Thomas Alfred Davies Thomas Alfred Davies ( December 3 , 1809 – August 19 , 1899 ) was an American businessman , engineer , and soldier . He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . After the war Davies was a successful realtor as well as an author . Early life and career . Davies was born in 1809 near Black Lake , located in St . Lawrence County , New York . He spent his childhood and early youth in his father ' s farm and received common education from the local schools . He entered the United States Military Academy on July 1 , 1825 , and graduated on July 1 , 1829 , ranked twenty - fifth . Future high - ranking Confederates in the class of 1829 were Robert E . Lee , Joseph E . Johnston , and Theophilus H . Holmes . Davies was commissioned in the 1st U . S . Infantry on the Wisconsin frontier and as quartermaster at the Military Academy . In 1831 he resigned his commission to practice civil engineering in New York City . He was a merchant in New York from 1841 to the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 . Civil War service . When the American Civil War began in 1861 , Davies chose to follow his native state and the Union cause . He was elected colonel of the 16th New York Infantry Regiment on May 15 . Davies led a brigade during the First Battle of Bull Run that July . He then commanded the 10th Brigade in the defenses of Washington , D . C . , until March 7 , 1862 . On that date Davies was promoted to brigadier general in the Union Army , and he was transferred to the Army of the Tennessee in the Western Theater . In April and May 1862 Davies was engaged in the Siege of Corinth as a division commander . He took part in the Second Battle of Corinth on October 3 – 4 , 1862 , also in division command . Davies was assigned to command the Districts of Columbus , Kentucky , in 1862 – 63 , Rolla , Missouri , in 1863 – 64 , and North Kansas in 1864 – 65 . While in command at Columbus , Davies issued orders that the fortified Union post at Island No . 10 be disarmed with all ammunition destroyed , cannon spiked , and gun carriages burned , directives that seemed so nonsensical to the post commander that they had to be repeated several times before they were obeyed . One military investigator looking into the matter reported to headquarters that Davies ' conduct should result in his dismissal from the army " the better for our country , its cause and its treasury . " Davies , however , was not dismissed and was brevetted to major general on July 11 , 1865 , before being mustered out of the Union Army on August 25 , 1865 . Postbellum . After the war , Davies returned to New York . He made a substantial fortune in the real estate , and also devoted himself to the philosophic and theological speculation . He published a number of books supporting the divine inspiration of the Bible , and rebutting materialistic philosophy . His books on theology were " Cosmogony ; or , Mysteries of Creation " , " Adam and Ha - Adam " , " Genesis Disclosed " , and " Answer to Hugh Miller and Theoretical Geologists " . Davies was an Episcopalian , and was one of the oldest and influential members of St . Bartholomew ' s Episcopal Church , New York . He also published " How to Make Money , and How to Keep It " , which was later revised and reissued by Henry Ford . Davies died in Ogdensburg , New York , in the fall of 1899 , and was buried in the family cemetery in nearby Oswegatchie .