My German soldier, GGG-GF John Cline (AKA Johann Klein) settled in what was then Harrison County VA in the late 1700s near present day Weston (Lewis County). A Hardesty's History volume describes him as a British soldier who served under Cornwallis in the 1776 war. There were three soldiers named Johann Klein in the Ansbach-Bayreuth regiments, which were under Cornwallis at the Yorktown surrender. Johann Klein does not appear to be a common Hessian name otherwise. One of the Johann Klein soldiers deserted prior to the surrender at Yorktown and the other two (one being Johann Veit Klein) were imprisoned, first at Winchester and then at Frederick, MD. Johann Veit Klein eventually joined Armand's Legion. The third soldier stayed in the country also and did not go back to Germany. So all three are plausible candidates to be my ancestor. There is a John Kline (John Klein) who showed up in Von Heer's Dragoons in December, 1782, and this soldier does not list an American state as his own. Von Heers Dragoons were akin to military police who maintained discipline in the Continental Army areas and it would have been reasonable that the first Johann Klein who deserted before the Yorktown surrender was picked up by them. Moreover, Von Heers' Dragoons were largely of German origin (Von Heer was from Bayreuth) and in fact many didn't speak English. German deserters were not unusual and in fact desirable as American soldiers as they had no loyalty to either of the American factions. For that reason also the unit provided security for George Washington. That is the background, here is my question. Bounty Land Warrant #13280 is a bounty warrant for a John Kline who served in Von Heer's Dragoons. The warrant card in fact lists Matthew McConnell as assignee from John Klein, late a soldier in Von Heers Troop. However, there is no signature of John Klein. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of situation in these records? Based upon the way these records were handled, it would appear that John Klein would have had to sign some other paper in order to validate Matthew McConnell as his assignee. Would there be some other record of this bounty warrant with an actual signature by this John Klein? Finding a signature of this John Klein could be a critical piece of evidence for me in sorting out the three Johns as I have actual signatures of my Johann Klein in other Virginia records and could do a handwriting match. Thanks for the help-if anyone has any to give! Chris Cline