[The following is in regards to Newton Knight, a Confederate deserter in the American Civil War who returned to Jones County in Mississippi and fought a guerrilla war against the Confederacy.]
Had the Confederate guard known what was in the gun, he’d have been more cooperative. Newton packed each of his barrels with double loads of lead balls, heavy charged with powder behind them. There were thirty-six pieces of shot in Newton’s gun – it was his way of evening the odds against the entire Confederate army. All of his men had learned to pack their guns the same way, using any kind of lead they could find; Minié balls, rifle bullets, or homemade scraps they melted down. Once, they hauled one of their victims to a doctor with eleven wounds. The surgeon said to them, “You must be right smart shooters to hit one man 11 times with rifle bullets.”
Source:
Jenkins, Sally, and John Stauffer. “The Third Front.” The State of Jones: The Small Southern County That Seceded from the Confederacy. Anchor Books, 2010. 176-77. Print.
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