b. 9 May 1824, d. 5 June 1864
Birth | 9 May 1824 | General William Edmondson Jones was born on 9 May 1824 near Glade Spring in Washington County, Virginia.1,2 |
Education | | William was educated at Emory and Henry College in Washington County. In 1844 he entered West Point.2,3 |
| | While serving in the US Army he spent time in Missouri and Kansas and then in the Oregon and Washington Territories where he remained until 1851.2 |
| | When William finished his tour of duty he returned to Washington County. However in the intervening years his mother and surviving siblings (brothers Robert and James; sister Sarah) had left Virginia and settled in Crittenden County, Arkansas. |
Marriage | 15 Jan 1852 | William married his distant cousin Eliza Margaret "Pink" Dunn, daughter of Dr. Samuel Dunn and Jane Beattie Ryburn Edmiston, on 15 Jan 1852.4,5 |
| 15 Jan 1852 | He was 27 and she was 17. |
| 26 Mar 1852 | Following their marriage the couple left for New Orleans where they boarded a steamship bound for Texas, the location of William's new post. However, while attempting to reach the harbor at Matagorda Bay (Texas) the ship hit a sand bar and took on water. "Pink" was placed in a lifeboat but it capsized and she perished.6 |
Anecdote | | William wrote his mother-in-law, Jane B.R. Dunn about Eliza's death. Carolyn Ryburn, Eliza's great great niece reports that the beautiful letter reflects a great sadness, almost hopelessness, at Eliza's loss.7 |
| | William remained in Texas for several years however in the spring of 1855 then Lieutenant Jones traveled to Baltimore, Maryland on official business. During this trip he arranged for Eliza's remains to be brought from Texas to Washington County. He also purchased the marker that stands in her memory at Old Glade Spring Cemetery. Traveling back to Texas he stopped in Arkansas to visit family. While there he purchased the interest in his father's Washington County land held by his mother, Kate, and siblings Robert, James, and Sarah.8 |
| 1857 | William left the regular army in 1857 and returned to Washington County.2 |
| | He traveled to Europe and became interested in the cultivation of grapes. Once back in Virginia William planted a vineyard on his property. |
Cens-1860 | 1860 | The 1860 census recorded the value of William's farm as $10,000. It also noted that William owned a 10 year old slave. William's adjacent household that year included Louis Authrieth/Authenreath and Frank Murenthen/Muentler, two young men from Germany who were employed as vine dressers. Although no record has been found to connect them to William, it seems probable they played some role in the establishment of William's vineyard.9,10,11 |
Military | 1861 | With the secession of Virginia William returned to military life, but this time under the banner of the Confederate States of America. He organized a cavalry company known as the Washington Mounted Rifles which served under J.E.B. Stuart and Gen. J.E. Johnston. The "Rifles" were known for their discipline and William quickly rose to the rank of colonel and then Brigadier-General. Although he distinguished himself as a soldier and leader he was known for a "difficult" personality which earned him the nickname "Grumble."2 |
Death | 5 Jun 1864 | William died on 5 Jun 1864 at age 40 during the Battle of Piedmont.12 |
Burial | | He was buried next to Eliza at Old Glade Spring Cemetery in Washington County, Virginia.12 |
Probate Recd | 10 Sep 1864 | William's personal property was inventoried and appraised on 10 Sept, 1864 in Washington County. For the most part it reflected his life as a farmer rather than his life as a soldier. He owned several horses including a stallion named "John Red", 16 head of sheep, a sow and 7 pigs and assorted other farm animals and implements. The inventory also included household items such as a large copper kettle, 2 bedsteads, 4 table cloths and a lot of books. The sale of William's personal property was not recorded until 25 April 1870 although the sale intself would have taken place years earlier. Robert Campbell Jones, [William's brother], served as administrator.13,14,15,16 |
| | In the years following the war the men who served with William returned to civilian life. His brother-in-law Dr. William L. Dunn had served under William as part of the Washington Mounted Rifles, and had then fought with Mosby's Rangers. John Singleton Mosby had also first served in the Washington Mounted Rifles. Dr. Dunn returned to the life of a family physician in Glade Spring, Virginia. Mosby eventually lived in Washington DC where he held several government positions. But in the summer, he would visit his old friend William Dunn, and together they would pay their respects at Gen. Jones gravesite.17 |
Land-Sell | 8 Jan 1877 | On Jan. 8, 1877 John A. Buchanan, a commissioner of the Washington Co. Circuit Court, sold 422 acres of land on the waters of the Middle Fork of the Holston River to Robert Craig. The sale was made by court order in a case in which R.C. Jones [William's administrator] sued Hugh C. Moore [one of William's heirs]. The suit was probably a friendly one, necessitated by the fact one or more of the heirs was underage. Although William is not mentioned by name in the deed, a plat created from the boundaries reveals the tract as the same property (with a few acres added) that William owned at the time of his death.18 |