Thomas Conway

Thomas Conway 1735-1800?, general in the Continental army in the American Revolution, b. Ireland. Educated in France, he was an officer in the French army before coming (1777) to America. He fought valiantly as a leader of colonial forces at Germantown, but George Washington attempted to block his promotion from brigadier to major general as unfair to officers with longer service. Congress nevertheless appointed him major general (Dec., 1777) and made him inspector general of the army. His part in the intrigue known as the Conway Cabal was small, but he lost his command, resigned (1778), and returned to France.

Conway, Thomas (1735–1800?) soldier, born in Ireland. A colonel in the French army, Conway volunteered his services to the United States. He was commissioned a brigadier general by Congress and fought at Brandywine and Germantown (both 1777). His correspondence with Gen. Horatio Gates, highly critical of George Washington, was taken by Washington and others as apparently fomenting a plot to remove Washington from command of the Continental army and replace him with Gates (called the “Conway Cabal”). Shunned by the Marquis de Lafayette and others loyal to Washington, he resigned his commission. After being severely wounded in duel with John Cadwalader (July 4, 1778) he wrote an apology to Washington.