Major John B. Jones

After the war Jones sought a site in Mexico for a colony of Confederate exiles and returned disappointed. In 1868 he was elected to the legislature for Ellis, Hill, Kaufman and Navarro counties, but the Radical Republicans denied him his seat. Wilburn Hill King, the Rangers' nineteenth-century historian, wrote that on the battlefield his coolness and quickness of judgment had marked him "as one to trust in time of difficulty." In 1879 he married Ann Eloise Holliday Anderson and was grand master of the Grand Lodge of Texas. He died in Austin on July 19, 1881, still adjutant general.

What the plaque says

Major John B. Jones Famed defender of the frontier. Instilled ideals of excellence into Texas Rangers. Born in South Carolina. Came to Republic of Texas 1839. Educated at Old Baylor and Rutersville, where students had to defend school from Indian attacks. In Civil War, 1861-65, served with Terry's Texas Rangers and Speight's Texas Infantry Battalion. Was appointed May 1, 1874, by Governor Richard Coke to organized and field the Frontier Battalion, Texas Rangers. Duty was to stop Indian depredations, bandit raids from Mexico,and lawlessness that resulted from federal Reconstruction. At once put six Ranger companies at frontier post 100 miles apart. In first six months patrolled 22,250 miles. Defeated Indians in numerous engagements, sending them back to their reservations. Broke up rustling. Brought end to famous and violent outbreaks, including Mason County War, Horrell-Higgins feud, Kimble County trouble, El Paso Salt War. In 1878 brought to justice San Bass gang of train and bank robbers. Became adjutant general of Texas, January 1879. In 1880-81 directed tracking down and quieting of Victorio's Apache Indian bands. Buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin. (1964)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mount Bonnell — 1.1 mi
  Austin's old lookout over the Colorado, named by an 1838 traveler, picnicked on by George and Libbie Custer, and reached by a 1939 flight of about 100 limestone steps.
• Harry Ransom Center — 2.1 mi
  The University of Texas archive where a Gutenberg Bible and the earliest surviving camera photograph are always on view, free, beside the papers of Watergate and the movies.
• Bullock Texas State History Museum — 2.4 mi
  The state's history museum at the head of Congress Avenue, built around the hull of La Salle's ship La Belle, raised from Matagorda Bay with 1.8 million artifacts.
• LBJ Presidential Library — 2.5 mi
  A ten-story travertine archive on the University of Texas campus holding 45 million pages from a presidency of civil rights laws, the War on Poverty and Vietnam.

More markers nearby

• William Steele — steps away
• Texas in the Civil War - Adjutants General — steps away
• Camp Mabry — steps away
• Texas in the Civil War - Federal Forces — steps away