Flournoy, Thomas S.

Born: 1811-12-15 Prince Edward County, Virginia

Died: 1883-03-12 Halifax County, Virginia

Flournoy received his collegiate education from Hampden-Sidney College. He worked as a private teacher and studied law. He earned admittance to the bar and started a practice in Halifax County, Virginia, in 1834. In 1846, Flournoy won election, as a Whig, to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1847-49, alongside Abraham Lincoln. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1848 and in 1850. He ran an unsuccessful American Party campaign for governor of Virginia in 1855. Flournoy served as a member of the Virginia secession convention in 1861. After Virginia's secession, he served in the Confederate Army as a captain of a cavalry company and earned promotion to colonel of the Sixth Virginia Cavalry. Flournoy again ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1863. He returned to Danville, Virginia after the Civil War and practiced law.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1040.