Thomas POSEY, Congress, LA (1750-1818)

POSEY, Thomas, a Senator from Louisiana; born in Fairfax County, Va., July 9, 1750; received a limited schooling; moved to the western frontier of Virginia in 1769; served in the Virginia militia in the French and Indian wars; member of the Virginia committee of correspondence; at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War was appointed captain in a Virginia regiment; promoted to the rank of major in 1778 and the following year was made colonel; was at the surrender of Yorktown in 1781; held various county and militia offices; appointed brigadier general in 1793 and participated in campaigns against the Indians; moved to Kentucky in 1794; served in the State senate and was its presiding officer in 1805 and 1806; lieutenant governor of Kentucky for four years; major general of Kentucky levies after 1809; moved to the Attakapas region of Louisiana; appointed to the United States Senate from Louisiana to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John N. Destrehan and served from October 8, 1812, to February 4, 1813; unsuccessful candidate for election to fill the vacancy; Governor of Indiana Territory 1813-1816; unsuccessful candidate for governor of Indiana; appointed Indian agent in 1816 and held the position until his death in Shawneetown, Ill., on March 19, 1818; interment in Westwood Cemetery.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Posey, John Thornton. General Thomas Posey: Son of the American Revolution. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1992; Posey, John Thornton. “Governor Thomas Posey: The Son of George Washington?” Indiana Magazine of History 86 (March 1990): 28-49.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present