{{short description|Confederate Army general (1816-1871)}} {{Infobox military person |name = Arnold Elzey Jones Jr. |birth_date = {{birth date text|December 18, 1816}} |death_date = {{death-date and age|February 21, 1871|December 18, 1816}} |birth_place = [[Somerset County, Maryland]], U.S. |death_place = [[Baltimore]], Maryland, U.S. |image = Arnold Elzey Jones Jr.jpg |allegiance = {{Flag|United States|1861}}<br/>{{Flag|Confederate States}} |service_years = 1837–1861 (USA)<br/>1861–1865 (CSA) |branch = [[File:Seal of the United States Board of War.png|25px]] [[United States Army]]<br/>{{army|Confederate States of America|name=Confederate Army}} |rank = [[File:Union army cpt rank insignia.jpg|35px]] [[Captain (United States)|Captain]] (USA)<br>[[File:Confederate States of America General-collar.svg|35px]] [[Major general (CSA)|Major General]] (CSA) |commands = |battles = {{tree list}} *[[Seminole Wars]] *[[Mexican-American War]] **[[Battle of Contreras]] **[[Battle of Churubusco]] **[[Siege of Vera Cruz]] **[[Battle of Cerro Gordo]] **[[Battle of Molino del Rey]] **[[Battle of Chapultepec]] **[[Battle for Mexico City]] *[[American Civil War]] **[[First Battle of Manassas]] **[[Valley Campaign]] **[[Battle of Cross Keys]] {{WIA}} **[[Battle of Gaines Mill]] {{WIA}} **[[Battle of Chancellorsville]] **[[Battle of Lynchburg]] {{tree list/end}} }}
'''Arnold Elzey Jones Jr.''' (December 18, 1816 – February 21, 1871), known for much of his life simply as '''Arnold Elzey''', was a soldier in both the [[United States Army]] and the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]], serving as a [[Major general (United States)|major general]] in the [[American Civil War]]. At First Manassas, he became one of the few officers ever to receive an on-the-field promotion to general by [[President of the Confederate States of America|President]] [[Jefferson Davis]]. He commanded a brigade in Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign, and was badly wounded at Gaines Mill, ending his active field career.
==Early life and career== Jones was born on the "Elmwood" [[plantations in the American South|plantation]] along the [[Manokin River]] in [[Somerset County, Maryland]]. His parents were [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] Arnold Elzey Jones and Anne Wilson (née Jackson) Jones. He graduated from the [[United States Military Academy]] 33rd in the Class of 1837.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=1dM0_Sd75RIC&dq=Arnold%20Elzey%20Jones%20Jr.&pg=RA1-PA54 ''List of Cadets Admitted into the United States Military'']. United States Military Academy, 1902, p. 54.</ref> After turning twenty-eight, he dropped Jones from his name and officially adopted Elzey as his surname to grant a wish of his father, going for the rest of his life simply as Arnold Elzey.<ref name="Boyle">Boyle, Esmeralda, and Frederick Pinkney. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_ahBAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Arnold%20Elzey%22%20-wikipedia&pg=PA310 ''Biographical Sketches of Distinguished Marylanders'']. Baltimore: Kelly, Piet & company, 1877, p. 310.</ref>
He was assigned to the 2nd U.S. Artillery and sent to Florida to fight in the [[Second Seminole War]] before being assigned to duty at [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], during a series of territorial disputes between the U.S. and Canada. Promoted to [[first lieutenant#United States|first lieutenant]] in November 1839, he spent the next few years on recruiting duty.<ref name="Warner" />{{rp|82}}
During the [[Mexican-American War]], he was cited for bravery during the battles of [[Battle of Contreras|Contreras]] and [[Battle of Churubusco|Churubusco]]. He was granted a [[brevet (military)|brevet promotion]] to [[Captain (U.S. Army)|captain]]. He also participated in engagements at [[Fort Brown]], [[Siege of Vera Cruz|Vera Cruz]], [[Battle of Cerro Gordo|Cerro Gordo]], [[Battle of Molino del Rey|Molino del Rey]], [[Battle of Chapultepec|Chapultepec]], and the [[Battle for Mexico City|capture of the City of Mexico]].<ref name="Appleton's Cyclopedia">Wilson, J. G., Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Elzey, Arnold". ''Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography'', Vol. 2. New York: D. Appleton. p. 340.</ref>
Following the war, Elzey was formally promoted to the full rank of captain on February 14, 1849. He served in Florida a second time during the [[Third Seminole War]] in 1849–50, and again in 1856. He also commanded [[Augusta Arsenal]].<ref name="Appleton's Cyclopedia" />
==Civil War==
Following the [[secession]] of several Southern states and the formation of the [[Confederate States of America]], Elzey surrendered [[Augusta Arsenal]] to the Confederates in January 1861 and took his men to Washington, D.C., in early April 1861. He resigned his commission on April 25, 1861, and traveled to [[Richmond, Virginia]], where he joined the Confederate army with the initial rank of [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] of the newly formed [[1st Maryland Infantry, CSA]].
He was assigned to the [[brigade]] of [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] [[Edmund Kirby Smith]] and fought in the [[First Battle of Manassas]]. When Smith was wounded during the afternoon, Elzey, as the senior colonel, assumed command and led a successful charge, for which he received the thanks of commanding general [[P.G.T. Beauregard]].<ref name="Appleton's Cyclopedia"/> He was promoted on the field to brigadier general by Jefferson Davis.
In 1862, the following year, Elzey commanded a brigade under [[Richard S. Ewell]] during [[Stonewall Jackson]]'s [[Valley Campaign]]. He was wounded in the leg and had his horse shot from under him at the [[Battle of Cross Keys]].<ref>Welsh, Jack D., M.D. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1X1evZu45RcC&dq=Arnold%20Elzey%20Jones%20Jr.&pg=PA61 ''Medical Histories of Confederate Generals''], p. 61.</ref>
Elzey was shot through the head at the [[Battle of Gaines Mill]], a serious wound that kept him from active field command for the rest of the war. After he had recovered sufficiently to perform administrative and desk duty, he was promoted to major general dating from December 4, 1862. He was assigned command of the Department of Richmond and charged with the defense of the Confederacy's capital city. He dealt with a raid by [[George Stoneman]]'s [[Union Army|Union]] [[cavalry]] during the [[Battle of Chancellorsville|Chancellorsville Campaign]], as well as Union [[gunboat]]s that summer that threatened Richmond from the [[James River]].<ref>Heidler, David Stephen, Jeanne T. Heidler, and David J. Coles, ''Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History''. W. W. Norton, 2002, p. 649.</ref> Later relieved of command, he raised the Local Defense Brigade, a [[militia]] group consisting primarily of government clerks. He also helped organize the Virginia state reserves.<ref name="Warner" />{{rp|83}}
In June 1864, Elzey left Richmond to join General [[Jubal Early]]'s force defending Lynchburg, Virginia. He arrived on June 18, and briefly took command of General [[John C. Breckinridge]]'s division for the last day of the [[Battle of Lynchburg]] and the following pursuit of General [[David Hunter]]'s army as it withdrew westwardly into the mountains of West Virginia.
Elzey was assigned as the Chief of Artillery for the [[Army of Tennessee]] and traveled to [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] to serve under [[John Bell Hood]]. However, he missed Hood's disastrous [[Franklin-Nashville Campaign]]. With Hood's army essentially wrecked, Elzey was relieved of duty on February 17, 1865, and then assumed command of militia at Augusta, Georgia. Following the collapse of the Confederacy, he was paroled in [[Washington, Georgia]], in May 1865.<ref name="Warner" />
==Postbellum activities== After the war, Elzey returned to his native Maryland and retired with his wife and son to a small farm near [[Jessup, Maryland|Jessup's Cut, Anne Arundel County, Maryland]].<ref name="Warner">Warner, Ezra J. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HGClvU6kVSYC&dq=Arnold%20Elzey%20Jones%20Jr.&pg=PA135 ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders'']. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959.</ref> He died in [[Baltimore]] and was buried there in [[Green Mount Cemetery]].<ref name="Boyle" />
==Legacy== The Maj. Gen. Arnold Elzey Camp #1940 of the [[Sons of Confederate Veterans]] was named in his honor.<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/elzeycampscv/ Maj. Gen. Arnold Elzey Camp #1940]</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}} *[[Maryland in the American Civil War]] *[[List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Eicher, John H., and [[David J. Eicher]], ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}. * Heidler, David Stephen, Jeanne T. Heidler, and David J. Coles, ''Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History'', W. W. Norton, 2002. {{ISBN|0-393-04758-X}}. * Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War.'' New York: Facts on File, 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-8160-1055-4}}. * [[Ezra J. Warner (historian)|Warner, Ezra J.]] ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. {{ISBN|978-0-8071-0823-9}}.
'''Attribution''' *{{Appletons'|year=1900|title=Elzey, Arnold|volume=2|page=340}}
==External links== {{commons category}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080208215607/http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/sge/elzey.htm Biography of Elzey], generalsandbrevets.com * [http://www.mdscv.org/1940/elzeybio.htm Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116073535/http://www.mdscv.org/1940/elzeybio.htm |date=2007-11-16 }}, mdscv.org * {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208215607/http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/sge/elzey.htm|date=February 8, 2008|title=Photo Gallery}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elzey, Arnold}} [[Category:United States Army personnel of the Seminole Wars]] [[Category:United States Army personnel of the Mexican–American War]] [[Category:Burials at Green Mount Cemetery]] [[Category:Confederate States Army major generals]] [[Category:People of Maryland in the American Civil War]] [[Category:People from Anne Arundel County, Maryland]] [[Category:People from Somerset County, Maryland]] [[Category:United States Military Academy alumni]] [[Category:United States Army officers]] [[Category:1816 births]] [[Category:1871 deaths]]