|
Brig. Gen. William Edmonson “Grumble”
Jones
Grumble
Jones had earned his nickname—he was irascible and prone to complaining.
However, the Confederate cavalry chieftain, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart
respected him. Although he greatly disliked Grumble Jones, Stuart nevertheless
called him “the best outpost officer in the army.” Stuart also praised
Jones’ “marked courage and determination”, indicating a grudging respect
for Jones’ abilities. At the same time, however, when Jones was promoted
to brigade command in October 1862, Stuart resisted the promotion, writing
to his wife Flora, “…I hope he will be assigned to the Infantry, I don’t want
him in the Cavalry, and have made a formal statement to that effect.” Returning
Stuart’s disdain, Jones referred to Stuart as “that young whippersnapper.”
William Edmonson Jones was born on the Middle Fork of the Holston
River in Washington County, Virginia on May 9, 1824. After graduating
from Emory and Henry College in Virginia in 1844, Jones matriculated at
West Point. Graduating twelfth out of forty-eight in the Class 1848 (which
included John Buford), Jones spent his entire career in the Regular Army
in the mounted arm, serving on the frontier in the Regiment of Mounted
Rifles until his resignation in 1857. He spent much of his career in the
Mounted Rifles fighting Indians and serving garrison duty in the Pacific
Northwest. After leaving the Army, he spent the next several years as a reclusive
farmer, living a lonely and bitter life. He had not always been so short-tempered.
His young wife was washed from his arms in a shipwreck shortly after their
marriage, and Jones never recovered from her loss. He grew “embittered,
complaining and suspicious” as a result, quarreling with his fellow officers
frequently. Eschewing the flamboyant style of dress and the exaggerated
mannerisms adopted by Stuart, he was a plain dresser with a legendary talent
for profanity. Jones was an extremely strict disciplinarian whose men respected
but did not love him. While not a likeable man, Grumble Jones was definitely
a fighter. His fellow cavalry general, Brig. Gen. John D. 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.”
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Jones formed a cavalry company,
and was elected its captain, serving under J.E.B. Stuart in the First
Manassas Campaign. He became colonel of the 1st and later the 7th Virginia
Cavalry and was promoted to brigadier general on September 19, 1862. Shortly
thereafter, Jones assumed command of the veteran cavalry brigade formerly
commanded by the legendary Brig. Gen. Turner Ashby, one of the best brigades
of cavalry in either army. Ashby, a gifted horseman and leader, was the
first commander of the 7th Virginia. Promoted to command of Thomas J.
“Stonewall” Jackson’s cavalry during the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign,
Ashby performed well during the Campaign until he was killed in action
in June 1862. In his short tenure as a commander, Ashby left his mark on
his brigade. Proud and dashing, Ashby embodied the attitude of the beau
sabreur. The brigade Jones inherited consisted entirely of Virginians,
the 6th, 7th, 11th, and 12th Virginia Cavalry Regiments and the 35th Battalion
of Virginia Cavalry, all veteran troopers accustomed to hard marching and
hard fighting.
Jones’ men did splendidly at Brandy Station, where, badly outnumbered
by the division of his West Point classmate John Buford, they held their
own in a day of intense fighting. As the Gettysburg Campaign commenced,
Jones’ men held the critical gaps in the mountain ranges on either side
of the Shenandoah Valley on the march north, and screened the Army of Northern
Virginia’s rear guard during the advance into Pennsylvania. As the three-day-long
battle began at Gettysburg, Jones’ brigade crossed the Potomac River at
Williamsport, Maryland, and camped near Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Two
units of the brigade were left behind as the rest of the brigade advanced
north. The 12th Virginia remained in the lower Valley to watch the Federal
troops garrisoned at Harper’s Ferry, and the 35th Battalion was temporarily
attached to the Confederate cavalry brigade of Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins
in the Confederate advance to the Susquehanna River. The balance of Jones’
troopers remained behind the Confederate lines, guarding the trains during
the first two days of the battle.
On July 3, Jones’ Brigade fought a vicious battle with the 6th
U.S. Cavalry at Fairfield, Pennsylvania. They then fought the Regulars
again at Funkstown a few days later. When the retreat ended, Jones’
men had a brief respite they then had a sharp fight with Buford again
at Second Brandy Station on August 1, 1863, and again on October 10, 1863
in Third Brandy Station. That fall, Jones and Stuart had a final falling
out, and Jones was court-martialed for insulting Stuart. Robert E. Lee
intervened, and Jones was transferred to the western part of Virginia.
There, he cobbled together a brigade of cavalry and campaigned
in eastern Tennessee during the winter and spring of 1864. In the summer
of 1864, Jones assumed command of the Confederate forces in the Upper Shenandoah
Valley, and, while personally leading a charge at the Battle of Piedmont
on June 5, 1864, he was killed in action, a fitting end for a fighting
general.
by Eric Wittenberg
Eric Wittenberg
Eric Wittenberg
is a practicing attorney in Columbus, Ohio. A native of Reading, Pennsylvania,
he was educated at Dickinson College and the University of Pittsburgh
School of Law. He has spent years studying Federal cavalry operations
in the Gettysburg Campaign. He is a member of the Brandy Station Foundation,
and is a former president of the Central Ohio Round Table.
|
