Newt Knight was a civil war army paramedic. He deserted the Confederate army and went back home to Jones county Mississippi. To hide from the Confederate troops looking for deserters he was taken to a part of the Underground Railroad where he met runaway slaves. In time more and more deserters and small farmers joined them and this swamp land became a small community. Newt assembled a small army of the men who could fight, this included slaves. Newt’s army forced Confederate forces out of Jones County and another 4 Counties. When the small army didn’t get reinforcements from the Union army they decided to secede from the Confederate states, and also the Union, and become the Free State of Jones. Once the war was over freedmen cultivated their