This is a War of 1812 military bounty land patent — a printed form with manuscript fill-ins, signed (or secretarially signed) by President James Monroe.
This is a War of 1812 military bounty land patent — a printed form with manuscript fill-ins, signed (or secretarially signed) by President James Monroe.
The engraved vignette and printed text are crisp; the iron-gall manuscript insertions are faded and partly bleached, so several fill-ins are genuinely hard.
Document U — War of 1812 Military Bounty Land Patent to Samuel M[c?]A[—], signed James Monroe, Jan [23?], 1818 (Washington / Illinois Territory military tract)
(A printed U.S. land-patent form with engraved vignette at upper left — a classical female figure (Columbia/Liberty) with shield and a banner reading “MILITI FORTI ET FIDELI” [“to the brave and faithful soldier”], engraver’s mark “Anderson sc.” Manuscript fill-ins in faded iron-gall ink; embossed paper General Land Office seal (wafer/sunburst) at lower left. Printed body with hand-entered names, numbers, and dates. Several manuscript words badly faded — bracketed where uncertain.)
[engraved vignette, banner:] MILITI FORTI ET FIDELI.
[manuscript, top, the President’s name written in:] James Monroe,
President of the United States of America.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, GREETING:
Know Ye, That, in pursuance of the Acts of Congress appropriating and granting Land to the late Army of the United States, passed on and since the sixth day of May, 1812, [manuscript: Samuel M. A[—] (?) — faded] having deposited in the General Land-Office a Warrant in [his] favour, numbered 13,4[7?]2 [faded], there is granted unto the said [Samuel M. A[—] — faded] late a Private in [Gray’s? — faded] company of the second regiment of Infantry, a certain Tract of Land, containing One hundred and Sixty Acres, being the Northeast q[uarte]r of Section one of Township [ten north] in Range [two east], in the Tract appropriated (by the Acts aforesaid) for Military Bounties, in the Territory of [Illinois]:
To Have and to Hold the said quarter Section of Land, with the appurtenances thereof, unto the said [Samuel M. A[—]] and to [his] heirs and assigns for ever,
In Testimony whereof, I have caused these Letters to be made Patent, and the Seal of the General Land-Office to be hereunto affixed. Given under my Hand, at the City of Washington, this [Twenty-third? — faded] day of January in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and [eighteen], and of the Independence of the United States of America the forty-[second].
By the President, [signature:] James Monroe
[embossed General Land Office seal, lower left]
