01. Prologue —Gary Ross
Historical films are an odd hybrid. They have constraints of traditional nonfiction writing and the dramatic demands of popular filmmaking. It’s no wonder that they occasionally wind up in the middle of an argument: How much creative license is legitimate? How much responsibility to history does the filmmaker have?
In the modern world, where we get so much of our information from popular culture, the filmmaker is under even more pressure. Today, people read less and watch more, and whether we like it or not, academic history is often overwhelmed by popular history. Les Mis actually becomes the French Revolution, Homeland is somehow the “real” war on terror, and Lincoln is inevitably remembered as he was in Lincoln.
On the other hand, it is of course impossible to craft a narrative film that adheres to every minute detail or factual incident of a historical subject. As filmmakers, we have to imagine the private moments, make sense of the character arcs and motivations, let the audience peek behind the sweep of history to glimpse the personal details that often don’t exist in the public record. This is doubly true in a movie like The Free State of Jones, whose protagonist, Newt Knight, left very little written record. We are forced to imagine what was in the mind of a man who led an audacious rebellion against the Confederacy and continued to struggle against his former adversaries all the way through Reconstruction.
The more I researched Newt Knight, the more compelling he became to me. If he had only led an anti-tax rebellion in the Piney Woods of Mississippi, it would have been an engaging story. If he had then seceded from the Confederacy and declared Jones County an autonomous state, it would have been more remarkable still. But Newt Knight continued to fight white supremacists through the post-war era. He freed children from “apprenticeship” (a second form of slavery after the war). He joined and commanded a largely African American militia at the behest of Mississippi’s Republican governor, to protect the voting rights of freedmen from the terror of the Klan. Strong evidence suggests he burned down a school that refused to educate mixed-race children. By his own directive, he is buried in a mixed-race cemetery, in defiance of Mississippi’s racial codes at the time. If these are the facts, what were the personal details?
We are left to speculate, but to do so responsibly. We are compelled to make sense of the rebellion and Newt’s post-war struggles from the facts we do know about him. Thus in these pages, we have done something a little out the ordinary for a feature film. We have attempted to footnote, substantiate, and justify not only the literal incidents depicted but also those fictionalized, arguing that they adhere to real facts about the era. We feel that where we have fictionalized, not only are we faithful to the larger history of the period, but in many ways we hope to illuminate it. In other words, we have fictionalized only to express a deeper truth—the essence of both the war and Reconstruction—and we substantiate that in these notes. When incidents are based on Newt’s direct experience (the vast majority of them are), we offer academic, primary-source citations. When we have fictionalized something to make sense of the narrative or to convey that deeper truth about Southern Unionism, slavery, the economics of cotton, Reconstruction, or a host of other issues, we will show what that is based on. It may not be literal, but it is always based on reliable evidence. Not only will we offer academic justification, but I will try to briefly explain the logic that went into the adaptation process.
I know this violates the cardinal rule of “Let the work speak for itself.” But this is no ordinary topic, and it can fairly be held to a higher standard. Over 250 million people have seen D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation. It is a racist film that misleads, rewrites, and obscures the truth about Reconstruction. (It is based on a novel called The Clansman.) It told the same story that almost every white historian at the time wrote about the era, and for decades it defined the way America perceived Reconstruction, a period that is just as crucial to understanding our history as the Civil War itself. Many film critics hail it as a breakthrough work of cinema, as if the technical expertise somehow excused the historical irresponsibility (lying) of Griffith and the historians on whom he relied.
There aren’t many popular works on this topic, and when wading into these waters, I also felt there was an obligation to be not only accurate but comprehensive. It is not enough to chronicle the rebellion of poor white farmers in southeast Mississippi if one ignores the struggle of African Americans in the region. It is not enough to show the resistance inherent in Southern Unionism as it joins the larger Union victory if one ignores what happened to those sentiments in the post-war era. In fact, save for Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind (similarly problematic in its post-bellum romanticism), almost no movies have examined this era past the surrender at Appomattox. One can easily argue that the real Civil War ended in 1876, when federal troops were withdrawn from the South. Newt didn’t stop resisting in 1865, and I felt it was important to chronicle this post-war period as well, even if I included crucial historical events (such as the Union League or the creation of freedmen’s schools) that were not specific to Newt, so far as we know. Some characters have been invented in the film, but they are scrupulously faithful to what happened in the period and are never without historical precedent. Where I have departed from the literal facts of history, I have tried to cite and justify it in these pages.
01. Prologue —Gary Ross
Historical films are an odd hybrid. They have constraints of traditional nonfiction writing and the dramatic demands of popular filmmaking. It’s no wonder that they occasionally wind up in the middle of an argument: How much creative license is legitimate? How much responsibility to history does the filmmaker have?
In the modern world, where we get so much of our information from popular culture, the filmmaker is under even more pressure. Today, people read less and watch more, and whether we like it or not, academic history is often overwhelmed by popular history. Les Mis actually becomes the French Revolution, Homeland is somehow the “real” war on terror, and Lincoln is inevitably remembered as he was in Lincoln.
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02. Backstory
On the eve of the Civil War, Natchez, Mississippi, was the richest city per capita in the country. Massive plantations sprawled across the rich soil of the Mississippi Delta. The planters who owned them were some of the richest Americans, the Silicon Valley billionaires of their day. Many owned hundreds and in some cases thousands of slaves, the most lucrative “commodity” in the nation. 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4
By contrast, Jones County was a poor area populated by Yeoman farmers who owned no slaves. They had no personal stake in the war, and most resented the institution of slavery and the wealthy planters who profited from it. 1.5 1.6 1.7
02. Backstory
On the eve of the Civil War, Natchez, Mississippi, was the richest city per capita in the country. 2.1 Massive plantations sprawled across the rich soil of the Mississippi Delta. The planters who owned them were some of the richest Americans, the Silicon Valley billionaires of their day. Many owned hundreds and in some cases thousands of slaves, the most lucrative “commodity” in the nation. 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5
By contrast, Jones County was a poor area populated by yeomen farmers who owned no slaves. They had no personal stake in the war, and most resented the institution of slavery and the wealthy planters who profited from it. 2.6 2.7 2.8
03. The Beginning: Second Conscription Act
When the Confederacy passed a law exempting rich slaveholders from the draft, but still drafting non-slaveowners, it was more than many could take. They called it “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.” 3.1
The indignation expressed by Jasper Collins in the scene above typifies the resentment that many poor farmers felt toward the planter class. Jasper was more “book smart” than Newt, and it was he who originally informed him of the Second Conscription Act and its clause exempting slaveowners from the draft. 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5
03. The Beginning: Second Conscription Act
When the Confederacy passed a law exempting rich slaveholders from the draft, but still drafting non-slaveowners, it was more than many could take. They called it “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.” 3.1
The indignation expressed by Jasper Collins in the scene above typifies the resentment that many poor farmers felt toward the planter class. Jasper was more “book smart” than Newt, and it was he who originally informed him of the Second Conscription Act and its clause exempting slaveowners from the draft. 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5
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04. Rich Man’s War, Poor Man’s Fight
There is evidence that Newt Knight came from a family that opposed the slavocracy on ideological as well as economic grounds. His father had turned down the gift of a slave when he got married, and his declining the economic advantage is telling. Other relatives directly refer to the family’s ideological opposition to slavery. 4.1 Like many yeoman farmers, Newt resented a war in which he felt he was fighting to make the rich richer. 4.2
As the war continued, class divisions were exacerbated and became increasingly hard to ignore. Even the common soldier was known to express anger at the planter class and the cotton economy of the slavocracy. In the film, Newt sarcastically goads Sumrall when he claims they are fighting for honor: “Well, that’s good, Will, 'cause I’d sure hate to be fighting for cotton.” It was hardly a rare sentiment. 4.3
Threatened with the draft, Newt served in the Confederate Army but refused to fight. As he said “I didn’t want to fight. I told 'em I’d help nurse sick soldiers if they wanted.” 4.4
04. Rich Man’s War, Poor Man’s Fight
There is evidence that Newt Knight came from a family that opposed the slavocracy on ideological as well as economic grounds. His father had turned down the gift of a slave when he got married, and his declining the economic advantage is telling. Other relatives directly refer to the family’s ideological opposition to slavery. 4.1 Like many yeoman farmers, Newt resented a war in which he felt he was fighting to make the rich richer. 4.2
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05. The Field Hospital
Special thanks to all the veterans, actual amputees, who helped us in this scene. Special thanks as well to the real orthopedic surgeons who performed as doctors. This was difficult and would not have been possible without you.
While the Civil War was modern in weaponry and tactics, in medicine it was medieval. There was no knowledge of pathogens, sterilization was unheard of, and doctors rarely washed their hands or their instruments. Most soldiers who died succumbed to disease, often contracted after being examined by a doctor.
Field hospitals were filthy, fetid places that faintly resembled septic tanks. They ranged in structure from confiscated houses or hotels to blood-soaked barns. 5.1
They were the place where poor enlisted men went when they got injured. Though the image above may look horrific, it was typical of an average field hospital trying to cope with a torrent of wounded men. 5.2 5.3 5.4
In the image below, Newt has just stripped the jacket off a wounded soldier whose life he’s trying to save. Officers frequently got preferential treatment, and in the carnage and melee of the field hospital, any advantage helped. 5.5 5.6
05. The Field Hospital
While the Civil War was modern in weaponry and tactics, in medicine it was medieval. There was no knowledge of pathogens, sterilization was unheard of, and doctors rarely washed their hands or their instruments. Most soldiers who died succumbed to disease, often contracted after being examined by a doctor.
Field hospitals were filthy, fetid places that faintly resembled septic tanks. They ranged in structure from confiscated houses or hotels to blood-soaked barns. 5.1
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06. On Daniel
If the Twenty Negro Law was the breaking point for many Confederate soldiers, I felt it was necessary to show the real effects of conscription, so this “poor man’s fight” would not remain an abstraction. The character of Daniel was thus a whole-cloth creation to illustrate this.
The Confederacy instituted the first wartime draft in U.S. history, and poor boys were the ones being taken. The first Confederate conscription act drafted men aged 18-35. A year later that age range would be increased to 17-50. 6.1 Livestock, cloth, corn, and able-bodied boys would be confiscated all in one fell swoop. 6.2 6.3 6.4
I was moved by the remarkable work of historian Drew Faust, who chronicled the unimaginable human cost of the war. I felt that too many Hollywood movies made death faceless, the victims ciphers—unknown and forgettable. The character of Daniel was therefore a fictional invention to explore these issues: the outrage of conscription, the class division inherent in it, and the human cost of the war even to boys in their mid-teens. 6.5 Newt left the army because of this, and I wanted to put a face on that. Daniel seemed the best way to do it. I’m grateful to Jacob Lofland for what I feel is a sensitive and remarkable performance.
06. On Daniel
If the Twenty Negro Law was the breaking point for many Confederate soldiers, I felt it was necessary to show the real effects of conscription, so this “poor man’s fight” would not remain an abstraction. The character of Daniel was thus a whole-cloth creation to illustrate this.
The Confederacy instituted the first wartime draft in U.S. history, and poor boys were the ones being taken. The first Confederate conscription act drafted men aged 18-35. A year later that age range would be increased to 17-50. 6.1 Livestock, cloth, corn, and able-bodied boys would be confiscated all in one fell swoop. 6.2 6.3 6.4
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07. Tax in Kind
When Newt Knight came home to Jones County, he found a world that had been ravaged by tax collectors and the Confederate Army as their enforcers. The tax-in-kind laws allowed for the confiscation of just 10% of a farmer’s goods or produce, but abuses of the law were common. 7.1 Women farming the land alone were left to do so without the tools or the means necessary. 7.2 Their sons were taken. Often their mules were taken (though they were supposed to be protected). Their grain was taken, along with their pigs, chickens, and cloth. 7.3
The tax-in-kind law galvanized Newt’s resistance to the Confederacy. It transformed him from a deserter who did not want to fight into a rebel who made war on the slavocracy. And it transformed thousands of other poor farmers from deserters to Southern Unionists as well. 7.4 7.5
07. Tax in Kind
When Newt Knight came home to Jones County, he found a world that had been ravaged by tax collectors and the Confederate Army as their enforcers. The tax-in-kind laws allowed for the confiscation of just 10% of a farmer’s goods or produce, but abuses of the law were common. 7.1 Women farming the land alone were left to do so without the tools or the means necessary. 7.2 Their sons were taken. Often their mules were taken (though they were supposed to be protected). Their grain was taken, along with their pigs, chickens, and cloth. 7.3
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08. The Call of the Horn
According to numerous accounts, Newt used to the sound of cow horns to communicate from farm to farm, sounding alarm when the tax collectors were coming. 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5
08. The Call of the Horn
According to numerous accounts, Newt and his company used the sound of cow horns to communicate from farm to farm, sounding the alarm when the tax collectors were coming. 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4
09. Home Front
Besides farming the land alone, most women of the era were proficient with a gun. 9.1 The scene at right, in which Newt helps a woman defend her farm from a tax agent, is the beginning of a conflict that would culminate in the Free State of Jones. 9.2
09. Home Front
Besides farming the land alone, most women of the era were proficient with a gun. 9.1 The image at right, in which Newt helps a woman defend her farm from a tax agent, is the beginning of a conflict that would culminate in the Free State of Jones. 9.2
10. The Swamps
It didn’t take long for Newt’s resistance to gain the attention of the Confederate authorities. He took shelter in the swamps, where both horses and conventional tactics were useless. 10.1 Extensive documentation exists of Newt hiding in the swamps while being aided and supported by Rachel and others. 10.2
10. The Swamps
It didn’t take long for Newt’s resistance to gain the attention of the Confederate authorities. He took shelter in the swamps, where both horses and conventional tactics were useless. 10.1 10.2 Various narratives exist of Newt hiding in the swamps while being aided and supported by Rachel and others. 10.3
11. Maroons
In the film Newt is harbored and cared for by a small group of maroons 11.1 living deep in the swamps. This is typical of cooperation between deserters, Unionist resisters, and runaway slaves. Not only were they hiding from the same people, but they frequently organized and fought in opposition to a common foe. 11.2
Numerous examples exist of mixed-race bands actively and forcefully resisting Confederate forces everywhere from Arkansas to the Carolinas down to Gainesville, Florida. 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6
11. Maroons
In the film Newt is harbored and cared for by a small group of maroons 11.1 living deep in the swamps. This is typical of cooperation between deserters, Unionist resisters, and runaway slaves. Not only were they hiding from the same people, but they frequently organized and fought in opposition to a common foe. 11.2
Numerous examples exist of mixed-race bands actively and forcefully resisting Confederate forces everywhere from Arkansas to the Carolinas down to Gainesville, Florida. 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6
12. On Moses
The character of Moses is a fictional invention, but one based on research and ample precedent. There are numerous examples of cooperation and alliance between maroons (escaped slaves living autonomously in the wilderness) and white deserters who resisted the Confederacy. This occurred in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. So the characters of Moses and the handful of maroons who forge an early alliance with Newt are both factually supported and entirely consistent with Newt’s evolution. Though it began as an economic rebellion, Newt’s struggle would eventually embrace the rights and the struggle of former slaves as they fought for their freedom. But Moses is present in the film for another reason. It would be irresponsible to simply tell a story of white yeoman resistance to the Confederacy without depicting African American resistance as well. The extent to which African Americans were agents in their own emancipation has been too often understated in both historical texts and films. Whether fleeing to Northern lines to eventually become Union troops, sabotaging Confederate war efforts, aiding and abetting resistance through intricate slave networks, or allying with deserters to rebel overtly, African Americans were not just vital to Union victory; they demanded and seized freedom for themselves 12.1
Too many Hollywood movies (and even some historians) have depicted emancipation as a gift handed to black people by beneficent whites. It is important to understand that the character of Moses is not a slave. He is a former slave who refuses to accept the subjugation of chattel slavery. At no time in the film is he subordinated to the slavocracy.
But perhaps more importantly, the creation of Moses’s character allows the film to depict the role of freedmen during Reconstruction, when they organized, fought to vote, created political organizations, and in many cases died fighting to participate in their democracy. Few films have been made about Reconstruction, and almost none have been accurate. There is a responsibility to depict how freedmen acted to seize emancipation and how hard they fought after the war to realize it.
As is evident from the citations in the “Maroons” section, 12.2 Unionist collaboration was extensive all around the area. Personifying this phenomenon in a character who demanded his freedom and continued to fight for it long after the war was over seemed an essential part of the Civil War narrative.
12. On Moses
The character of Moses is a fictional invention, but one based on research and ample precedent. There are numerous examples of cooperation and alliance between maroons (escaped slaves living autonomously in the wilderness) and white deserters who resisted the Confederacy. This occurred in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. So the characters of Moses and the handful of maroons who forge an early alliance with Newt are both factually supported and entirely consistent with Newt’s evolution. Though it began as an economic rebellion, Newt’s struggle would eventually embrace the rights and the struggle of former slaves as they fought for their freedom.
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13. Serena
As depicted in the film, the war took a toll on Newt’s first wife, Serena. Newt’s role as an outlaw exacerbated this. When her farm was burned out, she fled to live with other family in Georgia. Newt remained in Jones County as the actions and resistance of the Knight Company grew more militant. 13.1
13. Serena
As depicted in the film, the war took a toll on Serena. Newt’s role as an outlaw exacerbated this. When her farm was burned out, she fled to live with other family members in Georgia. Newt remained in Jones County as the actions and resistance of the Knight Company grew more militant. 13.1
14. The Slave Collar
The barbaric collar pictured above was one of the many grotesque punishments and impediments to escape that were forced on slaves who tried to flee to freedom. As he explains to Newt, Moses has tried to escape several times, ever since his wife and child were sold to a slaveowner in Texas. 14.1
14. The Slave Collar
The barbaric collar pictured at right was one of the many grotesque punishments and impediments to escape that were forced on slaves who tried to flee to freedom. As he explains to Newt, Moses has tried to escape several times, ever since his wife and child were sold to a slaveowner in Texas. 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4
15. The Hidden Bridge
The hidden “bridge” across the swamp (pictured here) is not a cinematic invention. Networks of slaves who aided Unionist deserters (in this case in northern Alabama) actually built this clever means of crossing miles of dismal swamp. 15.1
15. The Hidden Bridge
The hidden “bridge” across the swamp (pictured at right) is not a cinematic invention. Networks of slaves who aided Unionist deserters (in this case in northern Alabama) actually built this clever means of crossing miles of dismal swamp. 15.1
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16. The Paddy Rollers
Slave catchers also known as Paddy rollers were a constant present throughout the south. A massive infrastructure was created to enforce the police state that was chattel slavery. Slaves could not move without a pass and teams of dogs as well as slave patrols were always on the search for runaway slaves. Though most young men were drafted into the slave patrols, “professional” slave catchers (like the ones depicted below) prowled the countryside looking for runaways. 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4
16. The Paddy Rollers
Slave catchers, also known as paddy rollers, were a constant presence throughout the South. A massive infrastructure was created to enforce the police state that was chattel slavery. Slaves could not move without a pass, and teams of dogs as well as slave patrols were always on the search for runaway slaves. Though most young men were drafted into the slave patrols, “professional” slave catchers (like the ones depicted at right) prowled the countryside looking for runaways. 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4
17. The Knight Company
Though the Free State of Jones has been a controversial topic for over a hundred years, its existence is now hard to deny. The weight of historical evidence proves that a rebellion occurred and it was organized and effective. Numerous primary sources point to the declaration of an independent state in southeastern Mississippi. 17.1
The Knight Company was astonishingly successful in fighting the Confederacy, despite suffering considerable losses. Using the swamps as their base camp, both in Jones and along the Leaf River, they attacked Confederate troops, confiscated their supplies, and then disappeared back to their base—sometimes referred to as “Devil’s Den.” 17.2 17.3
They inspired the formation of other Unionist militias in surrounding counties. They raided the warehouses at Paulding and Augusta, where Confederates stored tax-in-kind goods (especially corn that they and their neighbors had grown), keeping some for themselves and distributing the rest to poor farmers and fellow Unionists in the area. 17.4 17.5 They placed armed pickets around a farm during the harvest, then disappeared with the produce once it was picked. 17.6 They blew up bridges and railroads, hamstringing Confederate transport. 17.7 And there were reports of collaboration between blacks and whites near the Pearl River. 17.8
Additionally, they sought support from General Sherman, whose army was nearby at Meridian. Sherman told Union General Henry Halleck that the Knight Company had issued a “declaration of independence.” 17.9
Mississippi papers reported that forces in Jones County had seceded from the state and formed their own government. 17.10 High-ranking Confederates, calling them “tories,” said they had formed a government of their own. The letters and documents cited here describe a war-torn area in southeast Mississippi where the Knight Company, now swelling militarily, controlled the area with a formal command structure. In the words of one letter, “they hold the countryside in awe.” 17.11 By the end of the war, the entire Piney Woods region, over one-fourth of the state, was controlled by Southern Unionists.
This is not the stuff of lore, legend, or anecdote. The extent of the Knight Company rebellion is chronicled in contemporaneous correspondence that can be found in the The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, the most reliable primary source of information on the war. 17.12
17.13 17.14 17.15 17.16 17.17 17.18 17.19 17.20 17.21
17. The Knight Company
Though the Free State of Jones has been a controversial topic for over a hundred years, its existence is now hard to deny. The weight of historical evidence proves that a rebellion occurred in southeastern Mississippi that was both organized and effective. Numerous primary sources point to the declaration of an independent state as well. 17.1
The Knight Company was astonishingly successful in fighting the Confederacy, despite suffering considerable losses. Using the swamps as their base camp, both in Jones and along the Leaf River, they attacked Confederate troops, confiscated their supplies, and then disappeared back to their base—sometimes referred to as “Devil’s Den.” 17.2 17.3
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18. The Blue Speller
The image above depicts a subplot in the film: Rachel’s quest for literacy and the Webster’s blue speller that helped her to attain it. As Ta-Nehisi Coates observed in his brilliant 2012 essay on the Civil War, learning to read was a political act. He noted how the enslaved constantly opposed and struggled against their captors by “refusing to work, breaking tools, bending a Christian God to their own interpretation, stealing back the fruits of their labor, and, in covert corners of their world, committing themselves to the illegal act of learning to read.” He adds, “Southern whites also understood they were in a state of war, and subsequently turned the antebellum South into a police state.” 18.1 18.2
The planters knew that knowledge was indeed power, and they sought to deny the slaves the ability to read at all costs. Webster’s blue spellers were frequently hidden in slave quarters, and reading was learned in secret by the light of a pine oil lamp. Once the war ended, the first priority of the freedmen was to attain literacy, and the freedmen’s schools—among the shining lights of Reconstruction—were attended by former slaves aged six to sixty. Though we don’t know with specifity about Rachel’s relationship to reading, this seemed vital to include in the narrative for all the above reasons. 18.3 18.4
18. The Blue Speller
The image at right depicts a subplot in the film: Rachel’s quest for literacy and the Webster’s blue speller that helped her to attain it. As Ta-Nehisi Coates observed in his brilliant 2012 essay on the Civil War, learning to read was a political act. He noted how the enslaved constantly opposed and struggled against their captors by “refusing to work, breaking tools, bending a Christian God to their own interpretation, stealing back the fruits of their labor, and, in covert corners of their world, committing themselves to the illegal act of learning to read.” He adds, “Southern whites also understood they were in a state of war, and subsequently turned the antebellum South into a police state.” 18.1 18.2
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19. Slave Passes
Most people have a misconception of American slavery, imagining a kind of prison where the enslaved were locked up at night. The truth is subtler but more ominous. The entire South was a prison, policed by slave patrols and enforced by a codified pass system. Slaves were allowed mobility from plantation to plantation (or even town to town) if a written pass had been issued. This was strictly enforced by the slave patrols—conscripted militias that kept the region a virtual police state. African Americans walking alone down a road would invariably be stopped and detained, their written pass demanded. Literacy was therefore a huge advantage to the enslaved and a threat to the plantation system, as it accorded the slave mobility and potential freedom. 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4
19. Slave Passes
Most people have a misconception of American slavery, imagining a kind of prison where the enslaved were locked up at night. The truth is subtler but more ominous. The entire South was a prison, policed by slave patrols and enforced by a codified pass system. Slaves were allowed mobility from plantation to plantation (or even town to town) if a written pass had been issued. This was strictly enforced by the slave patrols—conscripted militias that kept the region a virtual police state. African Americans walking alone down a road would invariably be stopped and detained, their written pass demanded. Literacy was therefore a huge advantage to the enslaved and a threat to the plantation system, as it accorded the slave mobility and potential freedom. 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4
20. Burned Farms and Confederate Abuses
The scene at right was all too common in Jones County during the rebellion. As tensions escalated between the Knight Company and the Confederates trying to rout them, burning out a yeoman farm was a common tactic of retribution and intimidation. 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4
20. Burned Farms and Confederate Abuses
The image at right was all too common in Jones County during the rebellion. As tensions escalated between the Knight Company and the Confederates trying to rout them, burning out a yeoman farm was a common tactic of retribution and intimidation. 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4
21. You Cannot Own a Child of God
There were essentially two reasons why a white person in America during the 1860s might be opposed to the Confederacy and slavery. One was economic; the other, moral and humanistic. It was easy for someone to oppose slavery who might still be racist and have no empathy for African Americans. Such a person could hate the economic advantage of the slaveowner, and oppose the slavocracy on a class basis, but have no concern for the enslaved themselves. But many others were opposed to slavery in moral terms. The abolitionist movement that grew through the 1850s and gave rise to white advocates like William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and even John Brown was born of a moral rather than economic concern. 21.1
Newt Knight may have begun the war as an economic opponent of the Confederacy, but by the end of that war he became a staunch ally of African Americans and opposed slavery on moral grounds. There is simply no other way to make sense of his behavior during Reconstruction. The same man who freed African American children from apprenticeship, or defended the voting rights of freedmen in the 1870s, or lived in a mixed-race community and openly raised a mixed-race family (see sections 30–34), could not have turned a blind eye to the racial oppression inherent in American chattel slavery mere months before. As previously mentioned, Newt burned a school to the ground because it would not educate mixed-race children. 21.2 21.3 21.4
The image above, in which Newt expresses the concept that “you cannot own a child of God,” is obviously a work of interpretation (we don’t know if he literally said those words). But it goes to the heart of the abolitionist creed itself—one based on freedom and equality. This was not necessarily true for all of Newt’s men, and we attempt to depict that division in the film. When Ward challenges Moses’s right to partake of their festive meal, or objects to fighting side by side with (or on behalf of) African Americans, we are glimpsing divisions that doubtless occurred. Once the war was over, Newt found few allies among his former band and withdrew from the white world to a mixed-race community with which he had found a new home (see section 33).
Those in the Knight Company who fought only for class-based reasons were more likely to shy away from the racial issues inherent in Reconstruction.21.2 Newt, by contrast, engaged with those issues, and this speaks to his evolving and committed attitudes on race. When Newt eulogizes the hanged boys (section 22) and even suggests that the Confederacy viewed them as “niggers”, he is not equating the experience of white members of his company with the oppression endured by slaves. He is making a point to the white members of his community, who may still see themselves as separate from or superior to African Americans, that everyone can be under the heel of someone else’s boot, and that rather than indulge a feeling of white superiority, they should engage the struggle at hand—a struggle based on equality. “You can own a horse or a mule or a hog or an ox, but you cannot own a child of God”: in this phrase Newt is invoking a Christian tenet that everyone is equal in the eyes of the Lord.
21. You Cannot Own a Child of God
There were essentially two reasons why a white person in America during the 1860s might be opposed to the Confederacy and slavery. One was economic; the other, moral and humanistic. It was easy for someone to oppose slavery who might still be racist and have no empathy for African Americans. Such a person could hate the economic advantage of the slaveowner, and oppose the slavocracy on a class basis, but have no concern for the enslaved themselves. But many others were opposed to slavery in moral terms. The abolitionist movement that grew through the 1850s and gave rise to white advocates like William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and even John Brown was born of a moral rather than economic concern. 21.1
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22. The Hanged Boys
The scene at right depicts a difficult moment in the film. Any summary hanging would be hard to watch, but to see a young teenager executed is obviously very disturbing. I would never include a scene like this without ample and multiple historical supporting evidence. The supporting documentation for this sequence is contained here. 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 22.8
22. The Hanged Boys
The scene at right depicts a difficult moment in the film. Any summary hanging would be hard to watch, but to see a young teenager executed is obviously very disturbing. I would never include a scene like this without ample historical evidence. The supporting documentation for this sequence is contained here. 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 22.8
23. Retaliation and the Church Ambush
Following the summary execution of these young men, Newt staged a retaliatory ambush in a nearby creek. The scene has been transposed to a church, but the precedent for the event is contained here. 23.1
23. Retaliation and the Church Ambush
Following the summary execution of these young men, Newt staged a retaliatory ambush in a nearby creek. The scene has been transposed to a church, but the precedent for the event is contained here. 23.1 23.2
24. The Free State of Jones
Nothing has engendered more controversy than whether or not an independent state was declared in southeast Mississippi by Newt and his supporters. Was there in fact a Free State of Jones? Did it officially secede from the Confederacy?
The declaration of an independent state has ample support. Newt and his men mustered an organized, effective anti-Confederate force that controlled this region of Mississippi through guerrilla tactics until the end of the war. Even Confederate correspondence references the Union flag being raised over the courthouse in Ellisville. 24.1 No less than William T. Sherman refers to a declaration of independence sent to him by anti-Confederates who resisted conscription and “lie out in the swamps.” 24.2 There are numerous references to the formation of a Free State of Jones, and irrefutable primary-source documentation to support the existence of this small but organized army. The Knight Company rebellion was so extensive and effective that even if an independent state was not “declared” (and ample evidence suggests that it was), the rebellious yeomen of Jones County behaved like a country unto themselves.
Rather than engage a decades-old debate in these pages, I will simply offer the primary sources here in support of the Knight Company, its rebellion, and a declaration of a Free State of Jones. 24.3 24.4 24.5 24.6 24.7 24.8 24.9 24.10 24.11 24.12 24.13
24. The Free State of Jones
Nothing has engendered more controversy than whether or not an independent state was declared in southeast Mississippi by Newt and his supporters. Was there in fact a Free State of Jones? Did it officially secede from the Confederacy?
The declaration of an independent state has ample support. Newt and his men mustered an organized, effective anti-Confederate force that controlled this region of Mississippi until the end of the war.
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25. Did Slaves Support or Fight with the Knight Company?
Of the numerous Unionist revolts in the South, few if any took place without the support or alliance of slave networks and maroons. Victoria Bynum (author of The Free State of Jones) maintains that it would be hard to imagine that the Knight Company was not supported by runaways or other slave networks. As she writes: “The assistance of women and slaves became ever more crucial to the Knight Company in 1864, when the Confederacy sent special troops into the Piney Woods region. The first deaths of band members at the hands of Confederate cavalry occurred early that year.” There is extensive documentation for Rachel’s support but also evidence of more widespread cooperation. 25.1 25.2 A man named Joe Hatton is referenced in several documents, and a Confederate piece of correspondence refers to members of the Knight Company taking refuge in the Honey Island swamp, where rebels “white and black” were amassed in great numbers. 25.3 25.4
Even though these are hard things to document (maroons and runaway slaves were, by definition, covert in their actions), virtually every account of Unionist resistance throughout the South, including the Jones County rebellion, showed collaboration between Unionists and African Americans. Most accounts were reported by Confederates alarmed at these mixed-race uprisings. A five-county rebellion in Florida was described by a Confederate soldier as a mob of 500 “union men, deserters and negroes … raiding toward Gainesville.” Similar incidents occurred in the Carolinas, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, and Texas. For those who would like to read further, extensive primary- and secondary-source accounts of all of these rebellions are contained here. 25.5 25.6
I have been careful in the film not to overstate the maroon cooperation with the Knight Company. Until Ellisville is seized, only the small band of maroons who initially harbor Newt are depicted fighting with him. But the history of anti-Confederate resistance in the South is clear: it was most often (and understandably) a collaboration between African Americans seeking freedom and Unionist resisters fighting a system that they vehemently opposed.
25. Did Slaves Support or Fight with the Knight Company?
Of the numerous Unionist revolts in the South, few if any took place without the support or alliance of slave networks and maroons. Victoria Bynum (author of The Free State of Jones) maintains that it would be hard to imagine that the Knight Company was not supported by runaways, or other slave networks. As she writes: “The assistance of women and slaves became ever more crucial to the Knight Company in 1864, when the Confederacy sent special troops into the Piney Woods region. The first deaths of band members at the hands of Confederate cavalry occurred early that year.” There is extensive documentation for Rachel’s support but also evidence of more widespread cooperation. 25.1 25.2
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26. On Reconstruction
Most Americans think the Civil War ended in 1865, but in many ways the real struggle for freedom began after Appomattox. Freedom is a spectrum, and the mere fact of technical emancipation was not enough to secure real independence for the nearly four million former slaves in the post-war South. When General Sherman issued Field Order 15, giving forty acres and a mule to the freedmen in conquered lands of Georgia and the Carolinas, true freedom could finally be glimpsed. 26.1 But the order did more than that. It reserved the land for only freedmen, protected them from being conscripted except by order of the highest federal authority, guaranteed them the right to pursue a trade and not just field labor, and granted them self-governance in these regions. 26.2 When the president rescinded this order and the former Confederates were pardoned and repatriated—when they were given back their land and their political power—that vision of freedom began to dim. 26.3 What followed, for the next ten years, was a struggle for real freedom and its meaning. In many ways, the freedmen wanted what Newt and the yeoman farmers had fought for: the right be self-sufficient and farm their own land, the right to political self-determination, the right enjoy the fruits of their own labor.
And for a few brief months they had that. At the end of the war, freedmen began to farm their own plots of land. But no sooner were the former Confederates pardoned than they set about restoring a plantation system that had made them rich. With the amnesties granted by President Johnson came political power for the plantation owners, and with that power came draconian laws that amounted to a second slavery. Freedmen were restricted from working anywhere but on a plantation, lest they be arrested for vagrancy. Minor children could be sold into “apprenticeship”—a euphemism for forced labor. Corporal punishment was permitted, returning the lash to the plantation. Laborers were paid only after the seasonal harvest, tying them to the land, and were left with virtually nothing once they were billed for room and board. 26.4
Chattel slavery had been replaced by feudalism, and the effect was the same: free labor for the owner and no freedom for the laborer. 26.5
The “Black Codes,” as the new laws were called, enraged the Republican Congress: they hadn’t fought a war to restore pre-war conditions. The president, who had pardoned the Confederates, hardened in his defense of them, and a new war erupted between these two branches of government. Congress clipped the president’s wings, limiting his power in unprecedented ways. He could not hire and fire his own cabinet secretaries; he could not issue direct orders to the military. Eventually Johnson defied these edicts, and Congress impeached him for it. But just as Johnson had hardened in his defense of the former Confederates, so Congress had hardened in its desire to secure real freedom for the formerly enslaved.
This process led to what is known as Military Reconstruction. The South was placed under martial law, and states could be readmitted to the Union only if they ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. Freedmen were granted the right to vote, and African Americans began to hold elective office for the first time. It was a period of great promise. Free education was available through freedmen’s schools, and the Union League brought former slaves together in political organization. 26.6 Mobility was granted, challenging the plantation system, and state legislatures began to display racial diversity. Many of these legislatures reflected African American majorities well into the mid-1870s. Two black United States senators were sworn in from Mississippi. There were half a dozen black representatives in Congress. 26.7
But it didn’t take long for white supremacists in the South to retaliate. There had always been local militias. First they were organized as the slave patrols, in the war they were called the home guard, and after the war they morphed into the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations. Klan violence was the counter-revolution to the social revolution that was Reconstruction. A wave of violence followed that was almost unprecedented in American history. 26.8 Thousands of freedmen were lynched and murdered. Grant had to send troops into Louisiana to offset a literal coup d’état against the state government. Massacres occurred in Colfax, Louisiana, and Hamburg, South Carolina. To paraphrase Yeats, a blood-dimmed tide was loosed. Soon the Northern will to combat this reign of terror wavered. After decades of conflict with the South, political corruption in Washington, and the anxiety and drain of a recession, Northerners were losing their resolve. It is moving to read the imploring letters of Governor Adelbert Ames as he begged the federal government for more troops to combat this counterrevolution. But no help was forthcoming, and the vision of freedom that African Americans had hoped for at the end of the war and glimpsed briefly in Reconstruction suddenly began to fade. Murders and other forms of terror against black voters plagued the 1875 Mississippi gubernatorial election, part of a strategy called the “Mississippi Plan.” 26.9 It became the prototype for terror in the presidential election of 1876 a year later—a pilot program for murder and intimidation. So many African Americans were murdered leading up to that election that Congress refused to recognize the electors from three Southern states. An electoral crisis ensued that ended in a deal. The Republican, Rutherford B. Hayes, would be elected if federal troops were withdrawn from the South. This effectively ended Reconstruction and began the long and terrible period we have come to know as Jim Crow.
26. On Reconstruction
Most Americans think the Civil War ended in 1865, but in many ways the real struggle for freedom began after Appomattox. Freedom is a spectrum, and the mere fact of technical emancipation was not enough to secure real independence for the nearly four million former slaves in the post-war South. When General Sherman issued Field Order 15, giving forty acres and a mule to the freedmen in conquered lands of Georgia and the Carolinas, true freedom could finally be glimpsed. 26.1 But the order did more than that. It reserved the land for only freedmen, protected them from being conscripted except by order of the highest federal authority, guaranteed them the right to pursue a trade and not just field labor, and granted them self-governance in these regions. 26.2 When the president rescinded this order and the former Confederates were pardoned and repatriated—when they were given back their land and their political power—that vision of freedom began to dim. 26.3
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27. Broken Promises
27. Broken Promises
Nothing set the stage for the cruel disappointment of Reconstruction more than the repeal of Field Order 15. 27.1 Since the freedmen’s survival was tied directly to the land, the promise of self-sufficiency that “forty acres and a mule” would bring spread like wildfire through their world. When that promise was broken by President Johnson, the disappointment of that “dream deferred” engendered heartbreak and disbelief. Amnesties issued all through that summer returned the Confederates to power. 27.2 The hope for real justice was dashed. The image at right, where freedmen learn of this broken promise, was a way of depicting this pivotal moment in the Civil War era.
28. A New World
28. A New World
I included the scene at right to show Newt’s journey from his first farm up to Soso, but in many ways it marks his journey from one culture to another. As the post-war period dragged on, and the freedmen had fewer and fewer allies, Newt’s involvement in the black community seemed to grow. He helped to build a school to educate all children, but numerous accounts describe Newt burning it to the ground when the white schoolmaster refused to teach mixed-race kids. 28.1 He retreated to a world of new allies as his old ones peeled off. As a former slave, Martha Wheeler, said in a WPA interview, “[Newt] had a complete break with the whites.” 28.2 28.3
29. Jones and “Davis” County
29. Jones and “Davis” County
The image at right, where the Jones County sign is replaced with one bearing the name Jefferson Davis County, is not a cinematic invention. It actually happened in 1865, when the Confederates regained their land and their power. Jones County was renamed Jefferson Davis County, and Ellisville was changed to Leesburg. Such were the ongoing struggles for the meaning of the conflict after it was over. 29.1
30. Apprenticeship
30. Apprenticeship
It was indicative of Newt’s already established alliance with freedmen that a former slave sought his help to free his child from a plantation after the war. 30.1 Though Newt was never actually prosecuted for this, we felt it was also an opportunity to dramatize the pernicious nature of the apprenticeship laws, and the speed with which African Americans were virtually re-enslaved after the war. The Black Codes were enacted locally, and federal officers were powerless to stop them until Military Reconstruction began several years later. The apprenticeship statute that is read out loud in the magistrate scene at right is quoted directly from the Mississippi statute on apprenticeship from that year. 30.2
31. On Newt and Rachel
31. On Newt and Rachel
Newt’s relationship with Rachel has been disparaged by many who have sought to diminish his reputation or the principles that drove him. They try to impute an exploitive motive, implying a Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemings power dynamic. But nothing supports this. In fact, in a world where Newt was not legally allowed to marry Rachel, he went to the remarkable lengths of deeding her 160 acres of land, making her one of the few African American women to own land in the South. 31.1 31.2 All evidence indicates a respectful, loving relationship that grew over time. Numerous people in Jones County, white and black, referred to them as being “married.” Even Newt’s obituary in an unsympathetic newspaper refers to him marrying a “negro woman.” His own directive to be buried beside her in a black cemetery (in violation of the segregation laws of the time) speaks volumes. Finally, this photograph of Newt (one of two that exist), formally and defiantly posing with his mixed-race grandson, says everything about his identity and his willingness to embrace it. 31.3
32. Union League
In spite of the tragedies during Reconstruction, there were so many inspiring and hopeful moments. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments left a legacy of freedom that bloomed again in the twentieth century. African American legislators left a stunning record of accomplishment. Two black U.S. senators were seated from Mississippi; there were half a dozen black congressmen; most Southern state legislatures were largely African American. One of the most inspiring aspects of Reconstruction was the Union League movement. Part fraternal society, part political organization, part educational institution, the Union League was an incubator of black political agency. Branches spread throughout the South, and members would meet, often in secret, to pledge solidarity to each other and the Republican Party. New members would swear an oath of allegiance and an affirmation of their freedom. In an era when political expression required incredible courage, the Union League gave the freedman strength. 31.1
32. Union League
In spite of the tragedies during Reconstruction, there were so many inspiring and hopeful moments. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments left a legacy of freedom that bloomed again in the twentieth century. African American legislators left a stunning record of accomplishment. Two black U.S. senators were seated from Mississippi; there were half a dozen black congressmen; most Southern state legislatures were largely African American. 32.1
One of the most inspiring aspects of Reconstruction was the Union League movement. Part fraternal society, part political organization, part educational institution, the Union League was an incubator of black political agency. Branches spread throughout the South, and members would meet, often in secret, to pledge solidarity to each other and the Republican Party. New members would swear an oath of allegiance and an affirmation of their freedom. In an era when political expression required incredible courage, the Union League gave the freedman strength. 32.2 32.3
33. A Final Break
33. A Final Break
As the post-war era dragged on, the struggle of freedmen to secure or guarantee their rights lost support from the North, where former allies slowly turned their backs on the freedmen and their cause. Even members of the Knight Company withdrew from this conflict and went back to their lives of yeoman farming. Newt was therefore left with a choice: retreat from the cause he had embraced or join it completely. When he moved to Soso, Newt began to live more and more in the world of freedmen. His former comrades stayed behind. 33.1
34. Redemption
The final act of Reconstruction is a tragic one. As freedmen exercised their franchise and served at every level of state government, a counter-revolution of terrorism erupted. Though the Klan and other organizations had been suppressed by Military Reconstruction, new white supremacist groups emerged. In Mississippi it was called the White League, and it began a violent reign of terror that culminated in the election of 1875.
As this terrorist violence grew, Newt’s (or anyone’s) allegiances would naturally have to have been tested: it’s one thing to ally with African Americans at the height of Reconstruction when federal troops are present, but when the troops begin to leave and violence increases, those principles are challenged. It’s remarkable, then, that Newt accepted a commission to command a largely African American unit of the Mississippi state militia whose sole purpose was to protect the voting rights of freedmen during the 1875 election. 34.1 34.2 The bravery and courage of this cannot be overstated. In the scene below where Newt marches into downtown Ellisville to vote alongside freedmen, the details of an election during Reconstruction are accurate right down to the glass jars. In the mid 1800s you voted in public. The vote tally—419 to 2—is also accurate.
Alfred R. Waud, Artist. ["The first vote" / AW monogram ; drawn by A.R. Waud]. 1867. Image. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/00651117. (Accessed June 06, 2016.)
34. Redemption
The final act of Reconstruction is a tragic one. As freedmen exercised their franchise and served at every level of state government, a counter-revolution of terrorism erupted. Though the Klan and other organizations had been suppressed by Military Reconstruction, new white supremacist groups emerged. In Mississippi it was called the White League, and it began a violent reign of terror that culminated in the election of 1875.
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35. Afterwords
JAMES EAKINS
Eakins is a fictional character who is nonetheless typical of a Mississippi planter and emblematic of the planter class. I felt it was important to personify the cotton economy that drove the Civil War, and the plantation culture that enforced and fought to perpetuate slavery. One cannot understand the Civil War or the slavocracy without understanding the absolute power of the planters. One cannot understand Reconstruction without understanding the speed and determination with which they seized power all over again. Eakins embodies all of those things, and though he is not based on a single individual, he is based on many.
THE CONFEDERATE FLAG
Astute Civil War observers will correctly note that the scene in the movie where the Confederate flag is lowered is not literally accurate. What we have come to know as the “Confederate flag” was actually a battle flag used by the Army of Northern Virginia. The second national flag, which would have flown during 1864, utilized the “stars and bars” but within a canton (a smaller rectangle in the upper left corner). This flag was also used as the Confederate naval ensign. 35.1
The Confederate flag is obviously a powerful symbol (then as now), and the moment in the movie when it is lowered to be replaced by an American (Union) flag is a significant one. As a filmmaker, I did not feel that either the Mississippi flag (a magnolia tree) or the second national flag would register clearly enough in a split second of film. Thus I used one flag over another for clarity, even if I employed creative license.
McLEMORE, MAURY and LOWRY.
Colonel Elias Hood is a fictional name for a character conflating three real Confederate officers who all pursued Newt Knight.
Amos McLemore was a Confederate officer and resident of Jones County who fought the Knight Company with local resources. He was murdered in the home of local merchant Amos Deason, most believe by Newt Knight.
After the death of McLemore, the Confederacy dispatched two different offensives to rout the Knight Company from the region. The first was led by General Maury, who arrived in Jones County with a force of nearly a thousand men. He did his best to subdue the Knight Company and did hang a dozen deserters, but he found the swamps impenetrable and his opponents formidable. He admitted he was lucky to escape without losing troops to ambush.
A short while later, Colonel Lowry arrived with twice the number of men. His tactics were more ruthless: rounding up Jones County residents, hanging many including young teenagers (as detailed in section 22), and torturing others for information. This drove the Knight Company down to the Honey Island swamp, but it did not crush them. In fact the “Honey Island” letter describes a mixed-race company thriving there.
Most of these incidents are depicted in the film, but the three separate Confederate antagonists have been conflated into one for the sake of dramatic clarity. For example, Newt kills an officer who hunts him in the film, just as the real Newt Knight is thought to have killed McLemore. A Confederate officer did order the hanging of boys who had been a part of the company, but this time it was Lowry.
I felt it would be inappropriate to ascribe the actions of one man to the character of another, so I have conflated these acts into a single character and used a fictional name accordingly.
BIRMINGHAM
Okay, this one is just a mistake. In a scene near the end of the film, Serena states that she has “walked all the way from Birmingham.” Though many people traversed ravaged countryside on foot after the war, it would have been impossible to do so from Birmingham, which didn’t exist until four years later. Birmingham, it has been pointed out to me, is an industrial town created for its proximity to iron ore, lime, and water—the main ingredients for making steel. It was founded in 1871, though the scene in question is set in 1865-1866.
35. Afterwords
JAMES EAKINS
Eakins is a fictional character who is nonetheless typical of a Mississippi planter and emblematic of the Planter Class. I felt it was important to personify the cotton economy which drove the Civil war, and the plantation culture which enforced and fought to perpetuate slavery. One cannot understand the Civil War or the slaveocracy without understanding the absolute power of the planter. One cannot understand Reconstruction without understanding the speed and determination with which they seized power all over again. Eakins embodies all of those things and though he is not based on a single individual, he is based on many.