Colonel 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry

Commanded 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Cumberland

Captured at Tompkinsville, Kentucky, in 1862, confined at Libby Prison and Castle Thunder Prison

War Date Signature With Rank

((1821-95) Born in Walnut Hill, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, he was the son of Benjamin Jordan, a Pennsylvania State Senator. He graduated from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., with a law degree in 1842. When the Civil War broke out Jordan immediately enlisted and was commissioned as an aide-de-camp to General William H. Keim. Jordan first saw action at Falling Waters, Va., in early July 1861. During the summer that followed, he was promoted to Major and ordered to assist in the recruiting and organization of a cavalry unit that became the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry in October 1861, also known as the "Lochiel Cavalry." The unit was deployed to the Cumberland Valley with Major Jordan as the commander of its Third Battalion and he saw action in Kentucky and Tennessee in early 1862. At Tompkinsville, Kentucky, on July 9, 1862, a superior force of Confederate raiders surprised Jordan and three companies of the Third Battalion. Jordan organized a fighting retreat but elements of the rearguard and Jordan himself were captured. As a prisoner, he came under attack for alleged ill-treatment of civilians in Sparta, Tennessee the previous May and was moved from Richmond's Libby Prison to Castle Thunder Prison in the city to face charges. Investigations found that his unit had only been in Sparta for a few hours and that the charges were based on Jordan's demand to the women of the town to quickly prepare a meal for his men. He was exonerated & subsequently exchanged. He returned to his regiment in January 1863, and was appointed colonel commanding. He distinguished himself at Shelbyville, Tenn., and at Chickamauga, Ga., and was appointed a brigade commander in the 3rd Cavalry Division participating in the Atlanta Campaign, and General William T. Sherman's March to the Sea. He ended the war serving in North Carolina and his unit was disbanded and mustered out of the Union army on July 18, 1865. He himself had been promoted to the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General of Volunteers earlier, in February. Thomas J. Jordan died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 3, 1895, and was buried in the Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery.

War Date Signature With Rank: 4 1/2 x 3, partial imprint, filled out in ink. I hereby certify, on honor, that I am ordered with my Regt. to Frankfort, Ky., by authority of Order dated In the field, June 10, 1864, Headquarters of District of Kentucky, By order of Brig'd Genl. Burbridge, Comdg., Thos. J. Jordan, Col. 9th Penn. Cavalry, Comdg. Post, Frankfort, Ky. Light age toning and wear.