CLXVI.- An Act to extend the time for locating Virginia military land warrants, and returning surveys thereon to the General Land Office. (a)
| 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 continental establishment, their heirs or assigns, entitled to bounty lands within the tract reserved by Virginia, between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers, northwest of the river Ohio, for satisfying the legal bounties to her officers and soldiers upon continental establishment, shall be allowed until the tenth day of August, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty, to complete their locations and surveys, and return their surveys and warrants, or certified copies thereof, to the General Land Office; and all entries and surveys which may have heretofore been made within the said reservation, in satisfaction of any such warrants, on lands not previously entered or surveyed, or on lands not prohibited from entry and survey, shall be held to be good and valid, any omission heretofore to extend the time for the making of such entries and surveys to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided, That no locations as aforesaid, within the above mentioned tract, shall, after the passage of this act, be made on tracts of land which may have been previously patented, or which may have been surveyed in satisfaction of warrants granted for the legal bounties of said officers and soldiers: And provided, also, That no locations as aforesaid shall be made on any lands lying upon the west side of Ludlow’s line; and any patent which may nevertheless be obtained for land located contrary to the provisions of this act, shall be held and considered as null and void.
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 laws of Virginia and of the United States regulating the issuing of such warrants; and whenever it appears to the Secretary of War that the survey made by 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 resurvey his location, excluding such surplus quantity, in one body, from any part of his resurvey, and a patent shall issue upon such resurvey as in other cases: Provided, however, That no patent shall be obtained on any warrant under this act, 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 Northwestern 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 other warrant has issued from the said land office for the same services. APPROVED, July 7, 1838. |