He left Virginia in 1831 and lived briefly in Louisville, Kentucky before finally settling in Lawrence County, Indiana.

He served as President pro tempore of the Indiana Senate for a short time and briefly held the office of acting Lieutenant Governor.

They did so due to their suspicion of the increased immigration from Ireland and Germany, but also because of the view of the northern portion of the American Party to be opposed to slavery.

Thompson was placed on the National Committee, but gave up the on third party strategy in August and supported Abraham Lincoln so as not to risk a Democratic victory in Indiana.

Following the American Civil War, Thompson served as judge of the 18th Circuit Court of the state of Indiana from 1867 to 1869.

Even the Postmaster General, David Key, who was the second Confederate veteran to serve in a Federal Cabinet since the American Civil War was more notable.

A popular (if suspect) story is that he was taken for a tour of one of our warships, and went below deck becoming thunderstruck and shouting, "My God, the durned thing's hollow!!"

His most notable involvement in any naval activity was actually on the sidelines: when Lt. George Washington De Long and James Gordon Bennett Jr. set up the USS Jeannette Expedition to the North Pole in 1879, Thompson gave some advice to the preparations, but seemed determined to watch the extent of Government involvement in the project.

The Hayes administration, while willing to keep good relations with the French, were fully suspicious about a French-owned Canal across the Isthmus of Panama as a violation of the Monroe Doctrine.