Military subsidy

With Veteran's Day closing in I present this, a thematic squatter post.

What if you are a country that has to fight a large number of wars on a regular basis that leave you cash poor, but pay off with immense territorial gains?
That was the United States in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Very early on the Continental Congress determined that the surest way to gain the loyalty of the populace and recruits for the army was to promise to pay soldiers in the land liberated from the British. Depending upon where they enlisted, privates were promised 50 to 100 acres to serve out their term of service, while an officer might be entitled up to 5,000 acres of their own choosing. Similar generosity to the extent of 50 to 800 acres was extended to Hessian mercenaries as an enticement to desert. From the perspective of the congress this policy of land bounties had few downsides: men would fight for the promise of land more readily than some distant payoff, the underpopulated (and hence vulnerable) frontier gained settlers with military training, and best of all there were no short-term costs and only long-term gains. Win-win-win.
So through the decades Military Land Warrants were an expected benefit of fighting for one's country, and the grants remained generous right up until the policy was suspended in 1855. Of course not everyone wanted to move to the frontier, and what does one do with 5,000 acres of Indiana swamp anyway? The answer is: sell it. Some states, like Ohio, were developed in a speculative land craze that created huge fortunes. Both Virginia and the Continental Congress set aside prime territory along the Ohio River and Lake Erie for redemption through these grant warrants. The city of Cleveland, for example, was originally platted by the speculative Ohio Company who paid for the site in part using Military land Warrants that they bought on the cheap from veterans who had no interest in moving west. A similar speculative boom set off in Indiana after the War of 1812 is given credit for slowing the growth of the state for decades.

These bounties created endless problems. Because the warrants were as good as cash, actually better than cash given the frontier epidemic of counterfeiting and wildcat banks, people were loath to redeem them for land. The federal government honored the last bounty warrants in the 1960s, and some states still have militia warrants in circulation. Our friend Mrs Hamilton also tried to obtain East San Pedro using warrants, but failed.
The waves of speculation fueled in part by capitalists buying out bounties also created a crisis of title similar to the one we are experiencing today. By pooling warrants and cash purchases capitalists bought prime real estate and left it to rise in value. This led to squatting.

Anyway, the policy of distributing land to veterans ended long before the sentiment that they deserved a bounty as a reward for their service.

One recurring story is that of the ancient veteran living on a military base long after their service has ended. Because of the time period I am looking at most closely during the period of  intensifying sentiment against squatters at the turn of the twentieth century, most of these veterans fought in the Civil War. As a rule these vets aren't tossed off the reservation without a crust or roof over their heads. Instead these former soldiers are something like mascots that have become too infirm to care for themselves or need to be removed because of new policies.

Typical is the story of Jack Johnson, a Civil War vet who lived for decades in a shed on the grounds of the Annapolis, MD Naval Academy. Here is the article from the Baltimore Sun:

OUT OF THE NAVAL ACADEMY
Last Squatter on Property Acquired Has to
Go - Officers Build Him a House
ANNAPOLIS Md., Feb 29 (1904) - The last
person to occupy an abode on that part of
Annapolis recently added to the Naval
Academy is John Jackson an old sailor
grown to be a town character who performed
a splendid feat of gallantry in the
civil war, and for which he received a medal
from the Government.
The latest part of Annapolis to be taken
in the Academy was thickly settled
and nearly all the inhabitants left nearly
a year ago. Jackson, however, who has
been reduced on account of his habits, to
absolute penury took his quarters in a
shanty which been used to store fish
nets. From this shelter the authorities
have not had the heart to move him. It
has become imperatively necessary how-
ever to clear the area and several naval
officers clubbed together and built him a
small home in another part of the city.
Jackson's heroism was shown during the
siege of Charleston when he was a sailor
on the United States monitor Miantonomoh.
Several torpedoes were drifting down on
the ship, which was in a such a position
she could not avoid them. Jackson swam
to them and unscrewed their caps thus,
rendering harmless.

There are similar stories from all over the country demonstrating that a kind of informal charity bounty was in place for veterans for decades after the land bounty system ended and decades before the GI Bill created a modern analogue.

In between we have the Bonus Army.

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Happy Vet's day.