Thomas Jesup


Thomas Sidney Jesup was a United States Army officer known as the "Father of the Modern Quartermaster Corps". His 52-year military career was one of the longest in the history of the United States Army.

Biography

Thomas Jesup was born in Berkeley County, Virginia. He began his military career in 1808, and served in the War of 1812, seeing action in the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane in 1814, where he was wounded. He was appointed Quartermaster General on May 8, 1818, by President James Monroe.

Seminole War and controversy

In 1836, while Jesup was still officially Quartermaster General, President Andrew Jackson detached him first to deal with the Creek tribe in Georgia and Alabama, and then to assume command of all U.S. troops in Florida during the Second Seminole War. His capture of Seminole leaders Osceola and Micanopy under a false flag of truce
provoked controversy in the United States and abroad.
Many newspapers called for an inquiry and his firing but the government supported its general, and at the conclusion of the hostilities, Jesup returned to his official post.
He was famously quoted as having declared about the Seminole that "he country can be rid of them only by exterminating them."

Further service

During the Mexican–American War, Jesup traveled from his headquarters in Washington, D.C., to oversee the supplying of troops in Mexico. He served as Quartermaster General for 42 years, having the second longest continual service in the same position in U.S. military history.
He died in office in Washington, D.C., in 1860 at age 71.

Dates of rank