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Document 257143

GEORGE WASHINGTON, TIMOTHY PICKERING and JAMES McHENRY
Washington grants land in the Northwest Territory for a Captain's military service in the Virginia Line.
Partly Printed DS: "G. Washington" as first U.S. President, "Timothy Pickering" as Secretary of State and, on verso, "James McHenry" as Secretary of War, 1p, 13x14¾. On vellum. Philadelphia, 1796 May 20. In part: "Know ye, That, in consideration of military service performed by Charles Gallahue (a Captain for three years) to the United States, in the Virginia Line on Continental Establishment, and in pursuance of an Act of the Congress of the United States, passed on the 10th day of August in the year 1790, entitled 'An Act to enable the Officers and Soldiers of the Virginia Line on Continental Establishment to obtain titles to certain lands lying north-west of the River Ohio, between the little Miami and Scotia;' and another Act of the said Congress, passed on the 9th day of June in the year 1794, amendatory of the said Act, there is granted by the said United States unto Nathaniel Massie, assignee of Alexander D. Orr, assignee of Richard Scott Blackburn, assignee of Walter _______ who was devisee of the said Charles Gallahue a certain tract of land, containing six hundred acres situate between the little Miami and Scotia Rivers, north-west of the River Ohio, as by survey, bearing date Eighteenth day of February in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety five...." On verso is a Manuscript DS: "James McHenry" as Secretary of War. War Office, 1796 May 6. In full: "Charles Gallahue was originally entitled to the Bounty laid within mentioned as granted to the within named Nathaniel Massie who claims under the said Charles Gallahue". Land bounties such as the one offered here were issued to reward military service in past wars, encourage enlistment in pending wars and to aid special groups. Virginia gave more generous bounties than any other colony or state and a special Virginia military district was reserved north of the Ohio to fulfill these grants. The Treaty of Greenville, signed August 3, 1795, with provisions dictated by General Anthony Wayne, established a definite boundary between Indian lands and those opened to settlement. The treaty also provided safety to settlers to encourage their settlement into the Northwest Territory. Many soldiers or their heirs refused to move to these tracts to take up their claims as they were too far from zones of settlement. Instead, they sold their warrants or locations to speculators for prices as low as ten cents an acre. This might have been the case with this land grant. In the Virginia tract alone, over one million acres were owned by just 24 people. On May 18, 1796, two days before President Washington signed this land grant, Congress passed another land act. It mandated the survey of all public lands in the Northwest Territory and permitted the public auction sale of these lands at a minimum price of two dollars per acre in minimum tracts of 640 acres each. TIMOTHY PICKERING had served as Washington's Postmaster General from August 12, 1791 to January 2, 1795, when he became Secretary of War. He was appointed Secretary of State while he was still Secretary of War, serving in both positions at various times in 1795 and 1796 until February 6, 1796, when JAMES McHENRY entered upon his duties as Secretary of War. McHenry had served as Military Secretary to Generals Washington (1778-1780) and Lafayette (1780-1781) and was a Signer of the U.S. Constitution. Baltimore's Fort McHenry was named in his honor. Pickering continued as Secretary of State into John Adams' presidency until May 12, 1800, about the time McHenry left the War Department. 2½-inch paper seal affixed at lower left, slightly cracked, but all intact. Soiled, folds (none at signatures). Creased, vertical creases touch the "hin" in Washington and the "Pi" in Pickering. Tape stains at blank margins. Verso is heavily soiled, with horizontal fold touching McHenry's signature. Dark, clear signature of Washington.

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