Military Bounty-Land Applications

About a year ago, I discovered a new collection on Fold3 called, “Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Index”: www.fold3.com/browse/247/h_5UoXzIz

Bounty land was granted to soldiers who had engaged in military service for the United States, up through 1855. Issuing bounty land had two purposes: rewarding those who had served; and encouraging settlement of lands in the country’s western frontier.

I have several ancestors and a number of collateral relatives from Maryland who fought in the War of 1812, so I decided to check it out. As of 2019, the index only covers surnames beginning with A-L. Luckily for me, though, one of my ancestors was Nicholas Dell, and I was able to locate him in the index.

This is the information provided by the index for J. Nicholas Dell:

Full Name: J. Nicholas Dell
Rank: Private
Service Year: 1812
State: Maryland
Military Unit: Capt. Benjamin Goshrah [sic], Maj. Beall Randall
Warrant Number: 55-120-85321
Rejected: FALSE
Conflict Period: War of 1812
Served for: United States of America

It took me a while to figure out what all this information meant (especially the warrant number) and what to do with it, until I came across this blog entry: https://ongrannystrail.com/2016/04/21/war-of-1812-bounty-land-warrant-applications/

From this blog and other resources, I learned that there were 2 Acts of Congress that were pertinent to Nicholas Dell’s time of service. The 1850 Act awarded soldiers, if they were honorably discharged and had served for at least one month, bounty land warrants for 160 acres, 80 acres, or 40 acres of land, depending on their length of service. Nicholas Dell qualified for 40 acres.

The 1855 Act extended the warrants to all who had served honorably for at least 14 days (or in battle for any time period). The acreage allotment was also increased to 160 acres for all soldiers. Those who had received the lesser amounts in the first act could apply to receive a warrant for the balance under the second act. If the soldier had died in the meantime, his widow could apply in his place.

With this information about the Acts of 1850 and 1855 I was finally able to decipher the mysterious set of numbers following “Warrant Number” in the index entry. The “55” stands for the Act of 1855; “120” was the number of acres granted; and “85321” was the actual warrant number.

When someone applied for bounty land, he had to provide documents to prove his eligibility. All these documents were kept together in the “Military Bounty-Land Warrant Application File.” These original files are stored at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Since I knew Nicholas Dell’s warrant number, I was able to order his application file from the archives.

To order the Warrant Application for your own ancestor, you will need to know the warrant number, the name of the soldier, and the unit with which he served during the war. This is the link you need to order the records: https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/start.swe?SWECmd=GotoView&SWEPostnRowId=1-29XS&SWEView=GPEA+Product+Catalog+Category+Detail+View+FFO&SWEHo=eservices.archives.gov&SWEPostnApplet=GPEA+Product+Catalog+Category+Form+Applet+FFO

For the Warrant Application File, you will need form NATF 85C. You can either fill out the form electronically (recommended) or print it out and send it in with your payment. The fee for this file is $30 (much cheaper than the $80 fee for pension files).

You are given 3 delivery options for the files: a CD or DVD; paper; or electronic transfer. I highly recommend the electronic transfer option. It’s much faster and is more useful than a paper copy. I used this option for Nicholas Dell’s file, and I think it arrived in just a few weeks.

More in my next blog about what I learned from Nicholas Dell’s application file.