The film ends with Newton's great-grandson, Davis Knight, being arrested under Mississippi's anti-miscegenation laws in 1948. Since they are unable to legally marry, Newton arranges for Rachel to be deeded a parcel of his land for farming upon his death. He eventually reconciles with Serena and has a son with Rachel. After Moses is lynched while registering freedmen to vote, Newton is seen participating in a march of voters to the polls while they sing ' John Brown's Body'. He helps free Moses' son from an ' apprenticeship' to Rachel's former master. Newton continues to fight racial inequality after the war. Swearing allegiance to the United States, the rebels manage to defend their territory against Confederate reinforcements for the remainder of the war. Barbour escapes, but he and the remaining troops in the county are driven out by the rebels, who declare the establishment of the ' Free State of Jones'. The soldiers are all killed, and Newton strangles Hood to death with his belt. Suddenly, marksmen hidden under the church and in the coffins fire on the soldiers as the mourners take pistols from their coats and join in. The rebels, appearing to accept defeat, persuade Hood to let them hold a funeral for the deceased under military guard. Hood offers pardons to any rebel who agrees to rejoin the army, but when some of Newton's men abandon him and ask to be pardoned, Hood goes back on his word and sentences them to be hanged. Serena is forced to flee with her son as Newton cannot protect them.

When the rebels begin ambushing military convoys to take back their property, Barbour and his commanding officer, Col. Newton persuades his neighbors to provide him with weapons and organizes the deserters and slaves into a well-disciplined militia. Abolitionist-oriented Aunt Sally, a sympathetic community leader, has her servant George take him into the swamps, where he is put under the protection of runaway slave Moses Washington and his followers.Īfter the fall of Vicksburg, Confederate deserters flock into Jones County. Newton threatens a Confederate officer, Barbour, at gunpoint when Confederate militiamen are ordered to arrest him for treason, Newton is bitten by one of their attack dogs while trying to escape. Newton's disenchantment with the Confederacy grows after he learns that Confederate troops have been seizing crops, livestock, and draft animals from his neighbors, even though most are already struggling to feed their families. He befriends Rachel, an enslaved woman who has secretly learned to read, after she treats his infant son's illness. Upon returning home, Knight buries Daniel and reconnects with his wife, Serena. Bynum and The State of Jones by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer.' Plot Īfter surviving the Second Battle of Corinth and being told of the Twenty Negro Law that allows wealthy men to avoid being conscripted into military service, Newton Knight, a battlefield surgeon in the Confederate Army, deserts after his nephew Daniel is forced into military service, only to be mortally wounded and then denied medical care while the officers are tended to first. The film is credited as being 'based on the books The Free State of Jones by Victoria E. The overall story follows the history of Jones County some of the events portrayed are true. The story is based on the history of Jones County, Mississippi, during the Civil War and the period immediately after it. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $25 million against its $50 million production budget. It was released in the United States by STXfilms on June 24, 2016. Written and directed by Gary Ross, the film stars Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, and Keri Russell. Free State of Jones is a 2016 American historical war film inspired by the life of Newton Knight and his armed revolt against the Confederacy in Jones County, Mississippi, throughout the American Civil War.

Freecity cast