John Robert Jones (March 12, 1827–April 1, 1901) was a Virginia educator who became a brigadier general in the Confederate army during the American Civil War, during which he twice received severe wounds.

[1] Three years before his wife's death, Jones fathered a child with freed slave Malinda Rice, who had begun working in their household at age 16.

"Stonewall" Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign in the spring of 1862, under Col. John F. Neff (a Lutheran minister's son and fellow VMI graduate killed in action at the Second Battle of Manassas).

He commanded the brigade throughout the Seven Days fighting at the Battle of White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill, where he was wounded, mustered out and recommissioned.

Jones healed and rejoined the army during the Maryland Campaign and took command of the Stonewall Division, which then captured the U.S. outpost at Harpers Ferry.

[6][7] Although his only daughter, Mary, was raised by her maternal uncle John and his wife, the general continued to employ Malinda as his housekeeper, and often visited.

[8] The 1900 U.S. Federal Census shows Jones living with 33-year-old Black female servant Loisa Mills and her three young sons.