Editing Catesby ap Roger Jones

{{Short description|United States Navy officer}}
{{distinguish|text=his father, [[Roger Jones (Adjutant General)|Roger ap Catesby Jones]]}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Catesby ap Roger Jones
|image=Catesby ap Roger Jones.png
|caption=
|birth_date={{birth date|1821|4|15|mf=y}}
|birth_place=[[Clarke County, Virginia]], United States
|death_date={{death date and age|1877|6|21|1821|4|15|mf=y}}
|death_place=[[Selma, Alabama]], United States
|allegiance=United States<br>[[Confederate States of America]]
|branch=[[United States Navy]]<br>Confederate Navy
|rank=[[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]] (USN)<br>[[Commander]] (CSN)
|serviceyears=1836–1861 (USN)<br>1861–1865 (CSN)
|battles=[[American Civil War]]
}}
'''Catesby ap Roger Jones''' (April 15, 1821 – June 21, 1877) was an American naval officer who was a [[commander]] in the [[Confederate States Navy|Confederate Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]]. He assumed command of {{ship|CSS|Virginia}} during the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]] and engaged {{USS|Monitor}} in the historic first battle of the two [[Ironclad warship|ironclads]].

==Biography==
Jones was born in [[Clarke County, Virginia]], son of Major General [[Roger Jones (Adjutant General)|Roger ap Catesby Jones]] and Mary Ann Mason. His mother was a lineal descendant of [[William Byrd II]] of [[Westover Plantation|Westover]] and [[Robert Carter I|Robert "King" Carter]], making her also a cousin of General [[Robert E. Lee]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cssvirginia.org/tyson/jones/carj-ancestors.html|title=CaRJ Ancestors in Colonial America|accessdate=December 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223060829/http://cssvirginia.org/tyson/jones/carj-ancestors.html|archive-date=December 23, 2014|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> His uncle was [[Thomas ap Catesby Jones]], a naval officer during the [[War of 1812]] and [[Mexican–American War]]. Jones was appointed a [[midshipman]] in the [[United States Navy]] in 1836, and served extensively at sea, receiving promotion to the rank of [[Lieutenant (navy)|lieutenant]] in 1849. During the 1850s, Jones was involved in development work on navy weapons and served as ordnance officer on the new steam [[frigate]] {{USS|Merrimack|1855|2}} when she began active service in 1856.

When [[Virginia]] left the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] in April 1861, Lieutenant Jones resigned his U.S. Navy commission, joining the [[Virginia State Navy]] soon thereafter and becoming a [[Confederate States Navy|Confederate Navy]] lieutenant in June. In 1861–62, he was employed in converting the steam frigate USS ''Merrimack'' into an [[Ironclad warship|ironclad]] and was the ship's [[executive officer]] when she was [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] as {{ship|CSS|Virginia||2}}. During the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]], when her [[commanding officer]], [[Captain (Confederate States Navy)|Captain]] [[Franklin Buchanan]], was wounded in the March 8, 1862 attack on {{USS|Cumberland|1842|6}} and {{USS|Congress|1841|2}}, Jones temporarily took command, leading the ship during her historic engagement with {{USS|Monitor}} on the following day. Later in 1862, he commanded a shore [[Artillery battery|battery]] at [[Drewry's Bluff]], on the [[James River (Virginia)|James River]], and the gunboat {{ship|CSS|Chattahoochee||2}} while she was under construction at [[Saffold, Georgia]].

For his "gallant and meritorious conduct" during the battles of Hampton Roads and Drewry's Bluff, Jones was promoted to the rank of [[commander]] on April 29, 1863.<ref name="ROCSN">{{cite book |title=Register of Officers of the Confederate States Navy |others=Office of Naval Records and Library United States Navy Department |publisher=J.M. Carroll & Company |location=Mattituck, NY |year=1983 |isbn=0-8488-0011-7}}</ref> Jones was sent to [[Selma, Alabama]], to take charge of the Ordnance Works there. For the rest of the Civil War, he supervised the manufacture of badly needed heavy guns for the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] armed forces. With the end of the conflict in May 1865, Jones went into private business. After working in South America, he made his residence in Selma, Alabama. On June 20, 1877, he was shot as the result of a quarrel between his 7-year-old son and another man's 10-year-old son.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72627503/the-killing-of-capt-catesby-jones-in/ |title=The Killing of Capt. Catesby Jones in Selma, Ala. |newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]] |location=Washington |page=1 |date=1877-06-27 |access-date=2021-03-04 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He died in Selma the following morning.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72627443/catesby-ap-r-jones/ |title=Catesby ap R. Jones |newspaper=[[The Selma Times]] |page=3 |date=1877-06-21 |access-date=2021-03-04 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Catesby ap Roger Jones is buried in the historic [[Old Live Oak Cemetery]] at Selma, Alabama.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.civilwaralbum.com/misc15/2010b/liveoak1lg.jpg |title=Live Oak Cemetery sign |website=CivilWarAlbum.com |access-date=2021-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110212132403/http://www.civilwaralbum.com/misc15/2010b/liveoak1lg.jpg |archive-date=February 12, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}}
* [[John Taylor Wood]], served under Jones on CSS ''Virginia''

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010711150347/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/pers-us/uspers-j/ca-jones.htm U.S. Naval Historical Center]

{{Battle of Hampton Roads|state=autocollapse}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Catesby}}
[[Category:1821 births]]
[[Category:1877 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Navy officers]]
[[Category:Confederate States Navy commanders]]
[[Category:People of Virginia in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:People murdered in Alabama]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in Alabama]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:American people of Welsh descent]]