THE STATE OF JONES The Small Southern County that Seceded from the Confederacy

Treated like chattel by incompetent officers, starving Confederate soldiers ate their shoelaces and died of thirst and dysentery. When their uniforms rotted, men were forced to replace them with pillaged carpet. Desertion meant prison or death. Led by a man named Newton Knight, a group of disillusioned Southerners from Jones County, Mississippi, banded together to thwart the Confederate cause. Narrator Don Leslie is the perfect partner for this story. His skillful inflections make the endless misery described both real and unforgettable, essential to understanding why the Rebels rebelled against their own. When called for, he speaks the Southern accent, adding authenticity without being comedic. Unlike most other histories about the Civil War, this production focuses on the everyday hardships of everyone in the South. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2009]