Theodore W . Brevard Theodore Washington Brevard ( August 26 , 1835 , Tuskegee , AL – June 20 , 1882 , Tallahassee , FL ) was an American military officer best known for having served in the Confederate States Army . During his tenure with the Confederate army , he served in such ranks as Captain , Colonel and Brigadier - General . Brevard was captured by the forces of General George Custer and imprisoned at Johnson ' s Island . He later died in 1882 . Antebellum life . Theodore Washington Brevard , Jr . was born in Tuskegee , Alabama on August 26 , 1835 and studied law at the University of Virginia . He was admitted to the Florida bar in 1858 , and later served in the state assembly . In June 1860 , Brevard was appointed adjutant and inspector - general for the state of Florida . At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 , he resigned from this post to enter active service , feeling that " he was too young a man to hold a safe and easy position whiles others were in peril " . Military career . Brevard organized the 11th Florida Regiment , which had its origins as a battalion . After obtaining a commission , in the spring of 1861 , Brevard assembled a company of volunteers which would later compose the 2nd Florida regiment . The company was ordered to Fernandina Beach and drilled until thoroughly versed with military tactics . Being the first regiment that was ordered by the state of Virginia , it was labeled the representative regiment of Florida . Captain Brevard returned to Florida in the summer of 1862 after being commissioned to form a battalion of partisan rangers . Six companies forming the second battalion soon enlisted , commanded by Captains Henry Bird , Andrew J . May , John Westcott Walter J . Robinson and Adam Ochus under the command of Brevard , now in the rank of lieutenant - colonel . Under General Joseph Finegan command , the battalion did effective work in south and east Florida and , on May 1864 , was ordered to Virginia when the 4th Florida battalion , seven companies , the companies of Ochus and Robinson of Brevard ' s battalion and Captain Cullen Bradley ' s unattached company of Florida volunteers were assigned to the 11th Infantry under the command of Colonel Brevard . The battalion took a gallant part in the fighting around Richmond and Petersburg , and were under - fire nearly all the time after reaching Richmond . During the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road , Brevard learned of the death of his younger brother , Lieutenant Mays Brevard . Capture and death . Upon the resignation of General Finegan , Brevard was made a brigadier - general and acted as such until 6 April 1865 , when , while leading the 5th , 8th and 11th Florida regiments to break a flank movement of the enemy , they were captured by General George Custer ' s cavalry . Brevard was sent to Washington and later to Johnson ' s Island where he was imprisoned until his release in August 1865 . Brevard died on June 20 , 1882 in Tallahassee , Florida . The Union army had not realized that they had captured " General " Brevard , they thought they had captured " Colonel " Brevard . Despite Custer ' s habit of enumerating all of his battlefield prizes , no federal provost marshal had counted Brevard as a General . Quite possibly , Brevard had no idea he was a General himself , as his March 28 commission to the post had not reached him due to the chaos of the retreat , and he may not have discovered that he was a general until the war was over .