Interesting reading..... A bounty land warrant was a right to free land on the public domain. During the Revolutionary War the Continental Congress promised bounty land as an inducement to military service. For this war and other wars in which the United States engaged during the years 1812-1855, the issuance of bounty land warrants to veterans or their heirs as a form of reward for service was continued. On Sept. 16, 1776, Congress passed a resolution [Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, p. 763] promising free land in the public domain to officers and soldiers who continued to serve during the Revolutionary War or, if they were killed, to their representatives or heirs. The resolution provided that a private or noncommissioned officer would be entitled to 100 acres of bounty land, an ensign to 150 acres, a lieutenant to 200 acres, a captain to 300 acres, a major to 400 acres, a lieutenant colonel to 450 acres, and a colonel to 500 acres. In 1780 the resolution was extended to grant a brigadier general 850 acres and a major general 1,100 acres. The resolution was implemented by an ordinance passed by the Confederation Congress on July 9, 1788, which authorized the Secretary of War to issue land warrants to all eligible veterans upon application. When the Federal Government was formed in 1789 [1 Stat. 50], the Secretary of War retained the responsibility for processing applications and issuing bounty land warrants, although the Treasury Department was in charge of the public domain and supervised the individual's selection and location of land. The Department also issued the patents, which gave actual title to the claimed land. ttg-inc@tx.rr.com http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ttg13/ "'Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain "