Extremely Rare Salt Print CDV of Confederate General Samuel Jones

Extremely Rare Salt Print CDV of Confederate General Samuel Jones

This is an exceptionally rare salt print carte de visite (CDV) of Confederate Major General Samuel Jones—believed to be the only known salt print of him in existence. The photograph bears no back mark but is likely the work of Tanner & Van Ness, prominent photographers based in Lynchburg, Virginia. This attribution is based on its provenance, having come from a significant collection of other Tanner & Van Ness images. The studio was known for capturing some of the most notable Confederate generals and officers during the Civil War, making this image not only scarce but historically significant.
 
General Samuel Jones was born at “Woodfield,” his family’s plantation in Powhatan County, Virginia. A graduate of the United States Military Academy in 1841, he was commissioned into the Second Artillery Regiment and initially posted in Houlton, Maine, during the boundary dispute with Canada. He later returned to West Point, where he served as assistant professor of mathematics and instructor of tactics from 1846 to 1851. Just prior to the Civil War, he was stationed in Washington, D.C., serving on the staff of the Judge Advocate of the Army.
 
Following Virginia’s secession in 1861, Jones joined the state’s corps of artillery with the rank of major and soon transitioned into the Provisional Confederate Army. His service as chief of artillery and ordnance earned him promotion to colonel, followed by further promotions to brigadier general on July 21, 1861, and major general on March 10, 1862. He commanded the Department of Western Virginia from December 1862 to March 1864, overseeing the defense of the vital Virginia and Tennessee Railroad and the region's strategic salt mines. Jones played a key role during the Battle of Blountville in 1863 but was later replaced by General John C. Breckinridge.
 
Jones subsequently took command of the district of South Carolina, where he responded to Union bombardments by placing captured federal officers under guard in Charleston—prompting retaliation from Union General John G. Foster. In February 1865, Jones assumed command of the Department of Florida and South Georgia, holding this position until the Confederacy’s surrender. He capitulated at Tallahassee on May 10, 1865. After the war, from 1873 to 1875, he served as president of the Maryland Agricultural College. General Samuel Jones passed away in Bedford Springs, Virginia, closing a significant chapter in American military history.