JONES
JONES
JONES, Augustus, soldier, was born in Kas-
kaskia, Northwest Territory, Feb. 18, 1796 ; sec-
ond son of Judge Jolin Rice and Mary (Barger)
Jones. He served in the war of 1813 with his
brother, John Rice (q.v.), and removed to Mis-
souri, where he became an extensive landed pro-
prietor. President Andrew Jackson appointed
him U.S. marshal of Missouri in 1839, and he held
the position for eight years and received from
congress the thanks of the nation for valuable
services. He was major-general of the state
militia, and in 1844 was defeated for representa-
tive in the 29th congress on the Anti-Benton
ticket. In the Mexican war he commanded a
company of volunteer cavalry and served as mil-
itary governor of Santa Fe. He was a principal
or second in several duels. He removed to Texas
with his property, in 1851, and settled near Colum-
bus, Texas, where he died in February, 1887.
JONES, Catesby ap Roger, naval officer, was born in Clark county, Va. , about 1821; son of Gen. Roger and Mary Anne Mason (Page) Jones, and grandson of Maj. Catesby and Lettice Corbin (Turberville) Jones. He entered the U.S. Naval academy, and served in the U.S. navy as midshipman and lieuten- ant until Virginia seceded, when, being stationed at the U.S. navy yard at Norfolk, Va., he re- signed his commission, joined the Virginia state forces and took part in floating and reconstruct- ing the U.S. steam frigate Merrimac, scuttled by order of Commodore McCauley, U.S.N. , com- mandant of the yard, April 19, 1861. Lieutenant
Jones converted the Merrimac into the iron-clad
FiVgfim'a, plating the vessel with hardened iron
two inches thick from the Tredegar works at
Richmond, put on double bolted through the
woodwork and cleqched. Besides the smooth-
bore guns rescued from the scuttled JferHmac, he
placed two 100-pound 7-inch rifles reinforced by
several 3-inch steel bands shrunk on : the first
heavy guns so made. These were located bow
and stern and were supplemented by two 6-inch
rifles and six 9-inch smooth-bore broadsides. Lieu-
tenant Jones was executive and ordnance officer
and after the first day's fight with the Moni-
tor, March 8, 1863, when both Flag-Officer Lieut.
Franklin Buchanan and Flag-Lieutenant Minor
were wounded, he succeeded to the command,
and on March 9, finding the armament ineffec-
tive against the Monitor, Lieutenant Jones made
repeated efforts to destroy the little nondescript
with his powerful vessel used as a ram. The
Monitor, however, eluded the steel prow of the
Virginia, and both vessels witiidrew, the Virginia
to shield her hull, increase her draught, add steel
shutters to her ports and repair her steering-
gear. As Lieutenant Buchanan was unable to
resume command, the government at Richmond
placed the Virginia under Commodore Josiah
Tatnall and made Lieutenant Jones second in
command. On March 29, 1862, Commodore Tat-
nall assumed command, and on April 11 the
reconstructed Virginia steamed down to the
Roads expecting again to meet the Monitor, but
the fleet of U.S. vessels was behind Fort Mon-
roe and did not come out for a second trial, and
after exchanging a few shots with the battery on
the Rip Raps, a break-down of the engine forced
the Virginia to return to Norfolk for repairs. On
May 8 t\\eVirginia again went down the harbor,
to find the Monitor, Naugatuck, Galena and a
number of heavy ships shelling the Confederate
batteries on Sewell's Point, and on the approach of
the Virginia the fleet retired behind the protect-
ing walls of Fort Monroe, and Lieutenant Jones,
despairing of obtaining an open fight, fired a gun
to the windward and took the Virginia back to her
buoy. After the evacuation of Norfolk by the
Confederate forces, the Virginia was lightened
to eighteen feet for the i:)urpose of steaming up
the James to co-operate with the army, but be-
fore reaching Jamestown Flats the pilots de-
clined to venture farther uf), and the ship being
so lifted as to expose her hull and render her un-
fit for action, Commodoi'e Tatnall gave orders to
destroy her, and she was burned on the shore
near Craney island, the crew escaping by march-
ing twenty-two miles to Suffolk and taking the
cars to Richmond, Lieutenants Jones and John
Taylor Wood being the last to leave the doomed
vessel. Commodore Tatnall was, at hi? own re-
quest, tried by court-martial and honorably ac-
quitted. Lieutenant Jones was placed in com-
mand of the defences of the James river and
constructed batteries on Drewry's Bluff, sunk
vessels in the channel and prepared to meet the
Monitor, Galena and other Federal iron-clads,
forcing the passage of the river. The crew of
the Virginia under Lieutenant Jones barred the
Federal fleet, and Richmond was saved. He was
promoted to the rank of commander, April 27,
1863, and ordered to Selma, Ala., to take charge
of the Confederate government works there and
to complete the armament of the iron-clad Ten-
nessee. He constructed the machinery and bat-
