KILLING THEIR OWN SIDE'S SPY

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The reason for examining a possible relationship between George Washington and Thomas Posey is that the author of the recent biography of Thomas Posey, John Thornton Posey, suggested that "One can assume that General Washington read the affidavit detailing this occurrence with a gleam of approval in the eye for the young major's vigilant and astute handling of such unmiliary conduct" [as the plundering of the goods and livestock of the inhabitants, to say nothing of the murder of Dumond]. If we are to judge Washington's reaction to the accounts preserved in his papers, we should be aware of the connections between these two men. 

 

Thomas Posey wrote a short autobiography, in which the only reference tohis parentage is the comment that he: "descended from respectable parents." He makes no reference to any family members.

 

Likewise, there is no reference to Thomas Posey in the family of John Posey, the neighbor and friend of George Washington. 

 

A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia
By Oren Frederic Morton
Staunton, Va.: McClure Co., 1920.

232 A HISTORY OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA

"General Thomas Posey, senator from Louisana and in 1813 governor of Indiana Territory, was reared in this county and married into the Mathews family. Posey was the only man to whom George Washington ever gave a portrait of himself, or to whom he ever made a gift of realty."