Newton Knight

Newton Knight
Born	November 1837 Jones County, Mississippi, U.S.
Died	February 16, 1922(1922-02-16) (aged 84) Jasper County, Mississippi, U.S.
Resting place	Knight Cemetery, Jasper County, Mississippi
Nationality	American
Occupation	Farmer
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Serena Turner Rachel Knight (common law)

Newton Knight (November 1837 – February 16, 1922) was an American farmer, soldier and Southern Unionist in Mississippi, best known as the leader of the Knight Company, a band of Confederate army deserters who resisted the Confederacy during the Civil War. 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. After the war, Knight joined the Republican Party and served in Mississippi's Reconstruction government as a deputy US Marshal.

Knight has long been a controversial figure in the region, with people divided over his motives and actions. This controversy has been fueled in part by general social opposition to Knight's alliances with slaves during the war, and his postwar marriage to a freed slave. They and allies developed a small mixed-race community in southeastern Mississippi. The marriage was considered illegal, as Mississippi had banned interracial marriages before and after the war, except for a period during Reconstruction.

Films about Knight have included Tap Roots, directed by George Marshall, and Free State of Jones, directed by Gary Ross and starring Matthew McConaughey portraying Newton Knight, which was released in June 2016.

"My father was born on November 10, 1830, though the family records show it was 1833. His mother changed the record after he shot a negro boy to get him out of being punished in court. He was the eighth of the twelve boys, and was raised a poor farmer boy, making his living farming, also building houses for his neighbors." -Tom Knight

Newton Knight was born near the Leaf River in Jones County, Mississippi, in November 1837 to Albert Knight and his wife. His birth year has been recorded by his son, Tom Knight, in a biography as 1830, and his grandniece, Ethel Knight, wrote that he was born in 1829. His gravestone has his full name as "STUART NEWTON KNIGHT" born Nov. 10, 1829 died Feb. 16, 1922.[3]. But the 1900 census records that Knight was born in November 1837, likely from his own testimony. This date is consistent with census records from other years, but he may have given the wrong year of his birth to the census takers to hide his family origin. He was probably taught to read and write by his mother, as there were no public schools for yeomen children.

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