Biography
Thomas A. Jones was a Maryland civilian arrested near Pope's Creek by a detachment of the Sickles Brigade during the Civil War. The federal summary associates his arrest and removal to Washington with an order issued about October 4, 1861; it does not establish a precise arrest day. Officials alleged that he furnished information to Confederate forces and transported recruits and contraband across the Potomac. A January 9, 1862 State Department order directed conditional release, but the army retained him on grounds of military necessity. The summary expressly records that he remained in the Old Capitol Prison on February 15, 1862, when responsibility passed to the War Department. No actual release date or criminal conviction is specified in this cited account. Source: Official Records, series II, volume II, section 2, printed page 858 (PDF page 60), https://archive.org/details/cu31924079570259/page/n59/mode/2up.
The return lists arrest on October 4, 1861. The recorded allegation was: Communicating with enemy and transporting persons across river to join Confederate army. This is the authorities’ allegation, not a finding of guilt. It records actual discharge on March 21, 1862. The individual disposition or conditions read: Oath of allegiance. Source: Official Records, Series II, Volume II, printed page 277, https://archive.org/details/cu31924079570242/page/n292/mode/2up.
In his January 28,1862 letter Jones explicitly dates his arrest September 24,1861, corroborated by his earlier descriptions of the elapsed weeks. He describes eleven days held in a military camp before removal to Washington. October 4 in the summary and return concerns the later Washington custody stage and conflicts with its characterization as the arrest date; both are preserved here with their different evidentiary bases. Jones said he farmed and ferried passengers, denied giving Confederate intelligence, and admitted briefly fleeing to Virginia to avoid arrest before returning to his family. He described nine children, one born since imprisonment, confiscated boats and a horse, lost crops and financial hardship. These are his attributed statements. The already recorded March 21 actual release remains; the January conditional release order was not executed. Source: Official Records, Series II, Volume II, section 2, printed pages 857–881, https://archive.org/details/cu31924079570259/page/n80/mode/1up.
