Private Edward Jones
Pvt. Edward Jones
Private Edward Jones was born about 1844 in Franklin County, Virginia, and enlisted on September 1st, 1864, in Marietta, Ohio. At the time of his enlistment, Jones was 20 years old, and military records described him as 5’7” tall, with black complexion, black eyes, and black hair. Prior to enlisting, Jones was a farmer.
Jones enlisted for one year. Two months into his enlistment, Jones was assigned to the 9th Colored Heavy Artillery Co. B, which was formed in Clarksville and Nashville, TN on Nov. 1, 1864. Jones was one of 241 other men in Battery B, a group that fought at the Battle of Nashville.
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He is one of seven Franklin-born USCT soldiers who fought at the Battle of Nashville. At that time, it was the largest number of Black soldiers on any Civil War battlefield. Jones and his regiment remained with the District of Nashville until May 5, 1865, when the regiment was broken up. Jones was then transferred to the 13th regiment, which placed him on garrison duty at Camp Nelson, Smithland, Lexington and other parts of Kentucky. The regiment was dismissed six months later, on November 18th, 1865.
We know little about Jones’ personal life, but he was married. A record of pension applications shows that Jones applied for and received a pension in 1889, and his widow received one in 1895. These pension records could not be located by National Archives.
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Jones passed away on June 27, 1895, and was buried in Athens, Ohio.
In 1942, there was an application for a headstone for an Edward Jones matching the military record of this Franklin County-born USCT soldier. This application was submitted by a C. E. Scott of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, Nelsonville, Athens Co, Ohio.
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Contributors: Breanna Helton, Cathie Cummins, Toni Smith, Sarah Plummer, James Nur, Victoria Weber, Christian Robertson and Alexandra Mkrtchvan