Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection open for research .

Use Restrictions

No physical characteristics affect use of this material.

Preferred Citation

William Augustus Jones Collection, 1861, 1909, n.d. (SC 0043), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA .

Acquisition Information

Sarah Elizabeth Jones, Bethesda, MD

Alternative Form Available

None

Accruals

2007.0186

Processing Information

Processed by Emily Hershman, 19 Jun 2009

Biographical Information

William Augustus Jones (1844-1919) was born in Marshall County, MS. The eldest of three surviving sons, he spent much of his childhood at Prospect Hill, the family plantation which had been built by his grandfather, William Jones (1783-1855), in 1839. After the death of his father, Rufus Jones (1811-1856), the family moved to a townhouse in nearby Holly Springs. When war broke out in 1861, he enlisted with Company B of the Seventeenth Mississippi Regiment, one of four units which composed Barksdale's Brigade of Mississippians in the Army of Northern Virginia. Serving with this regiment throughout 1861, Jones fought at both First Manassas (21 Jul 1861) and the Battle of Ball's Bluff near Leesburg, VA (21 Oct 1861). He was admitted to Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond for wounds received at the Seven Days' Battles in June 1862, and was discharged two months later. After regaining his health, Jones reenlisted under cavalry commander John Hunt Morgan (1825-1864). He incurred another gunshot wound during an attempted raid at Greeneville, TN, on 4 Sep 1864; he remained a member of the Kentucky Cavalry until the surrender at Appomattox. After the war, Jones established a hardware business in Holly Springs, MS, with his brother, Egbert Rufus Jones (1848-1917). He married Martha Gillespie Mason (d. 1912), with whom he had four children. In later life, Jones moved to Memphis, TN, to be near his sons, and lived there until his death in January 1919.

Scope and Content

The William Augustus Jones Collection includes obituaries, biographical and genealogical research, as well as transcripts of letters. Biographical material about Jones and genealogical research denote both various events of his life and the history of his family's establishment in Holly Springs describing his service during the war, marriage, and the success of his hardware business in postwar years.

Included in the collection are transcripts of letters written by Jones to his mother, Martha Reese Jones (d. 1912), and his sister, Elizabeth Reese Jones (1841-1917) describing camp conditions such as drilling times and mess companions, as well as various troop movements nearby. Two photocopies of letters, addressed to Ann Finley Crall (1871-?) and Elizabeth Reese Jones (1885-?), are also in the collection.

Related Material

None

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography

Other Finding Aid

None

Technical Requirements

None