Confederate leaders’ mounting fears of insurrection find evidence in the activities of Newton (“Newt”) Knight (1837-1922), Primitive Baptist and Unionist in Mississippi. Knight is leader of the Knight Company, a group of Confederate Army deserters and Confederate dis-loyalists who banded together in late 1863 to form the “Free State of Jones” in the Mississippi counties…
In Louisiana, Union forces continue their campaign up the Red River, placing ever more pressure on Confederate forces in the area. Meanwhile, in the Eastern theater of war, the 102nd Illinois Regiment moves out from Lookout Valley, straddling the Tennessee and Georgia state lines, on a scouting expedition southwest-ward to Deer Head Cove, Georgia, near…
Today Charleston, Illinois, a small town sharply divided over the war, erupts in rioting. The trouble begins when Copperheads (Northern Democrats who want to sign a peace treaty with the Confederate States) assemble at the courthouse. Armed and ready for confrontation, the Copperheads wait for opportunities to assault soldiers and abolitionists. The wait is not…