Jones Mitchell Withers

Background

Jones Withers was born on January 12, 1814, in Huntsville, Alabama, United States. He was the son of John Wright and Mary Herbert Jones Withers. His father had been a Virginia planter.

Education

Jones attended Greene Academy in Alabama and graduated forty-fourth in a class of fifty-six from the United States Military Academy in 1835 but shortly thereafter resigned his commission in the army to study law.

Career

Jones Withers was admitted to the Alabama bar in 1838. He was a private secretary to Governor Clement C. Clay of Alabama, secretary of the state Senate, and director of a state bank prior to 1841 when he became a lawyer and commission merchant in Mobile. He was a lieutenant colonel, and later colonel, during the Mexican War but again declined to remain in the army.

In 1855, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives on the American party ticket, and from 1858 to 1861, he was mayor of Mobile. When the Civil War began, he resigned as mayor and volunteered for the Confederate Army. On July 10, 1861, he was commissioned a brigadier general.

He had charge of the defense of Mobile in 1861, was a division commander at the battle of Shiloh, and was promoted to major general on August 16, 1862. Withers participated in Braxton Bragg's Kentucky campaign and was commended for his service during the battle of Murfreesboro. In 1864, he was assigned to the District of Montgomery, where he was in charge of the reserve forces of Alabama until the end of the war.

Withers surrendered at Mobile and was later pardoned. He returned to Mobile to continue his law practice. Withers was again elected mayor of Mobile in 1867 and was the city treasurer in 1878-1879.

He was also a cotton broker and editor of the Mobile Tribune prior to his death in Mobile on March 13, 1890.

Achievements

• Jones Mitchell Withers distinguished himself at the Battle of Shiloh that for his military actions he won promotion to Major General. He was also known as a commander of Alabama state reserve forces, charged with organizing for state defense boys and men under and overdraft age.

Connections

Jones had ten children by his marriage to Rebecca Eloise Forney on January 12, 1837.

Father:

John Wright Withers

1770-1826

Mother:

Mary Herbert Jones Withers

1777-1848

Sister:

Susanna Claiborne Withers Clay

1798-1866

Sister:

Priscilla Wright Withers McDowell

1804-1877

Sister:

Augustine Jones Withers

1805-1869

Sister:

Mary Dorothea Withers Withers

1810-1898

Wife:

Rebecca Eloisa Forney Withers

1818-1869

Daughter:

Harriet Brevard Withers Huger

1838-1908

Daughter:

Mary Withers Thomas

1844-1918

Daughter:

Priscilla McDowell Withers Witherspoon

1845-1871

Son:

Jones M. Withers

1849-1885

Daughter:

Eloise F. Withers

1855-1877

Daughter:

Virginia Clay Withers Cleveland

1858-1908

References

• Civil War High Commands
  2002
• Who Was Who in the Civil War
  1988
• Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy
  1977
• Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders
  2006