Patrick Henry Signs a Land Grant for a Revolutionary War Soldier

Patrick Henry was a lawyer, orator, and statesman whose career spanned the founding of the United States. An early critic of British authority and leader in the movement toward independence, Henry dedicated most of his life to Virginia politics. He served as a member of the House of Burgesses (1765–1774), as the first governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1776–1779), as a member of the House of Delegates (1779–1784; 1788–1791), and again as governor (1784–1786). He was a founding member of the Virginia Committee of Correspondence (1773) and as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses (1774–1776). He also attended the Virginia Conventions of 1774, March 1775, July–August 1775, May 1776, and 1788. He is best remembered for the speech he delivered during the Virginia Convention of 1775 that famously ended with the words, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

Document signed as governor, Richmond, August 14, 1786, stating that “by virtue and in consideration of part of a Land Office Treasury warrant,” he is granting “500 acres by survey” being in the county of Fayette on the Ohio River County by Stepstone Creek to Thomas Owsley. Owsley served in the Revolutionary War, and records for a Thomas Owsley of Virginia indicate that he enlisted as a Sergeant in the 11th Virginia. He was badly wounded at the battle of Germantown in October 4, 1780, was taken prisoner and held until his exchange July 17, 1781.