5fish
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This guy Jack Hinson is as much folklore and wise tales, as truth. We will start with the folklore...
John W. “Jack” Hinson, better known as “Old Jack” to his family, was a prosperous farmer in Stewart County, Tennessee. A non-political man, he opposed secession from the Union even though he owned slaves. Friends and neighbors described him as a peaceable man, yet despite all this, he would end up going on a one-man killing spree.
Jack’s plantation was called Bubbling Springs, where he lived with his wife and ten children. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he was fiercely determined to remain neutral.
Grant had stayed at the Hinson estate after capturing Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. In taking the last, he secured a vital gateway to the rest of the Confederacy. The Union’s victory at the Battle of Fort Donelson was also its first major one since the start of the Civil War.
Before the entire family, the heads were stuck on two gate posts as an example of Union justice. The lieutenant in charge wanted to arrest the Hinsons for their relationship to the two alleged bushwhackers but was informed about Grant’s stay on the property.
From here his sniping career takes off... So let us add some truth to Jack's story...
Long also discovered where Hinson had voted in 1861 for a resolution to separate from the Union, as well as voting for the Constitution of Confederate States and for a Confederate States president.
Sons maybe have lived...
In an 1863 document, which was months after his sons where supposedly killed, Long noticed some language about the sons was in present tense — “I know his sons” and “their names are,” which could indicate inaccuracies.
Long also found a possible motive for Hinson’s vendetta against Union soldiers in an Feb. 18, 1873, obituary for Hinson that erroneously appeared in the Nashville Union and American newspaper. In describing Hinson, who was apparently known throughout the region, it recounted that Union soldiers had burned his house and mistreated his wife and daughters.
His grave is in a dispute... it's on fine a grave...
Hinson’s actual obituary appeared in the Clarksville Weekly Chronicle in May of 1874, but a dispute continues until today about where he was actually buried, Long said...
Now we are back to what could be true or not...
The most spectacular story of his sniping career was when an entire boat of Union soldiers surrendered to him. After Jack fired on the boat, the captain thought he was being attacked by Confederate soldiers. To avoid further bloodshed, the captain beached his boat, raised a white tablecloth, and waited to be captured. But Jack couldn’t possibly handle them all, so he retreated and let them wait.
In November 1864, for example, he guided Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest to Johnsonville to attack its Union supply center.
Jack survived the war and cut 36 circles in the barrel of his rifle to mark the number of Union officers he killed. Union records, however, blame him for over 130 kills – though it’s believed that he may have killed “only” a little more than 100.
There are many links to him but most have the Folklore not the corrections...
Link Folklore: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/american-civil-war/jack-ninson-civil-war-sniper-hell.html
Link Correction: https://www.theleafchronicle.com/st...nson-legend-revised-via-old-records/88619060/
There is a book about him ...
John W. “Jack” Hinson, better known as “Old Jack” to his family, was a prosperous farmer in Stewart County, Tennessee. A non-political man, he opposed secession from the Union even though he owned slaves. Friends and neighbors described him as a peaceable man, yet despite all this, he would end up going on a one-man killing spree.
Jack’s plantation was called Bubbling Springs, where he lived with his wife and ten children. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he was fiercely determined to remain neutral.
Grant had stayed at the Hinson estate after capturing Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. In taking the last, he secured a vital gateway to the rest of the Confederacy. The Union’s victory at the Battle of Fort Donelson was also its first major one since the start of the Civil War.
Before the entire family, the heads were stuck on two gate posts as an example of Union justice. The lieutenant in charge wanted to arrest the Hinsons for their relationship to the two alleged bushwhackers but was informed about Grant’s stay on the property.
From here his sniping career takes off... So let us add some truth to Jack's story...
Long also discovered where Hinson had voted in 1861 for a resolution to separate from the Union, as well as voting for the Constitution of Confederate States and for a Confederate States president.
Sons maybe have lived...
In an 1863 document, which was months after his sons where supposedly killed, Long noticed some language about the sons was in present tense — “I know his sons” and “their names are,” which could indicate inaccuracies.
Long also found a possible motive for Hinson’s vendetta against Union soldiers in an Feb. 18, 1873, obituary for Hinson that erroneously appeared in the Nashville Union and American newspaper. In describing Hinson, who was apparently known throughout the region, it recounted that Union soldiers had burned his house and mistreated his wife and daughters.
His grave is in a dispute... it's on fine a grave...
Hinson’s actual obituary appeared in the Clarksville Weekly Chronicle in May of 1874, but a dispute continues until today about where he was actually buried, Long said...
Now we are back to what could be true or not...
The most spectacular story of his sniping career was when an entire boat of Union soldiers surrendered to him. After Jack fired on the boat, the captain thought he was being attacked by Confederate soldiers. To avoid further bloodshed, the captain beached his boat, raised a white tablecloth, and waited to be captured. But Jack couldn’t possibly handle them all, so he retreated and let them wait.
In November 1864, for example, he guided Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest to Johnsonville to attack its Union supply center.
Jack survived the war and cut 36 circles in the barrel of his rifle to mark the number of Union officers he killed. Union records, however, blame him for over 130 kills – though it’s believed that he may have killed “only” a little more than 100.
There are many links to him but most have the Folklore not the corrections...
Link Folklore: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/american-civil-war/jack-ninson-civil-war-sniper-hell.html
Link Correction: https://www.theleafchronicle.com/st...nson-legend-revised-via-old-records/88619060/
There is a book about him ...