24 Days of La Fayette: December 7th - Captain Cadwallader Jones
Todays aide-de-camp is closely connected to Major Carter Page from yesterday.
Cadwallader Jones was born in Virginia, likely in 1755 and commissioned a Captain of the 3rd Dragoons from the State of Virginia on February 6, 1778. The commander of his Brigade was Brigadier-General Casimir Pulaski.
Jones was discharged on November 9, 1782. Prior to his dischargement he had served as La Fayette’s aide-de-camp. The muster rolls of Valley Forge as well as some early editors of George Washingtons papers suggest that he served in that capacity from 1778 until 1781 but his pension records and the overall evidence imply that he served only during La Fayette’s time in Virginie in 1781. He is first mentioned in a letter from La Fayette to Nathanael Greene on May 18, 1781:
Every departement in this State Was in Such a Confusion that it takes great deal of My time to Arrange them. Clayburne Was not Satisfied With Mr. Elliot whom the Baron Had Appointed. As there Cannot Be Any Good done where there is no Harmony I Have to the Great Satisfaction of Clayburne appointed as field Quarter Master Mjor. Langburne My aid de Camp and Captain Jones for His assistant. Langburn's disinterestness is as clear to me as Could Be My own, and I Have in Concert With Clayburne fixed the plan of Conduct in that departement.
Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 4, April 1, 1781–December 23, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1981, p. 110-114.
We see that Jones was not only aide-de-camp but in his “spare time” also the Assistant Quarter Master – we have to keep this in mind when looking at the next letter. La Fayette wrote to Thomas Nelson on August 16, 1781:
Our Quarter Masters department under Majr. Jones cannot move any longer without a supply of money. I have taken the liberty to draw a warrant on the pay master in his favor for £5o,ooo. I would observe however that this sum is too inconsiderable to be of much service; and that without more money can be had, I know not what we shall do. Majr. Jones sends one of his assistants to Richmond to lay before your Excellency his wants, and to call upon the Quarter Master General, for such succour as he can afford.
Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 4, April 1, 1781–December 23, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1981, p. 331-332.
At this point in time, the Quarter Master was Major Jones and the Assistant Quarter Master was Captain Jones … the two of them are not to be confused. In the end, Cadwallader Jones received a warrant over 100.000 Pound Sterling.
After the War of Independence, Jones married Mary (Pride) Jones in Virginia on November 26, 1783 and together they had at least four children. Frederick Lafayette (Jones) Pride, Halcott Pride (Jones) Pride, Cadwallader Jones II and Lucy (Jones) Green.
Both Frederick Lafayette and Lucy Jones Green appear in the pension application as their fathers heirs and witnesses. Disputed was the Jones’ claim to several acres of land in Ohio that was allegedly given to Cadwallader Jones for his service during the war. Brother and sister named their brother Cadwallader Jones II as their attorney and fully authorize him to speak on the family’s behalf. Despite several witness statements and a lot of back and forth (the whole file is six (typed) pages long), the claim was in the end denied.
There is something else that is very peculiar about the Jones children – two male members, Frederick Lafayette Jones and Halcott Pride Jones changed their last name to Pride. Why did they do that? Their maternal uncle, Halcott Briggs Pride wrote in his will:
It is to be understood that I make the above devises and bequests to the said Halcott Pride and Frederick Lafayette upon this espress condition, that they severally assume after they [achieve?] full age, the surname of Pride.
Why Pride wrote the following provision in his will, I can not tell, but it seems as if there had been a good reason for it that was generally known and accepted by the family for both of his nephews followed the stipulation in their uncles will. Halcott Briggs Pride had two sisters who took on their husband’s name after marrying but also a brother who outlived him and later had children of his own – the continuation of the Pride-name therefor seems not to be the reason or at least not the only one.
Cadwallader Jones and his descendants are featured in several ancestral books. One example is Jones great-grandson, Wilie Jones:
Sons of the American Revolution, Bulletin – Sons of the American Revolution, Volume 18, Michigan, 1923, p. 97.
