The State of Jones (52 page)

112
“Grant is my man”:
Foote,
The Civil War
, vol. 2, pp. 623-25; Brooks D. Simpson,
Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865
(New: Houghton Mifflin, 2000), p. 215.

112
“we had a fool for a general”:
Ballard,
Vicksburg
, pp. 398-99; “A Woman’s Diary of the Siege of Vicksburg,” pp. 768-74.

112
equal number of Union prisoners:
Grant,
Personal Memoirs
, p. 313.

113
to prison camps:
McPherson,
Ordeal by Fire
, pp. 330-31; Grant,
Personal Memoirs
, pp. 308-10.

113
“much account again, as an army”:
Foote,
The Civil War
, p. 625.

114
didn’t wait for papers:
Leverett,
The Legend of the Free State of Jones
, p. 58.

114
“precisely what I expected”:
Grant,
Personal Memoirs
, p. 314.

114
repeated Confederate orders:
Grant,
Personal Memoirs
, p. 377; Arnold,
Grant Wins the War
, pp. 298-99.

114
finally returned to uniform:
McPherson,
Ordeal by Fire
, pp. 330-31; Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not emancipate all the slaves. But by the summer of 1863 the federal government was taking steps to end slavery in every state. See for example McPherson,
Ordeal by Fire
, pp. 292, 300-301, 309-15, 330-34, 346-53, 358-67; McPherson,
Battle Cry of Freedom
, pp. 490-510, 684-88; Bynum,
The Free State of Jones
, p. 105.

115
“when they met of Gen. Grant”:
Knight,
The Life and Activities of Captain Newton Knight
, p. 88.

115
“I am his the rest of the war”:
McPherson,
Ordeal by Fire
, quotation from Lincoln on p. 332. See Knight,
The Life and Activities of Captain Newton Knight
, pp. 97-98.

116
“incompetence of our officers”:
Letters of Walter A. Rorer, Civil War Collection, MHI, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

117
feather mattress in a swamp:
Civil War diary of George C. Burmeister, Civil War Collection, MHI, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

118
“perish beneath its waters”:
Bettersworth,
Mississippi in the Confederacy
, p. 150.

118
“a great amount of the stock”:
Roberts and Moneyhon,
Portraits of Conflict
, p. 275.

119
curtains for tents:
Bettersworth,
Mississippi in the Confederacy
, pp. 210-12.

119
“dear to every man in the regiment”:
OR
, supplement, part 2, vol. 33, p. 598. Walter Rorer was promoted steadily throughout the war from captain to lieutenant-colonel.

119
“now worth nothing”:
Walter A. Rorer to his cousin Susan, June 13, 1863, Civil War Collection, MHI, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

120
“our beloved country is bleeding”:
Walter A. Rorer to his cousin Susan, August 25, 1863, Civil War Collection, MHI, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

121
“given to the flames”:
OR
, series 1, vol. 24, part 2, p. 517.

121
Her continual physical exhaustion:
Bell Irvin Wiley,
The Plain People of the Confederacy
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1944), pp. 67-69.

121
“The ways of Zion”:
Ibid., p. 62.

122
“I set down to rite you afew lins”:
Ibid., p. 42.

122
Instead of aid from the government:
Storey,
Loyalty and Loss
, pp. 84, 106-7.

123
“that her god dam’d Yankee husband”:
Storey,
Loyalty and Loss
, pp. 106-7.

123
“Yankees have unhinged things terribly”:
Cash and Somerville,
My Dear Nellie
, p. 137.

123
“no room for them”:
Arnold,
Grant Wins the War
, p. 299; Bettersworth,
Confederate Mississippi
, pp. 204-205, 220;
OR
, series 4, vol. 2, p. 717.

124
the officer noted with alarm:
Weitz,
More Damning than Slaughter
, p. 275.

124
self-described Unionists:
Arnold,
Grant Wins the War
, p. 299; Betters-worth,
Confederate Mississippi
, pp. 204-212.

124
“shot down from the wayside”:
Letter to Governor Pettus from Henry Carre and D. W. Johnston, April 29, 1863, as quoted in Suzanne Spell, “A History of Jones County” (n.p., 1961), Special Collections, Mitchell Memorial Library, Mississippi State University.

125
“stealing everything they can get their hands on”:
Lieutenant Harmon Ma-this to his Excellency John J. Pettus, June 1, 1863, as quoted in Spell, “A History of Jones County.”

126
smears of blood on the ground:
Wiley,
The Life of Johnny Reb
, pp. 116-18. 126
Measles disabled men:
Ibid., pp. 250-51.

126
“Oaths, blasphemies, imprecations”:
William L. Nugent to his wife, May 2, 1863, Cash and Somerville,
My Dear Nellie
, pp. 110-17.

127
“my own personal ruin”:
Cash and Somerville,
My Dear Nellie
, pp. 117, 168; for a riveting survey of the motivations of soldiers on both sides, see McPherson,
For Cause and Comrades.

127
many of them needed socks:
William L. Nugent to his wife, March 24, 1863, Cash and Somerville,
My Dear Nellie
, p. 95; Walter A. Rorer to his cousin Susan, November 12, 1863, Civil War Collection, MHI, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

128
“Everybody thought you were dead!”:
Recollections of an unnamed Jones County soldier, WPA Collection, Jones County, box 10729, MDAH.

128
“I’m feeling for a furlough”:
Wiley,
The Life of Johnny Reb
, p. 131.

128
until the war ended:
Knight,
The Life and Activities of Captain Newton Knight
, p. 51.

129
firing squads were causing comment:
For a summary of the Confederate desertion epidemic, see Weitz,
More Damning than Slaughter
, pp. 204206.

129
“before the trouble can be stopped”:
Commager,
The Civil War Archive
, p. 347.

130
“If I had captured him”:
Foote,
The Civil War
, vol. 1, p. 214.

130
bring the men in by force:
Leverett,
The Legend of the Free State of Jones
, p. 62.

131
McLemore was rewarded with a promotion:
Rudy H. Leverett, “Biographical Sketch of Amos McLemore,”
Clarion-Ledger
, November 29-30, 1977.

131
he knew many of the missing men personally:
Leverett,
The Legend of the Free State of Jones
, p. 62. To back up McLemore, the Conscription Bureau detached Company F of the 26th Mississippi Infantry, known as the Ann Terry Guards, for special duty to arrest and guard “deserters, stragglers, absentees and conscripts” in the Piney Woods.

131
for return to their regiments:
Leverett,
The Legend of the Free State of Jones
, pp. 63-65.

132
“for the intention of speculation”:
Bettersworth,
Mississippi in the Confederacy
, p. 290; Wiley,
The Life of Johnny Reb
, p. 135.

133
“he kept on carrying news”:
Knight,
The Life and Activities of Captain Newton Knight
, pp. 73-74.

133
“I expect to attend to it”:
Ibid.

133
“I can stop that”:
Leverett,
The Legend of the Free State of Jones
, pp. 6465; Bynum, notes on interviews with Earle Knight, grandson of William Knight, who was cousin to Newton and a member of the Knight band, as well as a Union soldier, June 28-30, 1994, Mississippi Oral History Project, University of Southern Mississippi; Knight,
The Echo of the Black Horn
(1951; reprint, Ellisville, Miss., 1976), p. 166.

133
the rude farmhouses:
Bynum,
The Free State of Jones
, p. 67; Leverett,
The Legend of the Free State of Jones
, pp. 63-64.

134
McLemore’s voice:
Bynum, notes on interviews with Earle Knight; Knight,
The Life and Activities of Captain Newton Knight
, pp. 73-74.

134
Confederates conversing:
Bynum, notes on interviews with Earle Knight, Mississippi Oral History Project, University of Southern Mississippi.

134
into the squalling night:
Bynum, notes on interviews with Earle Knight, Mississippi Oral History Project, University of Southern Mississippi; Leverett,
The Legend of the Free State of Jones
, p. 64. Leverett’s version of McLemore’s killing comes from a letter by T. C. Carter, a fellow soldier and former student of McLemore’s who was with him when he was wounded at Perryville. Carter wrote a brief sketch of McLemore for the
Hattiesburg American
newspaper in 1914 and confirmed that he was shot by the fireside in Deason’s home while visiting with officers and friends.

135
“gathering up conscripts and deserters”:
The Daily Dispatch
, October 21, 1863;
The Louisville Daily Journal
, November 11, 1863.

135
“One of the three shot him”:
Knight,
The Life and Activities of Captain Newton Knight
, pp. 73-74.

135
visiting with fellow officers:
“‘Robin Hood’ Traitor Newt Legend Lives On,”
Clarion-Ledger
, October 5, 1977.

136
“I think it’s the hinge”:
Ibid.

136
“the killing of a senior Confederate officer”:
Leverett,
The Legend of the Free State of Jones
, p. 65.

136
“a quasi-political force”:
Ibid., p. 65. By the summer of 1863 the federal government was taking steps to end slavery in every state. See for example McPherson,
Ordeal by Fire
, pp. 292, 300-301, 309-15, 330-34, 346-53, 35867; McPherson,
Battle Cry of Freedom
, pp. 490-510, 684-88.

138
“putting down the rebellion”:
Depositions of Newton Knight and Jasper Collins in
Newton Knight et al. v. United States
, Congressional Case 80138464; interview with Ben Sumrall, August 31, 1936, WPA Collection, Jones County, record group 60, vol. 315, MDAH.

138
Unionists offering assistance:
Cockrell and Ballard,
Chickasaw
, pp. 169-73.

138
unanimously elected captain:
Depositions of Newton Knight and Jasper Collins in
Newton Knight et al. v. United States
, Congressional Case 8013-
8464; interview with Ben Sumrall, August 31, 1936, WPA Collection, Jones County, record group 60, vol. 315, MDAH.

138
“to stay together and obey all orders”:
Newton Knight depositions,
Newton Knight et al. v. United States
, Congressional Case 8013-8464.

139
“a cause in which they believed”:
Interview with Ben Sumrall, August 31, 1936, WPA Collection, Jones County, record group 60, vol. 315, MDAH.

139
“for the defense of the union”:
Depositions of Jasper Collins, R. N. Black-well, and J. M. Valentine in
Newton Knight et al. v. United States
, Congressional Case 8013-8464. It was in the best interest of these men to stress their Unionism, given that Newton was seeking to have himself and his men compensated as Union soldiers.

139
“best men in our Country”:
General affidavit, February 10, 1898,
Newton Knight et al. v. United States
, Congressional Case 8013-8464.

140
“organization of such character”:
As quoted in Leverett,
The Legend of the Free State of Jones
, p. 17.

140
“men of honest conviction”:
Deposition of Joel E. Welborn in
Newton et al. v. United States
, Congressional Case 8013-8464. Welborn, Newton’s Confederate commander, was called to testify in the pension case. Welborn’s long enmity with Newton made his assertion that the Knight band were Unionists from principle the more persuasive. “I was inclined to believe and think this from my acquaintance with several of his men,” Welborn said, “from intimate neighborship, from men who were regarded as men of honest conviction, and Gentlemen.”

140
“I am a friend to you”:
Newton Knight muster roll, circa 1870, Ames Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Five Colleges Archives and Manuscript Collection, Smith College, collection number MS-3; interview with Ben Sumrall, August 31, 1936, WPA Collection, Jones County, MDAH.

141
sang anthems of the federal cause:
Ethel Knight,
The Echo of the Black Horn
, p. 146. Ethel Knight was one of those neo-Confederates who tended to characterize the Knight band as criminal rather than political, so it’s interesting that she asserts the men sang Union songs. She also states that the songs were often led by Jasper Collins, which, given his family’s ardent Unionism, seems plausible.

141
“army of the Lord”:
Knight,
The Echo of the Black Horn
, p. 146; John Stauffer,
The Problem of Evil: Slavery, Freedom, and the Ambiguities of American Reform
(Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2007), pp. 288-89; Franny Nudelman,
John Brown’s Body: Slavery, Violence, and the Culture of War
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004), pp. 1-3.