Free state of jones
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The Free State of Jones is a name synonymous with Jones County, Mississippi (formed in 1826). Popular lore claims that the county seceded from the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. While it is true that Jones County was a seedbed of opposition to the Confederate cause during the war (as were neighboring counties in the Pine Belt region of the state), the county government never seceded from the Confederacy. In fact, the label "Free State of Jones" actually predates the Civil War. According to alternate theories of the term's origin, "Free State of Jones" came to be associated with Jones County for one of two reasons: 1) in reference to the county's reputation as a sparsely populated "backwater" of the young state, whose few residents were notorious for their disdain for organized governmental authority, or 2) due to a period of time in the early 1840s when, due to low population numbers and lack of legal proceedings, the county was left without duly-inducted legal and/or civil authorities. The true origin of the nickname could be traced back to either or both of these conditions.
As Mississippi debated the secession question, the state called a session convention which met in January of 1861. Two men from Jones County vied to represent the county at the convention: J.M. Bayliss was the pro-secession candidate and John Hathorne Powell, Jr. was the anti-secession candidate. Powell was elected to represent Jones County at the convention but when he did so, he voted for secession. For his vote, he was supposedly burned in effigy in Ellisville, the county seat.
