Josiah Parker (May 11, 1751March 11, 1810) was an

American politician The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bi ...

, Revolutionary War officer and Virginia planter who served in the

United States House of Representatives 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 house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

through

Sixth United States Congress The 6th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met at Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in Washington, D ...

es as well as represented Isle of Wight County in three of the five Virginia revolutionary convention and in the Virginia House of Delegates for several terms before his federal service.

Early life

Parker was born at the Macclesfield Estate in

Isle of Wight County Isle of Wight County is a county located in the Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It was named after the Isle of Wight, England, south of the Solent, from where many of its early colonists had come. As of the 2020 census, th ...

in the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

. In 1773, he married the widow Mary Pierce Bridger. They had one child, Anne Pierce Parker, (ca 1775, Isle of Wight Co., VA - March 21, 1849). who received a legislative divorce from her abusive husband after the father's death, though her son Leopold C.P. Cowper would follow his maternal grandfather's path into politics.

Revolutionary War

In 1775, a year after the Fairfax Resolves and Virginia's first revolutionary convention, Parker won election to his first legislative office, as one of Isle of Wight county's two part-time representatives (alongside John Scarsbrook Wills) to the Second Virginia Convention, which met at St. John's Church in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

in March 1775, then both men also represented their county in the Third Virginia Convention that met in July and August (also in Richmond and which established the Virginia Committee of Safety to act as an executive body between sessions), and at the Fourth Virginia Convention of December 1775 and January 1776. Isaac Fulgham represented the county alongside John Scarsbrook Wills during the Fifth Virginia Convention. When 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 ...

began in April 1775, Parker enlisted in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

. He was promptly commissioned a major in the 5th Virginia Regiment on February 13, 1776, promoted to

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

on July 28, 1777, and became its

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

on April 1, 1778. His regiment served in Virginia under General Charles Lee until the autumn of 1776, when the 5th Virginia Regiment was transferred to

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

’s army. The regiment thereafter saw action at the Battle of Trenton, Battle of Princeton,

Battle of Brandywine The Battle of Brandywine, also known as the Battle of Brandywine Creek, was fought between the American Continental Army of General George Washington and the British Army of General Sir William Howe on September 11, 1777, as part of the Ame ...

, Battle of Germantown, Battle of Monmouth and the

Siege of Charleston The siege of Charleston was a major engagement and major British victory in the American Revolutionary War, fought in the environs of Charles Town (today Charleston), the capital of South Carolina, between March 29 and May 12, 1780. The Britis ...

. At the Battle of Trenton, Parker had the honor to receive Hessian Colonel

Johann Rall Johann Gottlieb Rall (also spelled Rahl) (December 27, 1776) was a German colonel best known for his command of Hessian troops at the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War. Early life and education Rall was born as a so-called ...

's sword of surrender and he alone holds a sword in the painting, ''

The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776 ''The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776'' is the title of an oil painting by the American artist John Trumbull depicting the capture of the Hessian soldiers at the Battle of Trenton on the morning of Thursday, December 26, 1 ...

'' by John Trumbull. Parker resigned from the army on July 12, 1778 and Isle of Wight voters elected as one of Isle of Wight county's two (part-time) representatives in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

(again alongside John Sarsbrook Wills.) However the legislative session was in two parts, and fellow legislators refused to seat him at the first session because he was a colonel of the 5th Virginia Regiment on election days, and thus ineligible to serve as a legislator, so Samuel Hardy was elected to replace him on October 3, 1778 and sat in the December session. Voters elected Parker to the Assembly of 1779, and he again served alongside John Scarsbrook Wills, although again replaced by Samuel Hardy for the Assembly of 1780-1781. During

Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...

's Virginia campaign in 1781, the notorious Colonel

Tarleton Tarleton is a village and civil parish in the borough of West Lancashire, Lancashire, England. It situated in the Lancashire mosslands approximately 10 miles north east of Southport, approximately 10 miles south west of Preston, approximately ...

ransacked Parker's home. In August 1781, Lafayette sent Parker to

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

on a reconnaissance. He found the British had embarked for Yorktown. Parker recovered 25 cannons the British had thrown into the sea to prevent their capture. Isle of Wight voters again elected Parker and Wills as their delegates to the General Assembly sessions of 1782, and re-elected both men to the part-time delegate position in 1783 assembly session.

Post-war

In 1786, Parker accepted an officer's commission in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

officer at

. He ran to become a delegate to the 1788 Virginia Convention, since he opposed surrendering Virginia's hard won independence by ratifying the United States Constitution. However, after Virginia ratified the new federal constitution, he accepted election to the

First United States Congress The 1st United States Congress, comprising the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, met from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1791, during the first two years of George Washington's presidency, first at Federal Hall in ...

. He also won reelection to the

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and Third Congresses. He successfully ran as a

Federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

and won election to the Fourth through

. Declaring it was time to "wipe off the stigma" of slavery that stained America, Parker became the first national legislator in American history to formally introduce an antislavery motion in congress. Parker then returned home and farmed on his plantation back in Isle of Wight county.

Death and legacy

Parker died in 1810, and was buried in the family cemetery on his plantation, "Macclesfield", in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton December 26 1776

The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton December 26 1776

His grandson,

Leopold Copeland Parker Cowper Leopold Copeland Parker Cowper (March 1811 – July 17, 1875) served as (seventh) lieutenant governor of the Restored government of Virginia from November 1863 until June 1865 and then as the eighth Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virg ...

, born to his daughter the year after Col Parker died, served several terms representing Isle of Wight county in the Virginia House of Delegates, as well became as lieutenant governor in the

Restored Government of Virginia The Restored (or Reorganized) Government of Virginia was the Unionist government of Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865) in opposition to the government which had approved Virginia's seceding from the United States and join ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. The Col. Josiah Parker Family Cemetery was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2004. A

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Liberty Ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...

, SS ''Josiah Parker'', was named in his honor.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Josiah 1751 births 1810 deaths Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Continental Army officers from Virginia Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia People from Isle of Wight County, Virginia