Week 19 2023: Bald #52Ancestors
You might have noticed today is not Week 19 and, as will be clear, this is not about a bald person.
Who I want to talk about is Major Gabriel Long. He is not an ancestor, but his dealings with my husband’s fifth great-grandfather is very much an interesting story.
Two years ago, I wrote about William Loyd who fought for the U.S. in the Revolution under then Captain Long.[1] At that time, I had little need to investigate Long, so just noted his position visa-vie William.
So, a little background on Long: When he died in 1827, Major Gabriel Long was heralded as “exemplary, a kind friend, a loving parent, a humane master, [and] a social companion.”[2] During the Revolutionary War, Long commanded a company in Morgan’s Rifle Regiment (of which William Loyd was a member) and in that service “Long had no superior.”[3] He also served in the French and Indian War and the War of 1812.[4] A good friend to George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, he became famous for his willingness to kill officers, his hatred of Tories and his scalping of officers he killed.[5]
Long does not appear to have filed for a pension relating to his military service, but in December of 1783, he was awarded a Land-Office Military Warrant (#2202) consisting of four thousand acres.[6] Five years earlier, the Virginia General Assembly awarded property to Continental Line officers and soldiers in the in the “Virginia Military District,” located in the soon-to-be-states of Kentucky and Ohio.[7]
To obtain land, the veteran or heir had to follow this process:
1. Submit proof of military service such as discharge papers or affidavits from commanding officers or fellow soldiers to the Governor’s Office which reviewed and approved (or rejected) the claim.
2. Once approved, a military certificate would be issued authorizing the Land Office to issue a warrant for a specific amount land based on rank and length of service. A veteran could sell or “assign” the certificate to land speculators or any other individual.
3. The veteran would then present his certificate to the county surveyor who would lay off the quantity of land specified.[8]
Major Long followed this process and had six surveys filed for 3,998 acres in Hopkins County, Kentucky. Nice!
Now here comes the strange part.
When my husband’s fifth great-grandfather applied for his pension in 1818, he stated on the application “that he [had] not received any land for his … service.”[9] And yet, a Land-Office Military Warrant (no. 2533) for 100 acres was issued to him on 19 February 1784 and his commanding officer, Capt. Gabriel Long, provided the certification of his service.[10]
Re-enter Capt. Long and a lesson (to me) in thoroughness.
The Revolutionary War Bounty Land Warrants for Kentucky land are held by the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office. I obtained a digital copy of the front of William’s Land-Office warrant and Long’s certificate from this site seven years ago. Other than ignorance, I cannot explain why I missed a link to other documents that blew my head off.
While reviewing the warrant for William last week I recently noticed this hotlink – “VA 4517.0” which, I swear wasn’t there before. The twenty-four documents behind that link are what led me to this amazing story.[11]
Unsurprisingly, the front of William’s warrant was there, but also the back side, which shows that on March 8, 1784, William assigned his warrant to Gabriel Long. Okay, maybe William needed the money or didn’t want to move to Kentucky. However, there were seven other 100-acre Land Office warrants in this file where the soldier assigned his warrant to Long.
Seven.
All on the same day.
All in the same handwriting. [12]
Even though at least two of them could not sign their own names.[13]
Now I don’t mean to suspect fraud on the part of Captain Long, but ….
Of the eight soldiers whose land was assigned to Long, four of them served directly under Long, while two were in a different company in Morgan’s Regiment.[14] Thankfully, one of these soldiers lived to tell the tale:
In his1818 pension application, William Rowe, who served for three years directly under Captain Long, stated that after the war, he “parted with [his] said discharge to the said Captain Long for the purpose of obtaining bounty Land,” but that he never received any of the lands and had never received back his discharge papers.[15]
Less than a year later, Long took these eight fraudulently obtained warrants and combined them with two 100-acre warrants from two other men and had a 1,000-acre plot surveyed in Kentucky and assigned to him. In his will, Long specifically identified these 1,000 acres, including naming the two other soldiers with whom he joined to make up this one track.[16]
I can’t fathom why Long would have done this, especially considering he already had nearly 4,000 acres.
That dirty dog.
For all I know he might have been bald too.
__________________________
[1] Cecelia Baty, “Revolutionary War Rifleman William Loyd (1747-1834),” Making Sense of it All (https://www.makingsenseofitall.rocks/blog/2021/5/10/revolutionary-war-rifleman-william-loyd-1747-1834 : accessed 23 July 2023).
[2] “Another Soldier of the Revolution Gone!,” The Richmond (Virginia) Enquirer, 20 February 1827, p. 3, col. 6; digital image, Chronicling America (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024735/1827-02-20/ed-1/seq-3/ : accessed 25 July 2023).
[3] Ibid.
[4] Wikipedia.org, “Gabriel Long,” rev. 17:10, 23 March 2022.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Virginia, Land Office Military Warrant, No. 2202, to Gabriel Long, Captain, Virginia Continental Line (23 December 1783); digital image, Land Office, Kentucky Secretary of State, “Revolutionary War Warrants” (https://web.sos.ky.gov/land/revwar.aspx?type=w&warrant=2202.0 : accessed 26 July 2023).
[7] “Revolutionary War Military District,” Land Office, Kentucky Secretary of State (https://www.sos.ky.gov/land/military/revwar/Pages/Revolutionary-War-Military-District.aspx : accessed 25 July 2023).
[8] “Revolutionary War Bounty Land Claims,” Research Guides & Indexes, The Library of Virginia (https://lva-virginia.libguides.com/bounty-claims: accessed 25 July 2023). Family Search Wiki, “United States, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Applications,” rev. 13:28, 17 July 2023 (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/index.php?title=United_States,_Revolutionary_War_Pension_and_Bounty_Land_Warrant_Applications_-_FamilySearch_Historical_Records&oldid=5391402 : accessed 25 July 2023). “Research Notes Number 20: The Virginia Land Office,” Library of Virginia (https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/Research_Notes_20.pdf : accessed 26 July 2023).
[9] William Lloyd (Pvt., Virginia Line, Gabriel Long’s Company, Col. Daniel Morgan’s Rifle Regiment, Revolutionary War) pension application no. S 36,049; digital images, “U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900,” Ancestry (https://www.ancesrty.com : accessed 26 July 2023); citing, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs National Archives, Washington, D.C.
[10] Kentucky Secretary of State, Land-Office Military Warrant, No. 2533, William Loyd (1784), image, (https://web.sos.ky.gov/land/revwar.aspx?type=w&warrant=2533.0 : accessed originally 22 May 2016).
[11] Ibid.
[12] While not a handwriting expert, even I could see the obvious similarities.
[13] William Hutson (Pvt., Virginia Line, Gabriel Long’s Company, Col. Daniel Morgan’s Rifle Regiment, Revolutionary War) pension application no. S 35,440; digital images, “Revolutionary War Pension,” Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/24139606/william-hutson-page-1-revolutionary-war-pensions : accessed 26 July 2023); citing, Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 - ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 - ca. 1900; Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
John Miles (Pvt., Virginia Line, Buckner’s Company, Col. Edward Stevens Regiment, Revolutionary War) pension application no. S 38,219; digital images, “Revolutionary War Pension,” Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/24785353/john-page-1-revolutionary-war-pensions: accessed 26 July 2023); citing, Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 - ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 - ca. 1900; Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
[14] Many thanks to my friend Heather Jenkins for providing guidance on how to pull the threads on this mystery.
Entries for William Loyd, William Sutton, Vincent Howell and Rowland Sutton, Capt. Gabriel Long’s Company, 11th Regiment of Foot commanded by Col. Daniel Morgan, 16 May 1777; digital image, Fold3 (http://www.fold3 : accessed 28 July 2023); citing, “Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783,” Record Group 93, Roll 0109, microfilm publication M246, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
[15] William Rowe (Pvt., Virginia Line, Gabriel Long’s Company, Col. Daniel Morgan’s Rifle Regiment, Revolutionary War) pension application no. S 3189; digital images, “Revolutionary War Pension,” Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/14012410/william-rowe-page-1-revolutionary-war-pensions : accessed 26 July 2023); citing, Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 - ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 - ca. 1900; Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C., D.C.
[16] Culpeper County, Virginia, Circuit Court, Will book K (1825-1827): 386, will of Gabriel Long, 1827; digital images, “Culpeper, Virginia, United States Records," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9PC-9S9H : July 26, 2023), image 226 of 774.
