Josiah Parker

Parker was born at the Macclesfield Estate in Isle of Wight County in the Colony of Virginia. 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).[1]

In 1775, Parker became a member of the state Committee of Safety. He attended the Virginia Convention that met in March, July, and December of that year.

When the American Revolutionary War began in April 1775, Parker enlisted in the Continental Army. He was promptly commissioned a major in the 5th Virginia Regiment on February 13, 1776, promoted to lieutenant colonel on July 28, 1777, and became its colonel 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’s army. The regiment thereafter saw action at the Battle of Trenton, Battle of Princeton, Battle of Brandywine, Battle of Germantown, Battle of Monmouth and the Siege of Charleston.

At the Battle of Trenton, Parker had the honor to receive Hessian Colonel Johann Rall's sword of surrender and he alone holds a sword in the painting, The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776 by John Trumbull.[2][3]

Parker resigned from the army on July 12, 1778 and became a member of the Virginia House of Delegates for 1778, 1779, 1782 and 1783. During Cornwallis's Virginia campaign in 1781, the notorious Colonel Tarleton ransacked his home.[4]

In August 1781, Lafayette sent him to Portsmouth, Virginia 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.[5]

In 1786, Parker was commissioned a naval officer at Portsmouth, Virginia. 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.[6] However, he was elected to the First United States Congress, was reelected to the Second and Third Congresses. He was elected as a Federalist to the Fourth through Sixth United States Congress. 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.[7]

Parker then returned home and engaged in agriculture. He 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 by John Trumbull, Parker is on the far left, dressed in white

His grandson, Leopold Copeland Parker Cowper, served in the Virginia House of Delegates as lieutenant governor in the Restored Government of Virginia during the American Civil War.

The Col. Josiah Parker Family Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.[8]

A World War II Liberty Ship, SS Josiah Parker, was named in his honor.

• United States Congress. "Josiah Parker (id: P000065)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Lyon Gardiner Tyler (1915). Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography edited. Lewis historical publishing company. p. 123. Macclesfield virginia.
• Stella Pickett Hardy (1911). Colonial families of the Southern states of America. Wright. p. 409.