John Newton (soldier)

Sgt. John Newton was a fictionalized soldier of the American Revolutionary War, serving under Brigadier General Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox". He was born in 1755, and died in 1780. Although he appears today to have been unimportant, place names across the United States attest to his renown in the early 19th Century, one of the popular fictionalized heroic enlisted men of the Revolution.

Parson Weems's fictional Sgt. Newton saved a group of American prisoners from execution by capturing their British guards at the Siege of Savannah in 1779, in which the Americans recaptured Savannah, Georgia. According to Lieutenant Colonel Peter Horry however, "Newton was a Thief & a Villain." [Lou Ann Everett (1958). "Myth on the Map". "American Heritage" 10 (1): 62-64.]

Sgt. Newton's story is similar to that of Sgt. William Jasper. Several states have a Newton and Jasper county adjacent to each other, as though these two were remembered as a pair. Counties and towns claimed to be named for these men would more accurately be said to be named for Parson Weems' romantic "carved and mutilated" historical fiction. [Lou Ann Everett (1958). "Myth on the Map". "American Heritage" 10 (1): 62-64.]

Notes

* [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1958/1/1958_1_62.shtml "American Heritage" article]

Place Names

*Newton County, Arkansas
*Newton County, Georgia
*Newton County, Indiana
*Newton County, Missouri
*Newton County, Mississippi (maybe)
*Newton County, Texas and the city of Newton, Texas
*City of Newton, Iowa

External references

* [http://www.geocities.com/sgtnewtondar/ Sgt. John Newton DAR Chapter]
* [http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/courthouses/newtonCH.htm Georgia County Courthouses]
* [http://www.texasescapes.com/FEATURES/Texas_town_names/Jasper_and_Newton.htm Jasper & Newton Counties, Texas]