Confederate Brigadier General William E. "Grumble" Jones : At the start of the Civil War, Jones joined the
1st Virginia Cavalry Regiment as a Captain, commanding a company he had raised. On May 9 he was promoted to
Major in Virginia's Provisional Army, and later that month both Jones and the regiment were transferred into the
Confederate Army. Jones served under Col.
J.E.B. Stuart in the
First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. The following month he was promoted to the rank of
Colonel was given command of the 1st Virginia Cavalry.
In the fall of 1861 the Confederate forces underwent a massive reorganization, during which the enlisted men could elect their officers. As a result Jones was not re-elected to his post as commander of the 1st Virginia Cavalry. That September he was appointed to command the
7th Virginia Cavalry. He led the regiment into Western Virginia, along the
Potomac River. In March 1862 Jones was given command of all cavalry in the
Valley District.
Confederate Cavalry General William E. Jones photographed while still a colonel with the
7th Virginia Cavalry in 1862.
Returning to eastern Virginia, Jones's cavalry was distinguished in the
Second Bull Run Campaign; he was wounded in a skirmish at
Orange Court House on August 2. He was part of Stuart's ostentatious raid around
Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's army preceding the
Seven Days battles. He was promoted to
Brigadier General on September 19, 1862, and on November 8, was assigned to command the 4th
Brigade of Stuart's Cavalry
Division in the
Army of Northern Virginia. This brigade was known as Robertson's, or the "Laurel brigade," and consisted entirely of Virginians, formerly commanded by
Turner Ashby. Based on the request of
Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, on December 29, 1862, he assumed command of the Valley District.
In the spring of 1863, Jones and Brig. Gen.
John D. Imboden raided the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad west of
Cumberland, Maryland, destroying much of the railroad and public property in the area, including the
Burning Springs Complex on May 9, 1863.
[3] Rejoining Stuart, he fought in the largest cavalry engagement of the war, the
Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863, at the start of the
Gettysburg Campaign. He was surprised, as was all of Stuart's command, to be hit out of blue by
Union cavalry under Maj. Gen.
Alfred Pleasonton. Jones's brigade was outnumbered by the division of his
West Point classmate, Brig. Gen.
John Buford, but it held its own and ended the fight with more horses and more and better small-arms than at the beginning, capturing two regimental colors, an artillery battery, and about 250 prisoners.
As the Gettysburg Campaign continued, Jones screened the Army of Northern Virginia's rear guard during the advance north through the
Shenandoah Valley, by holding gaps in the mountains that separated them from Union observation and interference. As the
Battle of Gettysburg commenced on July 1, 1863, Jones' brigade crossed the Potomac River at
Williamsport, Maryland, but stayed away from the principal battlefield, guarding the trains and
Harpers Ferry. Jones was disgruntled that Stuart had not taken him on his movement around the Union flank to join up with General Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps on the Susquehanna River. Before moving into Pennsylvania, General Robert E. Lee ordered Ewell to capture Harrisburg if practicable. The disagreeable Jones often clashed with Stuart. On July 3, Jones's brigade fought a sharp battle with the
6th U.S. Cavalry at
Fairfield, Pennsylvania, then again at
Funkstown, Maryland, a few days later. After Lee's army completed its retreat back to Virginia, Jones's men fought twice again with Buford at Brandy Station, on August 1 and October 10, 1863.
In October, Stuart's dissatisfaction with Jones reached a boil and he
court-martialed Jones for insulting him. Although Grumble was found guilty, Robert E. Lee intervened, and he was transferred to the Trans-Allegheny Department in
West Virginia. Jones recruited a brigade of cavalry there and campaigned in eastern
Tennessee with Lt. Gen.
James Longstreet's forces during the winter and spring of 1864. In May, Jones assumed command of the Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley who were defending against the halting advance of Maj. Gen.
David Hunter towards
Lynchburg, Virginia, in the
Valley Campaigns of 1864. In the
Battle of Piedmont on June 5, 1864, Jones was shot in the head and killed while leading a charge against a superior attacking force.
Grumble Jones is buried in the Old Glade Spring Presbyterian Church graveyard,
Glade Spring, Virginia. His fellow cavalry general, Brig. Gen. Imboden, wrote that Jones :
... was an old army officer, brave as a lion and had seen much service, and was known as a hard fighter. He was a man, however, of high temper, morose and fretful. He held the fighting qualities of the enemy in great contempt, and never would admit the possibility of defeat where the odds against him were not much over two to one.