Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Jack Hinson’s One Man War


 jack-hinson


Jack Hinson’s One-Man War by Tom C. McKenney; ISBN: 978-1-58980-640-5, Pelican, January 27, 2009, 400 pages.

Beheading his sons and impaling their heads on the gateposts of his home – these were the acts of the Yankee liberators of northern Tennessee that somehow upset the ungrateful Jack Hinson in the autumn of 1862.

Jack Hinson was not a firebrand or a man eager for war – and for good reason: He owned over 1,200 acres and many slaves (p34) in Stewart County, near the village of Dover, inside the notch that forms the northern border of the state of Tennessee, along the Cumberland River. He called his home Bubbling Springs. As a matter of prudence, if not inclination, he befriended General Grant (p24) and other Union officers; he opposed secession (p56); and in the summer of 1862, he emancipated his slaves – who nevertheless chose to remain on his plantation (p141).

9 comments:

  1. I have my copy and I'm slowly digesting it. The man made Josey Wales look like a typical Yankee soldier in terms of lethality.

    Mel Gibson should follow Hacksaw Ridge with a movie about Mr. Hinson. Since Mr. Hinson was neutral prior to what Sherman's demonic bummers did to his boys, maybe we'll get to see the good guys kill the bad guys without the movie trying to make us feel a little guilty about it.

    What can I say? A man can wish for informed minds to prevail now and again.

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  2. Excellent comment and I would send your suggestion to Gibson. Thanks.

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  3. Great book about a great man! I live on the edge of his area of operations. He is a legend. 600 yard kills with a muzzle loader. Had a ship try to surrender to him.

    Tar Heel's right, would make a good flic.
    DixieDennis

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  4. If any of you had ever trained with 1860's weapons tech you'd know that a 600 yard "kill" with a mine bullet isn't that big a deal. Had he had one of the better long rang rifles made in the late 1850's or the 1860's connecting at 800-1200 yards wouldn't have been that much of a stretch---Ray

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    1. Sounds like the one he had made was well thought out.

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    2. Not so much "well thought out" as it was "best available" High end weapons were nigh impossible to get in the south from 1862 on. Just look at the 1/3 of all Confederate military units using smooth bore and flintlock muskets as late as the end of 1864. ---Ray--- PS No one has any real idea what weapon "Old Jack" carried. The one that is commonly said to be his has no clear provenance and the story surrounding it is such BS that it put's it in the same category as "Jessie James" guns. ---Ray

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    3. This one?
      http://www.timesexaminer.com/historical/1488-museum-directory-with-rifle-use

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  5. Yes. There is NO factual clear provenance for that or any other "Old Jack" rifle. NONE. The story for the "old jack" Heavy target rifle pops up about the same time as the rife, and from the guy selling it. This is common for almost ALL "famous" rifles and pistols in collections and museums. Almost ALL of them are "aunt May told me" weapons with little to no evidence as to original ownership. 99% of them are utter fakes. What we know from history is that it takes about one year to build a muzzle loading target rifle from scratch. Longer if you have to make and rifle the barrel and have only hand tools. Putting his "Target rife" in his hand in late 1863-early 1864. The first USSS under Berdan DROPED the heavy target rifles from it's inventory because it took FOREVER to load them properly. "Old Jack" managed to get off around 5 to 15 AIMED SPM in several shootings.(One Yank Captain believed he was under fire from "5 to 15 men") There was only one rifle that could do all that all day(at 600 yards) in 1862-63. The Sharps. A weapon in widespread service by the 1850's, and one that a wealthy planter likely already owned.---Ray

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