Beschreibung:

WASHINGTON, GEORGE, President . Printed document signed ("G:Washington") as President, countersigned by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, Philadelphia, 10 February 1797. 1 page, folio, 368 x 320 mm. (14 1/2 x 12 5/8 in.) irregular, ON PARCHMENT, papered Great Seal of the United States at lower left, accomplished in manuscript, the parchment slightly cockled and wrinkled, the "g" in Washington's signature pale, verso with endorsement signed by Secretary of War James McHenry. A grant of bounty lands to General Muhlenberg. The document, signed only two months before Washington left the office of President, is boldly headed in a calligraphic hand: "George Washington, President of the United States of America." It certifies that Peter Muhlenberg "a Brigadier General for seven years...in the Virginia Line on Continental Establishment," is entitled, pursuant to Act of Congress of 1794, to 1,666 acres of land "situate between the little Miami and Sciota Rivers, north-west of the River Ohio, as by survey...." The precise boundaries of the parcel are described in considerable detail (requiring 11 lines of manuscript text). The grant is of special interest since it was Muhlenberg, as one of the Commissioners appointed to survey these lands, who made the initial inspection of the region in 1784 to determine whether it was suitable for grants of bounty land (see his journal of that frontier excursion in lot 74).