The State of Jones (49 page)

51
about as long as a boy:
J. M. Knight, address to the Rainey Community Meeting, June 10, 1926, Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, Miss.

51
mightier than the mouth:
On Piney Woods literacy and reading practices, see O’Brien,
Conjectures of Order
, pp. 709, 721, 722, 725, 728, 739, 740, 741, 750, 1079; Michael O’Brien,
Rethinking the South
, pp. 28, 51, 70; O’Brien,
All Clever Men Who Make Their Way
, p. 69; Grady McWhiney, “Antebellum Piney Woods Culture: Continuity over Time and Place,” in
Mississippi’s Piney Woods: A Human Perspective
, Noel Polk, ed. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1986), pp. 40-58; J. F. H. Claiborne, “A Trip Through the Piney Woods,”
Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society
, 1906; Frank Lawrence Owsley,
Plain Folk of the Old South
(Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1949), pp. 142-49; Lawrence Levine,
High Brow/Low Brow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988), pp. 29-30. On
Dilworth Spelling-Book
being read by yeomen, see David Herbert Donald,
Lincoln
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), pp. 29-30. See also
The Columbian Orator …, Bicentennial Edition
, David W. Blight, ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997).

51
any boy around:
Philip Henry Gosse,
Letters from Alabama, Chiefly Relating
to Natural History
(London, 1859), pp. 130-33, reprinted in Owsley,
Plain Folk of the Old South
, p. 120. Newton’s adeptness with a gun was described by his descendant Barbara Blackledge in her interview with the authors, March 28, 2008.

52
chairs in the back:
J. M. Knight, address to the Rainey Community Meeting, Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, Miss.

52
“round up the corn”:
Owsley,
Plain Folk of the Old South
, p. 113.

52
“call it a fine house”:
Thomas J. Knight, in
The Life and Activities of Captain Newton Knight
, p. 2, describes his father as belonging to a Primitive Baptist congregation.

52
homespun in a day:
Mrs. J. W. Moss, “Essay on the History of the Union Line Community,” Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, Miss.

52
the nature of the faith:
“Primitive Baptists” later became known as “hard-shell Baptists.” See Randy J. Sparks,
On Jordan’s Stormy Banks: Evangelicalism in Mississippi, 1773-1876
(Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 1994), pp. 88-90.

53
“with Christ forever shared”:
Stephen Marini,
Sacred Song in America: Religion, Music, and Public Culture
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003), pp. 68-81; Sparks,
On Jordan’s Stormy Banks
, pp. 29, 88-90, 116-22; Cushing Biggs Hassells,
History of the Church of God, from the Creation to AD 1885
(Middletown, N.Y.: Gilbert Beebe’s Sons, 1886), pp. 840, 844; Benjamin Griffin,
History of the Primitive Baptists of Mississippi
(Jackson, Miss.: Barksdale and Jones, 1853).

53
“also in the body”:
Acts 10:34; Hebrews 13:3. 53
God’s authority:
Sparks,
On Jordan’s Stormy Banks
, p. 89. 53
“tongue of the learned”:
Primitive Baptist Association, quotation from Sparks,
On Jordan’s Stormy Banks
, p. 89.

53
purity of simple living:
Primitive Baptist Association, quotation from Sparks,
On Jordan’s Stormy Banks
, p. 90.

54
Old Union:
For a fuller portrait of Norvell Robertson, see Bynum,
The Free State of Jones
, pp. 65, 75-76; B. D. Graves, address to the Hebron Community, June 17, 1926, Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, Miss.

54
trips to Mobile:
Dona Broom and John Wood, “Outlaw Days,” unpublished WPA Collection, Covington County, MDAH.

55
mutual protection:
M. P. Bush, address to the meeting of the DAR, February 17, 1912, Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, Miss.

55
roosted in the trees at night:
Details of the Knights at market in Mobile are from J. M. Knight’s address to the Rainey Community Meeting, Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, Miss.

55
“pretty costumes”:
Whitfield Community Meeting, June 4, 1926, Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, Miss. For a vivid description of Mobile, see David W. Blight,
A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom
(New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2007), p. 77.

56
passed directly through Jasper:
Claiborne, “A Trip Through The Piney Woods.” On the Piney Woods farmers’ commute to local commercial centers,
see Hyde,
Plain Folk of the South Revisited
, p. 86. A homemade keel-boat was excavated on the Leaf River a mile from New Augusta in 1990, with barrel staves suggesting it carried cargo and that farmers must have tried to access market towns via the waterways.

56
obstreperous wife:
Jackson Daily News
, August 21, 1941.

57
pair of farming shears:
J. M. Knight, address to the Rainey Community, Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, Miss.

57
“The Free State of Jones”:
Leverett,
The Legend of the Free State of Jones
, p. 13.

57
“defied them”:
New Orleans Picayune
, July 17, 1864.

58
“primitive areas of the state”:
Leverett, “A Biographical Sketch of Amos McLemore,”
Clarion-Ledger
, November 29, 30, 1977, and Leverett,
The Legend of the Free State of Jones
, pp. 64-67.

58
Confederate legislature:
U.S. Federal Census, 1860; Bynum,
The Free State of Jones
, pp. 67-73.

59
gone for protection:
Bynum,
The Free State of Jones
, p. 73.

60
without a quiver:
On reading portraits, and portrait conventions for white men, see Alan Trachtenberg,
Reading American Photographs: Images as History, Mathew Brady to Walker Evans
(New York: Hill and Wang, 1989), pp. 3-70; John Stauffer,
The Black Hearts of Men: Radical Abolitionists and the Transformation of Race
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002), ch. 2; and Stauffer, “Daguerreotyping the National Soul: The Portraits of Southworth and Hawes,”
Prospects: An Annual of American Cultural Studies
22 (1997): 69-107.

60
“a nice, smooth way”:
Donald,
Lincoln
, p. 575; Street,
Look Away!
, p. 49; quotation from Knight,
The Life and Activities of Captain Newton Knight
, p. 36.

60
“any more than she would a Negro”:
B. D. Graves, address to the Hebron Community, June 17, 1926, Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, Miss.

60
“rigid in economy”:
U.S. Federal Census, Jasper County, 1860; Frederick Douglass,
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
(1892; reprint, New York: Collier Books, 1962), p. 272.

60
his life with Serena would be difficult:
Knight,
The Life and Activities of Captain Newton Knight
, p. 4.

61
entire life working:
On reading portraits, see Trachtenberg,
Reading American Photographs
, and Stauffer, “Daguerreotyping the National Soul,” pp. 69-107.

61
mesmeric quality:
One image said to be of Rachel is privately held by Martha Welborn of Jones County. Welborn’s husband, Herman, amassed a formidable collection of material on Newton and Rachel, much of it directly from Knight descendants Lacy and Idell Knight, who were both grandchildren of Rachel and Newton. Their daughter, Barbara Blackledge, gave the picture to the Welborns. The other photograph is held by Florence Knight Blaylock and Dorothy Knight Marsh. Blaylock and Marsh, sisters, are also great-granddaughters of Newton and Rachel Knight.

61
partly Creek or Choctaw:
Rachel’s daughter Fannie Knight described herself as “Choctaw and French.” Deposition of Fannie Knight Howze in the case of
Martha Ann Musgrove et al. v. J. R. McPherson et al.
, January 27, 1914, copy in possession of the authors, courtesy of the family of Harlan McKnight, grandson of Mat Knight.

62
household she came from:
According to her headstone, Rachel was born March 11, 1840. The ages and birth dates of Rachel’s children are from the U.S. Federal Census for 1870 and headstones in the Knight graveyard in Jasper County, Miss. Georgeanne’s headstone lists her birth date as October 14, 1855, which would make her less than a year old when she was purchased by Jackie.

Rachel’s background is described briefly in a memoir by her granddaughter; Anna Knight,
Mississippi Girl
(Nashville: Southern Publishing Association, 1954), p. 4. Anna Knight, the daughter of Georgeanne, became a prominent Seventh-Day Adventist missionary. In her memoir, she stated, “My mother was born a slave in Macon, Georgia.” The name of Rachel’s father, Abram, is contained in the records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Southern States Mission Records of Missionaries, Records of Admissions, 1878-1888, to which she converted late in life.

According to the files of Knight family genealogist Herman Welborn, courtesy of Martha Welborn, Rachel was bought with not one but two small children: a daughter Rosette was born in 1854. However, there is no other confirmable record of a Rosette. Rachel’s son Edmund appears to have died as a boy; he does not appear on the 1880 census. 62
“family could colonize”:
Jan Sumrall and Ken Welch, in
The Knights and Related Families
(Denham Springs, La.: n.p., 1985), traced Jackie’s younger brother James Knight to Monroe, Ga., just north of Macon. The notion that Rachel was personally bought by Jackie at a public slave auction comes primarily from Ethel Knight. Jackie’s advanced age did not prevent him from buying slaves. In 1857 Jackie purchased an eleven-year-old boy named William for one thousand dollars in Jones County, the deed of which is reprinted in Thomas, et al.,
The Family of John “Jackie” Knight and Keziah Davis Knight
, p. 331.

62
“jet black negroes”:
Blight,
A Slave No More
, pp. 57-59.

63
“whip, pistol and knife”:
William Kaufman Scarborough,
The Overseer: Plantation Management in the Old South
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1966); John Hill Aughey,
Tupelo
(1888; reprint, Chester, N.Y.: Blyany Press, 2005), p. 203.

63
“the cruelty of slavery”:
Frederick Law Olmsted,
The Cotton Kingdom: A Traveller’s Observations on Cotton and Slavery in the American Slave States, 1853-1861
(1861; reprint New York: Da Capo Press, 1966), pp. 451-55.

63
“till one day he died”:
Rawick,
The American Slave
, supplement, series 1, vol. 6,
Mississippi Narratives
, part 1, pp. 308-310.

64
“one stiffened joint”:
Memphis Daily Appeal
, January 1, 1859.

64
“you ain’t got no mo’ chance than a bullfrog”:
Rawick,
The American Slave
, supplement series 1, vol. 8,
Mississippi Narratives
, part 3, p. 937.

64
“Let that be an example to you”:
Rawick,
The American Slave
, supplement series 1, vol. 7,
Mississippi Narratives
, part 2, pp. 529-31.

64
“kind and good”:
Rawick,
The American Slave
, supplement series 1, vol. 10,
Mississippi Narratives
, part 5, pp. 2262-71; a classic example of masters who treated their slaves with relative decency was Thomas and Hugh Auld, the masters of Frederick Douglass.

65
largest slaveholders for miles:
U.S. Slave Schedules, 1860, Covington and Jones Counties; Bynum, notes on interview with Ethel Knight, Mississippi Oral History Project, University of Southern Mississippi.

65
perhaps she was simply kind:
For a genealogical chart of Rachel’s children and grandchildren, see Bynum,
The Free State of Jones
, pp. 206-207. Jackie Knight’s deeds of slaves to his children are found in Thomas, et al.,
The Family of John “Jackie” Knight and Keziah Davis Knight
, pp. 337-38.

65
“eight or ten of them when my grand-daddy was alive”:
U.S. Federal Census, 1860; quotation from the address by J. M. Knight to the Rainey Community Meeting, June 10, 1926, Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, Miss.; Bynum, notes on interview with Ethel Knight, Mississippi Oral History Project, University of Southern Mississippi.

66
near to him in age:
Typescripts of deeds found in Thomas, et al.,
The Family of John “Jackie” Knight and Keziah Davis Knight
, pp. 337-38.

66
That which commands admiration:
Deborah Gray White,
Ar’nt I a Woman (New York: W. W. Norton and Co.
, 1999), p. 96.

66
The whites who truly ruled Rachel’s life:
Ibid., pp. 6, 97-100, 114; Elizabeth Fox Genovese,
Within the Plantation Household
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), p. 103.

66
As Rachel’s children grew old enough:
Genovese,
Within the Plantation Household
, pp. 150-52.

67
as Newton would discover:
Steven Hahn,
A Nation Under Our Feet
(Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2003), p. 4.

67
“suited their purpose to do so”:
John Blassingame, ed.,
Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and Autobiographies
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977), pp. 373-79.