HF Jack Hinson Novel

[East Tennessee Roots]

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[Stryker65]

Th

@Stryker65 You're the OR guy. Any references to Jack Hinson in anything?

The only J. Hinson's in the OR are a LTC in the 33rd Ohio Infantry (Joseph) or a captain in Miles' LA Legion (also Joseph). There's unidentified persons by the name of Hinson in various volumes, but nothing of a "Jack Hinson" specifically.

 

[19thGeorgia]

Th

The only J. Hinson's in the OR are a LTC in the 33rd Ohio Infantry (Joseph) or a captain in Miles' LA Legion (also Joseph). There's unidentified persons by the name of Hinson in various volumes, but nothing of a "Jack Hinson" specifically.

I didn't find a "Jack" either, but these may be a few of his sons-

FORT DONELSON, TENN.,
September 18, 1863.

Capt. WILLIAM C. RUSSELL,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Nashville:
An escort to team returning from rolling-mill was attacked by a small party of guerrillas. In the skirmish 2 of our men were killed, and 2 of the guerrillas, 1 of whom is the notorious George Hinson.
A.A. SMITH [Arthur A. Smith, 83rd Illinois?]
Colonel, Commanding Post.

~

SAVANNAH, TENN.,
January 8, 1864.

Colonel HICKS,
Commanding, Paducah:
DEAR COLONEL: Before proceeding to business let me extend a kindly greeting to you, in memory of the dangers and trials we have shared. You have my best wishes wherever you may be, and my most earnest desire for your success in whatever you may undertake, for I know it will be laudable.
I send you a lot of prisoners whom I can by no means recommend. Some of them are desperate characters, and all of them will bear the closest kind of watching. They are genuine guerrillas, most of them captured with arms in hands. Captain Biffles and one
Hinson are especially guilty, and to be strictly guarded. I do not myself know just what the Government does with such prisoners. Please inquire and act accordingly.
WM. SOOY SMITH,
Brigadier-General, Chief of Cavalry

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

I didn't find a "Jack" either, but these may be a few of his sons-

FORT DONELSON, TENN.,
September 18, 1863.

Capt. WILLIAM C. RUSSELL,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Nashville:
An escort to team returning from rolling-mill was attacked by a small party of guerrillas. In the skirmish 2 of our men were killed, and 2 of the guerrillas, 1 of whom is the notorious George Hinson.
A.A. SMITH [Arthur A. Smith, 83rd Illinois?]
Colonel, Commanding Post.

~

SAVANNAH, TENN.,
January 8, 1864.

Colonel HICKS,
Commanding, Paducah:
DEAR COLONEL: Before proceeding to business let me extend a kindly greeting to you, in memory of the dangers and trials we have shared. You have my best wishes wherever you may be, and my most earnest desire for your success in whatever you may undertake, for I know it will be laudable.
I send you a lot of prisoners whom I can by no means recommend. Some of them are desperate characters, and all of them will bear the closest kind of watching. They are genuine guerrillas, most of them captured with arms in hands. Captain Biffles and one
Hinson are especially guilty, and to be strictly guarded. I do not myself know just what the Government does with such prisoners. Please inquire and act accordingly.
WM. SOOY SMITH,
Brigadier-General, Chief of Cavalry

This was the son, Robert Hinson who led a guerrilla band. George was killed and beheaded with his younger brother. Robert was captured three times and escaped. The third time they killed him. Joseph was in Virginia with the 14th Tennessee.

 

[Belfoured]

Family folklore is not infallible. There's a legend on my mother's side about a Union colonel I have found no evidence of, so it's probably not true. I have not written a book on it.

Remember how Alex Haley made all that money off Roots and it turned out almost everything about Kunta Kinte was a lie? Haley truly believed it because he wanted to.

In fact, family folklore is often wrong. Many of us have that experience, especially with folklore that's handed down over several generations. "Research" based largely on family folklore is inherently unreliable.

 

[TallTallMan]

Th

The only J. Hinson's in the OR are a LTC in the 33rd Ohio Infantry (Joseph) or a captain in Miles' LA Legion (also Joseph). There's unidentified persons by the name of Hinson in various volumes, but nothing of a "Jack Hinson" specifically.

Thanks! I'm assuming other Bushwhackers, Jayhawkers, Partisan Rangers, guerillas etc. are reported in there.

I didn't find a "Jack" either, but these may be a few of his sons-

FORT DONELSON, TENN.,
September 18, 1863.

Capt. WILLIAM C. RUSSELL,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Nashville:
An escort to team returning from rolling-mill was attacked by a small party of guerrillas. In the skirmish 2 of our men were killed, and 2 of the guerrillas, 1 of whom is the notorious George Hinson.
A.A. SMITH [Arthur A. Smith, 83rd Illinois?]
Colonel, Commanding Post.

~

SAVANNAH, TENN.,
January 8, 1864.

Colonel HICKS,
Commanding, Paducah:
DEAR COLONEL: Before proceeding to business let me extend a kindly greeting to you, in memory of the dangers and trials we have shared. You have my best wishes wherever you may be, and my most earnest desire for your success in whatever you may undertake, for I know it will be laudable.
I send you a lot of prisoners whom I can by no means recommend. Some of them are desperate characters, and all of them will bear the closest kind of watching. They are genuine guerrillas, most of them captured with arms in hands. Captain Biffles and one
Hinson are especially guilty, and to be strictly guarded. I do not myself know just what the Government does with such prisoners. Please inquire and act accordingly.
WM. SOOY SMITH,
Brigadier-General, Chief of Cavalry

If it's at Donelson it's 100% one of the sons. I'm pretty sure about the Savannah, TN one too.

 

[TallTallMan]

In fact, family folklore is often wrong. Many of us have that experience, especially with folklore that's handed down over several generations. "Research" based largely on family folklore is inherently unreliable.

I watched vids of McKenney before I bought the book and in one of them he said "the sources don't exist", thus the reliance on oral tradition. (At 1:48)

 

[TallTallMan]

Here is Rick Revel telling the story of the road sign. He says the current sign is new, since the old one got stolen (who the heck would want Jack Hinson's sign is beyond me) and was dumped in a drainage ditch. The SCV paid for the new one.

 

[19thGeorgia]

FORT DONELSON, TENN.,
September 18, 1863.

Capt. WILLIAM C. RUSSELL,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Nashville:
An escort to team returning from rolling-mill was attacked by a small party of guerrillas. In the skirmish 2 of our men were killed, and 2 of the guerrillas, 1 of whom is the notorious George Hinson.
A.A. SMITH [Arthur A. Smith, 83rd Illinois?]
Colonel, Commanding Post.

More detail on fight with guerillas-

 

[TallTallMan]

Tom Chase McKenney Obituary November 12, 2024 - Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Homes

View Tom Chase McKenney's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

www.bradfordokeefe.com

Sad to hear. McKenney was genuinely a good guy. He was brave (he was a Marine in two wars, after all) and he cared about his family and his faith. He was kind and generous. However, he still wrote a history book full of fabrications.

 

[Belfoured]

I watched vids of McKenney before I bought the book and in one of them he said "the sources don't exist", thus the reliance on oral tradition. (At 1:48)

Well, that's at least honest. And we should be able to do two things at the same time: (1) respect his service and criticize his book.

 

[TallTallMan]

In one of Rick Revel's videos he claims he found a new Hinson story. Get this:

Jack Hinson was riding in a stagecoach and it got robbed. He walked into a saloon (yeah) and found the robbers and shot them up with a pistol, a la Randolph Scott.

Where did he get this bunk? I'll try and find the video...

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

More detail on fight with guerillas-

View attachment 537143

John Pickrel

 

[Choatecav]

I have met McKenney and Rick Revel. I have also seen and held this rifle and seen the marks, the barrel, etc. I also was fortunate to be able to ride horses through the "100 acre field" that is reported in the first book as where Hinson encountered yankee soldiers and he dropped his rifle before they met with him.

The rifle has a heavy bull barrel like a "chunk gun" and would be capable of making very long shots in the hand of a skilled marksman. I have fired rifles similar to this construction. Think about an early version of the Sharps model 1874 (the "Quigley" rifle) and it is capable of some amazing shots.

I have also hiked to the cave and the area where this happened. We climbed the bluff and went into the cave. The current distance from the cave mouth to the river is not very great and could make one think the shots are possible, but the facts are that in the 1860's the river was much lower in it's level and this would make the distance to where a military boat would have to be in order not to run aground would be a great distance.
I truly wanted this report/story to be true, but having been all over this area, I have my doubts.

 

[DanSBHawk]

If it's at Donelson it's 100% one of the sons. I'm pretty sure about the Savannah, TN one too.

So the sons weren't just innocent squirrel hunters?

I'd really like to see any evidence that the sons were beheaded.

 

[DanSBHawk]

I didn't find a "Jack" either, but these may be a few of his sons-

FORT DONELSON, TENN.,
September 18, 1863.

Capt. WILLIAM C. RUSSELL,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Nashville:
An escort to team returning from rolling-mill was attacked by a small party of guerrillas. In the skirmish 2 of our men were killed, and 2 of the guerrillas, 1 of whom is the notorious George Hinson.
A.A. SMITH [Arthur A. Smith, 83rd Illinois?]
Colonel, Commanding Post.

~

SAVANNAH, TENN.,
January 8, 1864.

Colonel HICKS,
Commanding, Paducah:
DEAR COLONEL: Before proceeding to business let me extend a kindly greeting to you, in memory of the dangers and trials we have shared. You have my best wishes wherever you may be, and my most earnest desire for your success in whatever you may undertake, for I know it will be laudable.
I send you a lot of prisoners whom I can by no means recommend. Some of them are desperate characters, and all of them will bear the closest kind of watching. They are genuine guerrillas, most of them captured with arms in hands. Captain Biffles and one
Hinson are especially guilty, and to be strictly guarded. I do not myself know just what the Government does with such prisoners. Please inquire and act accordingly.
WM. SOOY SMITH,
Brigadier-General, Chief of Cavalry

Okay, but the story is that Jack Hinson carried out his rampage in the winter of '62-63. Your references are late '63 and early '64.

So the Hinson son was still alive a year after Jack Hinson supposedly went Rambo? Even the country music video says George Hinson died in '62.

It's like the whole thing is completely made up.

 

[Rebforever]

Was there a back entrance to the cave? Was there a draft through the cave?

 

[TallTallMan]

So the sons weren't just innocent squirrel hunters?

I'd really like to see any evidence that the sons were beheaded.

We have no idea what they were doing those two-something hours, and the fact that they were arrested before, kind of derails the narrative more than Hinson's apparent thing for beating up people.

I don't know where the head thing came from. The only other instance I know of is an account of Confederates supposedly keeping skulls, which sounds fake to me. If so, they probably didn't behead them for fun, as McKenney claims about the Feds.

Attack and Die (182):

Yank

 

[TallTallMan]

Well, that's at least honest. And we should be able to do two things at the same time: (1) respect his service and criticize his book.

I guess I should mention the unprofessionality of that video. Apparently Pelican Press uses Windows Live Movie Maker. And considering their usual output...

 

[TallTallMan]

Apparently the Lawrence book is a bit of "Quantrill did nothing long" hooey. Come on people. North and South both did horrible things during the war. No side was flawless. Also consider Quantrill's "kids" all did bad stuff. Sigh.