Comments on: The Homestead Act of 1862

By: Gene Finke

Gene Finke — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:36:04 +0000

The Homestead Act did not go into affect until January 1, 1863. There were a few people who filed on that day. But the number of homesteads filings was fairly small until after the Civil War and the most Land Patents issued under the Homestead act occurred between 1900 and 1930. Look at this chart: http://www.nps.gov/home/historyculture/upload/Final%20Patents.pdf Also. you might want to look at this page it has a number of links to charts at the bottom.

By: Alex Seifert

Alex Seifert — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:33:24 +0000

Thanks for the comment!

That’s a very good point. It would be very interesting to find that out. I’m sure there were probably people from both sides of the war that used the Homestead Act as a means to flee from the fighting, either being drug into it as a soldier or just to escape it in general. I may just have to look into it. I’ll of course post any findings I make here.

By: Billy Whyte

Billy Whyte — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:25:38 +0000

I wonder given the date, 20 May 1862, how many took advantage of the bill to escape the war. The Civil War was becoming more deadlier by the day. April 1862 witnessed Bloody Shiloh and Flag Officer David Faragut captured New Orleans. By August,McClellan would fail in the Peninsular campaign and Pope would be defeated at Second Bull Run. Antietam and Fredericksburg would wrap up 1862. I know many took advantage of the bill after the war, but it would be interesting to know how many settled from May 1862 – April 1865.