Patriot In Lay Terms

Guide 5 of 10 · Sources last checked 2026-10-31 · Written with AI; every fact is tied to a quoted official source (how this works)

Bounty Land Warrants: What They Prove, and What They Don't

New here? What DAR, SAR, NSCDA, "lineage society", "patriot", "bounty land" and "Stat." mean
  • Patriot: someone who supported the cause of American independence, for example by fighting in the battles of the Revolution, serving in the Continental Congress or signing the Declaration of Independence.[1]
  • DAR: the Daughters of the American Revolution, open to any woman 18 or older who can prove she descends from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence.[2][3]
  • SAR: the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, open to any man 18 or older who can prove he descends from a patriot of the American Revolution.[1]
  • NSCDA: The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, whose members descend from men and women who served the American colonies before July 5, 1776.[4]
  • Lineage society: a group whose membership is based on lineage, meaning you join by proving you descend from an ancestor the society accepts, as with DAR, SAR and NSCDA.[5][3][1]
  • Bounty land: free public land. A bounty-land warrant was a right to free land in the public domain, granted to veterans and their heirs for their service.[6]
  • Stat.: short for the Statutes at Large, the published federal laws. A citation such as "5 Stat. 128" gives the volume number, then the page in that volume.[7]

The same definitions on the home page

Bounty land was a promise of land in exchange for service. For a researcher, the files it created are evidence of service and, often, of family. They are weak evidence of where an ancestor lived, because many warrants were sold. This guide sorts out which is which.

Federal bounty land in brief

In plain terms, a bounty-land warrant was a right to free land in the public domain, granted to veterans and their heirs for their service.[6] After the war, these grants became a form of reward.[6]

A Continental Congress resolution of September 16, 1776 was the basic law for federal Revolutionary War bounty-land warrants until 1855.[6] It gave 100 acres to each noncommissioned officer and soldier.[6] A 1780 resolution extended grants to generals: 850 acres for a brigadier general and 1,100 acres for a major general.[6] The act of March 3, 1855 offered 160-acre warrants to veterans who served as few as 14 days or fought in any battle, and covered their widows and minor children.[6] An 1856 act extended that to naval and marine personnel.[6] Bounty-land files relate to wartime service between 1775 and March 3, 1855.[8]

Proof-value table

QuestionWhat a bounty-land file can showReliability
Did he serve?An approved warrant rests on claimed service; Virginia certificates verify service[9]Strong for service
Where did he live?The land named is not necessarily where he lived: many recipients stayed home and sold the warrants[6]Weak for residence
Did he own the land?Virginia certificates were often sold or assigned to speculators[9]Weak for ownership
Who was his family?Files can hold applications by widows or heirs, Bible pages and marriage-record copies[6]Strong when heirs applied

A warrant holder could "locate" it, choosing public land in exchange.[6] Because many holders sold instead, a land entry far from home is not, on its own, evidence that the family moved.[6]

Where the files are

Many bounty-land files for Revolutionary War and War of 1812 service were combined with the pension files, so search M804 first.[8] A separate unindexed series includes disapproved applications based on Revolutionary War service.[8] On the envelope, B. L. Wt. marks a bounty-land file[6], and a trailing "55" marks a warrant under the 1855 act.[6] Warrants used in the Ohio military district under the acts of 1788, 1803 and 1806 are a separate federal series, M829.[10] NARA orders pension and pre-1856 bounty-land files with NATF Form 85.[8]

State bounty land: the Virginia example

States granted their own bounty land as well. Virginia began after a 1779 legislative act.[9] Its grants called for at least three years of continuous Continental or state service.[9] Militia service earned no Virginia state bounty land.[9] Grants ran from 100 acres for a soldier or sailor to 15,000 acres for a major general.[9] Virginia issued 9,926 certificates between 1782 and 1876.[9] Heirs kept filing for decades, so a late claim can still name children and grandchildren.[9] Claimants proved service with discharge papers or affidavits from officers and fellow soldiers.[9] Virginia bounty land lay in present-day Kentucky or Ohio.[9] Warrants later surrendered for federal scrip are held by the National Archives with their application records.[9]

How to use a bounty-land file in an application

  1. Use it for service. Cite the file and the page that states the service.
  2. Use it for family only where an heir or widow states the relationship.
  3. Do not use the land location alone as residence. Pair it with tax, deed or census records from the same place.
  4. Log any mismatch between the land and the family's known home as a conflict in the Lineage Evidence Matrix, then resolve it.

Related guides: How to Read a Pension File, Revolutionary War Records by State.

What to do next

  1. Record the patriot and each generation in the free Lineage Evidence Matrix. It gives you a to-do list of what is missing and where to look, fitted to each person's era and state, and a plan you can print.
  2. If a widow applied for a pension, check which widow pension laws fit with the free Widow Pension Law Checker.
  3. Find a local chapter. DAR's Chapter Locator finds DAR chapters in your area.[11] For SAR, your sponsor is often the local chapter registrar; pick your state on SAR's contact page.[12]
  4. Start the application with that person's help: a DAR member, or your SAR sponsor, helps guide you through it.[3][12]

Next guide: From the 1850 Census Back to 1776: Bridging the Unnamed-Household Gap · All 10 guides

Sources

  1. SAR — About (Mission & Goals). Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.sar.org/sar-missions-and-goals/
  2. DAR — What is DAR?. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.dar.org/discover/become-member/what-dar
  3. DAR — How to Join. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.dar.org/discover/become-member/how-join
  4. The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America — Membership. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://nscda.org/about/membership/
  5. NSCDA in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts — Membership. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://nscdama.org/membership/
  6. NARA M804 descriptive pamphlet — Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/military/army/dc/m804.pdf
  7. Library of Congress — United States Statutes at Large: About this Collection. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.loc.gov/collections/united-states-statutes-at-large/about-this-collection/
  8. NARA — Genealogy Research in Military Records. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/genealogy
  9. Library of Virginia — Revolutionary War Bounty Land Claims. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://lva-virginia.libguides.com/bounty-claims/home
  10. NARA reference report — Revolutionary War Service, 1775–1783. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/military/american-revolution/service-records.pdf
  11. DAR — Chapter Locator. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.dar.org/discover/become-member/chapter-locator
  12. SAR — Apply in 4 Easy Steps. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.sar.org/how-to-apply/