Truth or Fiction? LbNA #70978

When does fiction become fact? It seems as though when it comes to history the edges of legend and truth can sometimes bleed and sometimes, as apparently the case of Sgt. John Newton, it can blend so completely that what is and isn’t reality can become lost to time. The Texas counties of Jasper (named for Sgt. William Jasper) and Newton (named for Sgt. John Newton) are adjacent to one another, Jasper to the west, Newton to the east. In the states of Georgia, Indiana, Missouri and Mississippi you will also find a Newton County right next to a county named Jasper. The county seat of Iowa’s Jasper County is a town named Newton, the county seat of Illinois’ Jasper County is another town named Newton, and the county seat of Arkansas’ Newton County is, all together now…Jasper. Jasper and Newton seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. With so many counties and towns named after them, not to mention children named Jasper Newton, this dynamic duo must have been great heroes of the American Revolution, and according to the book The Life of Gen. Francis Marion by Parson Weems, it seems they were. As the book recounts, in August of 1779 the two Sergeants Jasper and Newton, under the command of Francis Marion, observed American prisoners being marched to Savannah for a likely execution. One of the men held prisoner was accompanied by his grieving wife and child. Moved, Jasper and Newton hid, unarmed, in the bushes until the British guards laid down their weapons at a watering hole. The two men attacked, wrestled the ten British soldiers to the ground, took their weapons and freed the prisoners. Afterward, the woman they had observed thanked them for freeing her husband. As Weems wrote, “Directing her eyes to Jasper and Newton . . . she ran and fell on her knees before them . . . crying out vehemently, 'Dear angels! dear angels! God bless you! God Almighty bless you for ever!'” Before the Weems book, William Jasper was known for his bravery by those who knew him, especially for saving an American flag that had fallen during battle and how he was killed in Savannah after raising his regiments banner during a siege on the city, but no one would have been able to recall John Newton, even those who knew Jasper personally. After the book, however, both became household names and counties, cities and babies were named after the two (usually together) all over the country. Jasper County in Texas was formed in 1836 and Newton County was carved out of the eastern half of Jasper in 1846. Even Marion County, Texas was named for the book’s main subject, General Francis Marion. So why did no one remember John Newton before the book? It might be important to point out that Parson Weems’ most famous work was The Life of Washington, published in 1800. In it Weems tells the famous story of the young George Washington cutting down his father’s cherry tree. It was nice, but none of it was true. To this day many people still regard the cherry tree story as fact…which brings us back to Sgt. John Newton. Weems took the diary of Peter Horry, a friend who served under Francis Marion, and turned it into a novel, adding conversations and events that did not happen to make it more dramatic. It’s doubtful Weems actually intended to deceive his audience but the result is a history, recounted on historical markers in Jasper and Newton counties all over the United States, that is based on a mixture of fact and fiction and retold as fact. William Jasper and Francis Marion were both real people. Jasper did save an American flag in battle and was shot and killed while raising the colors of his regiment in another. No contemporary account exists of him saving the American prisoners, but there are historians that believe that it is essentially a true story. As for John Newton? Depending where you look he was either William Jasper’s partner in rescuing the prisoners as told by Weems (complete with dates of his birth and death), a soldier chosen by Weems to help embellish his story or, which seems to be most likely, pure fiction. So, when does fiction become fact? Probably when it’s written on a historical marker and placed in a county named for a man that never existed. That's just madness!
Directions:
This box is located at Martin Dies, Jr. State Park in Jasper County, Texas. First, go to the park headquarters and pay your fee. Go back across Hwy. 190 to the Walnut Ridge Unit.

To the box:
Go to the Walnut Slough Day Use Area, pass the Canoe rental area and park in the designated area. Take the bridge over to the island and go left on the Island Trail, staying right. When you come to a tree on the trail that looks like a long-necked dinosaur, take 35 more steps where, on your left you will see two large trees. The back tree is lighter with whitish spots. The box is at the back at the base under forest debris and a rock. Please replace the rock as you found it and cover with debris. I hope you enjoyed the story and the experience.