John W. "Jack" Hinson, nicknamed "Old Jack" (c. 1807 – 28 April 1874) was a farmer in
Stewart County, Tennessee
Stewart County is a county located on the northwestern corner of Middle Tennessee, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,324. Its county seat is Dover. Stewart County is part of the Clarksville Metropolita ...
, who operated as a
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
partisan
Partisan may refer to:
Military
* Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon
* Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line
Films
* ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film
* ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...
sniper
A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...
in the
Between-the-Rivers region of
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
and
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
American Civil War
Before the war, Hinson was a prosperous land and slave-owner of
Scotch-Irish descent, owning a plantation named "Bubbling Springs" with his wife and ten children.
Hinson voted for secession from the
Union
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* Trade union, an organization of workers
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* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
throughout various records as well as personal testimonies from his neighbors.
He had welcomed Union General
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
to his home when Grant was in the area during the Union attack on
Forts Henry and
Donelson in February 1862. Due to the Confederate sympathy in where the Hinson family lived however, guerrillas known as "
bushwhacker
Bushwhacking was a form of guerrilla warfare common during the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, American Civil War and other conflicts in which there were large areas of contested land and few governmental resources to control these tra ...
s" began targeting Union soldiers although others targeted Union farmers and sympathizers with some instances resulting in entire pro-Union communities being attacked.
Hinson took up arms after his two sons, George (aged 22) and Jack (aged 17) were on a deer-hunting trip until they were executed by a Union patrol squad under the suspicion of being spies at Fort Donelson and participation in bushwhacker activity in the Autumn of 1862.
Their corpses were dragged back to the town center with their heads then decapitated and placed placed on the two gateposts of the plantation as a warning sign.
Despite his age of 57, Hinson became a bushwhacker himself with a commissioned 0.50 caliber rifle based on the
Whitworth rifle
The Whitworth rifle was an English-made percussion rifle used in the latter half of the 19th century. A single-shot muzzleloader with excellent long-range accuracy for its era, especially when used with a telescopic sight, the Whitworth rifle w ...
with his first target being the Lieutenant who ordered the deaths of his two sons and later, the soldier who placed his sons heads on the gateposts.
Due to possible motivations, the Union soldiers had suspected Hinson as being responsible for the deaths of the two soldiers and as a response, the now-abandoned plantation was burnt. On December 31, 1862, Hinson killed his neutral neighbor, Swiss immigrant Albert Rougemont, with whom he had had a long-running argument for years before the war due to Rougemont testifying against Hinson in a Circuit Court case in which Hinson had been accused of altering the course of a road in the neighborhood.
The murder was investigated by the Union Provost Marshal, with many of Hinson's neighbors attesting to his decades of violence before the war and his well-known "Secesh" position at the outset of the war.
The verdict of the Provost Marshal was not recorded.
For the remainder of the war, Hinson used a
50 caliber
This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the to caliber range.
*''Length'' refers to the cartridge case length.
*''OAL'' refers to the overall length of the cartridge.
*''Bullet'' refers to the diameter of the bullet.
Some m ...
Kentucky
long rifle
The long rifle, also known as the longrifle, Kentucky rifle, Pennsylvania rifle, or American longrifle, a muzzle-loading firearm used for hunting and warfare, was one of the first commonly-used rifles. The American rifle was characterized by a ...
to conduct a personal war against the Union Army. He targeted Union soldiers at distances as great as a half mile on land and on military transports and gunboats on the
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...
and the
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...
. Hinson has been credited with as many as one hundred kills, although his rifle had only 36 notches although it has been suggested that the notches were for officers only.
Hinson served as a guide for
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...
during his successful cavalry raid on the Union supply base at the
Battle of Johnsonville
The Battle of Johnsonville was fought November 4–5, 1864, in Benton and Humphreys counties, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. Confederate cavalry commander Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest culminated a 23-day raid through western ...
on November 1864. Hinson's son Robert led a guerrilla band in the area until he was killed in action on September 18, 1863. Hinson himself evaded capture, despite elements of four Union regiments being assigned at different times to pursue him due to help from the locals and constant movement.
Post-War Life
After the war, he lived the rest of his life peacefully, mostly in Stewart County, settling the estate of his son George, voting, paying his taxes, etc., but also getting into some legal trouble as he had often done before the war. In 1867, he sold 7 acres of timber off of his "Bubbling Springs" farm to the first Superintendent of the new National Cemetery.
Hinson died on April 28, 1874, at his residence in the White Oak/Magnolia area of
Houston County, Tennessee
Houston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,283. Its county seat is Erin. The county was founded in 1871. It was named for Sam Houston.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census ...
. On the morning of his death, he complained of a severe pain between the shoulders. Remedies were applied, but no relief came and he died six hours after being taken. The attack was supposed to be meningitis. He is buried in the family plot in the Cane Creek Cemetery, off White Oak Road, near
McKinnon, Tennessee
McKinnon is an unincorporated community in Houston County, Tennessee, United States. McKinnon is located at the junction of Tennessee State Route 147 and Tennessee State Route 232, west of Tennessee Ridge. Houston County Airport is located in M ...
. A monument to him is also located in the Boyd Cemetery in the Land-Between-the Lakes area. His 1874 obituary stated that he was interred at the Boyd Cemetery. Area newspapers in 1873 had been full of stories about the pursuit and capture of "Captain Jack", but those references are to Modoc chief
Kintpuash
Kintpuash, also known as Kientpaush, Kientpoos, and Captain Jack (c. 1837 – October 3, 1873), was a chief of the Modoc tribe of California and Oregon. Kintpuash's name in the Modoc language meant 'Strikes the water brashly.'
He led a ...
, not to Hinson.
Hinson is commemorated in a roadside marker just across the state border in Kentucky, and his story has been told in two books by Tom McKenney:
*''Battlefield Sniper: Over 100 Civil War Kills'', Tom C. Lt. Col. McKenney
*''Jack Hinson's One Man War''
[McKenney, Tom. ''Jack Hinson's One Man War.'' Pelican Publishing Company, 2009.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinson, Jack
1807 births
1874 deaths
Farmers from Tennessee
People of Tennessee in the American Civil War
American people of Scotch-Irish descent
American military snipers
Irregular forces of the American Civil War
American slave owners