Customer Reviews

Jack Hinson's One-Man War, A Civil War Sniper

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is an outstanding work from several perspectives. As a selection from "books of regional interest" from Middle/West Tennessee/Kentucky, it is a must read. As Civil War History it fits the bill. As military analysis of a Civil War battle, it is dead-on. Finally, as an analysis of how trauma changes the dynamics of a family and the individual members--both at the event and over succeeding generations, it is heartbreakingly accurate. The research is thorough, but never dull. The author is sympathetic to the characters involved, but does not coddle--compassionately fair, time after time, gray or blue.
As one reads, one wishes to go back and "fix" these tragic situations, but as Col. McKenney says, "It happened." The author has done us a favor to tell this largely forgotten story. It would be a shame for us not to learn from the participants' harsh experience. It was certainly dearly bought.

Talk in the county had existed for years about the guerrilla type warfare that occurred in the area during the civil war, and now I am able to put individual stories, everyday lives and tragedies into these locations because of Jack Hinson's One-Man War. I have been through Magnolia, Danville Crossing, Hurricane Creek, Graffenreid Bluff, Fort Donelson, and the Land Between the Lakes area. The story of Jack Hinson put events, people and families into these locations and is a glimpse into a way of life disrupted by conflict for black and white, young and old, and Union and Confederate during the troubled times along a beautiful stretch of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. A very well researched history that is very readable. It was hard to put this book down. I will revisit the locations in the book with a new appreciation of the history of the areas of Houston and Stewart Counties in Tennessee and the events that occurred during the Civil War.

This is a very good book. Well written. I was looking up some info on the Orphan Brigade and stumbled upon this story of Jack Hinson. It's an amazing true story, almost unbelievable. Someone needs to make his story into a movie.

Tom McKenney's book is full of interesting detail as well as rich narative. The characters come to life and Jack Hinson's interraction with many historical figures add spice to this gripping story. The book is well-researched and offers an intriguing look at the pervasive effects of any war, but especially of a civil war. Anyone with an interest in the time period or in how war can change a family as well as a country should read Jack Hinson's One-Man War.

I generally like my history to be just plain facts, with no elaboration. Because of a dearth of information, the author has had to 'fill in' the blanks a bit, giving this book a somewhat docudrama feel. I've read a lot of Civil War histories & don't recall the events of this story ever being mentioned. It's a fascinating chapter from the Civil War & a very well written book. I highly recommend it.

Mckenney's book is an interesting departure from the Hollywood view of the Civil War. The ordinary people of the South suffered very badly, both during and after the war, at the hands of the Unionists. Atrocities were widespread against southern civilians so that it is not surprising that there was low scale guerrilla warfare against the Yankee occupation forces. The work is interesting in that the author doesn't seem to have an agenda. He relates the facts as far as he knows them and intelligently interpolates where data is missing. Hinson himself is an absorbing man and typifies that tough, independent frontier character that created America and that was the anthitisis of the types of people to be found in Washington now, and indeed in Lincoln's time.
When we think of snipers WWII or Vietnam spring to mind. Yet, Hinson was as skilled a sniper as could be found in any age. To make a kill at 500 yards or greater is still an impressive shot with a high power rifle today, nevermind with the type of weapon available to him a hundred and fifty years ago. Tyrants should pay attention. There are still some potential Jack Hinsons out there and if they are pushed hard enough they may react much more effectively than expected.
My only criticism is that McKenney tends to repeat himself a bit, both about the qualities of characters and about events that happened. Otherwise, it is a useful addition to the history of the period and an intriguing story.

I recommend this book to gain a much better understanding of the overarching reasons that served to promulgate the Civil War. It magnifies the horrific nature of a war that pitched neighbor against neighbor and the bloody events that transpired. Hopefully the lesson will be remembered forever that we must use all the tools of a Democratic Republic to avoid the terror of a Civil War. This book is especially interesting to people that currently live in the areas of West Tenn. and Ky. described in the book.

Extremely interesting subject that deserves some attention, but this book is pretty awful at history and really awful at fiction.

Where the author could find no facts, he outright admits to simply making stuff up. Since there isn't much hard evidence, the book is actually more of a historical novel than a history book. He fleshes out the war at Fort Pillow and the guerrilla warfare thereafter nicely, but he is no novelist - and so once the author begins taking liberties and presuming what someone said over the dinner table, or why someone did something, it is extremely glaring and usually really awkward. This is where an editor would have stepped in and said, "This doesn't read well."

He depicts the Hinson family's slaves as though they were "extended family" and everyone there lived in a paradise before being interrupted by the evil Yankees. I don't need every civil war book I read to denounce slavery, but I don't want my intelligence insulted, either. Hinson didn't just have a house servant named "auntie" who lovingly prepared his family's meals - the man operated an enormous plantation and leased his 50-100 slaves to local factories and other businesses, as well. Don't tell me Hinson had a loving, personal relationship with his slaves, and then proceed to tell me he owned hundreds of them at a time leased out on hard labor. The only thing worse than an author apologizing for slavery is an author depicting slavery as having a place in Utopia.

The author is also repetitive to the point it's maddening. The book features three forwards (Preface, Introduction, and Prologue) that repeat themselves. In fleshing out the story, I can't tell you how many times the author promises "this" time will be the Hinson family's last happy time at their plantation, and "this" incident will be the last straw that sends Hinson into a cold-blooded sniping rampage, but the author's repetitive foreshadowing begins in his background of the family during the 1850's and doesn't satisfy in the first two-thirds of the book. That's not including the Epilogue, five appendixes, and twenty some-odd pages of "notes"!... Of the supposed hundreds of Yankee victims, the author depicts the sniper's exploits as having taken place in only two locations. One over a bluff, the other behind a stump in the woods. Not only is this very unlikely, but it's even more repetition that leaves the reader thinking "This is it?"

The author doesn't deliver.

I bought One Man War with high hopes about this Civil War sniper that was trying to get revenge for the murder of his two boys. I was disappointed. The author couldn't decide if he was writing a historical novel or a history piece. He falls short on both counts. It had lots of potential but never lived up to my expectations. The dialogue was wooden and unconvincing. I also couldn't understand how he could just stay in one spot for days and days, keep shooting people, and never be found. It was totally unconvincing. Where facts were in short supply the author tried to fill in the gaps and was not convincing.

In his new book, Jack Hinson's One Man War: A Civil War Sniper, author Lt Col Tom C McKenney, USMC retired, writes a new chapter on the subject of Civil War snipers and on a little known Confederate sniper in particular. Snipers in the American Civil War included Berdan's famous US Sharpshooters, Yankee "California Joe" Head and remarkable Confederate snipers such as Berry Benson who took such notables as Gen. "Uncle John" Sedgwick from over 800 yards at Spotsylvania Courthouse. The chapter of history with Jack Hinson's name on it has finally been told by this new book.

"Old Jack" Hinson was a quiet plantation owner and tobacco farmer who tried to stay neutral in the War. His situation spiraled rapidly out of control and the farmer, nearly sixty years of age, was labeled a southern sympathizer and criminal by association. The book begins with some 150 pages of foreshadowing that included much detailed information on the early war in West Tennessee including the Battle of Ft Pillow and the humiliating surrender at Ft Donelson in which Mr. Hinson had an unsung part in. This story continues throughout the Civil War and explains how, after the death and humiliation of Hinson's family and destruction of his home, he waged a one man guerilla war from the high bluffs of the Twin Rivers tributaries on the Army and Navy of General Grant.

McKenney relates in great detail how Hinson had a special purpose plainly finished .50 caliber (12.7mm) Kentucky jager rifle made to his own specifications. The rifle had an octagonal 41-inch barrel combined with a maple stock weighed in at a total of 18 pounds. Its weight meant it needed to be braced on a limb or stump to achieve accurate long range fire out to and beyond 500 meters with iron sights. Today Hinson's remarkable rifle remains in the ownership of decedents of Major Charles W Anderson, General Forrest's friend and adjutant during the Civil War. The author made contact with the family and inspected the rifle complete with at least two sets of `kill' marks cut into its iron barrel.

McKenny goes on to describe Hinson's further use of this weapon to snipe up to a hundred Union soldiers and sailors. Hinson's favorite targets were bluecoat cavalrymen of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry Regiment (Curtis Horse) who had take part in the punitive deaths of his teenage sons and officers of US gunboats plying the river below his cave on the river bluffs. Among Hinson's amazing war record the author chronicles his other efforts as a scout and guide to Confederate cavalry General Nathan Bedford Forrest and how now `Captain Jack" forced a Union gunboat to surrender to a single sniper.


The book is particularly useful for its detailed examination of the often ignored conflict that took place in Western Kentucky and Tennessee as well as of course providing an amazing interpretation of Civil War sniper Jack Hinson.

It is available from Pelican Publications.

Read more at Suite101: Jack Hinson's One Man War: A Civil War Sniper: Little Known Confederate Sniper and Scout for Nathan Bedford Forrest | Suite101.com suite101.com/content/jack-hinsons-one-man-war-a-civil-war-sniper-a143798#ixzz1NXQv1ZdA