Malachi Columbus Jones, CSA
Malachi C. Jones served in Guerard's Artillery Battery from June 1864 to parole in May 1865.
Malachi C. Jones enliste in Guerard's Battery, Light Artillery at Savannah on June 12, 1864. He was only sixteen years old when he enlisted. Guerard's Battery occupied defensive artillery positions in and around Savannah. After the fall of Fort McAllister in December 1864, Guerard's Battery was exposed to the advance of Sherman's Army and exchanged fire with the Union seige artillery. The Battery was never officially attached to the 22nd Battalion Heavy Artillery, but its battle actions and its retreat from Savannah were coordinated with those of the 22nd Battalion. At the fall of Savannah in June 1864, Guerard's unit was evacuated into South Carolina with the 22nd Battalion and both were converted to fight in the Carolina Campaign as infantry regiments. Without benefit of many horses or wagons, these units fought and resisted Sherman's northward advance until General Joseph Johnston's surrender at Greensboro, North Carolina on April 26, 1865. Malachi Jones was present with his command near High Point, North Carolina at the time of surrender and was briefly taken prisoner of war. He was administered the oath of allegiance to the United States on May 1 at Greensboro and was finally paroled on May 25, 1865. He was seventeen years old and had served over eleven months in the Confederate Army.
On March 31, 1914, Malachi Jones filed for a Confederate Soldier's Pension in Bulloch County. The affiants to his application were Francis L. Sheppard of Liberty County and T.J. Denmark and J.H. Donaldson of Bulloch County. Sheppard testified that he served in Guerard's Battery with Malachi and both were present at the surrender in April 1865. The surviving documents show that Malachi Jones, unlike many of his fellow Black Creek Confederates, were literate and completed the application paperwork and affixed his signature in his own hand. His application was approved upon the basis of his service in Guerard's Light Artillery Battery, and Malachi received a soldier's pension from January 1915 to his death August 1917.
Malachi Columbus Jones was born August 4, 1847 in Bulloch County, Georgia. He was one of nine sons and thirteen children born to Adam Jones and Mary Ann Jones. Malachi was the grandson of Thomas F. Jones and Martha Denmark who both hail from the earliest settlers of Bulloch County dating back to the 1700s. Thomas and Martha were both thought to be charter members of the Upper Black Creek Primitive Baptist Church. His father and mother, Adam and Mary Jones, were long time members of Upper Black Creek Church, and his father was a deacon of the church for almost sixty years. It is not known where Thomas and Martha Jones were buried, but they were quite possibly buried in the Denmark Family cemetery which was the forerunner of the cemetery at Red Hill Primitive Baptist Church in Bulloch County. Adam and Mary Jones were buried at Red Hill Church, although her grave is no longer marked with a headstone.
Well after the war, Malachi married Julia A. Phillips on April 17, 1873. Julia was born June 13, 1858 in Bulloch County and was the daughter of Wiley Phillips and Minnie Rowe. Very little is known about Julia's family. Her father probably came to Bulloch County from North Carolina as a young man in the 1840s. Minnie Rowe was believed to be from Burke County and was probably descended from some of the earliest possible settlers in Georgia. Wiley and Minnie were married in Bulloch County in 1845 and Julia was one of eight children of whom two were brothers. It is not known where Wiley and Minnie are buried.
Malachi was twenty-four years old and Julia was fourteen when they married. There were six children born to Malachi and Julia's marriage; Fannie Minnie born 1876, Jannie Roxie born 1878, Adam Turner born 1881, Minnie Louise born 1884, Sarah Julia born 1899 and Malachi, Jr. born 1909. Only two of these children, Fannie and Adam, lived into adulthood and married. Fannie married John Edwin Bowen, and their marriage produced only one child, a daughter, Edna Mae Bowen. Adam married Mattie and had at least one daughter who died as a young child. Of the other four children, two daughters, Jannie Roxie and Minnie Louise lived into adulthood but never married. Jannie died of unknown causes at the age of twenty years. Minnie lived to the age of seventy-two years and resided all her adult life with her brother Adam. The other two children, Sarah and Malachi, Jr., both died as infants. Sarah was about six months old when she died of unknown causes. Little Malachi was was only a week old when he died.
Jannie Roxie was buried next to her parents at Upper Black Creek Church. Infants Sarah and Malachi were also believed buried at Upper Black Creek Church although their graves are now unmarked. Adam and Minnie were buried at Eastside Cemetery in Statesboro, and Fannie was buried with her husband at Lower Lotts Creek Primitive Baptist Church.
Malachi Jones was a schoolteacher. His father Adam Jones was long active in community and civic affairs, particularly as they pertained to education, and Adam served as Superintendent of Schools for the county for a number of years. Malachi also served as School Superintendent for one term in the late 1800s.
Malachi and his family lived in Statesboro where Malachi taught school. Julia was principally a homemaker, and it is apparent that she may have had her hands full with adult children who lived at home and were apparently unable or unwilling to live independently.
Malachi and Julia Jones were both members of DeLoach Primitive Baptist Church. It is not clear when they were baptized or joined DeLoach Church, but in November 1895, Malachi and Julia asked for their letters and moved their membership to Upper Black Creek Primitive Baptist Church. They were both members of Upper Black Creek at the time of their respective deaths.
Malachi C. Jones died on August 6, 1917, two days after his seventieth birthday and six weeks after the death of his wife. Julia A. Phillips Jones on June 25, 1917. She was fifty-nine years old. Malachi and Julia were married for forty-four years. They were buried together at Upper Black Creek Primitive Baptist Church in Bulloch County, Georgia.
Source: Those Grey Rebels at Upper Black Creek Church: Bulloch County, Georgia, By R. Keith Hamilton, 2008; Pgs. 77-79
