William THOMPSON, Congress, IA (1813-1897)
THOMPSON, William, a Representative from Iowa; born in Fayette County, Pa., November 10, 1813; attended the common schools; moved to Iowa and settled in Mount Pleasant; member of the Territorial house of representatives in 1843; secretary of the State constitutional convention in 1846; elected as a Democrat to the Thirtieth Congress (March 4, 1847-March 3, 1849); presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Thirty-first Congress and served from March 4, 1849, to June 29, 1850, when the seat was declared vacant; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Thirty-first Congress); served in the Union Army during the Civil War; commissioned captain in the First Iowa Volunteer Cavalry on July 31, 1861; promoted to major on May 18, 1863, and colonel on June 20, 1864; brevetted brigadier general of Volunteers on March 13, 1865, recommissioned captain in the Seventh Cavalry, Regular Army, on July 28, 1866, and retired from the Army on December 15, 1875; editor of the Iowa State Gazette; died in Tacoma, Pierce County, Wash., on October 6, 1897; interment in Tacoma Cemetery.
Bibliography
Schmidt, Louis B. âThe Miller-Thompson Election Contest.â Iowa Journal of History 12 (January 1914): 34-127.Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
