George Michael Bedinger (December 10, 1756 – December 7, 1843) was an American military officer and politician who came to oppose the expansion of slavery to Kentucky He served in both houses of the Kentucky legislature and in the

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. His nephew

Henry Bedinger Henry Bedinger III (February 3, 1812 – November 26, 1858) was a nineteenth-century American planter, politician, lawyer and diplomat. Born in the part of Virginia that became West Virginia not long after his death, he served two terms in th ...

became a pro-slavery congressman from Virginia.

Early and family life

Born Dec. 10, 1756 in

Hanover, Pennsylvania Hanover is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, southwest of York and north-northwest of Baltimore, Maryland and is north of the Mason-Dixon line. The town is situated in a productive agricultural region. The population was 16,429 at the ...

, the son of Henry Bedinger (1729-1772) and Magdelena Schlegel (1734-1796) who had emigrated from Alsace. Bedinger attended an English school. The family moved to Virginia about 1762 (where his elder brother Henry Bedinger (1753-1843) would remain). Meanwhile, the elder Bedinger moved the rest of his family to Kentucky in 1779, and settled at Boonesborough.

Military service

During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, George M. Bedinger served as adjutant in John Bowman's expedition against Chillicothe in May 1779. He returned to Virginia and served at the

siege of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...

, and therefore missed the

Battle of Blue Licks The Battle of Blue Licks, fought on August 19, 1782, was one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War. The battle occurred ten months after Lord Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, which had effectively ended the war in the east. O ...

in Kentucky. During the

Northwest Indian War The Northwest Indian War (1786–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern ...

, he was a major in Drake's Regiment in 1791, a major commanding the Winchester Battalion of Sharpshooters in the St. Clair expedition in 1791, and a major commanding the Third Sublegion of the United States Infantry from April 11, 1792, to February 28, 1793.

Career

Bedinger won election to the State house of representatives of the first legislature of Kentucky in 1792. He served in the State senate in 1800 and 1801. He opposed Kentucky becoming a slave state, but was unsuccessful in this effort. Bedinger was elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

to the Eighth and

Ninth In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second. Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...

Congresses (March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1807). He engaged in agricultural pursuits. While Bedinger inherited several slaves from his brother, he freed the slaves he owned personally when they reached the age of 30, and reportedly offered to pay for their passage to Liberia, though only one accepted.

Death and legcacy

Bedinger died at Blue Licks Springs, Kentucky, December 7, 1843. He was interred in the family cemetery on his farm near Lower Blue Licks Springs, Kentucky.

References

Retrieved on 2009-5-20 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedinger, George Michael 1756 births 1843 deaths American people of the Northwest Indian War

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

Kentucky state senators Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives People from Hanover, Pennsylvania People of Kentucky in the American Revolution People of Virginia in the American Revolution Continental Army officers from Pennsylvania Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky People of colonial Pennsylvania Burials in Kentucky