Corpl. Jones Powell enlisted in Co. F, 5th Arkansas Infantry, at Wittsburg, Arkansas, on June 10, 1861, and was mustered into Confederate service with his company at Pocahontas, Arkansas, on July 27, 1861, for twelve months. He reportedly died of disease on November 19, 1861, probably at Bowling Green, Kentucky, where the 5th Arkansas maintained a regimental hospital from November 1861 to January 1862.

The company was recruited primarily in Poinsett County, Arkansas.