Central New York Military Tract

The legislature authorized an additional 500 acres (2 km2) per soldier, using land from 25 Military Tract Townships to be established in central New York State.

Three more such townships, Junius, Galen, and Sterling, were later added to accommodate additional claims at the end of the war.

The townships were at first numbered (1 through 28), but were later given (mostly) classical tradition Greek and Roman names, along with the Carthaginian general Hannibal, and a few honoring English authors: The tract covered the present counties of Cayuga, Cortland, Onondaga, and Seneca, and parts of Oswego, Tompkins, Schuyler and Wayne.

The names themselves have been attributed to Robert Harpur, who served in various political roles, and was at the time a clerk in the office of New York's Surveyor General, Simeon De Witt.

The portion of the Military Tract north of Seneca Lake (i.e. townships of Galen and Junius) was divided by the New Preemption Line from land to its west assigned by the Treaty of Hartford of 1786 to Massachusetts.