Local legends tell of Knight and his men forming the "Free State of Jones" in the area in and around Jones County, Mississippi, at the height of the war. The nature and extent of the Knight Company's opposition to the Confederate government is disputed among historians.

In the spring of 1864, the Knight Company overthrew the Confederate authorities in Jones County and raised the United States flag over the county courthouse in Ellisville. The county was...

Free State of Jones is a 2016 American historical war film inspired by the life of Southern Unionist Newton Knight, who led a successful armed revolt against the Confederacy in Jones County, Mississippi, throughout the American Civil War.

Jan 8, 2022 · Newton Knight led a small army of fugitive slaves and Confederate deserters to create the Free State of Jones. In the backwoods of Mississippi, there lies a tiny plot of land called Jones County, better known as the Free State of Jones.

May 10, 2016 · While fact-checking the Free State of Jones movie, we learned that Jones County, Mississippi had only a 12 percent slave population, fewer than any other county in Mississippi. This is the main reason for its heightened disloyalty to the Confederacy.

Much has been written about whether the “Free State of Jones” actually seceded or not. Although no official secession document survives, for a time in the spring of 1864, the Confederate government in Jones County was effectively overthrown.

Learn about the first generations who settled in Jones County MS and seceded from the Confederacy to create the Free State of Jones.

Feb 26, 2025 · Upcoming movie “The Free State of Jones,” starring Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Keri Russell, tells the true story of Newton Knight and a Mississippi county’s open defiance of secession and the War. (After shooting in Louisiana and Mississippi, the film is expected to release March 11, 2016.)

Sep 15, 2020 · Newton Knight, a white Mississippi farmer, led armed opposition to the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War, creating “The Free State of Jones,” a county that supported the Union in the war.

In November of 1862, Newt went AWOL or absent without leave, west of Corinth near Abbeville, MS, beginning his two hundred mile odyssey back to Jones County. Upon his return to Jones County, Newt discovered that many Jones County citizens, particularly women and …