Private John Jones

Pvt. John Jones

Pvt John Jones was born c. 1846 in Franklin County, Virginia, and enlisted on Aug. 20, 1864, in Johnsonville, Tennessee, for a term of three years. He died a soldier on February 16, 1865, in the U.S. General Hospital No. 16 in Nashville of “pneumonia fever.” He was described as 18 years old, 5’5” tall, with brown complexion, black eyes, and black hair. His occupation was listed as farmer.

He enlisted with the 13th USCT Infantry Co. F., organized at Nashville and served railroad guard duty protecting the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad for the first four months of his service. The Company Muster Rolls for September/October and November/December 1864 show him present and that he was due a $300 bounty for enlisting. He participated in the U.S. repulse of Confederate Gen. John Hood’s attacks on Johnsonville on September 25 and fought in the Battle of Nashville, a Union victory on December 15-16, 1864. At the Battle of Nashville, there were an estimated 9,561 casualties, 3,061 for the U.S. and 6,500 for the Confederate. In addition to battle fatalities, Jones’ regiment lost a high number of enlisted men to disease, 265 out of 355 deaths during the muster.

Jones was one of the many men lost to disease. He became sick and was hospitalized on January 12, 1865, until his death just over a month later. In an inventory of his effects, it stated that he had two woolen shirts and one knapsack. Jones had never been paid his $300 for enlisting, and records show he received clothing worth $41.94 from the U.S. and was charged .90 cents for a rucksack and canteen. He would have owed the Army for all those items. This was likely the best suit of clothes this young man ever wore. Jones was buried in Nashville at the U.S. Burial Ground – Southwest of City Cemetery, Section L, Lot 263. His stone reads 12087 J. Jones U.S.C.T.

An enslaver in Franklin County named Williams Jones owned two black males listed on the 1850 slave schedule as 3 and 5 years old. It is impossible to know if one of these was Pvt John Jones. On Aug. 30, 1890, his father applied for and received a pension. It is unfortunate that the National Archives could not locate this pension application which may have given greater insight as to this man’s life as a child in Franklin County and how he ended up in Tennessee.

Contributors: Sarah Plummer and Cathie Cummins