Alexander Caldwell Jones (1830 – January 13, 1898) was an American lawyer, journalist, diplomat, and

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

officer during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Presidential pardson for ex-Confederates from Virginia and West Virginia

Early life

He was born in 1830 near

Moundsville, West Virginia Moundsville is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, West Virginia, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 8,122 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Wheeling metropolitan area. The city w ...

, at that time a part of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, to Garrison B. Jones and Martha Houston. He enrolled at

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

on July 28, 1846, and was graduated on July 4, 1850.Alexander C. Jones, Class of 1850
''VMI Civil War Generals'' He then studied law and moved to

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

territory, where he became a district attorney and served as probate judge in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

. In 1858-1860 he served as Minnesota's adjutant general.

Civil War

When his native state declared its secession from the United States in 1861 he returned to Virginia, where he joined the

44th Virginia Infantry The 44th Virginia Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia. The 44th Virginia was organized in Ju ...

. He was commissioned a lieutenant-colonel on May 1, 1862, and was wounded in the

Battle of Gaines's Mill The Battle of Gaines' Mill, sometimes known as the Battle of Chickahominy River, took place on June 27, 1862, in Hanover County, Virginia, as the third of the Seven Days Battles which together decided the outcome of the Union (American Civil War) ...

. After convalescing from his injuries and serving in the Bureau of Conscription he resigned his commission on June 16, 1863, and requested a transfer to the Trans-Mississippi Dept. There he served on John Bankhead Magruder's staff and was then given the command of a Texas brigade of infantry. Gen. Kirby Smith recommended his promotion to brigadier-general on March 16, 1865, although there is no confirmation of his appointment. Jones was paroled in

Brownsville, Texas Brownsville ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County, located on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border, border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas ...

on July 24, 1865, as a "brigadier-general". He was given a presidential pardon, dated August 15, 1865, sponsored by the Attorney General and the Hon. J. J. Jackson, which described him as a "rebel brigadier general".

Later life

Jones left for Mexico to serve under Emperor Maximilian until the fall of his regime. He then returned to

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, and lived in Wheeling with his wife Ella Clemens' family. He became the editor of the ''

National Intelligencer The ''National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser'' was a newspaper published in Washington, D.C., from October 30, 1800 until 1870. It was the first newspaper published in the District, which was founded in 1790. It was originally a tri ...

'', but that newspaper failed in 1869. In 1880 he was appointed U.S. Consul in Nagasaki and was transferred in 1886 to the China embassy in Chungking, where he died on Jan. 13, 1898.Allardice, Bruce S
''More Generals in Gray''
Louisiana State University Press, 1995, pp. 137-138.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Alexander C. 1830 births 1898 deaths People from Moundsville, West Virginia Virginia Military Institute alumni People of West Virginia in the American Civil War Military personnel from Minnesota Consuls for the United States Confederate States Army officers Military personnel from Wheeling, West Virginia Lawyers from Wheeling, West Virginia Editors of West Virginia newspapers