{"id":147428,"date":"2021-10-03T12:32:08","date_gmt":"2021-10-03T16:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=147428"},"modified":"2021-10-03T12:32:08","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T13:53:43","slug":"old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/","title":{"rendered":"“Old Jack” Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn’t Cool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
We admittedly do a lot of pondering and send the occasional robot to Mars, but human beings aren’t really so far removed from your typical baboon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is a lamentable aspect of the human condition that we seem inexorably driven to destroy ourselves. We drape our culture and our society in the mantle of civilization, but we are not really all that different from baboons or jackals. Ours is a tribal species, and our response to affront or perceived injustice is typically violence, even this deep in the Information Age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans expend truly extraordinary quantities of sweat and treasure trying desperately to kill each other.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The numbers are frankly breathtaking. The warring powers during the Second World War produced enough bullets to shoot every human being on the planet forty times. If you took every penny spent by the US on defense from the end of WW2 to the end of the Cold War you could raze and rebuild every man-made structure in the United States. Despite our extraordinary capacity to reason and solve problems, we homo sapiens have become quite adroit at offing one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a veteran myself, I love drones. Being able to smite one’s enemies without putting soft friendly flesh in harm’s way makes the armed drone the coolest invention since the flush toilet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Modern combat is at its base simply infuriating. In the age of drone warfare, the enemies of our Great Republic are faced with quite the maddening lot. Day or night, fair weather or foul, it really doesn\u2019t matter. Death comes for you out of the ether in the form of a Hellfire missile launched by an armed UAV piloted by some former cheerleader-turned-Air Force pilot operating out of an air-conditioned building in Nevada. That has got to drive those dudes crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sniping on the Information Age battlefield is a high-tech art. Back during the American Civil War it took every bit as much skill and was comparably terrifying.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The traditional faceless killer on the battlefield is the sniper. Artillery always racks up the biggest numbers, but there is something viscerally horrifying about catching a sniper\u2019s bullet from an unexpected quarter. For as long as there have been accurate rifles, there have been soldiers behind them sowing havoc. This was certainly true during the American Civil War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Making of a Killer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Jack Hinson was one hardcore old dude.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

John W. \u201cJack\u201d Hinson was born in 1807. A wealthy Scots-Irish farmer in Stewart County, Tennessee, Hinson was known as \u201cOld Jack\u201d to his friends. He was a prosperous slave owner who attempted to remain neutral in the face of the brewing Civil War. He lived on his tobacco farm with his wife and ten children and was known for his temper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Grant broke bread with Jack Hinson before Hinson turned into a full-bore psycho Yankee-killing death machine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When the Federal General U.S. Grant rolled through the area with his army, Jack welcomed him into his home. In February of 1862 Grant moved on to attack Fort Donelson and Fort Henry. As he departed, however, Grant left a Federal garrison behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Patriot was a superb action movie wherein an Australian actor played an American Revolutionary War hero. It was, however, a fake made-up Hollywood story. By contrast, “Old Jack” Hinson was the real freaking deal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBushwhackers\u201d was the term applied to unconventional guerilla fighters who attacked Union forces from positions of concealment. In the fall of 1862, Hinson\u2019s sons 17-year-old Jack and 22-year-old George were out deer hunting near their homestead. They came across a Union detachment that mistakenly took the two boys for bushwhackers. The Federal soldiers tied the two young men to trees, shot them to death, paraded their bodies around town as a message to others, and then stuck their heads on the gateposts back at the Hinson homestead. This turned out to be a really bad idea. You\u2019ll note a similar plot arc drives the Mel Gibson Revolutionary War epic\u00a0The Patriot.\u00a0<\/em>However, unlike\u00a0The Patriot,<\/em>\u00a0this really happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crusade<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
This is the actual rifle “Old Jack” Hinson used to spread terror and chaos through the Federal ranks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At age 55 Jack Hinson sent his family away to safety and contracted with a local gunsmith to build him a very special .50-caliber Kentucky Long Rifle. This custom-built weapon sported a 41-inch barrel as well as set triggers and weighed a whopping 18 pounds. Hinson used this weapon to engage in a one-man sniper war against the occupying Federal troops. He sniped Union soldiers both in garrison as well as in military columns and transports. He also engaged Union gunboats while they were slowly plying the waters of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. His first two victims were the Lieutenant and Sergeant responsible for murdering his two sons, both shot cleanly from ambush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rapscallion Nathan Bedford Forrest was arguably the most cunning Cavalry General of the American Civil War.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hinson eventually fell in with Nathan Bedford Forrest\u2019s Confederate cavalry mob and served as a local guide during their attack on the Union supply base at Johnsonville. Jack\u2019s son Robert was of age and led a band of unconventional guerillas in the area of Tennessee they called home. However, this young man was killed by Union forces on September 18, 1863.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jack Hinson would pick off Union sailors manning Federal riverboats like this one from positions of concealment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Using that obsolete muzzleloading long rifle \u201cOld Jack\u201d Hinson accumulated more than 100 kills. He sniped Union naval personnel off the decks of their warships and shot men out of the saddle as they passed by in supply convoys. His longest confirmed kill was nearly half a mile. Ultimately units from four different Federal regiments tracked him unsuccessfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rifle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Kentucky Long Rifle represented a quantum advance in accuracy and downrange precision over the smoothbore muskets of the day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Kentucky Long Rifle was also known as the Pennsylvania Rifle or the American Long Rifle. At a time when men lived or died based upon their facility with a gun, the accuracy and firepower afforded by the Long Rifle was coveted indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gun-making in Jack Hinson’s day was all handwork and art. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Rifle locks back in the day were handcrafted and unique. There were very few interchangeable parts used in guns before the Civil War.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom a flat bar of soft iron, hand forged into a gun barrel; laboriously bored and rifled with crude tools; fitted with a stock hewn from a maple tree in the neighboring forest; and supplied with a lock hammered to shape on the anvil; an unknown smith, in a shop long since silent, fashioned a rifle which changed the whole course of world history; made possible the settlement of a continent; and ultimately freed our country of foreign domination. Light in weight; graceful in line; economical in consumption of powder and lead; fatally precise; distinctly American; it sprang into immediate popularity; and for a hundred years was a model often slightly varied but never radically changed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014\u2009Captain John G. W. Dillin, The Kentucky Rifle<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unprecedented accuracy potential of the rifled musket gave rise to the modern concept of the battlefield sniper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Long Rifle was first developed in Southeastern Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. These early guns were crafted entirely by hand with little thought to interchangeable parts or mass production. When compared to the smoothbore muskets of the day these rifles were markedly more accurate. It was actually the advent of the rifled musket that facilitated the rise of the sniper on the modern battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The smoothbore Brown Bess musket helped establish and maintain the expansive British Empire.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The British Brown Bess musket that carried the Redcoats through the American Revolution was a smoothbore design with a 0.75-inch bore. The gun fired 0.69-inch balls. These intentionally undersized projectiles made the weapon notoriously inaccurate. However, given the profound amount of fouling that resulted from the crude black powder of the day, these dimensions ensured that the gun could remain in action through protracted firings without cleaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patched balls offer high velocities and precision, but they are both slow to load and messy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rifled muskets like the Long Rifle offered much greater accuracy and velocities. These early rifles typically fired patched balls that were gripped tightly by the weapon\u2019s rifling. However, the tight interface between ball and bore resulted in rapid fouling in action and demanded laborious reloading. The development of the Minie Ball helped alleviate this vice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minie balls incorporate a soft lead skirt that swells to engage a weapon’s rifling upon firing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
This is a human femur struck by a Minie ball during the American Civil War. Wow, that would really suck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Minie Ball was a cast lead hollow-based bullet designed by Claude-Etienne Minie. Minie Balls first saw widespread use during the Crimean War in the 1850s. The Minie Ball sported three grease-filled cannelures on the outside and a malleable skirt on the bottom. Upon firing powder gases tended to expand the skirt such that the bullet engaged the rifling without being unduly snug during loading. When carried in paper cartridges and fired through relatively precise weapons, like Jack Hinson\u2019s Long Rifle, the Minie Ball afforded a decent rate of accurate fire as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rest of the Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
After the war “Old Jack” Hinson returned to his farm and what remained of his family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the war \u201cOld Jack\u201d laid down his arms and returned home to Stewart County, Tennessee. He settled the estate of his son George, one of seven Hinson children who had succumbed to combat, occupying Union forces, or disease during the course of the war. While he bumped up against the law from time to time, for the most part, Hinson didn\u2019t bother anybody and few people bothered him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19th-century medicine was fairly primitive. In response to serious medical challenges most folks simply died.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On April 28, 1874, Jack Hinson was at his new residence in Houston County, Tennessee, and complained of severe upper back pain. The local medical practitioner was summoned, and the usual treatments undertaken. Six hours later Hinson died. His presumptive diagnosis was meningitis. I obviously wasn\u2019t there but given the rapidity of onset and tearing sensation between his shoulder blades I\u2019d put my money on a dissecting aortic aneurysm myself. Old Jack was 67 at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the handmade lock and set trigger on Jack Hinson’s custom-crafted Kentucky long rifle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Jack Hinson peened these little circles into the barrel of his Kentucky rifle to signify Union officers he killed in combat. That’s a lot of circles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jack Hinson\u2019s shopworn .50-caliber Kentucky Long Rifle survives to this day. The gun bears the marks of 36 kills. However, the number of 100 or more seems more historically reliable based upon period sources. It has been suggested that Old Jack only documented the officers he shot on his deadly implement of violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Finnish soldier Simo Hayha was likely the most successful sniper in military history. Hayha killed 505 enemy troops in 100 days, typically at short to medium ranges using either a Mosin-Nagant rifle over iron sights or a Suomi submachine gun.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Chris Kyle epitomized the modern special operations sniper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Finnish sniper Simo Hayha was likely history\u2019s most successful sniper with more than 500 verified kills, all taken at fairly close range over the span of 100 days. Numerous Soviet snipers racked up counts in the hundreds during World War 2. The American Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle had 160 confirmed. However, each of these warriors used fairly modern equipment. Back in the 1860s, a Tennessee farmer with a grudge used a muzzleloading single-shot Kentucky Long Rifle to terrorize thousands of Federal troops. His exploits stand in bitter testament to the chaos that can be wrought by a single determined rifleman with a gun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Old Jack” Hinson’s story was one of betrayal, loss, heartbreak, and revenge. His tale was larger than life.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

***Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a>***<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in the 1860s, a Tennessee farmer with a grudge used a muzzleloading single-shot Kentucky Long Rifle to terrorize thousands of Federal troops. His exploits stand in bitter testament to the chaos that can be wrought by a single determined rifleman with a gun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":147447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[257,772],"tags":[132,2616,102,752,636,1216,335,683],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-147428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-historical-guns","8":"category-will-dabbs","9":"tag-buzz","10":"tag-civil-war","11":"tag-feature-articles","12":"tag-historical-guns","13":"tag-history","14":"tag-long-range-shooting","15":"tag-military","16":"tag-sniper"},"yoast_head":"\n"Old Jack" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""Old Jack" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool - Will Dabbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Old Jack" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Back in the 1860s, a Tennessee farmer with a grudge used a muzzleloading single-shot Kentucky Long Rifle to terrorize thousands of Federal troops. His exploits stand in bitter testament to the chaos that can be wrought by a single determined rifleman with a gun.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gun Reviews and News | GunsAmerica.com\/Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/will.dabbs.9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-03T16:32:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-07T13:53:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-05-at-7.19.54-PM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"878\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Will Dabbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Will Dabbs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"14 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Will Dabbs\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b818f415191c071a88bdc0d8cb33eca\"},\"headline\":\"“Old Jack” Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn’t Cool\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-03T16:32:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-07T13:53:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2024,\"commentCount\":54,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-05-at-7.19.54-PM.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Buzz\",\"civil war\",\"Feature Articles\",\"Historical Guns\",\"History\",\"Long Range Shooting\",\"Military\",\"sniper\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Historical Guns\",\"Will Dabbs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Old Jack\\\" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-05-at-7.19.54-PM.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-03T16:32:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-07T13:53:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"\\\"Old Jack\\\" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool - Will Dabbs\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-05-at-7.19.54-PM.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-05-at-7.19.54-PM.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":878,\"caption\":\"\\\"Old Jack\\\" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Old Jack” Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn’t Cool\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/\",\"name\":\"Gun Reviews and News | GunsAmerica.com\\\/Digest\",\"description\":\"Gun Reviews, Industry News, and Product Reviews for Rifles, Pistols, Revolvers, Shotguns, Optics, and Ammunition. Looking to purchase a firearm online? Look no further than GunsAmerica.com, America's premier destination for buying and selling firearms.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GunsAmerica\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/image-3.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/image-3.png\",\"width\":286,\"height\":156,\"caption\":\"GunsAmerica\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/gunsamerica\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/gunsamerica\",\"https:\\\/\\\/instagram.com\\\/gunsamerica_official\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/GunsAmerica\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b818f415191c071a88bdc0d8cb33eca\",\"name\":\"Will Dabbs\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3f92754a3ed333ac83169c15688576870270fedca39840d42964bdc8aba0f8bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3f92754a3ed333ac83169c15688576870270fedca39840d42964bdc8aba0f8bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3f92754a3ed333ac83169c15688576870270fedca39840d42964bdc8aba0f8bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Will Dabbs\"},\"description\":\"Will is still trying to figure out what he really wants to be when he grows up. However, shooting guns and claiming it was work seemed like a pretty sweet hustle. As a result, Will serendipitously transformed an avocation into a vocation. Raised in the Mississippi Delta, Will flew UH1H, OH58A\\\/C, CH47D and AH1S helicopters operationally as an Army Aviator. He is SCUBA-qualified and has parachuted out of perfectly good airplanes at 3 o'clock in the morning. Will has summited Mount McKinley, Alaska, six times\u2026always at the controls of an Army helicopter, which is the only way sensible folk climb mountains. Will has delivered sixty babies and occasionally wrung human blood out of his socks. He is married to his high school sweetheart and has three awesome adult children. Turn-ons include vintage German machineguns, flying his sexy-cool RV6A airplane, Count Chocula cereal and the movie \u201cAliens.\u201d www.word-monkey.com Experience: -Professional Writer-thousands of publishing credits for dozens of titles -Mechanical Engineer\\\/Practicing Physician -Instrument-rated Commercial Pilot -Sunday School Teacher\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.word-monkey.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/will.dabbs.9\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/drwildmanmd\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/author\\\/willdabbs\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Old Jack\" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool","description":"\"Old Jack\" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool - Will Dabbs","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Old Jack\" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool","og_description":"Back in the 1860s, a Tennessee farmer with a grudge used a muzzleloading single-shot Kentucky Long Rifle to terrorize thousands of Federal troops. His exploits stand in bitter testament to the chaos that can be wrought by a single determined rifleman with a gun.","og_url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/","og_site_name":"Gun Reviews and News | GunsAmerica.com\/Digest","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gunsamerica","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/will.dabbs.9","article_published_time":"2021-10-03T16:32:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-07T13:53:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":878,"url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-05-at-7.19.54-PM.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Will Dabbs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gunsamerica","twitter_site":"@gunsamerica","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Will Dabbs","Est. reading time":"14 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/"},"author":{"name":"Will Dabbs","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#\/schema\/person\/4b818f415191c071a88bdc0d8cb33eca"},"headline":"“Old Jack” Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn’t Cool","datePublished":"2021-10-03T16:32:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-07T13:53:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/"},"wordCount":2024,"commentCount":54,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-05-at-7.19.54-PM.jpg","keywords":["Buzz","civil war","Feature Articles","Historical Guns","History","Long Range Shooting","Military","sniper"],"articleSection":["Historical Guns","Will Dabbs"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/","url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/","name":"\"Old Jack\" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-05-at-7.19.54-PM.jpg","datePublished":"2021-10-03T16:32:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-07T13:53:43+00:00","description":"\"Old Jack\" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool - Will Dabbs","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-05-at-7.19.54-PM.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-05-at-7.19.54-PM.jpg","width":1500,"height":878,"caption":"\"Old Jack\" Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn't Cool"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/old-jack-hinson-civil-war-sniper-back-when-sniping-wasnt-cool\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Old Jack” Hinson: Civil War Sniper Back When Sniping Wasn’t Cool"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/","name":"Gun Reviews and News | GunsAmerica.com\/Digest","description":"Gun Reviews, Industry News, and Product Reviews for Rifles, Pistols, Revolvers, Shotguns, Optics, and Ammunition. Looking to purchase a firearm online? Look no further than GunsAmerica.com, America's premier destination for buying and selling firearms.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#organization","name":"GunsAmerica","url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-3.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-3.png","width":286,"height":156,"caption":"GunsAmerica"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gunsamerica","https:\/\/x.com\/gunsamerica","https:\/\/instagram.com\/gunsamerica_official\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/GunsAmerica"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#\/schema\/person\/4b818f415191c071a88bdc0d8cb33eca","name":"Will Dabbs","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f92754a3ed333ac83169c15688576870270fedca39840d42964bdc8aba0f8bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f92754a3ed333ac83169c15688576870270fedca39840d42964bdc8aba0f8bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f92754a3ed333ac83169c15688576870270fedca39840d42964bdc8aba0f8bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Will Dabbs"},"description":"Will is still trying to figure out what he really wants to be when he grows up. However, shooting guns and claiming it was work seemed like a pretty sweet hustle. As a result, Will serendipitously transformed an avocation into a vocation. Raised in the Mississippi Delta, Will flew UH1H, OH58A\/C, CH47D and AH1S helicopters operationally as an Army Aviator. He is SCUBA-qualified and has parachuted out of perfectly good airplanes at 3 o'clock in the morning. Will has summited Mount McKinley, Alaska, six times\u2026always at the controls of an Army helicopter, which is the only way sensible folk climb mountains. Will has delivered sixty babies and occasionally wrung human blood out of his socks. He is married to his high school sweetheart and has three awesome adult children. Turn-ons include vintage German machineguns, flying his sexy-cool RV6A airplane, Count Chocula cereal and the movie \u201cAliens.\u201d www.word-monkey.com Experience: -Professional Writer-thousands of publishing credits for dozens of titles -Mechanical Engineer\/Practicing Physician -Instrument-rated Commercial Pilot -Sunday School Teacher","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.word-monkey.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/will.dabbs.9","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drwildmanmd\/"],"url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/author\/willdabbs\/"}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-05-at-7.19.54-PM-150x88.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147428"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187877,"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147428\/revisions\/187877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147428"},{"taxonomy":"featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured?post=147428"},{"taxonomy":"hunt365","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hunt365?post=147428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}