Military Bounties
Military Bounties
Bounties have been widely used to encourage enlistment in the armed forces. In the U.S., this practice stems from colonial days, when grants of land and money were made in return for military service. After the American Revolution, Congress continued the practice of granting military bounties, and by 1883 millions of hectares of land had been distributed in this way. During the 19th century in Europe and the U.S., bounties were paid to navy crews for the destruction of enemy warships. This practice was discontinued in the U.S. in 1899. With the adoption of military conscription, the payment of bounties for enlistment in wartime has almost disappeared. (1)
Military Regulation in 1889
The following information about Military Regulation is from the Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States by the Best American and European Writers:
“Baron Riesbeck, in his travels through Germany in the middle of the last century, thus speaks of the army of the great Frederick: “All the military regulations have these two ends in view; that of preventing the improvement of agriculture from suffering by the number of troops, and that of making them subservient to the circulation of money. For these purposes the annual reviews always take place at the end of the year, when fewest hands are wanted for the purposes of agriculture. Each regiment has a peculiar part of the country assigned it for recruiting, and in that, or near it, are commonly its standing quarters. By this means the troops are not only easily got together when they are wanted, but the father has always his son in the neighborhood to help him to improve his land; and, at the annual review time, the latter has not far to go to join his regiment.”
Bounty in this Section
Bounty, Commercial Bounties. Wildlife Bounties and Military Bounties.