A book entitled "Autobiography of Old Claibe Jones," was published in 1915 in Hazard, Kentucky by The Hazard Book Company. I have read this book several times, not for its narrative of Claibe's exploits, but for the documentation of the family links which it provided. Several genealogically valuable links are contained in this book.

Additionally, Claibe Jones provides quite a bit of insight for the amateur psychologist, who may wish to analyze his behavior. I provide below some of his exploits. Some of the stories of violence certainly may be open to question, as to motive and veracity. I don't see any reason to doubt the relationships and people that Claibe Jones refers to as being friends, enemies and relatives.

James Claybourn Jones stated that he was born on Arnold Fork of Beaver Creek in Floyd County Kentucky on February 14, 1826. His father was John Jones who had been born and raised in Hawkins County, Tennessee. When he was about 20 years old John Jones married Rebecca Arnold, who was born in Tazwell County Virginia,. Claibe reported that shortly after his birth, the family moved down Beaver Creek onto what later became known as Jones Branch, after his father. According to Claibe, at that time, five other families lived in that area of Beaver Creek; John Morris, John Hays, John Martin, Joel Gearhardt and Christopher Walker.

Jones reported that his father "was a dear lover of women and my mother was high strung and would not put up with his ways...so she left him. My father took me to one of his concubines by the name of Katherine Smith." Claib said that she treated him meanly, and he ran away when he was eight years old. "My mother determined to have revenge for the way Miss Smith treated me," said Jones. "She armed herself with a club and went to see Miss Smith. She walked into the house and said good morning Miss Smith. Miss Smith answered and said, 'Why, howdy Bacca' and then it was howdy in earnest. My mother gave her a rap over the head with a club, then seized her, pulling her over the yard fence to the road and beat her with a club until she could not stand up, and then put her foot on her neck and pulled ll her hair out and left her lying in the road and then fled to the woods for shelter." Later Sheriff Hatcher came to serve a warrant for her arrest and she shot him through the leg. This occurred outside the house of Claibe's Aunt Sarah Hale. Rebecca Jones then took Claibe and moved to Virginia. Three sisters of his mother lived there. "One had married a Chambers, one a Boyd and the other a Duff," reported Jones. John Jones somehow managed to settle the charges in Kentucky against his estranged wife, she returned to Floyd County with young Claibe Jones.

He spent a good deal of time with his maternal grandfather, John Arnold, a Baptist minister, who along with Rebecca Jones, lived on Burning Fork of Licking River. Jones reported that as a boy, he was "a bad boy and gave them old people lots of trouble." Claibe stated that one of the reasons he reported his exploits of his parents was "to let the reader know who was to blame for all my misfortune through life. My mother always gave me good counsel, but my father would give me bad counsel of which I needed none."

As a young boy, Jones was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker named Burnette, who lived on the Green River in Adair County. While living with the Burnette family when he was about 12 years old, Jones claims to have been kicked out because he had an affair with Mrs. Burnette. Jones then lived with a man named Mays, who was a brother-in-law to Mr. Burnette, making Mrs. Burnette's maiden name to have been Mays. Jones stayed at this house for another year, while continuing his cabinetmaker apprenticeship. Following this, Claibe reported that he went back to Magoffin County.

"I had an uncle, James Martin, who moved from Floyd County, who had to carry their goods on horseback. My mother sent me with them. I rode a horse and carried a pack. Martin stopped at Stinson's Creek in Carter County." During this trip, Claibe claimed to have fought with a man with a knife and cut his "hind quarters to pieces. That was the first time I ever smelt blood." Upon returning home, Jones went to work for his Grandfather Arnold. Claibe then returned to Carter County and worked until he got sick. On the way home, he was caught up in a fight A man threw him on the ground and kicked him several times in the side and in the face. Jones reported that it was a long time after the fight, before he could stand alone and when he got home he "kept in bed for several weeks. I studied a long time how I had been treated by this man. His name I will not tell...One day I fixed myself, put on my clothes, put my shot pouch on, took down my gun and put my pistol in my pocket." Jones then spent a day and night hunting and camping in the forest. "The next night I went to the place where I learned he was shantying and as Gold would have it he was the first man I saw. I took out my pistol and put in fresh cartridges and threw myself behind a rack of wood, which concealed the view from the shanty. I had to crawl about one hundred yards in order to get a fair shot at him. I fired three shots and when he stopped at the shanty he was dead." Jones had killed his first man when he was fourteen years old. As an after thought, Jones stated that in the autumn of the same year, he caught 28 coons, killed two bears and eighteen deer.

When he was about 15 years old Claibe fell in love with Malinda Rowe, of Scab Fork and agreed to marry her. While he was working and away from home, Malinda had married a man named John Slusher. Jones subsequently "busted John's head with a grindstone." He then vandalized the Slusher home and barn and mutilated several of the horses. "I then went to Beaver Creek where my father lived and we together went to Hawkins County Tennessee. Mr. John Martin wrote me that Slusher's head was sure enough busted and that he was taking hard fits and that his wife had left him."

Jones then claims that while he was in Tennessee, he fell in love with a girl named Epperson and married her when he was 16 years old. Jones had trouble with this family and shot up the house, kissed his wife goodbye and "made my way back to Floyd County and went to work at a mining town by the name of Mellensburg. While there I fell in love, as usual, with a girl by the name of Martha Hubbard, but as soon as her people learned that I was a married man they all soured on me and I had to leave." Jones then took a job on some coal boats which ran down the Big Sandy River, thru Catlettsburg, into the Ohio River and on the Cincinnati, Ohio. After shooting and killing two black men in a fight in a small town named Hanging Rock, somewhere between Catlettsburg and Cincinnati, Jones took refuge in the woods.

He later went to Lawrence County, Ohio and worked for Fred Fisher, who lived on Ice Creek. When he was 21, Jones married this man's daughter, Matilda. Jones reported that they lived together "as happy as hearts could wish, about one year, until Mr. Fisher had learned that I had been married before." Uncharacteristically, Jones settled this problem without violence. He hitched up his team and wagon, drove to Ironton, Ohio, sold the wagon and team and moved back to Floyd County. Jones learned later, that his wife had delivered a female child who grew up in Ohio. He stayed for a while with his mother, who was at that time living on Middle Creek in Floyd County.

Jones took a job working for Harvey Burch at Bunavista furnace. Claibe also took one of Burch's daughters as his 14 year old lover. When Mr. Burch found out, he refused to pay Jones. Jones, in response, left the area and took the girl with him to Carter County, Kentucky, where he remained for six months. Old man Burch posted a $500 reward for the return of his daughter. Jones confronted the father, held him at gunpoint. An agreement was reached for the return of the girl. "I told him to keep his girl and the reward and go to the grass with them, but that he had to leave me alone. I cared nothing for him nor his girl." This occurred about 1849.

Jones related that during his stay with the Halls, he and Lee Hall went to Letcher County to gamble with Jim Sarver and George Brashears. Two "blossom-eyed girls accompanied Sarver and Brashears. Jones said that after he and Lee Hall took the money in the gambling adventure, they concluded to take the girls as well. "Hall's girl's name was Shine Polly and shine she was. My girl's name was Chrissy Holbrook." Jones some time later made Holbrook his third wife. She later became the mother of two of his children. According to the time line in Jones' book these events occurred between 1850 and the beginning of the Civil War. He mentions no dates for these occurrences.

Jones reported that in politics he had always been a Democrat, but that he cast his lot with the Union cause, "which compelled me to leave home or be killed." A neighbor named Coburn, had a son who had joined the Confederate Army, and "Old Man Coburn reported my as a Yankee." Jones sent his wife to live with one of her sisters, presumably in Virginia. One day he met one of the Coburn's who was carrying household goods that he had stolen from the Jones house. Jones reported that, "We had some hot words. He made at me with a large knife and I knocked him down with my gun and pulling my knife, gave him a stroke or two, and left him lying in the road."

Jones soon him with a representative of the United States Army named Tom Johnson who had come to Perry County to raise a battalion for the Union Army. A large force was raised and Jones enlisted. The unit assembled in Harlan County to organize the battalion. Jones repo rted that Johnson and a man named Blankenship were candidates for Major, and Blankenship was elected. Thus on October 13, 1862 the Harlan County Battalion was mustered into service in the Union Army. Jones stated that they were mustered out of the Harlan Battalion on January 13, 1863. Jones served as a First Lieutenant in Company A, under Captain Morgan. His initial work involved patrolling and scouting.

Jones reported that within a few weeks of these events, Major Blankenship sent most of his men home on a five-day furlough. As the men were returning to camp, many of them were captured and taken prisoner by Confederate troops, which had been hiding in ambush. These were troops under the command of Colonel Caudill. Jones further claimed that Caudill had taken a personal interest in his own capture. Caudill had stationed himself on the route, which he expected Jones to take in his return to camp. Jones felt that Caudill had taken this interest in order to save himself the necessity of paying the reward, which he had offered for the capture of Jones. Caudill failed to find Jones.

Later that evening, the Confederates who had captured many of the men of the Harlan Battalion, met some of their own troops in the darkness. A battle of friendly fire ensued, during which the Union troops managed to escape. They found their way back to the Harlan Battalion encampment. In response, Major Blankenship led a raid on the Rebel camp. He lost two men and apparently accomplished little else. Morgan led a group of men into battle against the Confederate troops in Perry County somewhere near the salt wells on Leatherwood Creek. Jones reported that he and Morgan, "concluded to drive the Rebels out of Perry." Jones and his men reportedly "surprised them while they were stealing a deaf and dumb man's watermelons." One man on each side was reported killed. Rebel Captain Jesse Caudill, whom Jones held in high regard, as "a brave man," who wounded somewhere in the posterior. "He was on one side of the creek and I was on the other. He was standing behind a small tree. I was watching him closely and as he turned to give a command to his men, I give him a Yankee pill from Shampee, somewhere in his hind quarters."

In typical Jones nonchalance, he said of the battle, "I was unusually mad, not because we had met the Rebels, for we had defeated them, but I had gathered an armful of ripe pawpaws and had to drop them when the fight began." Jones reported that his company also gathered the spoils of the battle in the form of the captured watermelons and the remainder of the Rebels food, which included "the biggest pone of cornbread I ever saw. It would have weighed more than fifty pounds. They had baked it in a salt kettle and were carrying it in a coffee sack." This would have occurred sometime in August or early September 1862, if the pawpaws were ripe.

The next battle was against the Georgia Ann Tigers, who were camped in Harlantown. Jones and members of the Harlan Battalion surrounded their camp, one morning at dawn. The Union forces killed eighteen of the Rebel, in what amounted to a turkey shoot. The camp was captured. Some of the Rebels escaped. Jones and his men buried the dead Confederates and commandeered their supplies, which had been left behind.

The Harlan Battalion next encountered a large Confederate force from Virginia under the command of Colonel Slemp. Although reportedly outnumbered by the Virginians, the Union forces gave battle for several days by hiding in the brush and firing from ambush. Jones stated that some of his comrades spent nearly a week in the brush before they returned to camp. During this week, Jones took several men into a woods on the property of a man named Eversole, who was a moonshiner. Some of the Rebels had captured some booty from Eversole and had gotten drunk. Jones and his men killed three of them, and though Jones doesn't report what they did with the shine, I expected that he put in to his own use. Colonel Slemp and his men then retreated back into Virginia.

Following this escapade, Jones, Henry Hall, and Gilbert Screech went to Screech's home, which was near the salt wells on Mason's Creek. While still near the Screech home, the group scouted a nearby Rebel camp, but found that the enemy was too formidable to attack. The Jones party proceeded up the creek and about a mile from the camp, ran into a Rebel party which was commanded by a Lieutenant Bentley. Jones reported that gunshots broken out on both sides simultaneously. Jones claims to have wounded Lieutenant Bentley. The Confederates then took cover over the side of the road in the pine and laurel trees, which covered the steep bank. Jones continued, "We carried the chickens up into the woods and cut them loose. The little roosters seemed to be very well satisfied and went to scratching and crowing like Democrats." Because the group was eighteen miles from camp, they left these spoils behind.

Some members of the Harlan Battalion then had a skirmish with Confederate Captain Ans Hays. Jones and Captain Shade Combs were guarding some sick men at the mouth of Carr's Fork, when Hays attacked the camp. Although Jones, Reverend Ira Combs and two others were the only armed men in the camp, "we held the Rebels at bay until the sick men all got away." Jones and the others held the fort until the enemy retreated.

Jones and others were ordered mustered out of service with the Harlan Battalion on January 13, 1863. A few days later, Major Blankenship was captured and killed by raiders who were led by Confederate General John H. Morgan. "That put an end to the Harlan Battalion," said Jones.

Old Claibe reported that he then went to Irvine, Kentucky and joined the Fourteen Kentucky Cavalry, which was by other reports, after some delay because their position had been threatened by the invasion of General Morgan of the Confederacy, mustered into service of the Union cause in February, 1863. After a week at Irvine, the unit was moved to Richmond, where Jones was deemed to be a disabled volunteer. "My men seemed to all be dissatisfied about them not taking me in so Colonel Lilly told me to stay with the command and he would give me work to do," Jones stated.

Jones said that Lilly then used him as a spy. He was first sent to Perry County, Kentucky, along him William Mosely and Font Fuller. In Perry County they captured a man named Cornett, whom they retained as a prisoner. Mosely had been subject to Rebel violence earlier in the war. They had attacked his house, destroying much on it, had stolen most of his possessions, and caused him to flee. Mosely had sworn vengeance against Rebel prisoners. Jones had promised Cornett's wife that he would look out for his safety while he was Jones' prisoner. Jones and Mosely were thus at odds on this subject. Jones and his prisoner occupied a small cabin in the evening following his capture. Mosely and Fuler declared their intent to enter the cabin, but Jones refused to let them enter. They told Jones that they would then break the door down. Jones reported that he gave his pistol to Cornett to assist in his own defense, but nothing further happened that night. In the morning, Jones and his prisoner parted company with Mosely and Fuller and started toward Booneville.

The next evening was spent at the home of some Union sympathizers on Goose Creek. The home was at the time, occupied by three women whose spouses had gone to serve in the Union forces. Jones gave his arms to the girls, with instructions to shoot the prisoner if he attempted to escape. These women, who had lost a husband and brother to Confederate violence, told Jones that they would have no trouble following his orders. "The girls proved to be good soldiers and kept the prisoner safe until the next morning," said Jones. He then continued to Booneville, where he turned the prisoner over to Colonel Lilly.

Colonel Lilly then sent Jones, with a small detachment of troops to Letcher County. After a two day march, they reached Whitesburg. Upon passing through Sand Lick they were fired upon by Rebel troops, who immediately retreated toward Virginia. Jones and his group cutoff some of the retreating soldiers and fired upon them, resulting in the Rebels deserting some of their bounty. Jones captured a wagon-load of dried apples and a barrel of apple brandy, which he buried for later use. "There was a man with us by the name of John Smith. So Uncle John preached the funeral of goold old apple jack and we buried him in a sandbar." Jones and his men, acting on information given to them by a Mr. Sturdivant, a Rebel whom they had captured, positioned themselves on a ridge about a mile further down-river. They waited and as the returning Confederate forces passed, Old Claibe's men fired..."Yankee pills so thick that they had to swim the mill pond. We pursued them and sent them back to Virginia," said Jones. "We then went back to the grave of General Apple Jack and dug him up." Jones and his troops then disposed of the "General" by pouring it down their throats. When Colonel Caudill was apprised of the defeat of his troops, and the loss of the "General," he sent men into the woods in search of Jones.

Back in the Union camp, Jones and his captured prisoner then entered a card game against some of the other soldiers. Jones and Sturdivant separated the soldiers from their money by cheating. Jones then released the prisoner to return to his home, after Sturdivant promised not to take-up arms against the Union forces.

Soon thereafter, Jones reportedly captured his brother-in-law, Miles Webb, and a man named Williams. They camped on the land owned by a man named Caudill, who was busy making his supply of cane molasses. They killed a cow and hired some girls to kill two chickens for supper. While supper was cooking, they indulged in drinking more "apple-jack." Because they failed to post guards, Rebel forces were able to surround their position and fire upon them. Jones had his men organize their position, and were able to escape through the Rebel lines. They were able to keep their prisoner except for Miles Webb, who escaped back to his own troops. The attacking Rebel unit was commanded by Captain William J. Hall, who told his men to hold their ground until the last man died. Darkness soon fell and the Confederate troops returned to Whitesburg.

Colonel Lilly them sent a company, commander by Captain Strong to attack the position held by Confederate Captain Hays. Hays had been reported to be camped on Lot's Creek, below Hazard, in Perry County. Jones accompanied this unit to Hazard. The Rebels were surrounded while they were beginning to eat breakfast. The Rebels refused to surrender and the Union forces fired upon them. Captain Hays' men returned fire and then "took leg-bail and fled to the woods," remembered Jones. He further reported that "We captured all they had, even their guns and sent them to Dixie for ammunition. We ate their breakfast, drank their Jeff Davis coffee and got several jugs of moonshine and put out for Letcher."

On the way back to Letcher County, at Carr's Fork, the Union forces encountered a company of Confederates, commanded by Captain Cook. In the fight, which followed, Jones claimed to have shot and killed Lieutenant Mays. Then "we made a charge on them and they were as brave as Cptain Hays' men, they fled to the woods."

The 14th Kentucky (Union) Cavalry company of Captain Strong then soon encountered a Confederate force of Captain Lige Hix. Captain Hix was seen running from a nearby house and Jones' and other fired at him. Hix hide behind and stump and Jones approached him, while ordering his men to cease fire. "I had stayed at his house many years before while I lay wounded and could not have him hurt," said Jones. Jones then returned with these prisoners and troops to Booneville.

Jones again returned to Letcher County and participated in more minor skirmishes involving a Captain Foster, who had been robbing and marauding in the county. The Union forces reportedly routed the Rebels, forcing them into the river to make their escape. Twenty-seven of the Confederates were killed or captured.

When Jones returned to Camp Nelson, where the unit was now camped, word was received that General John H. Morgan for the Confederacy was marching on Lexington. The 14th Kentucky marched to Lexington to intercept Morgan, but he had turned his troops at Cynthianna, Kentucky, in Harrison County and had crossed the Ohio River somewhere below Cincinnati.

The 14th Cavalry was then sent to meet and intercept the troops of Colonel Clay who had invaded Eastern Kentucky. The two armies met at the mouth of Puncheon Creek on the Licking River. Jones reported that "the enemy fought with great bravery until Colonel Clay was slain and his men broke and fled in confusion." This battle ended Jones' participation in the Civil War. He stated that the 14th Kentucky Cavalry was ordered to return to Fort Nelson and was mustered out of service. Jones wrote that this was the end of the Civil War. He closed this section of his reminiscence by stating that, "We all took a long breath, then breathed easily and thanking God that it was all over, went to our homes, but when we got back home, it was far from being the home we had left a few short years before, for many of our dearest friends had answered the roll call on the other shore."