10/09/2026
Today's book is a resource that can help you search whether your ancestors were given land for serving in the American Revolution.
"Military Bounty Land 1776-1855" by Christine Rose provides a wealth of resources regarding land given through the federal resolution passed on Sept. 16, 1776. It promised free federally granted land to officers and soldiers involved in the Revolutionary War. (After the war, several states offered their own additional land.)
In addition to whether or not they were given land, the book indicates whether they accepted it.
Land amounts were granted as follows: 1,100 acres to a Major General, 850 acres to a Brigadier General, 500 acres to a Colonel, 450 acres to a Lieutenant Colonel, 400 acres to a Major, 300 acres to a Captain, 200 acres to a Lieutenant, 150 acres to an Ensign, and 100 acres to a Private (the amounts were much higher for Virginia soldiers).
Because this had been an incentive to boost numbers in the American militia, the Secretary of War was appointed to process and issue the warrants for the bounty land.
The 1785 Land Ordinance provided a systematic system to survey the land that was part of the bounty land area.
After the Battle of Fallen Timbers, which resulted in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, the government designated the “United States Military Tract” in Ohio. Up until 1830, only soldiers NOT from Virginia could settle here. Virginia soldiers had a separate tract of land in Southwest/South Central Ohio.
Sadly, many of the original documents of the bounty land applications were destroyed by fire during the burning of Washington D.C., during the War of 1812.
There was also bounty land granted to War of 1812 soldiers. Any non-commissioned solider who enlisted for 5 years would be given 160 acres. This bounty land was located in Michigan, Illinois and Arkansas. Applicants could select their territory of choice, but not the exact tract of land.
Pictured:
Page 43: “Map of Military Reserves, 1778-1816” showing all the tracts of land reserved as bounty land in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee
Page 29: Map of Ohio’s Virginia Military District and the counties it encompasses, with major towns marked.
