Because there is very little documentation to back up any of these stories and lots of contradictory histories, it is very hard to determine the truth. I'm from this area, and lets just say that imaginations run wild in the deep Piney Woods of Mississippi.

The only truth is Newt Knight was a Confederate Sergeant who deserted the army and was associated with a band of deserters that looted and murdered people. And the Confederate Army sent forces to hunt down deserters in the region, dispersing them, capturing many and hanged others. After the war he stayed to himself in Jasper County with his mixed race family.

There was never a "Free State of Jones" as depicted in some histories. Jones County was as Confederate as any other in Mississippi and continued throughout the war under Confederate control and support.