Thomas Turner Fauntleroy (October 6, 1796 – September 12, 1883) was a Virginia lawyer, state legislator from Fauquier, Regular Army officer, slaver, and briefly a Virginia military officer at the beginning of the American Civil War who refused a commission as brigadier general in the Confederate States Army.

[1] Detached from Major General Zachary Taylor's main force in 1835, he held native Americans in check on the Texas frontier.

He was promoted to lieutenant colonel, Second Regiment of Dragoons, on June 30, 1846, and ordered to join General Taylor's force during the Mexican–American War at the Rio Grande.

[6][7] While Col. Fauntleroy fought in the West, his son and namesake had become a lawyer and followed his father's example by winning election to the Virginia House of Delegates, albeit for Frederick County.

After the Battle of Fort Sumter that began the American Civil War and Virginia's secession in April 1861, Fauntleroy resigned his U.S. Army commission in May 1861 and returned to his native Commonwealth.

A daughter, Mary Thurston Fauntleroy, married Surgeon General of the United States Army Joseph Barnes.