Thomas R. Gedney was a US Navy lieutenant. In 1839, while serving aboard the USS Massachusetts, Gedney took part in the intercept of the slave schooner Amistad off Long Island, New York. Gedney and Richard Worsam Meade II came to the trial of the slaves in New Haven, Connecticut and attempted to claim the slaves as salvage, although their claims were revoked when purchase receipts from two Spanish businessmen were discovered.