De Lancey Floyd-Jones was born into a prominent Long Island, New York, family on January 20, 1826. His parents were General Henry Onderdonk Floyd-Jones and Helen Watts (De Lancey) Floyd-Jones. De Lancey Floyd-Jones graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point on July 1, 1846, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army’s Seventh Infantry. His nickname at West Point was “Davy Jones,” and some of the letters in this collection appear to be signed “Davy.”
Lieutenant Floyd-Jones served in the United States Army during the Mexican War from 1846 to 1848. On his way to join his unit in New Orleans, his ship sailed through a major Atlantic hurricane in September 1846; the first letter in this collection describes that experience. On arriving in Mexico, Floyd-Jones served in the garrison at Monterrey and was promoted to second lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry. He saw combat with the Fourth Infantry in the battles of Veracruz (March 1847) and Cerro Gordo (April 1847), as well as in the campaign in August and September 1847 that resulted in the capture of Mexico City. He received a brevet promotion to first lieutenant on September 8, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct during the battle of Molino del Rey. He received a regular promotion to first lieutenant on January 1, 1848. After the fall of Mexico City, Lieutenant Floyd-Jones continued to serve in the Fourth Infantry’s occupation force at Mexico City until United States forces withdrew in the summer of 1848 after Mexican ratification of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
On his return to the United States from Mexico, Lieutenant Floyd-Jones served at Camp Jefferson Davis in East Pascagoula, Mississippi, in 1848, and at Detroit Barracks, Michigan, from 1848 to 1850. From 1850 to 1852, he served as a recruiter, and from 1852 to 1861, he served on frontier duty in Washington, Oregon, and California. He received a promotion to captain in the Fourth Infantry on July 31, 1854. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Captain Floyd-Jones returned east and was promoted to major in the United States Eleventh Infantry, Army of the Potomac, on May 31, 1861. He saw combat at the siege of Yorktown and the battles of Gaines’ Mill, Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, and Antietam in 1862; and Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in 1863. He received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel on July 4, 1862, for gallant and meritorious service during the Peninsular Campaign; and another brevet promotion to colonel on July 2, 1863, for gallant and meritorious service at Gettysburg. He received a promotion to lieutenant colonel in the Nineteenth Infantry in 1863 and served as commander of Fort Independence, Massachusetts, from August to October, 1863, and as commander of the fortifications of Boston Harbor from October 1863 to March 1865.
Following the Civil War and until his retirement from the Army in March 1879, Colonel Floyd-Jones served at Detroit and in Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Montana, Idaho Territory, and Indian Territory. He was Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Idaho Territory from June 1869 to November 1870. He retired from the Army as a full Colonel, having been promoted on January 2, 1873.
After his retirement, Colonel Floyd-Jones was elected a member of the Aztec Club of 1847, a military society for veterans of the Mexican War and their descendants. He served as vice president of the club in 1894-1895 and as president in 1895-1896. In 1892, Colonel Floyd-Jones presented the club with a silver centerpiece crafted by Tiffany’s, the Teocali, representing a pyramidal Aztec temple. The centerpiece is still used by the club at its annual meetings.
Colonel Floyd-Jones traveled widely after his retirement and authored a book about some of his travels, Letters from the Far East; Being Impressions of a Tour Around the World by Way of England, India, China, and Japan During 1885-86 (New York: Public Service Publishing Co., 1887). In the late 1890s, Colonel Floyd-Jones donated a library to Massapequa, Long Island, New York. The De Lancey Floyd-Jones Free Library continues to operate.
De Lancey Floyd-Jones died on January 19, 1902, nearly at the age of 76, in New York City.
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Sources:
- Breithaupt, Richard Hoag, Jr. Aztec Club of 1847 / Military Society of the Mexican War / Sesquicentennial History, 1847-1997.Universal City, CA: Walika Publishing Company, 1998.
- “De Lancey Floyd-Jones Dead.” New York Times. January 20, 1902.
- “Early Nineteenth Century.” http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/roth/vaerly19hur.htm (accessed June 18, 2011).
- U.S. Department of Commerce. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Council on Environmental Quality. Resolution of the October 16, 2001 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration referral to the Council on Environmental Quality of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Manteo (Shallowbag) Bay Project. http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2003/may03/noaa03r126b.html (accessed June 18, 2011).
- Walter, Kelly. “Historic Places to Visit in and around Massapequa.” massapequaNEWS.com. http://www.massapequanews.com/recreation/historicplaces.html (accessed May 2, 2007).
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Who Was Who in America. Vol. 1, 1897-1942. Chicago: A.N. Marquis Company, 1942.
From the guide to the De Lancey Floyd-Jones Letters AR491., 1846-1862, 1846-1848, (Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library)
