He was born about 1732 in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States, whither his father had moved from Maryland. He was great-grandson of the Scotch-Irish immigrant Robert Bruce Polk (or Pollok) who settled in Maryland sometime before 1687, and the son of William and Margaret (Taylor) Polk. He had two brothers.
There is no information about his education.
In the 1760's, he led the land-hungry settlers in a violent, lawless movement, known locally as the war of Sugar Creek, against Henry Eustace McCulloh, land agent of George Selwyn. He promoted the establishment in 1762 of Mecklenburg County, of which he became a justice of the peace, and in 1768 of the town of Charlotte, of which he was commissioner and first treasurer. He represented Mecklenburg County in the House of Commons in 1766-71 and in 1773-74.
As captain of militia, he aided Governor Tryon in his conflict with the Regulators, 1768-71; in 1772 he was employed as a surveyor in running the North Carolina-South Carolina boundary line. In the conflict with Great Britain, Polk was a zealous patriot - a local leader in firing the public mind, in intimidating Loyalists, and in the drafting and adoption by the Mecklenburg committee of the resolves of May 31, 1775, which declared null and void all commissions granted by the Crown and provided for the reorganization of the county government.
In the third Provincial Congress (August-September 1775) he was a member of the committee which formulated a temporary state government. Late in the year, as colonel of militia, he participated in the "Snow Campaign" against the Loyalists in upper South Carolina. In the spring of 1776 he was commissioned colonel of the 4th North Carolina Continental Regiment, which joined General Moore on the lower Cape Fear and marched Northward in the spring of 1777 to reinforce Washington. He was in the battle of Brandywine and at Valley Forge. He went back to North Carolina in February 1778 for supplies and recruits, but disappointed and irritated over not being promoted to succeed Brigadier-General Francis Nash, deceased, and by the loss of his command through consolidation of the North Carolina regiments, he resigned his commission to Washington on June 26 and returned to civil life.
In the critical summer of 1780 Polk accepted two difficult appointments - commissary general of provisions for North Carolina and commissary of purchases for the Continental troops from General Gates, and superintendent commissary for Salisbury district from the provincial board of war. During the invasions of Cornwallis, he was active and alert in resistance and made liberal use of his own credit in purchasing supplies; but responsibility to two masters, and dependence upon county commissioners over whom he had no control, and general confusion, impaired his usefulness and brought an expression of lack of confidence from Gates. Polk offered his resignation, though he continued to serve until after General Greene replaced Gates. Greene, who regarded Polk highly, appointed him brigadier-general of the militia of Salisbury district in the spring of 1781; but the Assembly sent him instead a commission as "colonel commandant, " which he returned, though he continued his duties until relieved in May.
In 1783 and 1784 the General Assembly elected Polk councilor of state, and in 1786, delegate to the Continental Congress, but no record of his attendance can be found. He was a promoter and trustee of Queen's College at Charlotte (1771) and of Liberty (1777) and Salisbury (1784) academies.
He owned forty-seven slaves and much land. He was the host of President Washington at Charlotte in 1791, and died at his home in that town.
Thomas Polk served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War with distinction and was promoted to the rank of colonel. He also acted as commissary for the Salisbury district, one of North Carolina's militia recruiting divisions, often using his personal assets and credit to provide supplies for the Patriot cause. Besides, Polk was elected to the North Carolina Council of State, which assisted the governors in performing their executive duties.
In 1755 he married Susan Spratt. He had nine children. William was his son; Leonidas, his grandson; and Lucius E. and William M. , his great-grandsons. James K. Polk was a grandnephew.
