Thomas Posey was born on 9 July 1750, probably in Virginia.

He settled in Virginia in 1769 and married his first wife, Martha Mathews, in 1772. They had the following known children: 

• Thomas was born in 1773 and died young.
• John was born on 19 September 1774 and married Lucy Frances Thornton.
• Sampson was born in 1778 and died young.

He was a quartermaster for the Dunmore Expedition of 1774 and was present at the Battle of Point Pleasant. After the Revolutionary War began, he served on the Botetourt County Committee of Correspondence, whose members authorized him to raise a company of Continental troops on 12 January 1776 and commissioned him a Captain on 20 March. After being incorporated into the 7th Virginia Regiment, the regiment captured Tory Ralph Wormley, participated in the Battle of Gwynn’s Island, and joined Washington’s army camped at Middlebrook, New Jersey, on 24 May 1777. Colonel Daniel Morgan chose Thomas to command one of his Rifle Corps companies, which fought at Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights, two engagements that made up the Battle of Saratoga. Returning to Washington’s army in November, the Rifle Corps skirmished all winter at Randor, guarding the flank of Valley Forge. 

Thomas took temporary command of the Rifle Corps while Morgan was on leave and was promoted to Major on 30 April 1778. While the Rifle Corps could hear the Battle of Monmouth, they failed to join. Following the reorganization, Major Posey took command of a battalion that then marched to New York in an attempt to stifle Loyalist and Mohawk warrior attacks. Washington ordered Posey back to the 7th Virginia Regiment in Middlebrook on 20 December. He was then given command of the newly formed 11th Virginia Regiment in July 1779, leading their assault at Stony Point. Even though Thomas rejoined the 7th Virginia Regiment in December, he stopped on the march south to visit his family. The unit was captured at Charleston on 12 May 1780 before he could rejoin them. 

He returned to Virginia to recruit new troops, leading 250 Augusta County militia with his late wife’s uncle, Colonel Sampson, to defend against raids by Benedict Arnold in January of 1781. The next month, exchanged and paroled officers reformed the Virginia Continental Line in a battalion under Major Posey. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in the summer before the battalion marched down to Yorktown and situated on General Lafayette’s right flank during the siege. Following the victory at Yorktown in October, the unit was plagued by issues after returning to Virginia, only parading in front of Cumberland Old Court House on 14 February 1782, followed by a transfer to General Greene in South Carolina, then to General Wayne in Georgia in April. The last months of the war closed quickly. In June, Creek warriors attacked Wayne’s camp outside Savannah, with many accounts of Thomas’s actions. In August, he was outside Charleston with General Greene. On 14 December 1782, Posey led the army parade into Charleston. 

In 1783, he resigned from the army and became a founding member of the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati. He married his second wife, Mary Alexander, widow of George Thornton, on 22 January 1784. Among their known children were: 

• LaFayette “Fayette” was born on 24 October 1784 and married 1) Elizabeth Davis and 2) Louise Edward Mitchell.
• Lloyd Thomas was born on 16 June 1786 and married Helen Collins.
• Thornton Alexander was born on 21 February 1788.
• William Churchill was born on 13 May 1789 and married Anne Gatewood.
• Thomas was born on 29 March 1791.
• Eliza Maria was born on 26 August 1792 and married Joseph Street.
• Alexander was born on 20 September 1794.
• Addison was born in 1796 and died young. 
• Washington Adams Glassell was born on 30 January 1799 and married Elizabeth Campbell.
• Sarah Ann was born on 20 August 1800 and married William Beverley.

Thomas farmed after the war in Spotsylvania County, becoming Magistrate and commissioned County Lieutenant by the Governor in 1786. 

In 1793, he rejoined the army as a Brigadier General for a brief stint in the Northwest Indian War. He moved his family to Kentucky in 1802, where he was elected to the State Senate (1804-1807) and had a failed bid for Governor. He joined his son Lloyd in Louisiana in 1810, being commissioned a Captain of the militia after the War of 1812 began, but was immediately appointed to temporarily fill one of the new federal Senate seats by the governor. After his term was up in 1813, he was confirmed by the Senate to Governorship of the Indiana Territory and lost a bid for Governor after statehood in 1816. He was then appointed an Indian Agent in Illinois.

The Patriot died on 19 March 1818 and was buried in Westwood Cemetery, Shawneetown, Illinois. 

Sources: 

1. Cecere, Michael. Captain Thomas Posey and the 7th Virginia Regiment. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2005. ISBN 0-7884-3584-1.
2. Posey, John Thornton. General Thomas Posey: Son of the American Revolution. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-87013-316-0.