POSEY, Thomas, American soldier: b. eastern Virginia, 9 July 1750; d. Shawneetown, Ill., 19 March 1818. He was quartermaster in Lord Dunmore's expedition against the Ohio Indians and was engaged in the battle at Mount Pleasant in 1774. In 1775 he was a member of the Virginia committee of correspondence and raised a company of which he became captain for the 7th Virginia Continental Regiment. He assisted in defeating Lord Dunmore at Gwynn's Island in 1776; in 1777 joined the Continental army at Middlebrook, N. J., and with his com pany was transferred to Morgan's renowned rifle-corps, where he played a conspicuous part in the engagement at Piscataway, N. J. He served with great gallantry under Gates at the battles of Bemis Heights and Stillwater, and in 1778 was promoted major and had charge of the expedition against the Indians of Wyom ing Valley in that year. In 1779 he commanded a battery under General Wayne at Stony Point and was one of the leaders in the assault which carried the enemy's works. He was present at
the surrender of Yorktown, organized a regi ment of which he was given command with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and served under General Wayne in Georgia until the surrender of Savannah, where he routed the Indians under Gueristersigo. After the war he lived in Spottsylvania County, Va., until 1793, when he was appointed brigadier-general and served under General Wayne in his campaign against the Indians in the Northwest. He resigned in 1794, settled in Kentucky, entered the State sen ate and was ex officio lieutenant-governor. He raised a company of which he was for a time captain in the War of 1812, and in 1812-13 he served as United States senator from Louisi ana. He was governor of Indian Territory from 1813 until her admission into the Union as a State and from 1816 until his death was Indian agent.