1783—

Resolved, That when Congress can consistently make grants of land they will reward in this way the officers, men, and other refugees from Canada.

The above was the origin in the United States of bounties of lands for military or naval service.

In early legislation certain tracts of country with defined limits were set apart for the satisfaction of the warrants, to which in locating they were restricted. The reservations were known as "military districts."

MILITARY RESERVATIONS AND LAND DISTRICTS.

LAND BOUNTIES FOR SOLDIERS SERVING IN THE CONTINENTAL LINE UNDER AUTHORITY OF CONGRESS.

For services in the "Continental Line," during the war of the Revolution, as stipulated in the resolution of Congress of September 16, 1776, bounty lands might be lo

cated in the

UNITED STATES MILITARY DISTRICT IN OHIO.

June 1, 1796, Congress set apart a tract of land for bounties in the "Northwestern Territory," now in the State of Ohio, for the officers and soldiers serving upon their establishment in the Revolutionary war, known as the "United States Military District," Ohio, of about 4,000 square miles, or 2,560,000 acres, embracing within its

limits, in whole or in part, the counties of Tuscarawas, Guernsey, Muskingum, Monroe, Coshocton, Holmes, Knox, Licking, Franklin, Delaware, Noble, and Lake.

The land warrants granted by the United States, under the act above mentioned, were restricted to and located exclusively in this military district, until after the passage of the scrip act of May 30, 1830, by which the revolutionary warrants, issued either by the General Government or by the Commonwealth of Virginia, could be exchanged for scrip, and the same located either in Ohio, Indiana, or Illinois.

The United States military warrants could also be located in the said district up to July 3, 1832, when it was provided by an act of Congress that all the vacant lands therein should be made subject to private sale, and the same were disposed of accordingly, and went into private hands.

Since that time these United States warrants could either be converted into scrip, under the said act of May 30, 1830, or the same could be located upon any of the public lands subject to sale at private entry, as the parties in interest might prefer. The right to locate, under act 22d June, 1860, however, expired by limitation of law June 22, 1863.

The warrants issued under the act of June 1, 1796, amounted, June 30, 1880, to 2,095,220 acres.

VIRGINIA MILITARY DISTRICT IN OHIO.

The district known as the "Virginia Military District," lying in the "Northwestern Territory" now in Ohio, between the Little Miami and Scioto Rivers, north of the Ohio River, and estimated to contain 6,570 square miles or 4,204,800 acres, was reserved in the cession by Virginia, in 1784, of her territory northwest of the river Ohio, for the purpose of satisfying the warrants issued, or to be issued, to the officers and soldiers of the Continental line, army and navy, under the laws of Virginia, for military services during the war of the Revolution, as they were promised by the legislature of the State.

The United States assumed this military land obligation of Virginia, and issued warrants in favor of individual owners.

The Virginia military district was ordered to be set aside in the ordinance of May 20, 1785, which provided for "ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory," as follows:

Saving and reserving always, to all officers and soldiers entitled to lands on the northwest side of the Ohio, by donation or bounty from the commonwealth of Virginia, and to all persons claiming under them, all rights to which they are so entitled under the deed of cession executed by the delegates for the State of Virginia, on the first day of March, 1789, and the act of Congress accepting the same, and to the end that the rights may be fully and effectually secured, according to the true intent and meaning of the said deed of cession, and act aforesaid, be it ordained, that no part of the land included between the rivers called Little Miami and Scioto, on the northwest side of the river Ohio, be sold, or in any manner alienated, until there shall first have been laid off and appropriated for the said officers and soldiers, and persons claiming under them, the lands they are entitled to, agreeably to the said deed of cession and act of Congress accepting the same.

The State of Virginia, December 9, 1852, in consideration of the passage of the "scrip" act by Congress of August 31, 1852, granted to the United States all the land in the Virginia military district not previously located by warrants. Up to June 30, 1861, the locations by warrants therein were 3,770,000 acres, leaving a small amount of unlocated land. The "scrip" issued by the act of August 31, 1852, and amended June 22, 1860, was for the commutation of all warrants fairly and justly issued or allowed by the authorities of the State of Virginia for Revolutionary services prior to March 12, 1852; the scrip thus issued in lieu of warrants to be locatable upon any of the public lands of the United States subject to sale at private entry.

It was evident that the Virginia military district did not contain sufficient land to satisfy all bounty claims. Up to June 30, 1880, there has been issued scrip for 1,041,976 acres. The unsurveyed and unappropriated lands in this district were ceded to the State of Ohio, February 18, 1871. They amounted to 76,735.44 acres, and were

appraised at $74,287.45. They were ceded by the State March 26, 1872, to the "Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College."

LAND BOUNTIES, WAR OF 1812 WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

Congress, December 24, 1811, January 11, 1812, and February 6, 1812, promised land bounties for services in the Army of the United States. These acts were to increase the existing military establishment. The first promised a bounty in lands, for five years' service, of 160 acres to each non-commissioned officer or soldier, to go to his heirs and representatives if he was killed in action or died in the service. In the second act, for raising certain regiments of infantry, artillery, and dragoons, the same bounty in lands was provided. These were for the permanent army. The act of February 6, 1812, gave authority to the President to call out 50,000 volunteers for twelve months. By this act the heirs of any non-commissioned officer or soldier who might be killed or die in the service were to receive 160 acres of land.

By the provisions of the act of May 6, 1812, land, not exceeding 6,000,000 of acres, was directed to be surveyed, reserved, and set apart for the purpose of satisfying the land bounties promised by the acts above set out; 2,000,000 acres to be surveyed in the then Territory of Michigan, 2,000,000 in the Illinois Territory, and 2,000,000 in the Territory of Louisiana, between the river St. Francis and the river Arkansas.

By the subsequent act of Congress approved April 29, 1816, it was declared that so much of the act of May 6, 1812, as directed that 2,000,000 acres should be surveyed, &c., in the Territory of Michigan, should be repealed, and that in lieu thereof 1,500,000 acres should be laid off in the Illinois Territory, and 500,000 acres in the Missouri Territory, north of the river Missouri. The great mass of warrants issued for that service has been satisfied under a lottery system, by locations in Illinois, Arkansas, and Missouri. The issue of such warrants, however, ceased 25th June, 1858, by limitation, in the act of 8th February, 1854, and even the right to locate them expired 22d June, 1863, that being the limitation fixed by the aforesaid act of 22d June, 1860.

The warrants for services in the war of 1812 could only be laid upon tracts in the six million acres embraced in the "military districts of Illinois, Missouri, or Arkansas." Subsequently, in virtue of the act of July 27, 1842, reviving authority for the issue of warrants for services in the revolution and war of 1812, all military land warrants could be located upon any of the public lands "subject to sale at private entry." MILITARY RESERVATIONS" OF PORTIONS OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN FOR SATISFYING LAND BOUNTIES.

The object of the "military reservation" system, or allotting a special tract or region of land or country to the satisfaction of a specific bounty grant made by Congress, was to induce settlement and cultivation in those localities by the soldier. The then remoteness of those districts from the great centers of population, the Eastern and Middle States, defeated the object, leaving the patented lands to pass into the hands of speculators, or become liable to forfeiture for non-payment of State taxes. These results led to the abandonment of the system, and to the extension of the privilege to the soldier or his assignee to select in satisfaction of the warrant any lands of the United States subject to private entry.

The soldier was still further benefited and protected by a stipulation existing in all the bounty-land laws prohibiting the seizure or sale by legal process of the warrant to pay any debt contracted prior to the issue of patent for the land selected, and all sales, letters of attorney, or written instruments affecting the title to the warrants executed prior to the issue thereof, are declared to be null and void, thus effectually securing to the soldier, if so disposed, a home for himself and family.

WARRANTS FOR SERVICES IN THE WAR OF 1812.

For services in the war of 1812 with Great Britain, there have been issued, pursuant to the act of May 6, 1812, and supplements, 29, 186 warrants, embracing an aggregate of

4,853,600 acres. For nearly all of these, patents have been issued to the individual warrantees or their heirs, in tracts, the greater portion of one hundred and sixty acres each, and the residue, or double bounties, of three hundred and twenty acres.

This includes the allowances to the inhabitants of the province of Canada who joined the armies of the United States, and served in the war against Great Britain. (See act of March 5, 1816.)

WARRANTS FOR SERVICES IN WAR WITH MEXICO.

The war with Mexico was proclaimed on the 13th of May, 1846, and on the 11th of February, 1847, an act was passed giving bounties for military service. It ordered that non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates who served in the war with Mexico in the volunteer army of the United States for twelve months, or who should be discharged for wounds or sickness prior to the end of that time, or in case of his death while in the service, then his heirs should receive a certificate or warrant from the War Department for the quantity of 160 acres of land, the same to be entered at any district land office on lands open to private entry; the certificate to be returned to the General Land Office, and patent to issue therefor.

There was in this act a provision for acceptance by applicant of a Treasury scrip for $100 at 6 per cent. interest in lieu of 160 acres of land. Those who served less than twelve months on like terms as to death or discharge for wounds were to receive each a warrant for 40 acres of land, or a Treasury scrip for $25, if preferred. The privileges of bounty lands were extended by the act of September 28, 1850, granting an 80-acre warrant, and relating to services in all the Indian wars since 1790, the war of 1812, and to the commissioned officers in the war with Mexico; by act of March 22, 1852, making land warrants assignable, and extending the provisions of the act of September 28, 1850, and by the act of March 3, 1855.

This last act made 120-acre, 100-acre, 60-acre, and 10-acre warrants, and extended the bounty-land privilege so as to make the entire classes receiving the same some 32 in number, in the Army, Navy, and elsewhere. It was a comprehensive act, embracing almost all the wars the United States had participated in. It granted to all officers and soldiers who had served in any war in which our country had been engaged, from the revolution to the 3d March, 1855, 160 acres each, or so much, with what had been previously allowed, as would make up that quantity. It extended the concession to a service of only fourteen days or an engagement in a single battle, and, in case of death, to the widow or minor children. (See Mayo & Moulton's Pension and Bounty-land Laws; see circular to registers and receivers, General Land Office, July 20, 1875, respecting the location and assignment of bounty-land warrants.)

TOTAL NUMBER OF WARRANTS ISSUED FOR MEXICAN WAR.

The total number of warrants issued under these several acts to June 30, 1880, has been 551,193, containing 61,028,430 acres (see statement, also showing outstanding warrants and areas), or more than twice the area of the State of Ohio or Pennsylvania, and a million of acres more in area than all the New England States with the addition of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.

All military bounty-land warrants under general laws are issued by the Commissioner of Pensions. After location they are forwarded to the General Land Office for examination and approval. After approval patents are issued from the General Land Office for the land.

Thousands of land bounties have been granted by special acts of Congress growing out of the wars prior to 1861, and not herein specifically set out. (See Statutes.) For existing laws upon this subject see chapter X, title "Bounty Lauds"; also secs. 2414 to 2446, R. S.