Virginia Military District

[[File:Ohio Lands.svg|thumb|Map of Ohio showing the Virginia Military District in green.]] The '''Virginia Military District''' was an approximately 4.2 million acre (17,000 km²) area of land in what is now the state of [[Ohio]] that was reserved by [[Virginia]] to use as payment for veterans of the [[American Revolutionary War]]. Virginia had historic claims to much of the [[Northwest Territory]], which included Ohio, dating from its colonial charter. Virginia and the other states with claims over western lands had to cede those claims to overcome other states' objections to ratifying the [[Articles of Confederation]]. In return for ceding its claims in [[1784]], Virginia was granted this area to provide military bounty land grants. The Ohio district was a surplus reserve, in that military land grants were first made in an area southeast of the [[Ohio River]], in what is now [[Kentucky]]. The Ohio land was to be used only after the land southeast of the river was exhausted. ==Location== The land was located in southern Ohio, bordered by the [[Ohio River]] on the south, the [[Little Miami River]] on the west, and the [[Scioto River]] on the east and the north. The District encompassed all of the following Ohio counties: [[Adams County, Ohio|Adams]], [[Brown County, Ohio|Brown]], [[Clinton County, Ohio|Clinton]], [[Clermont County, Ohio|Clermont]], [[Highland County, Ohio|Highland]], [[Fayette County, Ohio|Fayette]], [[Madison County, Ohio|Madison]] and [[Union County, Ohio|Union]], and portions of these counties: [[Scioto County, Ohio|Scioto]], [[Pike County, Ohio|Pike]], [[Ross County, Ohio|Ross]], [[Pickaway County, Ohio|Pickaway]], [[Franklin County, Ohio|Franklin]], [[Delaware County, Ohio|Delaware]], [[Marion County, Ohio|Marion]], [[Hardin County, Ohio|Hardin]], [[Logan County, Ohio|Logan]], [[Clark County, Ohio|Clark]], [[Greene County, Ohio|Greene]], [[Champaign County, Ohio|Champaign]]. [[Warren County, Ohio|Warren]], [[Hamilton County, Ohio|Hamilton]] and [[Auglaize County, Ohio|Auglaize]]. ==Settlement== [[Image:Virginia Military District with counties.png|thumb|250px|left|Map of the Virginia Military District with modern counties shown.]] The District was opened for settlement in [[1794]], although surveys had begun in the 1780s. Surveys were done using the [[metes and bounds]] method used in Virginia, rather than the [[Public Land Survey System]] established by the [[Land Ordinance of 1785]] which was more used for the most of the Northwest Territory. The precise boundaries of the district was a subject of contention for many years, involving multiple acts of Congress and a Supreme Court decision (Doddridge vs. Thompson et al., 9 Wheaton, 469). Further complicating the matter was the imprecise location of the line established with the [[Treaty of Greenville]], which separated Native American lands from lands open to white settlers and which ran through the northern portion of the District. Virginia issued bounty land grants in this District until Ohio became a state in [[1803]]. However, rampant land speculation and outright frauds produced a contentious muddle for many years afterward. Congress extended the time allowed for claims to be made several times. The last extension act was passed on March 3, 1855, allowing two years for claims made prior to January 1, 1852 to be surveyed and patented. After two years, unsurveyed lands became property of the United States. On February 18, 1871, this unsurveyed and unsold land was ceded by the federal government to the state of Ohio. In [[1872]], the Ohio legislature gave this land to the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College (now the [[Ohio State University]]). The college trustees aggressively claimed lands where there was not clear title, sometimes uprooting families who had been farming the land for 75 years. This caused such an uproar that Congress was forced to act and on May 27, 1880, passed legislation limiting the rights of the college to unappropriated lands. Some provisions of this legislation opened the doors to a new round of legal wrangling. Massie's Station (now [[Manchester, Ohio]]), founded in [[1791]], was the first permanent settlement in the District, named after [[Nathaniel Massie]], a surveyor and land speculator. He also founded [[Chillicothe, Ohio]] in [[1796]]. Many Virginians settled in the area, even though it meant giving up their slaves, due to the provisions of the [[Northwest Ordinance]] of 1787. ==Process of claiming land== Virginia soldiers of the Continental line, who served in the Revolutionary War, were eligible to procure a bounty award in the form of land, according to a formula based on rank and time of service. The first step was to secure a proper certificate of actual service and to then acquire a printed warrant from the land office in Virginia specifying the quantity of land. This warrant empowered the person to whom it was given, or heirs and assignees, to select the specified area from anywhere within the military reserve district. After the location was chosen and boundaries surveyed, the owner of the warrant exchanged it for a patent, which was equivalent to a deed in fee simple and passed all title of the government to the holder. The land was never divided into regular townships, as in the [[Public Lands Survey System]], and because persons could select their allotment from anywhere within the district, there were frequently competing and overlapping claims. {{seealso|Connecticut Western Reserve}} ==External links== * [http://gateway.library.uiuc.edu/ihx/rcanderson/index.html Richard Clough Anderson Papers (1784-1904)] Index and articles about the principal surveyor for the area in both Kentucky and Ohio * [http://www.oplin.org/evolution/regions/vamd.html Map of the Virginia Military District] from the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) and the Ohio Historical Society {{coord missing|Ohio}} {{Ohio-Lands}}