6. Once Newton Knight And Other Deserters Of The Confederate Army Left, They Formed A Group Called The Knight Company
When Newton Knight and others who were a part of the Confederate Army left in 1862 after the Twenty-Slave Law went into effect, they formed a group known as the Knight Company. Of course, Newton Knight was the leader and, basically, founder of this little military company. The mission of the Knight Company was simple, yet very different from the Confederacy. The purpose of the Knight Company was utterly opposite from much of the mission of the Confederacy.
The Knight Company was created to not only protect black people, free and slaves, who were living in the Confederate States but it was also established to try to take down the Confederacy. Newton and many other ex-Confederate soldiers had become so irate over the steps the Confederacy had taken not only against African Americans but women and children that the Knight Company wanted to overthrow the Confederacy themselves. The Knight Company created their own Declaration of Independence and started to converse with the Union side. The Knight Company also made it clear to the Confederate leaders that they are “Southern Yankees.”