William Thompson (politician)

William Thompson

William Thompson (born November 10, 1813 in Fayette County , Pennsylvania , †  October 6, 1897 in Tacoma , Washington ) was an American politician . Between 1847 and 1850 he represented the state of Iowa in the US House of Representatives .

Career

William Thompson attended public schools in his home country. He later moved to Mount Pleasant , Iowa . He became a member of the Democratic Party and was a member of the Territorial House of Representatives in 1843. In 1846 he was a secretary to the Iowa Constituent Assembly.

In the 1846 congressional election, Thompson was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the first constituency of Iowa , where he succeeded Serranus Clinton Hastings on March 4, 1847 . This allowed him to complete a legislative term in Congress until March 3, 1849 . When he was re-elected in 1848, he was able to beat his opponent Daniel F. Miller of the Whig Party and on March 4, 1849, his second term in Congress began. In the elections, however, there were irregularities, which is why Miller objected to the election result. On June 29, 1850, the seat was declared vacant and special elections were announced, which Miller then won. Between March 1849 and June 1850, Thompson chaired the Department of Post's Expenditure Control Committee.

In the years that followed, William Thompson published the Iowa Gazette. In 1861 he became an officer in the Iowa House of Representatives . During the Civil War , Thompson rose to Brevet Brigadier General in the Union Army . After the war he remained as a captain in the US Army and served in the Seventh Cavalry until December 15, 1875. A few months later, his unit under General George Armstrong Custer was wiped out in the Battle of Little Bighorn .

After serving in the military, William Thompson moved to Tacoma, Washington state. He died there in 1897.

Web links

• William Thompson in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• William Thompson in the database of Find a Grave (English)