author
Virgil Carrington Jones
1906–1999
A journalist turned popular historian, he brought Civil War stories to a wide audience through fast-moving narrative and a reporter’s eye for detail. He is especially remembered for books on John S. Mosby, naval warfare, and the Hatfield-McCoy feud.
1 Audiobook
U.S.S. Cairo: The Story of a Civil War Gunboat Comprising a Narrative of Her Wartime Adventures by Virgil Carrington Jones, and an Account of Her Raising in 1964 by Harold L. Peterson
by Virgil Carrington Jones, Harold L. (Harold Leslie) Peterson
About the author
Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, on June 7, 1906, he studied at Virginia Polytechnic Institute before earning a B.A. from Washington and Lee University in 1930. His early career was in newspapers, including work as city editor of the Huntsville Times and reporting jobs with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Washington Evening Star, and the Wall Street Journal.
Jones built his reputation by turning American history into vivid, readable storytelling. He wrote extensively on the Civil War, with notable books including Ranger Mosby, Gray Ghosts and Rebel Raiders, and the three-volume The Civil War at Sea. He also wrote The Hatfields and the McCoys, showing his interest in dramatic episodes from Southern and Appalachian history.
His work reached beyond the page as well: Gray Ghosts and Rebel Raiders helped inspire the television series The Gray Ghost, for which he served as a technical advisor. Jones died in 1999, leaving behind a body of historical writing that appealed to both general readers and Civil War enthusiasts.