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Description

A military land warrant issued to Harrison Bennith [sic] in the name of Elizabeth Booker under the Military Bounty Land Act of March 22, 1852. The warrant was issued in Jackson, Missouri, on December 3, 1852. From 1775 to 1855 the United States granted bounty-land warrants for military service, primarily to encourage volunteer enlistments, but also to reward veterans for service during the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and a variety of Indian wars, Indian removals, and other military actions during the 1850s. Early warrants could only be used in military districts, principally in Ohio and several other public land states in the former Northwest Territory. Eventually, Congress expanded eligibility to include service in the Regular Army and the Navy, as well as volunteer militias. Harrison Paradise Bennett was born in Smith County, Tennessee, in 1814, the son of William Bennett and Jane Vannatta. His family moved to St. Francois County, Missouri, and remained there until around 1854 at which time he started southward, being in Iron County, Missouri, for a short time before arriving in Ripley County, Missouri about 1859. He then continued southward to Randolph County, Arkansas, around 1863, where he remained until his death on October 28, 1867. He was married to a distant cousin named Sarah Hines Bennett (1817-1879), daughter of Benjamin Bennett and Susanna Lucinda Taylor, about 1833 in Smith County. They had eleven children, all of whom grew to adulthood and married. Harrison served during the War with Mexico (1846-1848) and reached the rank of corporal. When the Civil War broke out, he re-enlisted and served as a captain in Company H of the 9th Regiment of the 4th Brigade of the Missouri Infantry. He resigned, due to ill health, in 1863, and subsequently moved from his home in Missouri to Randolph County, Arkansas, to take advantage of the beneficial hot springs in that area. He lived only about four years after resigning from the military and died in 1867, at the age of 53.

Identifier

sc.0301.01_03.001

Date

1850s

Keywords

Land titles--Missouri.

Harrison Bennett military land warrant, Missouri, 1852

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