The Short Story of Military Land Bounty Warrants

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In the United States many of our ancestors who served in wars were given military land bounty warrants which they could have used to acquire land if they so desired.  This genealogy entry will present a brief overview of the bounty land warrant history which you may find useful in doing genealogy research.

The United States granted bounty land warrants from 1788 to 1855, to those who had performed military service.  Several individual states from the original colonies and the United States, around the time of the Revolutionary War used these bounty land warrants to attract soldiers.  During the War of 1812 the United States government alone did the same thing.

Land Warrants were similar to checks.  A land warrant could be endorsed on the back and then used by the endorsee, otherwise known as assigning the warrant.  Once a warrant was assigned it was out of the veterans hands.  A warrant only conveyed how much land was authorized for a patent and survey.  No land title passed in a warrant.  The land still had to be patented, surveyed and granted by the governor’s office.  There are no records indicating that a soldier did not use his warrant or assigned it to someone else.

Of the bounty land warrants distributed by the United States, most could only be used in military districts.  The land included in military districts was primarily in Ohio, a few central sates and some eastern states.  Bounty land warrants issued by the states alone had their own rules.  Bounty land warrants were issued to officers and non-commissioned soldiers but not to those who were only considered patriots (supplied food, clothing, etc.)

The majority of bounty land warrants from the Revolutionary War period were sold or assigned by the soldiers or warranties to other people interested in the land.  It was not uncommon for a state issued land warrant to go unused, and then the soldier later apply for a federally issued land warrant based on service time and pension demands.

From 1847 to 1855 the United States passed out increasingly liberal bounty land warrants.  This was done to attract soldiers to the Mexican War.  Later it was used to compensate veterans of all wars, including Indian Wars, since 1790.  Still later, veterans of the Revolutionary War were included.

In the 1850’s various acts extended the eligibility for bounty land warrants to include the regular navy, army, militia and Indians who were pressed into service.   Once again, the majority of soldiers who received bounty land warrant between 1847 and 155 did not use them for themselves but sold them to other.  These particular warrants could be used to get hold of land anywhere in the public domain states such as Missouri and Illinois.

Unfortunately for Civil War soldiers, no land bounty warrants were offered to them.  As a consolation, Union soldiers could deduct the amount of time they served in the war from the residency constraints of the 1862 Homestead Act.

It is important to have some knowledge of land records when doing genealogy research.  Military bounty land warrants are part of the genealogies of many families who had a member in the military before 1855.