William Edmondson "Grumble" Jones: The Life of a Cantankerous Confederate

by James Buchanan Ballard

Overview

William Edmondson "Grumble" Jones (b. 1824) stands among the most notable Southwest Virginians to fight in the Civil War. The Washington County native graduated from Emory & Henry College and West Point. As a lieutenant in the "Old Army" between service in Oregon and Texas, he watched helplessly as his wife drowned during the wreck of the steamship Independence. He resigned his commission in 1857.

Resuming his military career as a Confederate officer, he mentored the legendary John Singleton Mosby. His many battles included a clash with George Armstrong Custer near Gettysburg. An internal dispute with his commanding general, J.E.B. Stuart, resulted in Jones's court-martial conviction in 1863. Following a series of campaigns in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, he returned to the Shenandoah Valley and died in battle in 1864, leaving a mixed legacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476629704
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	10/12/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	294
File size:	9 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

The late James Buchanan Ballard was a retired insurance adjuster and a past contributor to the Historical Society of Washington County Virginia’s annual publication regarding events, people, and places from the region.
The late James Buchanan Ballard was a retired insurance adjuster and a past contributor to the Historical Society of Washington County Virginia's annual publication regarding events, people, and places from the region.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface delete
 1. Ancestry and Origin
 2. Emory and Henry College
 3. West Point
 4. Manifest Destiny
 5. Migration, Furlough and Marriage
 6. Tragedy on the High Seas
 7. Texas—Into the Desert
 8. The Civilian Years
 9. A Call to Arms
10. First Virginia Cavalry
11. Seventh Virginia Cavalry
12. Command of the Shenandoah Valley District
13. West Virginia Raid
14. Brandy Station
15. Gettysburg
16. ­Court-Martial
17. Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee
18. The Shenandoah Valley—May 1864
19. Return to the Valley
20. The Battle of Piedmont—June 5, 1864
21. Piedmont Aftermath
Epilogue delete
Chapter Notes delete
Bibliography delete
Index delete

Editorial Reviews

Wonderfully crafted book...remarkable...an excellent biography of one of the Confederacy’s forgotten cavaliers...valuable nuggets that Civil War historians will find useful. Ballard’s diligent research and fine narrative style has resulted in a balanced and solid biography of one of the Civil War’s more obscure figures”—Civil War Monitor; “The first complete biography of General Jones to appear in the Civil War literature...Ballard’s study offers a very thorough account of Jones’s Civil War career...offers readers a meticulous recounting and valuable contextualization of the Civil War service of a significant yet largely neglected military figure”—Civil War Books and Authors; “Confederate General William E. Jones previously had no thorough biography. James Ballard has filled that niche, and provided an excellent, full-life study of this general from Washington County, Virginia. Readers seeking new ground concerning Southern and Confederate history will find both in this volume...recommended”—Confederate Veteran.

From the Publisher