Less than a decade after Mississippi became the country's 20th state, settlers organized this area of of pine forests and swamps for a new county in 1826. They named it Jones County after
John Paul Jones, the early American Naval hero who rose from humble Scottish origin to military success during the American Revolution.
Ellisville, the county seat, was named for
Powhatan Ellis, a member of the Mississippi Legislature who claimed to be a direct descendant of
Pocahontas. During the economic hard times in the 1830s and 1840s, there was an exodus of population from Southeast Mississippi, both to western Mississippi and Louisiana in regions opened to white settlement after
Indian Removal, and to
Texas. The slogan "GTT" ("Gone to Texas") became widely used. Jones County was in an area of mostly yeomen farmers and lumbermen, as the pine forests, swamp and soil were not easily cultivated for cotton. In 1860, the majority of white residents were not slaveholders. Slaves made up only 12% of the total population in Jones County in 1860, the smallest percentage of any county in the state.
Civil War years Soon after the election of
Abraham Lincoln as United States president in November 1860, slave-owning planters led Mississippi to join South Carolina and secede from the Union. These were the two states with the largest holdings of slaves. On November 29, 1860, the Mississippi state legislature called for a "Convention of the people of Mississippi" to be held to "adopt such measures for vindicating the sovereignty of the State as shall appear to them to be demanded." The Convention convened on January 7, 1861, and the elected representatives from the various counties of Mississippi voted 83–15 to secede from the Union. Notably, included in the vote to secede was the representative from Jones County, Mr. John H. Powell. Other Southern states would follow suit. As Mississippi debated the secession question, the inhabitants of Jones County voted overwhelmingly for the anti-secessionist John Hathorne Powell, Jr. In comparison to the pro-secessionist J.M. Bayliss, who received 24 votes, Powell received 374. But, at the Secession Convention, Powell voted for secession. Legend has it that, for his vote, he was burned in effigy in Ellisville, the county seat.
Free State of Jones On October 13, 1863, a band of deserters from Jones County and adjacent counties organized to protect the area from Confederate authorities and the crippling tax collections. The company, led by
Newton Knight, formed a separate government, with
Unionist leanings, known as the "Free State of Jones", and fought a recorded 14 skirmishes with Confederate forces. They also raided
Paulding, capturing five wagonloads of corn that had been collected for tax from area farms, which they distributed back among the local population. The company harassed Confederate officials. Deaths believed to be at their hands were reported in 1864 among numerous tax collectors, conscript officers, and other officials. By the spring of 1864, the Knight company had taken effective control from the Confederate government in the county. Scholars have disputed whether the county truly seceded, with some concluding it did not fully secede. While there have been numerous attempts to study Knight and his followers, the lack of documentation during and after the war has made him an elusive figure. The rebellion in Jones County has been variously characterized as consisting of local skirmishes to being a full-fledged war of independence. It assumed legendary status among some county residents and Civil War historians, culminating in the release of a 2016 feature film,
Free State of Jones. The film is credited as "based on the books
The Free State of Jones by
Victoria E. Bynum and
The State of Jones by
Sally Jenkins and
John Stauffer." ==Geography==