Historic, intricately detailed 9-page letter, written in 1869, by the colorful and controversial Confederate Brigadier General Thomas Jordan who commanded Confederate forces at Manassas and Shiloh. The letter sheds light on Jordan's bizarre post-Civil War adventures as a mercenary in the Cuban war of independence against Spain. He acted as a sort of former-day Ollie North brazenly flouting the law for his own sense of duty and honor. Written in June of 1869, a month after Jordan landed in Cuba with 3,000 men, he soon became chief of staff of the rebel army he took into battle at Cuaba, rousting the Spaniards. Jordan swaggeringly wrote to General Manuel Quesada, whom he identified as "Commander in Chief of the Forces of Cuba," that, "I have to report that I attacked the Enemy in their entrenched positions at Cuaba" and that the "panic" his forces created was "wide spread." He goes on to relate his strategy and to take bows for it, concluding, "I have the honor to be General, Your obedient servant, Thomas Jordan." In black fountain pen with a crisp, taut hand, the signature is a remarkably strong 9/10. Pages of the letter are 7 1/2 x 11" and G-VG with thorough brown toning and the first and last two pages loose from the others which remain bound to the original legal pad. Most pages are quite good, the loose ones more discolored, spottily stained and serrated at the corners and edges. Most serious damage is on the last page, with a brown spot obscuring some of the text.