CHAP. CXXXVIII.- An Act to extend the time for locating Virginia military land warrants, and returning surveys thereon to the general land office.
| Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the officers and soldiers of the Virginia line, on the continental establishment, their heirs or assigns, entitled to bounty lands within the tract of country reserved by the state of Virginia, between the Little Miami and Sciota rivers, shall be allowed until the first day of June, eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, to obtain warrants, and until the first day of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, to complete their locations, and until the first day of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-three, to return their surveys and warrants, or certified copies thereof, to the commissioner of the general land office, and to obtain patents: Provided, That no location shall be made by virtue of any warrant obtained after the first day of June, eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, and no patent shall issue in consequence of any location made after the first day of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-two; And provided also, That no patent shall be obtained, on any such warrant, unless there be produced, to the Secretary of War, satisfactory evidence that such warrant was granted for services which, by the laws of Virginia, passed prior to the cession of the north-western territory, would have entitled such officer, or soldier, his heirs or assigns, to bounty lands; and also a certificate of the register of the land office of Virginia, that no warrant has issued from the said land office for the same services.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That no patent shall be issued, by virtue of the preceding section, for a greater quantity of land than the rank, or term of service, of the officer or soldier to whom or to whose heirs or assigns such warrant has been granted, would have entitled him to, under the aforesaid laws of Virginia; and whenever it appears, to the Secretary of War, that the survey made by virtue of any of the aforesaid warrants, is for a greater quantity of land than the officer or soldier is entitled to for his services, the Secretary of War shall certify, on each survey, the amount of such surplus quantity, and the officer or soldier, his heirs or assigns, shall have leave to withdraw his survey from the office of the Secretary of War, and re-survey his location, excluding such surplus quantity, in one body, from any part of his re-survey, and a patent shall issue upon such re-survey, as in other cases. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That no holder of any warrant, which has been, or may be located, shall be permitted to withdraw or remove the same, and locate it on any other land, except in cases of eviction, in consequence of a legal judgment first obtained, from the whole or a part of the located land, or unless it be found to interfere with a prior location and survey: nor shall any lands heretofore sold by the United States, within the boundaries of said reservation, be subject to location, by the holder of any such unlocated warrant: Provided, That no location shall, after the passage of this act, be made on lands for which patents had previously issued, or which had been previously surveyed, nor shall any location be made on lands lying west of Ludlow’s line, and any patent which, nevertheless, may be obtained, contrary to the provisions of this section, shall be null and void. APPROVED, May 20, 1826. |