REVIEW

The Civil War continues to be a popular vehicle for writers and readers alike. Whether fictional or factual accounts, we just can’t seem to get enough. Tom C. McKenney’s newly released biography on the impact of that nation-rending split on one family in particular is an important addition to the written record. "Jack Hinson's One-Man War, A Civil War Sniper" is the story of a relatively unknown family, the story of an unusual section of the country and the story of the brutality of war and the rending of the fabric of society in the backwoods of the western front of the conflict.

McKenney’s thorough and vast research has revealed in broad strokes, the unfortunate, shattering story of a decent, hard-working, loving family man, whose life was turned upside down and inside out by the War Between the States. While time has erased many of the details and silenced many of the witnesses and immediate descendants, McKenney unearthed enough to well tell this tale that once again proves that fact is stranger than fiction.

When the Civil War officially began in 1861, Jack Hinson and his wife, Elizabeth, had lived a full and prosperous life together. Eight of the 10 children they are known to have had, still resided at home with them, six boys and two girls. Their two oldest sons had moved out on their own. Jack had engaged in a variety of enterprises during his adult life and, from what remains in the records, was successful at all of them. While the family owned slaves, he was not an ardent secessionist and freed his slaves in 1862 before Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation.

The Hinson home was a large farm called Bubbling Springs. It was situated in an unusual piece of American soil, known then as Between the Rivers. This inland peninsula of land between the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers straddled parts of western Tennessee and Kentucky. The land was fertile and brought forth a variety of abundant crops for those engaged in agriculture. The two rivers were the thoroughfares of commerce on those days, taking out harvest goods and bringing in needed supplies. And in 1861, the rivers brought the war.

The western forts on the two rivers fell soon enough, and for the remainder of the war, those who lived in the land Between the Rivers struggled to survive amid the troops of Union and Confederate soldiers and the roving bands of guerrilla raiders, some legitimate Confederates or sympathizers, but some were just criminals. The havoc caused by these irregular groups resulted in swift and heavy-handed actions by Union troops. Two of Jack Hinson’s sons were the victims of such an action. Their execution and mutilation turned their father from the path of neutrality on to the path of vengeance.

Hinson joined no unit. His only companion was his .50-caliber long rifle. For the remainder of the war, silent and unseen, he battled Union soldiers from a sniper’s nest. A few times, he served as a guide for Nathan Bedford Forrest and those exploits are recounted in the book. “Jack Hinson’s One-Man War” also tells of other losses suffered by Jack and Elizabeth Hinson. Their family was rent asunder by the war and in its aftermath, had only a few, short golden years to bind up their wounds and mend. McKenney’s book gives new insights into an area of the Civil War that usually doesn’t get much attention. The experiences of the Hinsons is a story that needed to be told, and we thank the author for that.