This essay from my upcoming Long Shadow of the Civil War profiles the leaders of three guerrilla bands from three regions of the South known for Unionism and resistance to the Confederacy: the Randolph County area of […]
renegadesouth
I'm a historian of the nineteenth century South who taught U. S. history at Texas State University, San Marcos, for almost 25 years. My research interests center on people who lived outside the law--not necessarily "outlaws" as we might imagine them, but outside the law nonetheless. The South's Civil War home front, including Unionists and other men and women who fought against the Confederacy, mixed race communities, and the history of racial identity are my special interests.
Renegade Women

I first discovered Southern Unionists while doing research on women in pre-Civil War North Carolina. Women, I soon realized, were central to the ties of kinship that bound together people who opposed the new Confederate nation. When […]
An American Family: The Multiracial Knight Community

By Vikki Bynum After posting my blog about Serena Knight, I returned to my research and photo files. There, I located this photograph of the Jeffrey and Ella Knight family, which is particularly revealing about […]
Did Jones County Secede from the Confederacy?

By Vikki Bynum The question of whether or not Jones County seceded from the Confederacy has intrigued historians, folklorists, and ordinary folks for well over one hundred years. In 1886, G. […]
Rebels Against the Confederacy: Mississippi’s Free State of Jones
By Vikki Bynum When I decided in 1976 to pursue a degree in U.S. history, studying the American Civil War was the furthest thought from my mind. All that changed, however, during […]
Serena Knight
by Vikki Bynum There are many participants in the Free State of Jones that I wish I knew more about. One of them is Serena Knight, the white wife of Newt Knight. Serena is often […]
Why I wrote The Free State of Jones
I wrote the book Free State of Jones for professional and personal reasons. As both a historian and an individual, I am on the hunt for ordinary people who commit extraordinary acts. I am especially drawn to those who confront systems […]