Thomas Conway

Thomas Conway (1735 to 1795) was an Irish-born army officer and colonial administrator who served in the French Royal Army, the Continental Army and the British Army, and who governed French India from 1787 to 1789. Born in County Kerry, he moved to France as a child, joined the French Royal Army Irish Brigade at fourteen and had reached the rank of colonel by 1772. He volunteered for American service in 1777 and was made a brigadier general, commanding the leading brigade on the American right flank at the Battle of Germantown. Congress promoted him to major general and Inspector General over George Washington objections. A letter he wrote to Horatio Gates criticizing Washington gave its name to the so-called Conway Cabal, and he lost his command and resigned in March 1778. He was badly wounded in a duel with John Cadwalader that July, yet survived, and later served the French in India.