Thomas Jordan ( general ) Thomas Jordan ( September 30 , 1819 – November 27 , 1895 ) was a Confederate general and major operative in the network of Confederate spies during the American Civil War . A career soldier in the armies of three nations , he fought in numerous wars and rebellions in the United States , Mexico , and Cuba . Jordan was also a newspaper editor and author . Early life and career . Thomas Jordan was born the oldest child of Gabriel and Elizabeth " Betsey " Seibert Jordan in the Luray Valley , Virginia . He is believed to have been educated in the local schools of Shenandoah County , Virginia ( later Page County , Virginia ) . In 1840 , he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point . Jordan entered the army as a second lieutenant in the 3rd U . S . Infantry , and was assigned to the garrison at Fort Snelling , Minnesota . He fought in the Second Florida War against the Seminole Indians . He was among those soldiers who surprised and captured Chief " Tiger Tail " near Cedar Keys in November 1842 . He was assigned to western frontier duty until 1846 , when he was promoted to first lieutenant . In the Mexican - American War , he served creditably at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma . In 1847 , he was promoted to captain and served as a quartermaster . He remained at Vera Cruz for a year after the war in an administrative role . He was next posted to various Southern garrisons and on the Pacific Coast . As early as 1860 , he secretly began a pro - Southern spy network in Washington , D . C . , that was particularly active in the period immediately after secession . In early 1861 , Jordan passed control of the espionage network to Rose O ' Neal Greenhow ; however , he continued to receive and evaluate her reports after she was restricted to house arrest in August 1861 and imprisoned in Washington , DC in January 1862 . He appeared to be her Confederate Secret Service " handler " during the formative phase of Confederate intelligence . Civil War . On May 22 , 1861 , Jordan resigned from the U . S . Army and was commissioned as a captain in the fledgling Confederate army . Promotion came rapidly , and by June 1861 , he had become a lieutenant colonel and a staff officer , seeing duty at the First Battle of Manassas as a full colonel and chief of staff under P . G . T . Beauregard . He also was the army ' s adjutant general and accompanied President Jefferson Davis on a post - battle tour of the field . Jordan subsequently accompanied Beauregard to the Western Theater to Kentucky . During the advance from Corinth , Mississippi , into Tennessee , he rendered valuable service in preparing the men for the Battle of Shiloh , where he was conspicuous in efficiently managing the flow of orders to and from the various corps commanders and their respective staffs . For his actions at Shiloh , he was promoted to brigadier general on April 14 , 1862 , and served as chief of staff for General Braxton Bragg during his Kentucky Campaign . When Beauregard was reassigned to the defense of Charleston , South Carolina , Jordan accompanied his long - time friend and mentor as chief of staff for that department . In May 1864 , he was assigned to the command of the Third Military District of South Carolina . Postbellum . Immediately after the Civil War , Jordan lived in Tennessee , where he published a critical review of the Confederate operations and administration in " Harper ' s Magazine " . He was the editor of the " Memphis Appeal " newspaper in 1866 . In 1868 , he co - published with J . B . Pryor a book entitled " The Campaigns of Lieutenant - General Forrest . " General Jordan , with his lengthy administrative and combat experience , became chief of staff of the Cuban insurgent army that same year . In May 1869 , as General - in - Chief of the Cuban Liberation Army , he landed at Mayarí with 300 men , and with enough arms , ammunition and supplies for the 6 , 000 additional men whom he hoped would rise to join the rebellion . In December 1869 , Jordan became military head of the Cuban Mambi army , who were fighting for Cuban independence from Spain in the Ten Years ' War . He scored a significant victory over superior enemy forces at Guaimaro in January 1870 . Extremely short of supplies , Jordan resigned from his Cuban post a month later and returned to the United States , his long military career over . He eventually settled in New York City . Continuing his interest in writing , Jordan published numerous articles on the Civil War and became the editor of the " Mining Record " . Jordan is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Hastings - on - Hudson in Westchester County , New York .