Kentucky. Governor (1816 : Madison)

George Madison was Kentucky's sixth governor and the first to die in office. He served as governor from August 1816 to October 1816. He was a Jeffersonian Republican.

Madison was born in 1763 in Augusta County, Virginia. Before Madison reached the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the Virginia Militia in order to fight in the Revolutionary War. Following the war, Madison moved west to Kentucky, and then became involved with the Indian Wars. He was severely wounded in 1791 when he led a company at St. Clair's defeat, and again in 1792 as a major when John Adair's force was attacked by Little Turtle.

George Madison then retired from active military service and concentrated on political and business matters. In 1796, Governor Isaac Shelby appointed Madison as Auditor of Public Accounts and he served in that capacity for twenty years. In addition, Madison was a trustee of the Kentucky Seminary in 1800 and was made director of the newly established Bank of Kentucky in 1806. Also in 1806, Madison sat on the grand jury which refused to indict Aaron Burr.

With the outbreak of the War of 1812, Madison once again volunteered for service and was appointed major of the Second Battalion of the First Rifle Regiment. Following a battle at Frenchtown near the Raisin River in upper Michigan during which supplies and ammunition were depleted, Madison was forced to surrender. On January 22, 1812, George Madison became a prisoner of war. He and his men were first held at Malden, Canada near the lower Detroit River, then he was transferred to Quebec where he was held until 1814.

Though in failing health, Madison was pressed to run for the office of governor at the end of Isaac Shelby's second term. Given Madison's overwhelming popularity, his only opponent withdrew from the race and Madison ran unopposed. He was elected in August 1816, but the tuberculosis he had developed was beginning to overwhelm him. Madison took the oath of office and appointed Charles Stewart Todd as Secretary of State, but was unable to perform many other gubernatorial duties before his death in Paris, Kentucky on October 14, 1816. He was buried in Frankfort.

Lieutenant Governor Gabriel Slaughter completed Madison's term of office, serving as acting governor until 1820. The repercussions of naming Madison's successor were felt for years, and resulted in changes in the Kentucky Constitution in provisions for executive branch succession.

From the description of Subunit history. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145415664