Faces of the 48th: Richard Martin Jones: From Sergeant to Lieutenant Colonel

Richard Martin Jones began the war as a sergeant in the ranks of Company G, 48th Pennsylvania, and ended it as the regiment's second-in-command, or lieutenant-colonel. 

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Martin Jones

from Bosbyshell, The 48th in the War

Born on June 13, 1828, in Liverpool, England, Jones was still an infant when his parents immigrated to the United States, settling in Tamaqua, where Jones was raised and spent his childhood. There he learned the trade of machinist and was employed as such in Port Carbon, Pennsylvania, when the Civil War broke out in 1861. In September of that year, he was mustered into the ranks of Company G, 48th Pennsylvania, as a sergeant. Though the age provided on the regimental muster rolls is 31, Jones was actually 33 when he entered the army, and stood 5'7" in height, had a "florid" complexion, with grey eyes, and light hair. 

Jones served throughout all four years of the conflict, his war record matching that of the 48th. Promoted to First Sergeant in May 1864, Jones's subsequent promotions came at a dizzying rate, due to the high rate of attrition throughout the bloody spring and summer of 1864: from First Sergeant to 2nd Lieutenant, June 24, 1864, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry C. Jackson at Spotsylvania; and from 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant, July 13, 1864, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Curtis Pollock at Petersburg. In September 1864 he became captain of Company G following the promotion of Oliver Bosbyshell to major, and then Jones himself became the 48th's major in May 1865 and, finally, it's lieutenant-colonel on June 3, 1865, thus rising from the rank of Sergeant to Lieutenant-Colonel in just thirteen months. He was mustered out with the regiment on July 17, 1865. 

Following the war, Jones settled in Lykens, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, and resumed his trade of machinist, working at a number of collieries. He moved around a bit, first to Pottsville and then to Philadelphia, but returned to Lykens in the late 1890s, just several years before his death.  

When Richard M. Jones marched off to war in 1861, he left at home his wife, Emma Keply Jones, whom he married in 1852, as well as three daughters--Alice, Clara, and Emma. Following the war, his wife gave birth to three more children, Edward, Margaret, and Joseph. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Martin Jones passed away at his home on Main Street in Lykens on April 9, 1900, at age 71, following a lengthy illness, and was laid to rest in Lykens's Odd Fellows Cemetery on April 12. 

Pottsville Republican
April 12, 1900 

The Grave of Richard M. Jones (left) and his wife Emma (died 1921)

Odd Fellows Cemetery, Lykens 

(source: findagrave.com) 

[Sources: Bosbyshell, The 48th in the War, pg. 193; Lykens Register, April 12, 1900, page 2; Pottsville Republican, April 12, 1900, page 4].