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Jack Hinson

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John W. "Jack" Hinson, "Old Jack" (1807–1874) was Civil War a citizen-hero of the South. A respected farmer in Stewart County, Tennessee, Hinson carried on a one-man campaign of revenge against the invading Union forces in the contested Between-the-Rivers region of Tennessee and Kentucky during the American Civil War.

A prosperous land owner with many slaves, Hinson had opposed secession and remained neutral at the outbreak of the war. He had even welcomed Union General Ulysses S. Grant to his home when Grant was in the area. However, Hinson was compelled to take up arms after his sons George and Jack Jr. were murdered by marauding soldiers in blue. While dear hunting near their farm, the young Hinsons encountered a Union patrol. The men in blue accused them of being Bushwhackers and executed them without a trial. Their bodies were dragged to the nearby town of Dover, and as a warning, the boys' heads were cut off and mounted on the gate posts of the family's home. The Union lieutenant even threatened to arrest Jack Hinson, until he learned of his friendship with Gen. Grant. Jack Hinson swore vengeance against his son's brutal murderers.[1]

For the remainder of the war, Jack Hinson used a 50 caliber 41-inch barrel Kentucky long rifle to conduct a personal war against the Union Army. A crack shot, he targeted Union soldiers (especially officers) at distances as great as half-mile on both land and on military transports and gunboats on the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River. According to tradition, he spared the civilian pilots on the river boats, targeting only members of the hated army. Hinson is credited with as many as one hundred kills, although his rifle had only 36 notches on it. (The notches were said to be for officers.)[2]

Hinson served as a guide for Nathan Bedford Forrest during his successful November 1864 cavalry attack on the Union supply base at Johnsonville. Hinson's son Robert led a guerrilla band in the area, until he was killed in action on September 18, 1863. Jack Hinson himself evaded captured, despite four Union regiments being assigned at different times to find and kill him.

Jack Hinson died on 28 April 1874 (according to the 16 May 1874 Clarksville Weekly Chronicle, via the Dover Record) in the White Oak/Magnolia area of Houston County, Tennessee. He is buried in the family plot in the Cane Creek Cemetery (with incorrect dates on his tombstone), off White Oak Road, near McKinnon, Tennessee. A monument to him is also in the Boyd Cemetery far away to the north, in the Land-Between-the Lakes area.

Jack Hinson is commemorated in a roadside marker just across the state border in Kentucky,[3] and his story has been told in two books by Tom McKenney:

  • Battlefield Sniper: Over 100 Civil War Kills, Tom C. Lt. Col. McKenney[4]
  • Jack Hinson's One Man War.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Book review", Washington Times Archived 2011-02-16 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Pettit, Carl (June 16, 2016). "The Sniper Who Slayed More than 100 Union Soldiers". OZY. OZY Media. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  3. ^ "Civil War Sniper (Jack Hinson) Historical Marker"
  4. ^ "Battlefield Sniper - Over 100 Civil War Kills, Lt. Col. Tom C. McKenney". Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  5. ^ McKenney, Tom. Jack Hinson's One Man War. Pelican Publishing Company, 2009.
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