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Military Donations and the French Survey

In our history it was sometimes difficult for our government to find cash to pay the bills, come to think of it that is still the case.

During the Indian Wars many men served in the U.S. Militia and most of these men served without pay and were lucky to get food to eat and ammunition for their guns. They were hopeful that the U.S. Government would give them some land for their service. At that time Indiana was called Indian Territory and this land was not yet available for purchase.

In the years between 1794 and 1802 a survey was done in northern part of what is now Gibson County. The land was sectioned off into100 acre lots and these lots were donated to 128 militiamen for their part in the Indian Wars. Each man received 100 acres and he could keep it or sell it. There were other properties given for various purposes to parties having a claim against the government. The United States Government had not yet made this Indian Territory a state and would not until 1816; land was not available to public. Land would become available under the Public Lands Act about 1820.

This survey for the militia donation was mostly in what is now White River and Washington Townships. The peculiar part of this is that at that time most of the land was surveyed using the French survey points and later surveys in this area of Gibson County were done using English survey points. This caused some unusual configurations of some properties where the French and English surveys met. If you look at Gibson County township maps you can readily see the differences in the French and English Surveys. The Militia Donation Survey begins roughly at Highway 41 on the west and ends on the east near the Patoka River on the Wheeling Road and near the Pike County Line on the northeast. Much of Knox County was surveyed using the French survey points.

In 1804 an act of Congress allowed 4000 acres in what is now Gibson County to be reserved for sale to use for a seminary of learning in Vincennes, which is today Vincennes University. This was known as College Lands and apparently the first quarter section sold for $2.00 an acre in 1812. This sounds like a contradiction, but land in general was not sold until 1820, at that time we were still a part of Knox County and property would have to be recorded in Vincennes.