Central New York Military Tract


The Military Tract of Central New York, also called the New Military Tract, consisted of nearly of bounty land set aside in Central New York to compensate New York's soldiers after their participation in the Revolutionary War.

Establishment

The Province of New York had already guaranteed each soldier at least at the end of the war, but by 1781, New York had enlisted only about half of the quota set by the U.S. Congress and needed a stronger incentive. The legislature authorized an additional per soldier, using land from 25 Military Tract Townships to be established in central New York State. Each of the townships was to comprise 100 lots of each. Three more such townships, Junius, Galen, and Sterling, were later added to accommodate additional claims at the end of the war. The United States Congress approved in 1789, and the arrangement became final in 1799.

Townships

The townships were at first numbered, but were later given classical Greek and Roman names, along with the Carthaginian general Hannibal, and a few honoring English authors:
  1. Lysander
  2. Hannibal
  3. Cato
  4. Brutus
  5. Camillus
  6. Cicero
  7. Manlius
  8. Aurelius
  9. Marcellus
  10. Pompey
  11. Romulus
  12. Scipio
  13. Sempronius
  14. Tully
  15. Fabius
  16. Ovid
  17. Milton
  18. Locke
  19. Homer
  20. Solon
  21. Hector
  22. Ulysses
  23. Dryden
  24. Virgil
  25. Cincinnatus
  26. Junius
  27. Galen
  28. Sterling

    Overview

The tract covered the present counties of Cayuga, Cortland, Onondaga, and Seneca, and parts of Oswego, Tompkins, Schuyler and Wayne. Most of these township names are reflected in current town names in these counties, but the area of the military townships do not correspond exactly with any of the modern towns, which only cover a fraction of the original townships.
The names themselves have been attributed to Robert Harpur, a clerk in the office of New York's Surveyor General, Simeon De Witt. Harpur apparently had an interest in classical literature.
Townships were as far as geographically feasible made up of a 10x10 square of mile-square lots; were used for boundary roads, leaving to be deeded in each lot. Ninety-four lots in each Township were to be deeded, with the other six reserved for public purposes such as churches and schools.
The portion of the Military Tract north of Seneca Lake was divided by the New Preemption Line from land to its west assigned by the Treaty of Hartford of 1786 to Massachusetts. The tract immediately to the west became the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. The west limit of most of the tract was Seneca Lake.
Two Indian reservations were included in the Tract, for the Onondaga and Cayuga. All of the Cayuga and most of the Onondaga were taken a few years later by New York State by treaties whose legality has been repeatedly challenged, since following the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790 only the United States could conclude treaties with Indians.

Timeline