Free State of Jones

[Christine]

I was just wondering if any of you have heard of the Free State of Jones? The group of confederate soldiers decided to leave the confederacy and go AWOL and then actively wage a guerilla war against the Confederacy in their home county of Jones Mississippi. Some of my husband's relatives were in the Knight band (Newt Knight was the ringleader) and it has been fascinating to read about. A movie starring Mathew McConaughey will be coming out soon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_38WdArR20

[L Verge]

One of our museum volunteers read the book and recommended it to me last year. Silly me never took the time to read it. I think seeing the film - especially with Mr. McConaughey - will probably be more enjoyable anyhow...!

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http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/tr...11/?no-ist Long article, but interesting.

[Gene C]

Here are 3 articles you may find interesting. I have only glanced through them

From Smithsonian Magazine
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/tr...11/?no-ist

and Mississippi Historical Society
http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/art...e-of-jones

then there's Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_Knight

[Wild Bill]

Almost every state in the Confederacy had its "Free State" ranging from counties tup to one-third of Tennessee (the eastern part where Andrew Johnson was from). When certain German immigrants sought to flee Texas they were caught by the Rebs at the Nieces and massacred. BTW the Confederate unit doing the killing was the one Isaac Surratt served in.

[L Verge]

(06-14-2016 03:02 PM)Wild Bill Wrote:  Almost every state in the Confederacy had its "Free State" ranging from counties tup to one-third of Tennessee (the eastern part where Andrew Johnson was from). When certain German immigrants sought to flee Texas they were caught by the Rebs at the Nieces and massacred. BTW the Confederate unit doing the killing was the one Isaac Surratt served in.

In many books, that unit is referred to as Duff's Rebel Rangers. In certain realms, the distinction of "Rangers" referred to guerrilla squads. Any idea, Bill, if this was the case in regards to Isaac's unit throughout the war?

[Thomas Kearney]

Spoiler Alert: Matthew McConaughey does not drive a Lincoln in the film.

[Gene C]

The story of Mathew McConaughey's movie Free State of Jones, was first told in the 1948 movie Tap Roots
staring....Van Heflin, Susan Hayword, Boris Karloff, Julie London

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9GaKhva7JQ

It's a little less than 2 hours long.

[Wild Bill]

Duff's Partisan Rangers was formally the 33d Texas Cavalry. These units were often sent against those areas against the Confederate war especially draft dodgers. Diff's men wee deployed on regimental strength agaonst the invasion of the Rio Grande Valley by US Troops in 1865. Rick Smith and I have and article on Isaac Surratt in Duff's Rangers, “Isaac in Texas--A Theoretical Look at the Other Surratt,” SURRATT COURIER, 33 (November 2008), 3-7.

[Linda Anderson]

"The forthcoming Matthew McConaughey drama “Free State of Jones” lays claim to being the first Hollywood film in decades to depict Reconstruction, the still controversial post-Civil War period that attempted to rebuild the South along racially egalitarian lines.

"But the movie, written and directed by Gary Ross, might also lay claim to a more unusual title: the first Hollywood drama to come with footnotes."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/16/movies...click&_r=0

Here's the footnote website.

http://freestateofjones.info/