Jack Hinson's One Man War

[tbrown]

Ameer,
MVRMAX has been on the forum a lot longer than you have...

Maxwell,
Ameer has been on the forum longer than you have.

Although I don't know what that has to do with the price of tea in China, or necro-posting spammers for that matter.

[Gator Guy]

The book made a very strong impression on me when I read it before. But when they asked to write an essay on this work, I had to ask for help from https://edureviewer.com/ for the image of war. All the same, an amazing person with incredible willpower ...

Does your teacher know you paid somebody else to write your essay for school?

[The Annoyed Man]

I may try this book out, even though it is about a "rebel"...
the history and circumstances about this man's crisis and will of action seem interesting.

actually what's interesting to me is he never gets caught.

I realize that this thread has been the victim of necromancy, but it DID get me to download and start reading the book. The thing is, Jack Hinson wasn’t a rebel, per se. He was firmly in the Unionist camp, and thought that the secessions were wrong. But, he was also a peaceful man, and didn’t want to see a war between the states over differences in opinion. Although it is true that he ended up working with some famous rebels like Nathan Bedford Forrest after he went on the warpath, Hinson himself was not a rebel. He lived in peace with the Union - even becoming a friend of U.S. Grant - until the federal troops murdered his sons in cold blood, and without due process .... at which point he declared war against the federal troops, not against the Union.

His actions reminded me of Lone Wattie’s monologue from The Outlaw Josey Wales:

I wore this frock coat to Washington before The War. We wore them because we belonged to the five civilized tribes. We dressed ourselves up like Abraham Lincoln.

You know, we got to see the Secretary of the Interior. And he said, "Boy, you boys sure look civilized."

He congratulated us and he gave us medals for looking so civilized.

We told him about how our land had been stolen and how our people were dying. When we finished he shook our hands and said, "endeavor to persevere!"

That monologue has always resonated with me from the first time I heard it. But it resonates more and more these days. It’s speaks to a group of men who had a lot of smoke blown up their wazoos, and finally they’d had enough of it. Or, in the tag line quote from another famous movie - “Network”, in which the main character finally has had all he can take, and he sticks his head out the window and starts yelling:

I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!

Well, Jack Hinson had had enough; and when they unjustly killed his sons, he got mad as hell, and declared war on the federal troops.

[warnmar10]

I read that a couple years ago, it was an interesting story. He was a good marksman with that custom rifle.

The topic is from 2010 and bumped by a one-post-wonder with a spam link. At least they picked an interesting topic.

I surf this board exclusively from my phone and use the “new posts” link so I don’t check dates. I got scolded by a mod the last time I replied to an old thread, not sure why it matters but it’s hard enough to browse off a phone with my eyes so checking dates is out of the question,

In the old days forum owners discouraged necroposting because new threads on topics already covered boosted the forum's thread count. Complaining about necroposting is the modern equivalent of shaking a fist in the air and hollering "stay off my lawn!"

[Deltaboy]

It is one of my favorite books. One man in his backyard can rain down Justice with his Rifle!

[mrvmax]

It is one of my favorite books. One man in his backyard can rain down Justice with his Rifle!

Yep, it would be hard to duplicate that today but he was pretty effective in his retribution.

[bblhd672]

Well, Jack Hinson had had enough; and when they unjustly killed his sons, he got mad as hell, and declared war on the federal troops.

I suspect that had it been Confederate troops who executed his sons, Jack Hinson would have waged his one man war against the Confederate army instead.

[The Annoyed Man]

Well, Jack Hinson had had enough; and when they unjustly killed his sons, he got mad as hell, and declared war on the federal troops.

I suspect that had it been Confederate troops who executed his sons, Jack Hinson would have waged his one man war against the Confederate army instead.

My point exactly. And it could have easily worked out that way. The author makes sure to distribute guilt for atrocities evenly, describing some of the roving “confederate” guerrilla bands as nothing more than gangs of criminals who took advantage of the chaos to victimize people, including confederate sympathizers. Had one of those gangs murdered his sons, Hinson would have declared war on the gangs.

One of my takeaways from reading so far is that Jack Hinson was a very careful, thoughtful, and deliberate man. His outrage wasn’t against the Union. It was against the Union troops who behaved like savages against the populace. Had the federal troops behaved benignly toward the population between the rivers, Hinson would have never gone to war against them. Note that he didn’t act immediately after his sons’ deaths. He carefully plotted. He took the time to have a sniping rifle custom made for him....including the actual manufacture of the barrel. That would have taken at least many weeks to accomplish, but more likely months. The book said that he set about carefully stockpiling things like percussion caps, gun powder, and Minié balls - making sure to order them in small quantities from multiple providers...actions taken to hide his purpose. All of that takes time, but Hinson was a methodical man who had nothing but time to accomplish his goal.

His careful and methodical nature is revealed in the fact that he avoided both capture during and prosecution after the war for his actions. He was nobody’s fool. As someone pointed out above, he was a sort of Bob Lee Swagger for his generation. I’m in awe of the man.

[The Annoyed Man]

Actually, I stand corrected.... Hinson DID eventually come over to the confederate cause. The book says:

It is interesting to note that by early February 1863, although he had taken no overt action against the occupation force, Jack was no longer neutral. In his testimony, he referred to the Union forces as “the enemy” and the Confederates as “our forces.” There had been a change in his heart. Jack Hinson had at last taken a side, and it was the obvious one. The killing of his sons had made him a convinced Confederate.

The flip side of that is that if his sons had been killed by rebel gangs, he would have probably remained a Unionist.

[LTUME1978]

Finally got a chance to read this book. It is an excellent read and, like others here, I highly recommend it. The public library system has it available. Brazoria County did not have it in their system but they were able to borrow it from another county in the state.

[crazy2medic]

Moral of the story: becareful what you take and from whom you take it!
Never willingly make an enemy where you may need a friend!

[Deltaboy]

I would love to build and shoot a replica of this Rifle, I bet it as good as a Witworth!

[The Annoyed Man]

I would love to build and shoot a replica of this Rifle, I bet it as good as a Witworth!

Although he made most of his kills around 300 yards and closer, the book says that he made several of them at well over 1000 yards ... with a muzzle loader. That’s incredible.

[Deltaboy]

I would love to build and shoot a replica of this Rifle, I bet it as good as a Witworth!

Although he made most of his kills around 300 yards and closer, the book says that he made several of them at well over 1000 yards ... with a muzzle loader. That’s incredible.

English Wentworth Rifles were know to make 1000 yards shot!