army on March 10, 1783. In the same year he became an original member of the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati. He took guardianship of his surviving son who had been living with friends since the death of his mother. Posey married Mary Alexander Thornton, the wealthy widow of George Thornton, in 1784. Posey had nine children by her. He remained married to her until his death. The family lived on her Fredericksburg, Virginia plantation, where Posey farmed for nearly eighteen years. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for the United States House of Representatives in 1797, and held several appointed position in the Virginia state government. Posey briefly returned to the military following several setbacks to the army which was campaigning against the Wabash Confederacy in the Old Northwest. He reentered the army as a brigadier general in 1793 and served with "Mad" Anthony Wayne campaigning against the Indians beyond the frontier in the Northwest Indian War. Posey was disturbed by the actions of second in command, General James Wilkinson. Wilkinson had been secretly undermining Wayne's authority in reports to Washington, and Posey discovered that Wilkinson had been involved in similar plots against other ranking officers, including the former frontier commander George Rogers Clark. Years after Wilkinson's death, it was discovered that he had been accepting bribery money from Spain to stir up trouble on the frontier. Because of the ill feelings caused by Wilkinson, Posey resigned from the army again on February 20, 1794, only a few months before the war was ended following American victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Public office Kentucky and Louisiana In 1802, Posey received in reward for his military service, and he was given several options of land tracts in the western United States. He chose land near Henderson, Kentucky and moved his family to the new estate. His prestige made him immediately popular in the area and he was elected to the Kentucky State Senate, beginning a term on November 10, 1804 and became the body's speaker. In 1805 he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, serving a brief term. He was a candidate for governor in 1808, but withdrew to support Charles Scott. In preparation for possible hostilities with the French and British, in 1809 Congress authorized an army of 100,000 men to be mobilized. Kentucky was assigned the task of providing five thousand men. Posey returned to the army