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"Between late 1863 and mid-1864, an armed band of Confederate deserters battled Confederate cavalry in the Piney Woods region of Jones County, Mississippi. Led by Newton Knight and calling themselves the Knight Company after their captain, they set up headquarters in the swamps of the Leaf River, where, legend has it, they declared the Free State of Jones. Adding further controversy to the legend is the story of Newton Knight's interracial romance with his wartime accomplice, Rachel, a slave. From their relationship there developed a mixed-race community that endured long after the Civil War had ended, and the ambiguous racial identity of their descendants confounded the rules of segregated Mississippi well into the twentieth century. The Free State of Jones traces the origins and legacy of the Jones County uprising from the American Revolution to the modern civil rights movement. It shows how the legend--what was told, what was embellished, and what was left out--reveals a great deal about the American South's transition from slavery to segregation; the racial, gender, and class politics of the period; and the contingent nature of history and memory."--Back cover.
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Subjects
Biography, History, Military deserters, Mississippi Civil War, 1861-1865, Racially mixed people, Social aspects, Social conditions, Unionists (United States Civil War), United States Civil War, 1861-1865, Mississippi, history, Mississippi, biography, United states, history, civil war, 1861-1865, Desertion, militaryPeople
Knight familyTimes
19th century, Civil War, 1861-1865Showing 8 featured editions. View all 8 editions?
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1
The free state of Jones: a true story of defiance during the American Civil War
2016, Duckworth Overlook
in English
0715650777 9780715650776
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2
Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War
2015, University of North Carolina Press
in English
1469627051 9781469627052
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4
Free State of Jones [Standard Large Print 16 Pt Edition]
2012, ReadHowYouWant.com, Limited
in English
0369370198 9780369370198
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5
Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War
2003, University of North Carolina Press
in English
0807875244 9780807875247
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6
The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War
December 2, 2002, The University of North Carolina Press
Paperback
in English
- New Ed edition
0807854670 9780807854679
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7
The free state of Jones: Mississippi's longest civil war
2001, University of North Carolina Press
in English
0807826367 9780807826362
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8
The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War
December 8, 2000, The University of North Carolina Press
Hardcover
in English
0807826367 9780807826362
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Book Details
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Work Description
Newt Knight was a man who defied social rules by deserting from the Confederacy, hiding in the swamp with runaway slaves and other deserters to fight the Rebels and declare Jones County, Mississippi as the Free State of Jones. Some of his men were captured and executed and, as in the movie, the women in their family cut them down. Women also aided the Knight Company. Newt also took a black wife who had several mixed race children. Free State of Jones is an excellent comprehensive study that begins with people in the back country of North Carolina during the Revolutionary War who settled Jones County bringing with them their sense of justice and attitudes toward tyranny. Bynum mines every available source to recreate the society of Jones County through the decades from settlement into the 20th century. Bynum describes the mixed race community created by the tangled and complicated extended families who intermarried and created their own schools living in defiance of the hardening Jim Crow attitudes. Bynum expertly places Davis Knight’s 1948 charge of miscegenation in the larger historical context of the period and expertly connects it to Newt Knight’s flaunting sexual racial norms of his day. Newton Knight has been portrayed as a principled American patriot fighting for civil rights for African Americans and his mixed race progeny and as an unprincipled, villainous traitor who betrayed his race, the Confederacy and transgressed racial boundaries. Whichever narrative a person believes reveals a great deal about that person’s attitude about race and the Confederacy.
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