James A. Jones

A married 25 year old farmer from the Laurens District, he enlisted in Company B, 3rd South Carolina Infantry Battalion on 5 December 1861 in Columbia, SC.

He was severely wounded in the leg and face in action at Fox's Gap on 14 September 1862, and was captured there. Lt. Robert Jennings of Company G later remembered:

At the battle of South Mountain, on September 14, 1862, a man by the name of Jones (he was called big Jim Jones), from Laurens, was shot through the temple and fell against my leg, and his blood and some of his brains spattered my pants leg, and when we retreated he was left lying on the field hollering. I was sure he would die in a short time. Strange to say, he lived for about 20 years after the war, but was almost blind and lost his sense of taste and smell in a great measure ...

He was at the US General Hospital #1 at Frederick, MD, from 13 October through 14 December 1862, then sent on to Baltimore. He was briefly held at Ft. McHenry, MD and transferred to Washington, DC where he was paroled. He was admitted to the General Hospital, Petersburg, VA on 18 December 1862. He was promoted Corporal by 14 January, and discharged 22 January 1863.

Service information from Davis1. Hospital details from the Patient List. 2 The quote above from the Newberry (SC) Herald and News of 12 May 1911, kindly provided by Laura Elliott. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

11/09/1836; Laurens District, SC

12/13/1896; burial in Head Springs Associate Reformed Presbyterian Cemetery, Laurens County, SC