David Jones: Medal of Honor Recipient

Side A: The Good Hope Cemetery is the final resting place for veterans of many of America’s wars, including David Jones. Jones earned the Medal of Honor as a member of Company I of the 54th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Union Army. During Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign, Jones volunteered for a mission known as the “Forlorn Hope.” It was the lead assault of a major attack and meant certain death or wounding for soldiers in the attacking party. Jones’ Forlorn Hope was part of Grant’s attempt on May 22, 1863 to storm Vicksburg’s defenses and take the city, avoiding a siege. The attack did not succeed. Of the 150 soldiers who volunteered for the assault, many were killed or wounded, including Jones. After a 47 day siege, Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863—the same day as the Union’s victory at Gettysburg. Side B: According to Jones’ pension application “his head became badly and permanently injured from concussion of cannon fire with a storming party to capture Fort Pemberton, then held by the enemy at Vicksburg, Mississippi. The mouth of the cannon was within four or five feet of [Jones] in said Fort where [he] and others were compelled to remain all day in the hot sun and suffering from incessant firing of cannon by the enemy… [Jones] and his comrades who were still alive then, could not retreat until after night, for reason that they all would have been killed by the enemy.” After the war, Jones returned to Good Hope for the rest of his life. He married Rosellie A. Smith in 1865, fathered six children, and was a highly respected member of the community.