{{short description|American politician (1811–1883)}} {{about||the American general|Thomas Flournoy (general)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Thomas Flournoy | image = | state3 = [[Virginia]] | district3 = [[Virginia's 3rd congressional district|3rd]] | term_start3 = March 4, 1847 | term_end3 = March 3, 1849 | predecessor3 = [[William Tredway (American politician)|William Tredway]] | successor3 = [[Thomas H. Averett]] | birth_name = Thomas Stanhope Flournoy | birth_date = December 15, 1811 | birth_place = [[Prince Edward County, Virginia]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1883|3|12|1811|12|15|mf=y}} | death_place = [[Halifax County, Virginia]] | party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | other_party = {{ubl|[[Know-Nothing Party|American]] ({{circa|1850}}–{{circa|1860}})|[[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] (until {{circa|1850}})}} | alma_mater = [[Hampden-Sydney College]] | battles = [[American Civil War]]<br>[[Jackson's Valley Campaign]]<br>[[Battle of Port Republic]]<br>[[Battle of Cross Keys]] | rank = [[File:Confederate_States_of_America_Colonel.png|35px]] [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] | unit = {{flagicon|Virginia|1861}} [[6th Virginia Cavalry]] | branch = {{army|CSA}} | allegiance = {{flag|Confederate States|1865}} | profession = lawyer, politician }}
'''Thomas Stanhope Flournoy''' (December 15, 1811 – March 12, 1883) was a Virginia planter, lawyer and politician who represented [[Halifax County, Virginia|Halifax County]] in the [[Virginia Secession Convention of 1861]] after representing [[Virginia's 3rd congressional district]] in the [[United States House of Representatives]]. Flournoy also had several unsuccessful political campaigns, as well as fought as a [[cavalry]] officer in the [[Confederate States Army]] during the [[American Civil War]].
==Early and family life== Born in [[Prince Edward County, Virginia]], to the former Ann Carrington Cabell (1787-1854) and her husband John James Flournoy. Flournoy had at least one older sister, Anne Eliza Flournoy Wood, and a younger brother, Dr. Patrick Henry Flournoy of Charlotte County. Flournoy received a private education appropriate to his class, and graduated from [[Hampden-Sydney College]]. His paternal ancestor Matthew Flournoy (d. 1761) had owned significant property in both [[Prince Edward County, Virginia|Prince Edward]], and [[Halifax County, Virginia|Halifax Counties]] before the American Revolutionary War, and may have been descended from John James or Jacob Flournay, the son and nephew of [[Huguenot]] refugee Jacques Flournoy who had emigrated to the Virginia Colony from Geneva Switzerland in the 17th century.<ref>Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915) vol.1, p. 237</ref> However, this man's descendants listed their patriot ancestor in that conflict of Judge [[Paul Carrington (judge)|Paul Carrington]] (1733-1818) of [[Charlotte County, Virginia|Charlotte County]]. In any event, Thomas Flournoy lived at a Halifax County home which Mathew Flournoy had rebuilt after a fire when it had been owned by William Clairborne, but another fire destroyed that home long before 1924.<ref>Wirt Johnson Carrington, A History of Halifax County (Virginia) (Richmond 1924; reprinted for Clearfield Genealogical Publishing of Baltimore 2001) {{ISBN|978-0-8063-7955-5}} pp. 176, 178</ref>
==Career==
After completing his formal education at Hampden-Sydney, Flournoy took a job teaching children while also reading law books under the direction of an experienced practitioner (Virginia at the time having no publicly supported schools). [[Admission to the bar in the United States|Admitted to the bar]], Flournoy commenced practice in [[Halifax, Virginia]], in 1834.
Flournoy also operated one or more plantations using enslaved labor. In 1830, Flournoy owned 28 enslaved people in Prince Edward County.<ref>1830 U.S. Federal Census for Prince Edward County, Virginia pp. 41-42 of 74</ref> In 1840, Flournoy owned 30 enslaved people in Halifax County.<ref>1840 U.S. Federal Census for Northern District, Halifax County pp. 36-37 of 90</ref> It is unclear whether he was the Thomas Flournoy who owned 24 slaves in Charlotte County in 1850.<ref>1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedule for Charlotte County p. 100 of 107.</ref> In the last federal census with slave schedules, Flournoy 38 enslaved people in Halifax County.<ref>1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedule for Southern District, Halifax County p. 2 of 105. It is unclear whether he or his son of the same name owned 20 slaves in St. Andrews Parish of Brunswick County, as that Thomas Flournoy did not use a middle initial.</ref>
Voters in Virginia's 3rd congressional district elected Flournoy as a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] to the [[30th United States Congress|Thirtieth Congress]] (March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849). However, he was not re-elected. In 1848 and likewise in 1850 he lost to [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Thomas H. Averett]]. Flournoy also unsuccessfully ran as the candidate of the [[Know Nothing|American Party]] for [[Governor of Virginia]] in 1855, losing to [[Jacksonian Democrat]] [[Henry A. Wise]].
Halifax County voters elected Flournoy and wealthy planter (and former state delegate) [[James Coles Bruce]] as their representatives to the [[Virginia Secession Convention of 1861]] at Richmond. Both men voted against secession during the first vote, but for secession at the final vote, after the conflict began at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
After the First Battle of Manassas in July 1861, Flournoy raised a company of cavalry in Halifax County for the [[Confederate States Army]] (some almost as old as he).<ref>Michael P. Musick, 6th Virginia Cavalry (The Virginia Regimental Histories Series1990) p.3</ref> Initially commissioned as [[Captain (United States)|captain]] of Company G of the [[6th Virginia Cavalry]], Flournoy was promoted to [[Major (United States)|major]] on April 15, 1862, and to [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] on July 16, 1862. He participated in [[Stonewall Jackson]]'s 1862 [[Valley Campaign]] and saw action at the battles of [[Battle of Port Republic|Port Republic]] and [[Battle of Cross Keys|Cross Keys]]. Flournoy resigned on October 15, 1862 because of "domestic difficulties".<ref>Musick p.115</ref> However, he returned and was wounded in battle in June 1864.<ref>Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915) vol.2, p. 108 available at hathitrust.org</ref>
Flournoy campaigned to become Governor of Virginia in 1863, but lost to General [[William Smith (Virginia governor)|"Extra Billy" Smith]].
After the war, Flournoy settled in [[Danville, Virginia]], and again practiced law. He served as delegate to the [[1876 Democratic National Convention]].
==Personal life== Flournoy first married on December 30, 1834 or January 1, 1835 to Susan Ann Love, whose father Allen Love, was a local lawyer. The wedding was held at the estate of General Edward C. Carrington in Halifax County, and before her death Susan Flournoy bore six children. After his first wife's death Flournoy remarried, to somewhat distant relative Mildred H. Coles, daughter of Hon. [[Walter Coles]] of Pittsylvania County and granddaughter of [[Paul Carrington (judge)|Paul Carrington]] of Charlotte County. His son H.W. Flournoy (b. 1846) also fought for the confederacy, and practiced law in Danville until elected judge of the corporation court in June 1870 and was re-elected but resigned in 186, then moved to [[Washington County, Virginia|Washington County]] in the Commonwealth's southwest corner before being elected secretary of the Commonwealth in 1883 and twice winning re-election.<ref>Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915) vol.3, p. 264, available at hathitrust.org</ref>
==Death and legacy== Flournoy died at his home in [[Halifax County, Virginia]], March 12, 1883, and was interred in the family plot on his estate.
==Elections==
*'''1847'''; Flournoy was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives with 51.95% of the vote, defeating Democrat William Marshall Tredway. *'''1849 and 1851'''; Flournoy was unsuccessful in re-election bids in 1849 and 1851.
==References== {{Reflist}} {{CongBio|F000216}}
{{Bioguide}}
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-new|first}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Know Nothing]] nominee for [[Governor of Virginia]]|years=[[1855 Virginia gubernatorial election|1855]]}} {{s-aft|after=None}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Virginia | district=3 | before=[[William Tredway (American politician)|William Tredway]] | after=[[Thomas H. Averett]] | years=1847–1849}} {{s-end}} {{VirginiaRepresentatives03}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flournoy, Thomas Stanhope}} [[Category:1811 births]] [[Category:1883 deaths]] [[Category:Virginia lawyers]] [[Category:Hampden–Sydney College alumni]] [[Category:People from Prince Edward County, Virginia]] [[Category:Confederate States Army officers]] [[Category:People of Virginia in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Politicians from Danville, Virginia]] [[Category:Virginia Secession Delegates of 1861]] [[Category:Whig Party United States representatives from Virginia]] [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]] [[Category:People from Halifax, Virginia]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]