From Antietam to Fort Fisher: The Civil War Letters of Edward King Wightman, 1862-1865 (review)

186CIVIL war history The legend of Newton (Newt) Knight and the Republic ofJones may fit none ofthese categories, but its status in Mississippi folklore is established. Briefly, here are some aspects ofthe legend: Jones County, located in the Piney Woods ofsoutheastern Mississippi, allegedly seceded from die Confederacy in 1864 in a paroxysm of Unionism. Thenceforth known as the Republic ofJones or the Free State ofJones, the Republic formed its own army and government (headed by Knight), and tenaciously held off Confederate military attempts to restore die county to die Confederacy. All legends have some basis in fact. There was a Newt Knight; there was (and is) a Jones County; and diere was an organization called the Republic of Jones. But there, as Leverett carefully shows, the truth ends and the myths begin. Newt Knight, far from being a Unionist, was a Confederate deserter who apparendy organized other deserters into a loosely knit band which preyed on both Confederate and Federal supply lines and officials. The "Republic ofJones" appears to have been the name given to one such band ofdeserters which roamed the county. Such groups were commonplace throughout the South as the war wound to an end. As Confederate military discipline declined, many troops simply left dieir units and went home for no odier reasons dian tiiose which soldiers always have for wanting to go home. Some efforts were made to reclaim them, but usually with litde success. Such seems to be the gist of die "Free State ofJones." This is a hard book to categorize. At first glance it seems to be popular history, with its pictures of Van Heflin and Susan Hayward appearing in Tap Roots, the movie version of James Street's novel about this legend. Also, it has few footnotes or other accoutrements ofhistory as academicians know it. Yet this is not a bad litde book at all. Leverett has researched the Jones County legend thoroughly, and this book should stand as the definitive study of this folktale. More attention to die traditional trappings of historical writing would have made this an outstanding small monograph. However, this volume does exactly what it set out to do: it examines, explores, and thoroughly explains what actually happened concerning "The Free State ofJones." Not many books have accomplished this goal as well. Newt Knight would probably approve of it; he would likely rather be known as a deserter than a Unionist. Frank Allen Dennis Delta State University From Antietam to Fort Fisher: The Civil War Letters of Edward King Wightman, 1862-1865. Edited by Edward G. Longacre. (Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1985. Pp. 295. $36.50.) Comparatively few ofdie many published Civil War memoirs, diaries, and letters available offering firsthand accounts ofthe hardship and peril oflife book reviews187 in the front lines emanated from the hands of university-trained scholars. Longacre's deft editing of the letters of Edward King Wightman redresses that imbalance to some extent. As private, corporal, and finally sergeant major, Edward King Wightman served in the ranks of the Ninth New York Volunteer Infantry (1862-63) and Third New York Infantry (1863-65) during several bitterly fought, albeit indecisive and rather obscure Civil War campaigns. While sharing the rough life ofthe common Yankee soldiers, Wightman was by no means a typical recruit. Longacre's prefece briefly describes die twentyseven -year-old Wightman's family background and wide-ranging civilian career in New York City. As a young, athletic bachelor armed with B.A. and M.A. degrees, Edward Wightman was beginning to make a name for himselfas the well-informed authorofnewspaper andjournal articles when on August 30, 1862, he chose to serve the tiien floundering Union cause by enlisting in the Ninth N.Y.V.l. ("Hawkins Zouaves"). Wightman's lively, anecdotal letters to family members and friends describe the hardship, hazards, and boredom ofmilitary service. His unit arrived at Sharpsburg in the aftermath ofthe Battle ofAntietam (September 1862) and three months later, suffered heavy casualties in the ill-fated Fredericksburg assault. During service around Newport News and Suffolk, Wightman and many of his comrades in the Nintfi were pressed into the Third New York Infantry. In this unit Wightman joined in...