ficer in the British service at that time as compared with a
private. A field officer received four thousand acres; a captain three
thousand; a lieutenant, or other subaltern commissioned officer, two
thousand; a non-commissioned officer, whether sergeant or corporal,
dropped to two hundred acres, while the poor private was put off with
fifty acres. Fifty acres of wild land, on the hill-sides of Washington
County, was not an extravagant reward for seven years' service amidst
all the dangers and horrors of French and Indian warfare.

Many of these grants were sold by the soldiers to their countrymen.
Their method of exchange was very simple. The corporal and private would
meet by the roadside, or at a neighboring ale-house, and after greeting
each other, the American land would immediately be the subject for
barter. The private, who may be called Sandy, knew his fifty acres was
not worth the sea-voyage, while Corporal Donald, having already two
hundred, might find it profitable to emigrate, provided he could add
other tracts. After the preliminaries and the haggling had been gone
through with, Donald would draw out his long leather purse and count
down the amount, saying:

"There, mon; there's your siller."

The worthy Sandy would then dive into some hidden recess of his garments
and bring forth his parchment, signed in the name of the king by "Henry
Moore, baronet, our captain-general and governor-in-chief, in and over
our province of New York, and the lands depending thereon, in America,
chancellor and vice-admiral of the same." This document would be
promptly handed to the purchaser, with the declaration,

"An' there's your land, corporal."

Many of the soldiers never claimed their lands, which were eventually
settled by squatters, some of whom remained thereon so long that they or
their heirs became the lawful owners.

The famous controversy concerning the "New Hampshire grants," affected
the Highland settlers; but the more exciting events of the wrangle took
place outside the limits of Washington county, and consequently the
Highland settlement. This controversy, which was carried on with
acrimonious and warlike contention, arose over New York's officials'
claim to the possession of all the land north of the Massachusetts line
lying west of the Connecticut river. In 1751 both the governors of New
York and New Hampshire presented their respective claims to the
territory in dispute to the Lords of Trade in Londo