the commanding officer of his company, battalion, or regiment, a certificate, that he had faithfully performed his duty, whilst in service, he shall, moreover, be allowed and paid, in addition to the said bounty, three months' pay, and one hundred and sixty acres of land, and the heirs and representatives of those non-commissioned officers or soldiers who may be killed in action, or die in the service of the United States, shall likewise be paid and allowed the said additional bounty of three months' pay, and one hundred and sixty acres of land, to be designated, surveyed and laid off at the public expense, in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as may be provided by law.(1) 1331. The president is hereby authorized to cause to be surveyed a quantity of the public lands of the United States, fit for cultivation, not otherwise appropriated, and to which the Indian title is extinguished, not exceed. ing in the whole six millions of acres, two millions to be surveyed in the territory of Michigan, two millions in the Illinois territory, north of the Illinois river, and two millions in the territory of Louisiana, between the river St. Francis and the river Arkansas; the said lands to be divided into townships, and subdivided into sections and quarter sections, (each quarter section to contain, as near as possible, one hundred and sixty acres,) in the manner prescribed by law for surveying and subdividing the other public lands of the United States; the same price to be allowed for surveying as is fixed for surveying the other public lands in the same territory. And the lands thus surveyed, with the exception of the salt springs and lead mines therein, and of the quantities of land adjacent thereto, as may be reserved for the use of the same by the president of the United States, and the section number sixteen in every township to be granted to the inhabitants of such township for the use of public schools, shall be set apart and reserved for the purpose of satisfying the bounties of one hundred and sixty acres, promised to the noncommissioned officers and soldiers of the United States, their heirs and legal representatives, by acts 24th December, 1811, and 11th January, 1812.(2) 1332. The secretary of the department of war, for the time being, shall, from time to time, issue warrants for the military land bounties to the persons entitled thereto by the last mentioned acts, or either of them: Provided always, That such warrants shall be issued only in the names of the persons thus entitled, and be by them or their representatives applied for within five years* after the said persons shall have become entitled thereto; and the said warrants shall not be assignable or transferable in any manner whatever.(3) 1333. Every person in whose favour such warrants shall have been issued, shall, on delivery of the same at the office of the secretary of the treasury, or of such other officer as may at the time have, by law, the superintendence of the general land office of the United States at the seat of government, be entitled to draw by lot in such manner as the officer, at the head of the land office, under the direction of the president of the United States may prescribe, one of the quarter sections surveyed by virtue of the first section of this act, in either of the said territories which the person in whose favour such warrant has issued may designate. And a patent shall thereupon be granted to such person, for such quarter section, without requiring any fee therefor.(4) (1) Act 11th January, 1812, sec. 12. (2) Act 6th May, 1821, sec. 1. (3) Ibid. sec. 2. Ibid. sec. 3. Extended to five years from 4th March, 1819, by act 24th February, 1819; and to five years from 26th May, 1824, by act of that date. 1334. No claim for the military land bounties aforesaid, shall be assignable or transferable in any manner whatever, until after a patent shall have been granted in the manner aforesaid. All sales, mortgages, contracts, or agreements, of any nature whatever, made prior thereto, for the purpose, or with intent of alienating, pledging, or mortgaging any such claim, are hereby declared and shall be held null and void; nor shall any tract of land, granted as aforesaid, be liable to be taken in execution or sold on account of any such sale, mortgage, contract or agreement, or on account of any debt contracted prior to the date of the patent, either by the person originally entitled to the land, or by his heirs or legal representatives, or by virtue of any process, or suit at law, or judgment of court against a person entitled to receive his patent as aforesaid.(1) 1335. Every non-commissioned officer, musician, and private, who shall, after the promulgation of this act, be recruited in the regular army of the United States, may, at his option, to be made at the time of enlistment, engage to serve during the present war with Great Britain, instead of the term of five years; and shall, in case he makes such option, be entitled to the same bounty in money and land, and to all other allowances, and be subject to the same rules and regulations as if he had enlisted for the term of five years.(2) 1336. In order to complete the present military establishment to the full number authorized by law, with the greatest possible despatch, there shall be paid, to each effective able bodied man, who shall be duly enlisted into the service of the United States, after the first day of February next, to serve for the term of five years, or during the war, an advance of twenty-four dollars, on account of his pay, in addition to the existing bounty, one half of such advance to be paid at the enlistment of the recruit, and the other half when he shall be mustered and have joined some military corps of the United States for service: and a bounty of one hundred and sixty acres of land, as heretofore established by law.(3) 1337. Each man recruited under the authority of this act, (July 5, 1813,) shall be allowed the same bounty in money and land as is allowed by law to men enlisted for five years or for the war, and the officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, shall receive the same pay, clothing, subsistence, and forage, be entitled to the same benefits, be subject to the same rules and regulations, and be placed, in every respect, on the same footing as the other regular troops of the United States.(4) 1338. Each man enlisted under the authority of this act, (Jan. 28th, 1814,) shall be allowed the same bounty in land and money as is allowed by law to men enlisted for five years, or during the war.(5) Each man recruited under the authority of this act, (10th Feb. 1814,) shall be allowed the same bounty in land and money as is allowed by law to men enlisted for five years, or during the war.(6) 1339. The volunteers which shall be taken into service, under the authority of sec. 1, act 24th February, 1814, shall be entitled to the same bounty, pay, rations, clothing, forage, and emoluments, of every kind, and to the same benefits and allowances, as the regular troops of the United States.(7) 1340. In lieu of the bounty of one hundred and sixty acres of land now allowed by law, there shall be allowed to each non-commissioned officer and soldier, hereafter enlisted, when discharged from service, who shall have (1) Act 6th May, 1812, sec. 4. (5) Act 28th Jan. 1814, sec. 2. obtained from the commanding officer of his company, battalion, or regiment, a certificate, that he had faithfully performed his duty, whilst in ser vice, three hundred and twenty acres of land, to be surveyed, laid off, and granted, under the same regulations, and in every respect in the manner now prescribed by law; and the widow and children, and if there be no widow nor child, the parents of every non-commissioned officer and soldier, enlisted according to law, who may be killed or die in the service of the United States, shall be entitled to receive the three hundred and twenty acres of land as aforesaid; but the same shall not pass to collateral relations, any law heretofore passed to the contrary notwithstanding.(1) 1341. Any person subject to militia duty, who shall, according to law, furnish a recruit for the army of the United States, at his own expense, to serve during the war, shall thereafter be exempt from militia duty during the war; and every recruit thus furnished, shall be delivered to some recruiting officer of the United States, who shall immediately grant his receipt for such recruit, to the person furnishing him, and shall forthwith report the same to the department of war, and shall specify in the report the name of such person, and his place of residence, as well as the name and description of the recruit, whereupon it shall be the duty of the secretary for the department of war, to grant to the person furnishing such recruit, a certificate of exemption from militia duty during the war, upon calls made upon authority of the United States, which certificate shall be good and available to all intents and purposes for that object; and every recruit, thus furnished, shall be entitled to the bounty in land, in the same manner, and upon the same conditions, as the other recruits in the army of the United States.(2) 1342. Whenever any non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, having served in any of the corps of state troops or volunteers, raised by virtue of this act, during two years, or who, having engaged to serve two years, shall have been discharged, in consequence of the termination of the present war, shall have obtained from the commanding officer of his company, battalion, or regiment, a certificate, that he had faithfully performed his duty, whilst in service, he shall be allowed, in addition to the emoluments allowed in this act, one hundred and sixty acres of land; and the widow and children, and if there be no widow or child, then the parents of such non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, as may have engaged for a term of service not less than two years, and who may be killed in action or die in the service, shall likewise be allowed the said quantity of one hundred and sixty acres of land, which shall be surveyed and granted in the manner provided by the act, entitled, " An act to provide for the designating, surveying, and granting the military bounty lands."(3) 1343. All such persons as had been citizens of the United States, anterior to the late war, and were, at its commencement, inhabitants of the province of Canada, and who, during the said war, joined the armies of the United States, as volunteers, and were slain, died in the service, or continued therein, till honourably discharged, shall be entitled to the following quantities of land respectively, viz: Each colonel, nine hundred and sixty acres ; each major, eight hundred acres; each captain, six hundred and forty acres; each subaltern officer, to four hundred and eighty acres; each noncommissioned officer, musician, or private, to three hundred and twenty acres; and the bounties aforesaid shall extend to the medical and other staff, who shall rank according to their pay. And it shall be lawful for the (1) Act 10th Dec. 1814, sec. 4. (2) Ibid. sec. 5. (3) Act 27th Jan. 1815, sec. 7. said persons to locate their claims in quarter sections, upon any of the unappropriated lands of the United States within the Indian territory, which shall have been surveyed prior to such location, with the exception of salt springs and lead mines therein, and of the quantities of land adjacent thereto, which may be reserved for the use of the same, by the president of the United States, and the section number sixteen, in every township, to be granted to the inhabitants of such township for the use of public schools; which locations shall be subject to such regulations, as to priority of choice, and the manner of location, as the president of the United States shall prescribe.(1) 1344. The secretary for the department of war, for the time being, shall, from time to time, under such rules and regulations, as to evidence, as the president of the United States shall prescribe, issue, to every person coming within the description aforesaid, a warrant, for such quantity of land as he may be entitled to by virtue of the aforesaid provision; and in case of the death of such person, then such warrant shall be issued to his widow, or if no widow, to his child or children.(2) 1345. From and after the passing of this act, no bounty in land shall be given to any Canadian volunteer, except where it shall appear that the full term of six months' service shall have been performed in some corps in the United States service, and whose name shall appear upon the muster rolls of such corps: Provided, That where it shall appear that the said term of service had not been performed by reason of wounds received in battle, or other disabilities, occasioned by the performance of his duty while in such corps, such claimant shall be considered as having performed the full term of service for which he had engaged.(3) 1346. All warrants issued in pursuance of the act, entitled, "An act granting bounties in land and extra pay to certain Canadian volunteers," and which have not been located, and those which shall be issued in pursuance of this act, shall be located on such lands as have been offered at public sale according to law, and no other.(4) 1347. Instead of the bounty given in the act hereby amended, the following rates shall be given: For a colonel, four hundred and eighty acres ; for a major, four hundred and eighty acres; for a captain, three hundred and twenty acres; for a subaltern, three hundred and twenty acres; to a non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, one hundred and sixty acres; and to the medical and other staff, in proportion to their pay.(5) All such parts of the act hereby amended, as shall be inconsistent with, or contravene the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.(6) This act, together with the act hereby amended, shall continue, and be in force, for the term of one year, and no longer.(7) 1348. The holders by assignment of warrants issued under the acts of congress of the 5th March, 1816, and 3d March, 1817, to Canadian volunteers, are authorized to locate such warrants and to receive patents therefor in their own names as had been the practice before the 26th December, 1819: Provided, That in no case shall lands be so located, until after having been exposed to public sale, shall remain unsold.(8) When any non-commissioned officer, musician, or private soldier of the regular army of the United States, shall have been killed in battle, or have (1) Act 5th March, 1816, sec. 1. (2) Ibid. sec. 2. (3) Act 3d March, 1817, sec. 1. (4) Ibid. sec. 2. (5) Ibid. sec. 3. (8) Act 3d March, 1821. ↑ died of wounds or disease, while in the service of the United States, during the late war, and have left a child or children under sixteen years of age, it shall be lawful for the guardian of such child or children, within one year from the passing of this act, to relinquish the bounty land, to which such non-commissioned officer, musician, or private soldier, had he survived the war, would have been entitled; and, in lieu thereof, to receive half the monthly pay to which such deceased person was entitled, at the time of his death, for and during the term of five years, to be computed from and after the seventeenth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, the payment thereof to be made when and where other military pensions are or shall be paid; and where a warrant for the military bounty land aforesaid shall have been issued to or for the use of the child or children of any such deceased non-commissioned officer, musician, or private soldier, such child or children, or either of them, being under sixteen years of age, it shall be lawful for the guardian of such minor or minors, to surrender and deliver such warrant into the office for the department of war, within one year from the passing of this act; of which surrender and delivery, the secretary of that department shall give notice to the secretary of the treasury, who shall thereupon give the requisite orders for the payment of the half pay hereby provided for.(1) The widows and children of soldiers of the militia, the volunteers, the rangers, and the sea-fencibles, who served during the late war, and for whom half pay for five years was provided, by an act passed on the sixteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, entitled, “ An act making further provision for military services during the late war, and for other purposes," shall be placed on an equality as to their annual allowance, that is to say: Such widows, and in case of no widow, such children as may be embraced in the before recited act, shall be entitled to receive, (as the half pay to which they are entitled,) at the rate of forty-eight dollars per annum, and no more; and the widows and children, aforesaid, of the officers of the different corps, aforesaid, shall be entitled to the half pay of the officers of the infantry.(2) The further time of two years shall be allowed to the guardians of the minor children of deceased soldiers, to relinquish their claims to bounty lands for five years' half pay, according to the second section of the before recited act, to which this is a supplement, passed the sixteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen.(3) The widows and children of the non-commissioned officers of the rangers, shall be placed on the same footing as to half pay, for five years, with the widows and children of the infantry.(4) The provisions of the second section of the act to which this is a supplement, shall be, and the same are hereby, extended to all cases where either of the children therein mentioned shall have been under sixteen years of age at the time of the father's decease: Provided, The guardian of such minor children shall, in addition to the relinquishment by said act required, file, in the office of the department of war, evidence of the assent of all the other heirs, if any there be, of said deceased soldier, or of their guardians, to such relinquishment.(5) In all cases where the child or children of a regular soldier, deceased, have the right, under the laws of the United States, to relinquish their bounty in land, for five years half pay, the said child or children shall be enti (1) Act 16th April, 1816, sec. 2. (4) Ibid. sec. 4. (5) Ibid. sec. 5. |