The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 171 -The Jones County Deserters

Episode Date: May 8, 2016

Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the deserters of Jones County, Mississippi. SOURCESTOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

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week. I read a story from American history to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. What? I mean so what was that? What? Did you think that was normal? What? Your eyes look like you're stoned. I don't want to do this podcast anymore. Me either! Do you want to look good a dude? I'll do one bubble. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gira. Stay okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not gonna come particularly quite good. Okay. You are queen fakie of made-up town. All hail Queen Shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle and do a thing. Hi, Gary. No. He's done my friend. No. No.

We want to thank our subscribers on Patreon. This podcast is brought to you by our subscribers on Patreon. We thank each and every one of you. Very, very, very nice of you. November 1837. November 1837. Okay. Interesting. A whisper. Newton Knight was born near Leaf River in Jones County, Mississippi. Newton Knight? Newton Knight. Okay. This is, this story made me realize that Newt Gingrich is probably not named Newt. He's probably named Newton and it is short for Newton. I did not know that until now. Newton. I always thought that he was just named after a stupid semi-salameter type creature. Right. Newton was the son of Albert. It was a good call to name your baby after a lizard. Newt.

Always good. We wanted to be a slimy politician. Gonna name him Newt. He was the son of Albert King, Albert Knight, a illiterate shoemaker, Tanner, and quote, barely self-sufficient farmer. He grew corn and raised hogs. So a jack of no trade. Barely doing anything. Yeah. Newton's mother taught her children to read and write and served as a doctor helping the sick in the area. Newton's grandfather was Jackie Knight, one of the richest slave holders in the county, but Albert was the only child who was not given a slave by his dad. Could you imagine living in a time? Like now people would be like, look, I don't think you are capable of handling the money that I would like to give you. So I'm gonna put it in a trust. But back then they were like,

you can't handle a slave. Yeah. It was like an iPad. And we're not gonna give him a slave until he's in his teens. He can't handle one. It just distracts them. What's he gonna do with it? Play ball? And then also, like, if you're a slave, like, as a slave, when your life is so terrible already, to now have like a Richie Rich be like, go pick that towel up. Put it over there. Slave. Slave. Yeah, it's pretty. You're just like, I'm gonna fucking kill you. Grandpa Jackie also liked to drink. Okay. In 1833, a church elders confronted Jackie about his drinking. But after he expressed quote, a high degree of abhorrence for the scandal he had brought upon the religion by his conduct, the congregation voted to keep him in. But it ran on the family. In

September 1835, Newton's dad, Albert was cited by the church for undisclosed, scandalous behavior. Wow, right. Yeah, that could be a TV show. Albert apologized and the church voted to keep him in too. Then in October night 1835, again, Jackie and another son were accused of charges of misconduct. Finally, Newton's dad, Albert was excluded from the church for quote, repeated intoxication. And it wasn't just Albert. Soon eight other night family members were kicked out of the local church for gambling, habitual absence, absences, hosting a dance party, and women for fornication. Well, after the dance party, I know what are you gonna do after a dance? Send anyone, everyone leaves home, goes home hot and bothered. Get some dick. You got to go to the bedroom to the no pants dance.

Thank you. Yep. Jones County was doing well. From a 1941 newspaper quote, Jones County is literally a land of milk and honey, where inhabitants obtained lands at cheap government prices, live in comfortable cabins, diet on liberal supplies of beef, foul eggs, cheese and butter, the selling of cattle, chickens and surplus fluid in mobile provides such a life of comfort and abundance for these families that they have little need for courthouses. They have no jail except a hogpen with a lock to its door and no roof on it. Happy people. So that sounds great, right? Yeah. So they fucking live in it. I'm sick of the liberal butter too. That's the end of the story. It's great. Thank you. All right. Well, I just found another pair. Oh, there's more. In

1860, slaves were 12% of the total county population, which is the lowest in the state of Mississippi. Okay. neighboring counties had slave populations of 35%. And 77% of the slaveholders in Jones County owned four or fewer slaves. Okay. It's not a huge I know, but it is just amazing to be like, see, their slave numbers weren't that bad. They weren't awful. They weren't getting too crazy with slavery. And now grown new tonight, new tonight was described as a quote simple dirt farmer by a friend, a simple dirt farmer. Man, no one grows dirt like new. Yeah. I mean, he been growing dirt ever since they've dirt been around. And you got to try his dirt. Oh, man, the first time I sunk my mouth in the summer, noon's dirt, I was like, I ain't eating no one

else's dirt ever again. He said that I was there. Yep. He's there. I said it. And I was there because he said it. I hate eating berries. I like sticking my face into dirt. All right, you said a lot now. Time to I ain't got no slaves. I know. What are you looking at me like that for dirt coming out of your mouth? You got mud mouth, Marty. You got mud mouth. All right, I do because I like to eat. Yeah, I know you like to eat dirt. Hey, where did that filler go that we was talking to? Seems like he walked away. Dirt moron. All right. And Newton used the slavery equation to explain this community standing or a friend used the slavery equation to explain Newton's community standing. Oh, God. Why if a girl's parents own Negroes, he she didn't

recognize Newtonite any more than she would a Negro. When a young woman announced her plans to marry, we folks would always ask of the fiance's family, did they have any Negroes? And if they didn't, they weren't no account. So if somebody didn't have slaves, you couldn't, they were you were like slave owning families would marry slave owning families. Oh, so because of the prestige and non slave owning families would have to marry non slave owning families because of the lack of awesome. It's reverse world. Yes, it is. It is upside down land. So newt got married to Serena Turner, whose parents did not own slaves. Unlike his father and the rest of the family, newt never drank or swore was a Baptist and took good care of his children. Okay. Being

the people they were newt and his people didn't look at slave the same way as slave owners. One day of slave was beaten by his honor for having whiskey and selling it to other slaves, which is, you know, well, yeah, yeah, how dare how dare you drink to escape this reality. I mean, my God, yeah, you you're not allowed to drink. I mean, excuse me, have a little profession having fun, have a little professionalism, man, whose life I've completely taken away. So I Mr. Duckworth, who was a relative of newt's wife found the slave lying on the side of the road in bad condition. He took him home, applied grease to his wounded back, and then brought him back to his owner hoping to fix the problem between the two. Well, he's a sweetie pie. The owner then delivered a fatal blow

to the slave and looked at Duckworth and said, let that be an example to you. Oh, Jesus interloper. Oh, trying to save a man's life. I feel so bad for that dude, too, because he was probably like, I don't think you'll be able to explain it to him. Pretty much a dick. Once once I get there, you'll say, you'll see the power of words, my friend, the power of words. Let's not go back there. Let's not go back. No, no, no, no, no. Let me let me grease you up. You know what they call me? Talkie Duckworth. You know why? Because I can talk people into anything. I have some dirt. Would you like some dirt? I know. I am the slave owner whisperer. This is good dirt. We are going to have a great talk. I'm going to sit down with him. I'm an awful pile of dirt. We're going to share a

cup of dirt. In 1861, Mississippi was voting on whether to secede from the union. They took a vote in Jones County. They were around 400 people living in the county. Okay. All but seven voted to stay in the union. Okay. So they're all like, we want to stay in the union. We don't want to go with the slave. Yeah. Stay blah, blah, blah. But they sent a Jones County delegate, and he went to the state convention and voted to secede. What the fuck, sir, sir, the plan. I feel like you might not understand democracy. Also, what about not sending the one guy? Well, Dave, seven was actually four. What you don't understand is that he's what we now call a super delegate. Okay, fair. So the will of the people matters less. That's a pretty good description of a super delegate. Yeah. Quote,

he didn't come back to Jones County for a while. It would have been kind of unhealthy for him, I reckon. Well, he'd voted against in session, but the state voted for it. Next thing we knew, they were drafting us. The rebels passed a law conscripting everybody between 18 and 35. They just came around the squad of soldiers and took us. That's crazy. Right. They're like, can you imagine just taking a man from his natural environment and forcing him to do an existence that he neither wants nor can stand? What sort of a world are we living in? My word. That's fucking awesome. Yeah, pretty much. As slaves rolled their eyes out of their heads. Just like, oh my god. hypocrisy, anybody? Where'd you learn a word? Where'd you learn a word so big? Eat your

dirt. Best not be selling whiskey. Newt didn't want to fight. He told the Confederates he'd helped he'd help wounded soldiers. But that was it. He voluntarily enlisted for service in July of 1861 in order to avoid being put in a company he didn't want to be in. His company was mostly made up of locals from Jones County. His father died while he was serving. Also while he was gone, the family was now being run by his sister's husband, Bill Morgan. Morgan was an outlaw. He often beat the children. And Newt learned that Confederate Caldraman. Is that like a fun game? Or he would just beat the children? Yeah, it's like hungry. Okay, that's what I thought. Newt learned that Confederate Caldraman had taken their only horse and that Morgan had cooperated. And that

became the breaking point for Newt. Oh, nice. We're about to see a bad newt. I just want to point out that he was beating the children. Yeah. But when he let the horse be taken by soldiers with guns, that was the end. Everyone's got their line. Well, the rebels passed the 20 Negro law up there at Richmond, Virginia, the capital. That law said that any white man owning 20 slaves or more didn't need to fight. What? Yeah. So let's just let's just take a break here to sum up how fucked up the South is. So they've they've they've seceded against the will of the people, mostly based on slavery. If you actually I know people would like to rewrite history and say that's not what happened. But if you go and read the actual state's session, quite a few of them said slavery. So

they secede based on slavery. And they start a war because of this pro slavery war is going to start when you secede. That's how it works. Yeah. And then they just want the poor people to fight for the rich slave owning people. Right. While the rich slave owning people don't fight at all. Right. Okay. It's cool. At least they got that down. Bless me. Quote, he could go home and raise crops a front of mind threw down his gun and start at home. This law he says to me makes it a rich man's war and a poor man's fight. I'm through. Well, I felt the same way. So I started back home. I felt if they had a right to draft me when I didn't want to fight the union, I had a right to quit when I got ready. Ah, inequality. It's true. They got a quality's gone. So good to have that wrapped up.

So now Newt was a wall. But he's back home and he doesn't trust Bill Morgan, who he thought might turn him in at any time. Yeah. So Newt shot Bill through the head while he was rocking a child on the night family's front porch. Could have picked a better time. I mean, well, his hands are full. Yeah. Seems like you're not really caring about the baby that much. His hands are full of baby. He can't reach for his gun if his hands are full of baby. That's like a classic saying shoot a guy whose hands are full of baby. He really did pick the best time though. I mean, when he's not beating him, he's actually being a sweet father for a second. And then he's like, oh, look at this little. Everyone in the family swore they did not see

who did it. Interesting. We think the baby might have done it. The baby might have shot him in the head. He was holding the baby. When we came out, he didn't have brain. Newt was one of the early desertions of the Jones County men from the Confederate army, but more would follow. Some because of the slavery rule, others because they were not well looked after. They had no tents and there were many other shortages. So they would often leave in the winter. Okay. You should have a tent if you're fighting. Yeah. Instead of just laying out in the snow. For sure. I feel like that's just like a basic 101. There were 50 or 60 deserters and they stayed out in the woods in Jones County to avoid rebels looking

for them. I thought those are just the people who ate ice cream during the war. The ice cream meters. Yeah, the deserters. Yeah. I'll stop. I'm being adorable. We're just going to go ahead and shut down. No, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Major Major General Dabney H. Maury recommended the arrest of the deserters. In early 1863, Jones County Marshal John Powell received orders to take charge of the deserters. Powell was the same guy who was the delegate who had cast a process session. Oh, so he's gonna be like, all right. Well, I fucked you, but I'm gonna double fuck you now. Yeah, you guys hated the war, huh? All right. All the men were caught and forced to return to their companies. Newt wasn't

treated well. Quote, rebels got a hold of him and they tied him and drove him to prison. They treated Newt cruelly for some length of time. So determined with the soldiers to make him fight or kill him that they destroyed all his property, horses and mules and his household and left his family destitute. Oh my God. Now, obviously, that doesn't make a guy want to fight for you. Yeah, is that weird that that? No, that's not. No, no, I feel like you wouldn't want to. Newt deserted his unit again in May. Okay. The number of deserted increased after the terrible battle of Vicksburg. Their soldiers were eating rats, dried corn and boiling leather to make soup. I really, that list just deteriorates. The war is hard. We're gonna eat Ted's coat. I feel like the dried

corn is fine. The dried corn is fine. Rats. Rats and eating. Better when you hear that you're eating jackets. Martha, the war is not great. Today I'm eating rats in my shoes. I beg your pardon. The shoes is being made into soup. We're just having some shoes to, you know, some shoe. Spelled S-H-E-U-E-W, I mean. A letter written from, quote, many soldiers to their general, quote, Dear fuckface. Hey, shit fuck. We weren't being literal about being dirt eaters. You fucking mother shit ass. Now we need coats and a meal. Sign a guy eating his shoe in a bowl. Quote, if you can't feed us, you would better surrender us. Horrible as the idea is, then suffer this noble army to disgrace themselves by desertion. I tell you plainly, men are not going to lie here and

perish. It's a reasonable thing to not want to just lie there and die. That's not okay. Please let the other guys catch us signed everybody. Please. In June, it was said there were 75 to 100 deserters now in the swamps of Jones County. Okay. Then Major Amos Macklemore was sent to Jones County to bring the deserters back to the Confederate Army. On October 5th, 1863, as Major Macklemore sat with other Confederate officers in the home of representative Amos Deeson, discussing how to capture the deserters. He was shot to death. Oh boy. No one was ever charged, but everyone, I bet it was the baby again. Everyone knew that Newt had killed him by sneaking up and shooting him through a window. Interesting. So Newt has gone now from being

like this arguably pious individual to now being comfortable with murdering. Well, he is fighting a very righteous battle. He is for sure, but it's still, he's broken. They have left him no choice. No. I feel like there is a choice that is to totally just run. Yeah. But what about his family? I mean, they've essentially forced him for that horse out. He has no horse. He has no home. Trade the family for that horse. Get that horse back. That horse back. Yeah. Trade the family for the horse. You sound like a businessman supporter. Well, look, he's got a lot of good points. In late 1863, the Jones County Deserters organized and armed themselves. Newt, quote. The Confederate army began sending raiders after us with bloodhounds. We saw we had to fight,

so we organized this company and the boys elected me captain. Yes, sir. There was right smart trouble then. We were pretty quiet for a while. We figured out that the rebels were too strong for us just to fight our way through and join up with the Union forces. We thought we wait until the Federals fought their way down closer to us or we got stronger. Okay. They want to fight. They want to join the Union and fight the Confederacy. Right. Which is crazy. They're in Mississippi. Yeah. But it's also it's like if you're the Union, I mean, you're like, all right. Yeah. Cool. We start a war and then other people show up, join our side. Newt told his men not to destroy the property of anyone, not even their enemies and not to kill anyone except in the protection of

their lives or the lives of their company or families. Very nice, but probably not the best war philosophy. Wow, we'll see. Quote. The ladies sure helped us a lot. I collect. I recollect when it when we had 44 bloodhounds after us, but 42 of them just naturally died. Wow. They'd get hungry and some of the ladies friends of ours would feed them and they'd die. Strange, isn't it? Oh, boy. So the women are just poison the dogs. Here you go. Yeah. Did you give him a snack? He got at least love snacks. I like this. Oh, look, five are dead. Sleepy. Well, we'll see you later. They're all dead. The women would also confuse the hounds by those two last bloodhounds are like, we're not eating. I'm not doing it. I don't eat. I'm not eating anything in army. Yeah,

we're going to join the Union. The women would also confuse the hounds by sprinkling polka musk and red pepper on the trails leading to the desert is hideout. So they're just like sneeze up a storm. Fucking dogs are sniffing red pepper. So great. Quote. Sally Parker gave them 50 pounds of lead for ammunition. One of the deserters was courting her daughter. So she did what she could quote from Newt. The old hand flutters when you come around the loam chick, you know. Wow. Geez. He does have a way. He does have a way. They also got gunpowder and bullets from rebels. They would surround Confederate wagons that were coming through the county. They would blow horns used to drive cattle. Then they would set off explosives on

all sides of the wagon and start shooting. The Confederates would think they were completely surrounded and just run away from the wagon. But then they'd get outside and be like, oh, no, because they're they're pretending they're like hidden in the distance. Just like, oh, wow, that's great. It's really great. On December 23rd, 1863, there was a battle between 15 Confederate soldiers and 40 deserters at Sally Parker's farm. One rebel was killed and two of Newton's men were severely wounded. In January, another deserter was shot in his front yard when he snuck home to visit his newborn daughter. Nice. Yeah, right? Nice. Always nice to get a nice little detail like that. Oh, you had a baby? Let's wait. You'll see her someday. Yeah. She goes to

your brains. There you go. That's good. Then 10 citizens from nearby Smith County told the Confederates there are at least 300 well armed deserters now. They had asked for a boy. That's a that's a really bad auto correct. They'd asked for a they asked for a song. No, they asked for a song. So 300 are coming at us and we can get them to not come here. I don't know if you guys could sing a really catchy song. What if you guys could sing a really catchy song and do a really cool dance? A dance, too? I know. It's crazy. Wait, this is like for an art? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You write a good song and I'd love to see done ever in battle. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like who? Oh, we're 1812. I think ended on a on a Broadway show tune. Yeah. Like with a big number

big number. Okay, big numbers to get to writing that happy. That's not gonna do it. All right, they asked for a whatever force to be sent to prevent the song for the song for we're coming over the mountain. We're gonna save your life. You'll know when we're done with you will end your strife. We're coming down the mountain with our guns out. So they were worried that nearby counties are gonna be plundered by these deserters. Then the deserters began to turn on their opponents. 1864 was when deserters brought terror into the hearts of people who sympathized with the Confederacy from a Jones County citizen to the army. Quote, deserters are well armed and 500 strong. They've been seizing government supplies killer people and have actually made

prisoners of officers of the Confederate army. So now they're fighting back right a Confederate Lieutenant General estimated the number of deserters at several hundred now and said that they had quote killed the officer in charge of the draft and dispersed and captured his supporting force. I wanted to kill him. The guy's drafting people. That's I mean, not great, but it is pretty great. Officials who attempted to enforce tax in kind laws were especially targeted by deserters during March of 1864. The new tax took 10% of all agricultural products and livestock raised for slaughter. Anyone who did not deliver is 10% faced a 50% penalty. Boy, this war was just great for the South. I mean, it just sounds like it was a win. It's a winning

situation. Confederate officials took what they wanted, often letting surplus rot in warehouses. Cool. Smart. Smart. New quote. There was a guard at the warehouse and the supplies was all corn and we took five wagons full. It's great. They made out like I took other stuff, but it was all corn. There were some Irish family might have wanted to take a couple other things. How about some potatoes? Oh, boys, this is a corn raid. Well, corn raid. That's what the song was. Oh, my God. Look, corn raid. Beef. They got beef. They got beef. We sang it the whole goddamn way. You sang it. You didn't leave any room for the rest of us to do anything. Well, you didn't write the song. Well, you didn't have an opportunity to write it. I wrote the songs that make the young

girls sing. Here we go. That's actually kind of catchy. What did you just say? I said I wrote the songs that make the young girls sing. I write the song. I write. I write the songs that do try the beaky beaky. Okay. I write the songs that make the young. Oh, I think we might be on to something to make a band. Hey, come on, grab that corn. We're gonna go ride a musical. Thank God we got corn and other stuff. There were some Irish families that were bad off. They didn't want to fight and the Confederates wouldn't give them or sell them anything. I gave them all the corn they wanted. I don't want anymore. Potatoes. Eat your corn. We're tired of corn. That's the thing. Eat it. That weren't there anything else in there? Oh, tons of stuff. Why'd you just get

corn? Oh, fell in love. There's a song. You guys heard the song before we left, right? It wasn't if they're, I mean, sure. Potatoes don't rhyme with corn. That's the thing. Nothing rhyme. What you'll find is that not a lot rhymes with corn. That's all we had. Corn horn. Corn horn. And we get we came with horn. Yeah. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. How you gonna sing it? It's not a good song. You say potato. I've always said potato. I'm gonna kick you in the face. You say potato right your goddamn face. Wait a minute. Now hold on. Wait a minute. Hold on. You say potato. And I say potato. Now what do you call the little red thing on a vine? Tomatoes. I say tomato. I said tomato. That's so weird. Potato. Tomato. Yeah.

That's just you say. You say potato. Potato. There's something there. You say potato. And I say that's it. That's it. What's that? No, no, no, wait. You say potato. And I say potato. You say tomato. And I say tomato. Potato. Tomato. Tomato. Potato. Let's call the whole thing off. Corn. No. God damn it. No. Just always writing songs. It's like Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore and lyrics and songs or whatever. Just everything. Now hold on. That could be a song. In March, the Jones County clerk said the county was unable to collect taxes because the deserters had, quote, held a meeting and they resolved not to pay any tax in either state, county, nor Confederate. Next, the Confederate captain wrote, quote, not only had deserters

stop government agents from driving cattle out of the county, obviously cattle taken for taxes, right? But they had ambushed, shot and killed dead two men assigned to collect stock to meet tax demands. It's great. They're killing tax. So they really are just like, I mean, they're almost like fight clubbing. They're like going from the inside and just ruining the infrastructure. Yeah. Three Confederate officials were murdered in early 1864. Maddie Bush, quote, there was no sheriff, assessor or tax collector. Now, Newt Knight declared this, quote, the free state of Jones. Oh, wow. That's awesome. State of fucking Jones. I live in the free state of Jones. Jones said the county had never seceded from the union, just one delegate

had. I mean, Newt said that. Yeah. No, someone said that. Jones, whatever. Well, not Jones. Oh, yeah, Jones. Jones County said they never seceded, but just one delegate had, but they were wrong. Newt declared it the free state of Jones. Okay. Deal with it. Newt's made a declaration. Newt's run on the fucking shit. Yeah, whatever you want. Yeah. Confederate general Polk said, quote, the lawless banditie of Jones must be dealt with and sent Colonel Mallory with 500 troops into the county. The fighting began on March 5th, 1864 at Big Creek Church. On March 12th, Mallory reported he had restored order, but that, quote, a few scattered outlaws are still lurking about in the swamps and will have to be hunted out

with dogs. Deserters were executed, quote, three members of the night band were all loaded on a wagon and driven to a large oak tree on the old trade road. Confederate Calvary tied the men to the tree limb, then ordered the wagon driven away, leaving the men's bodies swinging in the air. They hung there for days until their wives came and cut them down. They were okay, right? Yeah, they're fine. Okay. So make sure we're clear. They're just singing songs. Yeah. Swinging in the rain. Hanging, banging. No, something else. Just two weeks after Colonel Mallory said the problem was solved, a captain wrote of, quote, the deplorable state of affairs in Mississippi. The deserter bands are so perfect in the organization

that in a few hours, large bodies of them can be collected at any given time, prepared to attempt almost anything. The deserters would blow cattle horns to warn each other and to gather their forces together. Smart, like fucking birds. Yeah, like birds. Yeah. They're like birds. Smart. Next, Colonel Robert Lowry was sent to Jones County to clean up the mess Colonel Mallory had left. Okay, so he obviously did. He said he cleared everything out. Yeah, clearly was just fucking right. This was just after the deserters raised a Union flag over the courthouse. Wow. That's amazing. That's amazing. Isn't it amazing that that flag came down and the Confederate one went up until about three months ago?

Yeah. It's pretty weird. The Confederates are now growing concern of collaboration between the deserters and the Union Army. And the Jones County deserters were openly bragging of being in communication with the Yankees. But none of that was true. They did try to connect with the Union Army, but a company sent down to swear them into the Union Army was captured. The Union Army also tried to send 400 rifles from New Orleans, but the Confederates confiscated them. New Orleans was at this point in Union hands. Right. Colonel Lowry and his men entered Jones County and began executing deserters immediately. A cousin of Newton, Ben Knight was executed as well as others hung. Tucker Greg was shot in the

back as he ran away. His 13 year old brother was hung. They captured a man as he slept in his bed and his two brothers. They were all hung. 10 deserters were now dead. Colonel Lowry held Dickie Knight's father William to force Dickie to come out of the swamp. Some sent his slave to tell Dickie that if he did not surrender, they would kill him. Dickie sat quietly on a fence rail for a long time thinking about what to do. Finally, he said to the slave quote, you go back and tell the officer to just go ahead and hang pop. He's getting to be an old man now and they won't knock him out of many years. They may knock me out a good few many. We're building a boat to go to New Orleans and join the Yankees.

Hold on. Let me get a pen. This is I think they just I think they thought you would come and the dad's like fucking what? No, no, no. Hold on. Hold on. Go back. What did he really say? Okay, go back and go back and tell him. Tell him how dire this is. I'm happy. Yeah. It's a few years. Yeah, very healthy, very healthy. Just crush him 43. I swear to fucking marathon. Very healthy. Very healthy. Dickie is out there just fucking eating pork back and sitting on his ass. I'll be honest. I think if we could look at each other's hearts, I think you would think that I would maybe live a little bit longer. No wonder they called him Dickie. Right. Fence sitting dick. Never saying a song. Well, tell him bye. Tell dad

bye. Squeeze me. Bye. Tell him bye. The slave decided that this was a bad message to come back with and he just bailed. Smart. Smartest guy in the whole story. There's our hero. Fuck this. The slave was like, you know, that's a lot of information. And I also see a path. Here's something. I like boats. Yeah. I'll go tell him. And gone forever. They didn't hang William Knight. Okay. And Dickie made his way to New Orleans. Okay. They made the right call. Yeah. The women in the county held the dance for Confederate soldiers at old Levi Valentine's home. After the so the Calvary guys come in to dance with the pretty girls, right? And as they get comfortable, the deserters sneak in the bag while the women

run out the door. And they just start shooting. Two Confederate soldiers are killed. I like how as many people are shooting each other, no one seems to get hit. I mean, it's it is amazing, right? I mean, they are fucking weapons. Still, I mean, it is kind of thing. You aim at someone and you go, fuck, I hope this gets within 10 feet. Yeah. No, because like there's not the tension of a gunfight that there used to be when you're like loading like a musket or whatever, where you're like, just like, God damn it, I missed. All right. When I get another shot, what they're doing here, I think this is load them up still. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. They don't have revolvers. No, no, that's what I mean, though. That's

why I like it's one shot. But the tension of that gunfight is so different. Like the only gunfight where there's small talk. You're just like, you both miss and you're like, I swear to God, dude, when I fucking in 10 minutes when this shit's reloaded, look at all that gunpowder. You had me that real quick. Oh man, what I'm going to shoot you first. Oh, are you think so? You think so? Oh, my, I'm just jamming it down a little. I'm sorry too, motherfucker. Shit, I forgot to put in the ball. God damn it, I dropped my ball. Can you hold on a minute? Hold on, I dropped my ball. So if we can maybe just take a quick TO. You want to sing a song? I mean, what are we going to sing a song about?

Balls. Balls. Balls. I've got big balls. I don't know if we're ready for that. Yeah, no, I don't think the time is ready for it. Newt quote. There were a lot of skirmishes. You couldn't properly call battles, but we had 16 sizable fights that I remember and we lost 11 men. I never kept track of how many wounded I used to treat their gunshot wounds myself. There were a number of not a numbers guy, but the local support of the deserters. So more Confederate soldiers were killed than deserters, but it was warranted because previous soldiers had engaged in wrongful shootings, robbing, stealing from houses, cutting cloth from looms and taking horses, etc. Not cloth from looms. Look, do

you know how hard it is to put cloth into a you know, it takes like 900 hours to put cloth into a loom. So you just rip it out. Like you're fucking like it's like three, three, four years of work. Asshole move. Thank you. By the time Colonel Lowry's raids, raids ended in May 1864. A lot of deserters had retreated to the swamps or floated down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. I just love that. Well, I'm going to treat my body like a boat. I'll be back. I reached the conclusion to become a boat. You could just like I mean in a real quick minute just be fishing and then be like, I'm going to New Orleans and then just lay in the river. It would be funny to just be sitting there and just do their

floating by catching dudes on your rod. Well, sorry. This one's a little big. Although some of them did rejoin the Confederate army. Okay. About 20 deserters remained in the county, including Newt. And the fighting had left the county a mess. Two months later, a Confederate officer wrote quote, Jones County is so lawless that if a man is found dead, the civil authorities pay no attention to it anymore than if it was a dog. Deserters, though thinned out, remain undisturbed by the county's justices of the peace, constables and commissioners, all of who stay home and attend to their own business while public business is not done. Okay. Good. So rotting, rotting bodies in the street seems like it's not great. No, not great. There's

definitely some guy walked around and went, our tax dollars in motion. Here we go. This is why our tax dollars is too much. Also, this was a private corporation. They'd be picking up the body. Oh, so hot enough for you. He's just an annoying man. That's my point. Then on July 12, 1864, the Natchez Korea reported that quote, the county of Jones, state of Mississippi, has seceded from the state and formed a government on their own, both military and civil. A Yakele tenant is now in Jones, entertained and protected by deserters. Although I don't think that was ever true. I think that they just seceded and it was nude in charge. Right. County elections were held and Confederates guarded the ballot boxes to

prevent anyone pro union from voting. Fair election. A few deserters were arrested while they tried to vote. I love that through all this shit, they're like, I got a goddamn vote. Yeah. Are you kidding me? Yeah. Okay, you can arrest me. Can I just make my, can I just do the vote? Vote or die. That's what Puffy said. Puffy. The Confederates continue to capture, to try to capture the deserters. Nude quote. In late December, 1864 was my cousin, Alpheus, his wedding. Now, there was one woman living near us who didn't lack us and got word of the wedding. People are going to hate my Southern. I love it, but fuck off. I'm finding a new dynamic. Thank you. Part of you. She told her slave cook gal, you take this message and don't stop to

eat or sleep until you delivered it to the Confederate soldiers. But some folks were friendly to me and they sent word about it. It was a right cold night and I told them, go ahead and get married. I'll keep watch. Oh boy. You'll freeze to death. They told me just after daylight, I heard a chain rattle and I knew it was the rebels crossing the river. They were about a hundred of them. I had about a mile to get to the house where the wedding party was enjoying breakfast. You just in time, the Brad told me, sit down and eat. I got no appetite. There's a fight coming, I said, but they urged me to eat. So I had a little piece of pie and some hot coffee. You're right. I am hungry. No, it's a wedding that's short. I mean, they're closing in,

but okay. Come on, I said, we got to get out of here. There's about a hundred Confederates marching on this house, but they had all this extra spaghetti and I'm full of pie now. They just keep feeding him until they're all dead. So we packed up and started out. One of the ladies had a baby in her arms. I can't carry this baby so fast. So I took the baby, I'll carry your gun. She said, no, madam, you won't. Nobody carries my gun but me. About 20 Confederates had ridden up and there was a captain riding straight for me. I gave the baby back, raised my gun, prayed and fired and he fell out of his saddle. It's the greatest scene in the history of a guy handing a lady a baby, taking out his gun, aiming it, praying and then shooting the guy.

I looked around and we were outnumbered. So I jumped into the brush and yelled as loud as I ever could. Attention battalion, rally on the right, forward. There wasn't any battalion than a rabbit. There isn't, it wasn't any more battalion than a rabbit. The rabbit was like, aye, aye, sir. The rabbit's like, what the fuck? I've been drafted. But there was thick woods all around and the rebels must have thought there was an army in them and they retreated and gave us a chance to get away till they shot my hat off. Oh, well, whatever. No one among the wedding party was harmed that day. Wow, that's crazy. It seems like the best way to beat the Confederate army was to pretend like there were other people around. It also really shows you the IQ level of the

Confederate army. I mean, I'm sure there were smart guys in there and people who were good at like tactical stuff, but for the most part, I mean, that's just like, that's just like how an animal operates. They hear a noise like, where's case scenario? Go, go, go. Another noise. Where's case scenario? Two weeks later, Confederate troops Godzilla, get ready to step on the Confederate army. Why is that one guy keeping on corn and Zeus get ready your thunder, ready your lightning bolts from Mount Olympus. Oh, man, I can't believe he got Godzilla answer. That game zoos. Let's run. Two weeks later, Confederate troops came back looking for alpheus. He crawled up the chimney in his house and told his wife to make a fire and put the skillet on

to cook. Sorry. Go ahead. He climbed up. Okay, wait. So they're coming and he can't run out of the house. So he goes up. So he so he reversed Santas. So he reversed Santas. He reversed Santas and tells her to light a fire, but not a light of fire in the fireplace. Yes, sir. Why? That's where he is. But they will they won't think to look up the chimney. You're goddamn right. They won't because it'll be ashy. She did. And when the Calvary came, she got so nervous, she kept putting more and more wood on the fire. No, he's up there looking down like this is totally what my wife would do. No, haven't seen him in a while. He's definitely not. Yeah, man, I don't know. I wouldn't be putting wood on the fire if he was up there. No, certainly not. That's 18 logs. Yes, it is.

It's a very big fire. Yes, it is. It's very hot up here. Or is your chimney talking? The soldiers searched everywhere for Alpheus, but not did not find him. And they left. He was dead in a chimney. By the time Alpheus came down, quote, his rear was cooked. Oh, God, fire, but fire, but the civil war ended. A Jones County resident wrote, quote, there was nothing here. We were absolutely poverty stricken. Children were eating dirt and green corn. But they started out eating dirt as far as our story. Yes, yeah, there's not much of a payoff there before he made them dirt eaters. Families were sending 12 and 13 year old children down the road with clothes on their back to fend for themselves. Local disagreements turned into

neighborhood feuds. Horse thieves and cattle wrestlers led to vigil vigilante violence in the county. On July 15 1865, Newton night and his fighters petitioned Provisional Governor William Sharkey to overturn the 1864 Jones County elections from October 1864 because quote, that rebel Calvary had denied loyal man the right to vote and treated them as savages instead of free men. They proclaimed they were royal to the federal government and that they stood firm against the Confederacy during the war. Governor Sharkey ended up basically creating a dual governing situation with two local judges and two local sheriffs, one from the Knights and one from the Confederates. Interesting. Yeah, that's really totally going to work out. Yeah, kind of

out. We got into the situation of the first place. Yeah, perfect. Get to diametrically opposed forces. Do you remember when we did that in the country? Yeah, now it'll just be smaller. Newt was appointed commissioner to procure relief for the destitute in Jones County. He would get goods from the US Army for distribution and he was given more duties. He was empowered to rescue two children of a freed black man whose former master was trying to leave the county with them. He was ordered to seize a certain lot of wool and cloth in Jones County, said to be Confederate property from a Confederate dry goods merchant. These goods are not wet. These are dry goods. I put my name on it. You find one ounce of moisture in any one of these garments or whatever the

fuck these are. The stamp of Murray says dry dry Murray. That means dry. This one's kind of wet. That doesn't have that says Murphy. Oh, sorry. On October 16, 1865, 99 citizens petitioned the Mississippi Legislature to change the name of Jones County to Davis County to honor Confederate President William Jefferson or Jefferson Davis. Okay, so they're not from the county. They're just 99 people who are mad. What happened in Jones County? Right, right. They wanted to 99%. They wanted to erase the history of Jones County as a deserter's haven, which occurred. The name changed lasted three years and then was changed back to Jones County. During his years fighting against the Confederacy, Newt had made an agreement with a former slave

named Rachel. She would spy for and get the deserters food and in return, Newt would work for the freedom of all slaves, which is he's definitely getting the better end of that bargain because just one guy. Yeah, like you need a bigger deal. Yeah. Yeah. In 1870, Rachel and her family moved on to Newt's land. You got to give me a sandwich and I'll create a universal consciousness. Deal? Fair. She got it. She got it. I shook her. So she moves on to his land and works his land. She became known as Rachel Knight. Ex-slave Martha, quote, Rachel was considered Newt's woman. Okay. Interesting, right? Yeah. Yeah. In 1878, two of Newt's children married two of Rachel's children. Okay. These marriages

began the community of, quote, white Negroes who were called Knights Negroes by local whites. These were like the first. Wait, what? They're not the first, but so basically it begins. It begins like the thawing. No, it's almost like there's a tribe of people within Mississippi who are living a far more off life. Right. So blacks and whites are marrying and they don't give a shit because they realize they're from the same sort of level in society. They're different colors. That's pretty funny. If you think about it, it's kind of off. Rachel and her children sharecropped on Newt's land for years until Rachel bought 80 acres of her own land. In 1871, a new school was built in town and Newt helped in the construction of it

and pushed to get it built. And then Rachel sent her children to the newly built school, but the teacher sent them away saying he would not teach at a school with black and white children. The school was burned to the ground the next day. What? Newt doesn't take any shit. He burned it? Yeah. I mean, he's kind of awesome. At this point, how much shit has he taken? Lots of shit. So his level of taking shit is really low. He's got a very low threshold at this point. I can't teach Tuesday. Burn the school. Well, he's like, fuck you, that's my family. I can't throw a fastball. Cut his arm off. This is when it was said Newt had a complete break with the whites in Jones County. Things get weird after Rachel dies in 1889. Newt then apparently

took Rachel's daughter, Georgie Ann and his wife, and Newt's actual wife, Serena, went and lived with her daughter. I'm sorry. So he was fucking Rachel the whole time, but he was still married to Serena. And then I guess Serena was thinking, well, Rachel dies. I'll get my man back. But then when she died, he starts daughter. Yeah, he starts fucking her daughter's daughter. So he's he's less of a cool guy right now. I mean, it's interesting, though. Shit, I got the younger one. I wish I'd known that was on the table the whole time. Oh, during the 20th century, the majority of whites in the area shun the mixed race night

community. Some relatives hid the fact that were related to Newt Newt night and his children, quote, what he did after the war was worse than deserting. Was it really seems like it might be better than also even in your flawed logic, that's not true. No, it's insane. Even in your like, even if you are going like, I'm pro slavery, that's still is a stupid state statement. It's fucking moronic. Congress created the Southern Claims Commission to compensate the losses of Southern Unionists. Newt petitioned Congress for financial compensation for himself and his wartime company roster, including those who had died. Even though he had the support of prominent officials, it was referred to the Judiciary Committee reintroduced twice and

referred to the Committee on Claims in 1873. He filed again in 1887 and 1891, but the US Court of Claims ruled against him in 1900. So no money. Okay. On February 16 1922, Newton Knight died from an obituary quote, Newt and his followers held that after the 20 Negro law was passed, they had no interest in the fortunes of the Confederacy. They were a great, there was a great deal of truth in their convictions, but Newt ruined his life and future by marrying a Negro woman. That's his obituary. Yep. Who wrote it? One of the assholes in the town. Yeah, some dickhead. Yeah, Dickhead Jones. Oh, yeah. The Klan harassed the Knights during the 1930s, including one instance in which a white man was beaten because he had dated a night girl.

Many nights moved away from the county during this period. Geez. Pretty fucking crazy, right? Crazy. That's so, that's it. Yeah, so weird. Anyway, how does the Crayola model magic going? That's good. Okay. That's just for me, not my son. Okay. Yeah, I really do like I don't, I, it's just such a shitty time. What now or then? Exactly. No, then that's gonna be a movie. Oh, that is? June, I think. Who's who? McConaughey. Oh, yeah, you're in. All right. You're in. All right. He just pulls in a Cadillac. What the hell's going on here on this plantation? He's talking to his Lincoln. He's lost from the Lincoln commercials. He's transcended time.

So I accidentally hit a wormhole and came back to this time and my Lincoln got my two dogs with me. It seems to be happening here. I really hope they keep the baby scene. Yeah. They got out there. What I hope, the way I hope it works is that he walks into the house, I know he was on the porch, but he walks in the dude who has the baby and he's like, the hell are you doing here? And he shoots him and as the dude's dead body's dropping the baby, McConaughey picks it up. Yeah. I was talking about the other baby scene, the wedding baby scene. Oh, the wedding baby. The baby and shoots. I forgot there were two babies. There's two babies. Gonna need a couple babies on this one. Yeah, that is also a good one. Hold your baby.

I'm gonna kill that man. I'm gonna kill that. I'm gonna pray first. Hold your baby, pray, and then I'm gonna take that man's life. Great. Yeah, anything else? I know. Very uplifting. Yeah, happy. Happy. We signed cars.