History of Luray, (Page County) Virginia United States of America

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Thomas Jordan, soldier, was born in Luray, Va., Sept. 30, 1819. He was graduated from the U.S. Military academy in 1840, entering the army as 2d lieutenant of the 3d infantry. He served in the Seminole war, and in the war with Mexico, distinguishing himself at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. He was promoted 1st lieutenant, June 18, 1846, and captain and quartermaster on General Taylor's staff, March 3, 1847. After the war he served in Florida and the Northwest; was stationed at Fort Miller, Cal., 1850-56; at Fort Dallas, Ore., 1856-60, and while on the Pacific coast he introduced navigation on the Columbia river above the Dallas, and the first successful system of irrigation of arid plains. He resigned his commission in the U.S. army, and in May, 1861, entered the Confederate States army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel and was appointed adjutant-general of the Confederate forces at Manassas Junction. He accompanied General Beauregard to Tennessee as chief of staff, where he took part in the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, and was promoted brigadier-general for gallantry on the field. When Beauregard was ordered to South Carolina he served on the staff of General Bragg, but shortly after he returned to Beauregard and served under him in the defence of Charleston until the close of the war. He became editor of the Memphis Appeal in 1866, and in 1869 was made chief of the general staff of the Cuban insurgent army, landing with reinforcements at Mayan, and while attempting to reach the main insurgent army was attacked by the Spanish forces and lost eighty men. He became commander-in-chief of the insurgents, and in January, 1870, met and defeated a superior force of Spanish regulars at Guaimaro. He resigned his commission, February, 1870, and returned to the United States, devoting himself to literary pursuits in New York city. He was editor of the Financial and Mining Record; joint author with J. B. Pryor of The Campaign of Lieutenant-General Forrest (1868); published a critical review of the Confederate operations and administration in Harper's Magazine in 1865, which attracted wide attention, and contributed otherwise to the literature of the civil war. He died in New York city, Nov. 28, 1895.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Luray, (Page County) Virginia

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