Book reviews
Union wrong unleashed Hinson’s one-man war

“Jack Hinson’s One-Man War,” by Tom C. McKenney, 400 pages, Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, La.,  2009, $25.95.

Reviewed by
ED FORD
Bugle Editor/Publisher

Just when you think everything has been written about the Civil War, along comes an author who hits one out of the park.

The book is “Jack Hinson’s One-Man War,” a lost-in-history account of a wronged Kentucky-Tennessee farmer who avenges the Union murder of two sons. Lt. Col. Tom McKenney, a retired Marine Corps veteran of Korea and Vietnam, effectively weaves the story of a land-between-the-rivers landowner whose Scots-Irish heritage leads him to fight back against the irresponsibility of war.

Jack Hinson was a hard-working, peace-loving farmer who took a position of neutrality where the Civil War was concerned. He wanted nothing more than to continue life as his family had experienced it for decades in the land between the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers – an area now known as the Land Between the Lakes Recreation Area.

But, the war changed all that as Union troops occupied the 15x60-miles strip of land on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. In 1862, Union cavalry incorrectly accused and executed two of Hinson’s sons as bushwackers and placed their severed heads on the fence around his home.  True to his highland heritage, Hinson reverted to his warrior roots and not only avenged the murder of his sons, but became a sniper who terrorized the Federals for the rest of war. Jack’s hit-and-run tactics resulted in the death of some 100 men and, despite all attempts, he successfully evaded capture. Infantry and cavalry from nine regiments and an amphibious task force of marines all failed to catch the nearly 60-year-old Hinson.

Cool and calculating, Hinson devised and had made a special heavy-barreled .50 caliber rifle that he designed for long-range accuracy. During his one-man campaign, he took down an armed Union transport and served as a scout for Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. The Hinson biography has an interesting cast of characters, including the Earp brothers and Jesse James, a cousin of Jack’s wife.

A true, but untold story, Jack Hinson’s war may never have been known had it not been for author McKenny’s curiosity and perseverance – and, a Kentucky historical marker. Col. McKenney stopped to read the marker while driving through the Land Between the Lakes in the mid-1960s. The marker briefly highlighted Hinson’s war of vengeance and so piqued the interest of the Colonel that he devoted 15 years to researching the story.

For Civil War buffs, the early portions of the book essentially are a re-cap of Civil War history they already know. But, Gen. Grant’s invasion of Western Kentucky and the battles at Forts Henry and Donelson set the stage for the fascinating story of Jack Hinson. The Lexington-born McKenney deftly details the trials and tribulations that Hinson creates for a frustrated Union Army.

Like many writers, I also view a manuscript from the standpoint of its visual possibilities. In other words, what kind of motion picture could be made from this story. The answer is, a great one! If Hollywood or the History Channel doesn’t pick up on “Jack Hinson’s One-Man War,” they’ve missed the boat.

This book is well worth your time.


Good guide to mysteries of digital photography

“The Genealogist’s Guide to Digital Photography,” by Danna C. Estridge, 140 pages, Booklocker Press, 2009, Paperback $15.95, E-Book $9.95.

How much do you know about pixels and megapixels?

What are the differences between a point-and-shoot, compact, and single-lens-reflex cameras (SLR)?

Does a diaper bag make a good camera bag?

If digital photography is a mystery, solve it by purchasing this book by photographer and writer Danna Estridge. Although produced for genealogists and their specific needs, Estridge provides a great explanation and “how-to” about today’s modern photography. It’s a guide that will serve you well in getting better digital photographs.

And, the author doesn’t waste time getting to the point.

“I hate clichés,” she writes, “but in this case it is appropriate: photography ‘is not rocket science.’ Almost anyone can learn to take a good photograph. It just takes practice and patience. Mostly practice. Lots of practice. And with digital cameras, that practice is extremely inexpensive.”

Estridge, who has been shooting Camp Wildcat re-enactments for 13 years, devotes the first eight chapters of her book to digital photo tips that will work well for any Civil War photographer. She explains in understandable terms about choosing the right camera, resolution and format, memory cards and pixels and megapixels. That’s why this volume is a great buy. It will make a good photographer into a better one.

And, if you didn’t know, a pixel stands for “picture element”, which means a pixel is one tiny element of a digital image. And, a megapixel contains one million pixels.

A compact camera, she explains, is a good inexpensive photo device.  It has a wide range of features, including zoom and wide-angle lenses and a built-in flash. The next step up the photographic ladder is the digital single lens reflex camera, she adds.

And, why does a diaper bag make a good camera bag?

They’re “padded, have several small compartments inside, are waterproof, have a shoulder strap, and are usually less expensive than a camera bag.”

Contact the publisher at www.booklocker.com.

-  Ed Ford


Book fills Kentucky’s guerrilla war void

“Guerrilla War in Kentucky: Burbridge and Berrys,” by Gordon Mellish, Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing. 2008; 275 pages, soft cover, with appendix and bibliography, $27.90.

Reviewed by
DR. PAUL D. ROMINGER
Bugle Staff Writer

Gordon Mellish, from Clemmons, N.C., has previously written on William Quantrill and the guerrilla war in Missouri. This book fills a void on guerrilla war in Kentucky and General Stephen Gano Burbridge.

“Guerrilla War in Kentucky” includes information on the Berry brothers and other actions in the Commonwealth and lists more than 430 actions and skirmishes in 75 Kentucky counties. In both the North and South, Burbridge became persona non grata because of his reputation for cruelty, dishonesty and incompetence. He interfered in elections, forced farmers to sell hogs below market price and executed innocent Confederate soldiers each time a Union man was killed.

He became so unpopular that politicians refused to associate with him after the war and several attempts were made to assassinate him.

It is difficult to imagine Burbridge as being so cruel. He was an educated and well-to-do man. Seventeen years after the Civil War, he wrote both The Louisville Courier-Journal and The Cincinnati Commercial in a lengthy defense of the charges made against him. He excused many actions by reciting general orders sent to him by superior officers. However, he concluded his defense by saying, "my general conviction is that too few guerillas were executed. The execution of a few hundred more would have been productive of good to the peaceable citizens of the State."

In the final analysis, the reader will have to judge by the standards of the time whether or not the reputation of General Burbridge is deserved.