Less than a decade after Mississippi became the country's 20th state, settlers organized this area of 700 sq mi (1,800 km2) of pine forests and swamps for a new county in 1826.

[3] Ellisville, the county seat, was named for Powhatan Ellis, a member of the Mississippi Legislature who claimed to be a direct descendant of Pocahontas.

[citation needed] 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.

[4] 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.

As Mississippi debated the secession question, the inhabitants of Jones County voted overwhelmingly for the anti-secessionist John Hathorne Powell, Jr.

[6] Mississippi's Declaration of Secession reflected planters' interests in its first sentence: "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery…" Jones County had mostly yeoman farmers and cattle herders, who were not slaveholders and had little use for a war over slavery.

The lack of food and supplies was demoralizing, while reports of poor conditions back home made the men fear for their families' survival.

[8] The company, led by Newton Knight, formed a separate government, with Unionist leanings, known as the "Free State of Jones",[9] 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.

[4] The followers of Knight raised an American flag over the courthouse in Ellisville, and sent a letter to Union General William T. Sherman declaring Jones County's independence from the Confederacy.

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.