The payment provided to soldiers wounded during the American Revolution is the nation’s oldest form of Veterans benefit. Bounty land warrants are a close second. Three weeks after passing the law compensating the injured, the Continental Congress in September 1776 also approved a resolution awarding grants of public land to all who served in the Continental Army for the duration of the conflict. The amount of land varied with rank, ranging from 100 acres for privates and noncommissioned officers to 500 acres for colonels and 1,100 acres for major generals. After the Revolution, the federal government reserved several million acres in Ohio for the settlement of Veterans who earned a bounty land warrant. This tract of land was part of the territory the Native American tribes of the region ceded by treaty in 1795 after the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
For a nation with limited financial resources, the bounties were an appealing tool to encourage enlistment and reward military service. Congress readily used the promise of free land for this purpose during the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, although it restricted eligibility to enlisted men and noncommissioned officers. In both conflicts, the size of the grant was fixed at 160 acres. The government set aside six million acres in Michigan, Illinois, and Louisiana for War of 1812 recruits who enlisted for five years or until discharged. Volunteers for the Mexican War benefited from more generous terms. They qualified for the bounty after only a year of service and could exchange their warrants for any property in the public domain. In the 1850s, Congress responded to pressure from survivors of the War of 1812 and passed a series of more liberal bounty laws. These measures culminated in the 1855 act that awarded 160 acres to Veterans (or their widows or minor children) of any war since 1790, regardless of rank or type of military service, provided they served at least 14 days or fought in one battle.
More than 260,000 Veterans or their heirs claimed warrants under the 1855 act. Overall, the different bounty land laws enacted between 1776 and 1855 resulted in the federal government dispensing over 500,000 warrants encompassing more than 61 million acres. How many Veterans used the warrants to obtain a parcel of land is unknown. Most probably sold them to land speculators at a reduced rate. The practice of issuing land grants to new recruits ended with the Mexican War. During the Civil War, Congress decided to make the western lands freely available to all Americans by passing the Homestead Act of 1862. While this legislation and the earlier bounty laws were a boon to those who acquired property, these measures had a devastating effect on the Indian nations that were dispossessed from the land.
By Jeffrey Seiken, Ph.D.
Historian, Veterans Benefits Administration
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History of VA in 100 Objects
Object 80: LUKE/DEKA Prosthetic Arm
In the 19th century, the federal government left the manufacture and distribution of prosthetic limbs for disabled Veterans to private enterprise. The experience of fighting two world wars in the first half of the 20th century led to a reversal in this policy.
In the interwar era, first the Veterans Bureau and then the Veterans Administration assumed responsibility for providing replacement limbs and medical care to Veterans.
In recent decades, another federal agency, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), has joined VA as a supporter of cutting-edge research into artificial limb technology. DARPA’s efforts were spurred by the spike in traumatic injuries resulting from the emergence of improvised explosive devices as the insurgent’s weapon of choice in Iraq in 2003-04.
Out of that effort came the LUKE/DEKA prosthetic limb, named after the main character from "Star Wars."
History of VA in 100 Objects
Object 79: VA Study of Former Prisoners of War
American prisoners of war from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam faced starvation, torture, forced labor, and other abuses at the hands of their captors. For those that returned home, their experiences in captivity often had long-lasting impacts on their physical and mental health. Over the decades, the U.S. government sought to address their specific needs through legislation conferring special benefits on former prisoners of war.
In 1978, five years after the United States withdrew the last of its combat troops from South Vietnam, Congress mandated VA carry out a thorough study of the disability and medical needs of former prisoners of war. In consultation with the Secretary of Defense, VA completed the study in 14 months and published its findings in early 1980. Like previous investigations in the 1950s, the study confirmed that former prisoners of war had higher rates of service-connected disabilities.
History of VA in 100 Objects
Object 78: French Cross at Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn
In the waning days of World War I, French sailors from three visiting allied warships marched through New York in a Liberty Loan Parade. The timing was unfortunate as the second wave of the influenza pandemic was spreading in the U.S. By January, 25 of French sailors died from the virus.
These men were later buried at the Cypress Hills National Cemetery and later a 12-foot granite cross monument, the French Cross, was dedicated in 1920 on Armistice Day. This event later influenced changes to burial laws that opened up availability of allied service members and U.S. citizens who served in foreign armies in the war against Germany and Austrian empires.
