Thomas Conway was an Irish-born army officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of French India from 1787 to 1789. Following the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War he went to the Thirteen Colonies and volunteered to join to the Continental Congress for military service in 1777. Based on an introduction from Silas Deane, Congress appointed him as a brigadier general in the Continental Army on May 13, and sent him on to George Washington. Conway commanded the leading brigade on the American right flank at the Battle of Germantown, and was praised for his actions. However, Washington opposed his promotion to major general, believing that many American-born officers with longer and valuable service deserved the rank; this caused a falling out between Washington and Conway. Congress appointed Conway a major general despite Washington's objections in December 1777, and made him Inspector General of the American army.

He tried a ploy that had worked before his promotion, and submitted his resignation to Congress in March 1778. This time it was accepted, so he was forced to leave the Continental Army. John Cadwalader shot him in a duel on July 4, 1778. When he recovered, he wrote an apology to Washington and returned to France. Conway later returned to the French army, where in 1787 he was promoted to maréchal de camp and appointed as the governor of French India. In 1793 he fought with royalist forces in opposition to French Revolution in southern France. During the French Revolution he was condemned to death. He was saved only by an appeal to the British (against which he had fought in the American Revolutionary War), but was compelled to flee from France for his life.