The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-02-22

than year, and the men knew his
mettle. He was brave, without
being fOolhardy was alert, cautious,
and a good strategist. Aside from
Stonewall Jackson, I do not be
lieye there was another general
officer in the Confederate army
whom the men Immediately under
his command would have been
more ready to follow blindfolded
than William + Jones. He was a
fine disciplinarian, yet without the
least manifestation of harshncss.
He was an old army officer, a
bachelor, and a little crusty at
times, but very democratic. When
off duty, he mingled with the men
in social way, and thus acquired
great personal popularity. In battle
he was lion, and always rode in
the front rank. Vet we knew him
to be a man of excellent Judgment
who never exposed his men to un-
/ necessary danger for the sake of a
little cheap notority. Thus, while
the brigade realized its perilous
position, the men had full conf
dence in the ability of Gen. Jones
to eNtricate them, and if the worst
came, they knew be would lead
them in a fight to cut their way
out through the enemy.
Jones learned that Gen. Roberts
was at Clarksburg with a large
force and that another body Of
troops was at Grafton, twenty
distant with a railroad to aid the
speedy movements of these two
bodies, and he also hnew that
troops were being rushed from the
direction of Wheeling and Parkers-
burg to close in on him from the
rear. Practically he was surround
ed But here is where his good
strategy came into play. Making
a demonstration as if to attack
Roberts at Clarksbnrg and holding
him in check there, he crossed the
West Fork River and going up
Simpsons Creek to Bridgeport,
Slipped out betweenC1arksburg and
Grafton, taking the herd of horses
and cattle with him, and was at
Philippi before the enemy knew he
had escaped their embrace.
Jones was now outside of the
enemv's lines, at least on the safe
side ofthe line. While still long
way from home, probably one hun
dred and fifty miles west Of his
starting point, still there was an
unrestricted road on which to re-
| treat in case they pursued in force.
He stopped at Philippi, the coun-
ty seat of Barbour, where one Of
the first fights Of the war occurred
in June, 1861, and rested up his
command for a couple of days. He
awaited this opportunity to take an
inventory of his captured goods,
and il was a most satisfactory
showing. He had approximately
three thousand cattle and twelve
hundred horses, valuable aCquisi-
ton to the Confederate's commits
sary and quartermaster depart
ments. The 18th Virginia Cav
airy under command Of Col. Har-
man, was detailed to escort the live
stock through to Staunton by way
Of the turnpike across Cheat Noun
tains, while Gen. Jones, with the
remainder of the brigade, started
off for another dash into the one
my IS country. This time we start
ed in a southwesterly direction, and
it looked to us as if we were des-
tined either for some point on the
Ohio River south Of Parkersburg
or for Charleston, in the Great Ka-
nawha Valley. We proceeded by
way Of BuCkhannon, Weston, West
Union until we reached Burning
. Springs, on the Little Kanawha,
thirty-fve miles above its mouth,
where it empties into the Ohio
River at Parkersburg At this
time Burning Springs was the CEN
ter of the oil operations in West
| Virginia, then in the infancy of the
oil development, which has since
produced immense fortunes. The