Matthew McConaughey's connection to the Civil War?
Answer: He plays Newt Knight, Mississippi farmer who seceded from the the Confederacy. He led a group of freed slaves and Confederate army deserters waging guerrilla warfare against the Confederate armed forces and established the Free State of Jones in Jones County, Mississippi.
Newton Knight
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Newton Knight
Born November 1837
Jones County, Mississippi, U.S.
Died February 16, 1922 (aged 84)
Jasper County, Mississippi, U.S.
Resting place Knight Cemetery, Jasper County, Mississippi
Nationality American
Occupation Farmer
Political party Republican[2]
Spouse(s) Serena Turner
Rachel Knight (common law)
Newton Knight (November 1837 – February 16, 1922) was an American farmer, soldier and
Southern Unionist in Mississippi, best known as the leader of the Knight Company, a band of Confederate army deserters who resisted the Confederacy during the
Civil War. Local legends tell of Knight and his men forming the "
Free State of Jones" in the area in and around
Jones County, Mississippi, at the height of the war. The nature and extent of the Knight Company's opposition to the Confederate government is disputed among historians. After the war, Knight joined the Republican Party and served in Mississippi's
Reconstruction government as a deputy
US Marshal.
Knight has long been a controversial figure in the region, with people divided over his motives and actions. This controversy has been fueled in part by general social opposition to Knight's alliances with slaves during the war, and his postwar marriage to a freed slave. They and allies developed a small mixed-race community in southeastern Mississippi.
[3] The marriage was considered illegal, as Mississippi had banned interracial marriages before and after the war, except for a period during Reconstruction.
Films about Knight have included Tap Roots, directed by George Marshall, and Free State of Jones, directed by Gary Ross and starring Matthew McConaughey portraying Newton Knight, which was released in June 2016.