Thomas Posey (9 July 1750 – 19 March 1818) was a US Senator from Louisiana from 8 October 1812 to 4 February 1813 (succeeding Jean Noel Destrehan and preceding James Brown) and Governor of the Indiana Territory from 3 March 1813 to 7 November 1816 (succeeding John Gibson and preceding Jonathan Jennings).
Biography[]
Thomas Posey was born in Fairfax County, Virginia in 1750, and he was frequently dogged with rumors that he was the illegitimate son of George Washington, as he was born not far from Mount Vernon. In 1774, he fought at the Battle of Point Pleasant during Lord Dunmore's War on the frontier. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, with his corps playing a critical role in the Battle of Monmouth and at the Battle of Stony Point. At the end of the war, he fought at the Siege of Yorktown and in the recapture of Savannah. He would later rejoin the army in 1793 as a Brigadier-General, serving under Anthony Wayne during the Northwest Indian War. He resigned his command in 1794 due to his disgust over James Wilkinson's undermining of fellow officers' authorities as a part of his conspiracy with Spain to stir up trouble on the frontier.
In 1802, Posey was granted land near Henderson, Kentucky as a reward of his services, and his prestigious military career led to Posey being elected to serve in the Kentucky State Senate from 1804 to 1806. In 1809, as a Major-General in the militia, he oversaw the raising of 5,000 men to join the 100,000-strong mobilized force that was to prepare for hostilities with either Britain or France. He resigned in 1810 and moved to the Attakapas region of Louisiana. After Jean Noel Destrehan's resignation, Posey was appointed to finish his term, serving in the US Senate from 1812 to 1813. He was defeated for re-election to his Senate seat, and President James Madison appointed him to serve as Governor of the Indiana Territory, serving from 1813 to 1816. He was a likeable man who distributed Bibles to the poor, but his support for slavery and his inaccesibility later made him unpopular. In the last two years of his life, he worked as an Indian agent, and he died in Shawneetown, Illinois in 1818 at the age of 67.