Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Authority

Captain Jack Hinson and Divine Justice

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Civil Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2022-07-06

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver examines the biblical foundation for justice as a primary purpose of civil government, then explores what happens when government fails to execute justice. Using the historical account of Captain Jack Hinson—a Confederate sniper who sought vengeance after Union soldiers murdered his two sons—Weaver argues that God sovereignly raises up individuals to administer justice when the state defaults. The sermon includes applications about trusting God's ultimate judgment, recognizing that some men are not to be trifled with, and the importance of obedience and trust over romanticized violence.

[John Weaver] Ezekiel chapter 45 and verse 9. Notice, if you would, what the Word of God says. Thus saith the Lord God, let it suffice you, O princes of Israel, remove violence and spoil and execute judgment and justice. Take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God. Justice is extremely important. In fact, justice is one of the two functions of civil government that is outlined in Romans chapter 13. In fact, there are only basically two reasons why God instituted civil government, and that is number one for the protection of the righteous and number two for the punishment of the wicked. So judges have been ordained by God basically to bring forth judges, to bring forth justice. And in Psalm 82 and verse 3, the Bible tells the judges to defend the poor and the fatherless and to do justice to the afflicted and the needy. And interestingly enough, the Bible says in Psalm 89 and verse 14, that judgment and justice are the habitation of his throne. And here's a thought that you might consider, and that is God is so interested in justice that he actually prefers justice before sacrifice, because the Bible says in Proverbs 21 and verse three, to do justice and judgment, to do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

[John Weaver] So God would much rather have our obedience than anything else. So there's a question that has to be asked because obviously we are living in a day when justice is fallen and we no longer have justice. So what in the world happens when civil government fails in its responsibility? What happens when injustice prevails? We are today in a position much like they were in the days of Isaiah, when he said in Isaiah 59 in verse 14, and judgment is turned away backward and justice standeth afar off, for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter. So what happens in when civil government refuses to execute the justice that God demands and the justice for which God instituted government to begin with? And here's the answer to that question. Inevitably, God in his sovereignty will raise up someone who will administer his justice. Usually that someone will be an exceptional individual or an exceptional group. It'll be someone upon whom God has placed his hand, and usually it'll be someone who suffered innumerable injustices in himself and or in his family.

[John Weaver] Now, what you're going to tell me is this. Well, Pastor, that almost sounds like vigilantism. Well, let me give you tonight a concept on vigilantism that you may not have considered before. Vigilantism is a word that is often misused and misunderstood. Originally, this term vigilantism did not refer to a single man, as we would say today, taking the law into his own hands. The term vigilantism actually refers to the creation and the enforcement of law by an organized extra-legal group in the supposed absence of adequate law enforcement and justice. So, vigilantism actually began in the United States in 1767 in South Carolina, where the backcountry people were suffering repeated wrongs and injustices by outlaws. There was no law around, there were no courts around, and so the people then gathered together and formed a group that would actually protect themselves from all of these outlaws. Now, the word vigilantism actually comes from the word vigilance and or to be vigilant.

[John Weaver] Black's Law Dictionary defines vigilance as these watchfulness, precaution, a proper degree of activity and promptness in pursuing one's rights or guarding them from infraction or in making or discovering opportunities for the enforcement of one's lawful claims and demands. So vigilantism is not necessarily something that's evil in and of itself. So technically and legally, according to Black's Law Dictionary, vigilantes are only doing that which the law will not do or cannot do. They're simply protecting themselves and their families, and they're trying to secure their rights and their freedoms. And so they are injured, introducing justice in and off themselves. I suppose that according to Black's Law Dictionary, if you read the Bible, there are several individuals you might consider as vigilantes.

[John Weaver] For instance, there is Ehud and there was Jephthah and there was even Gideon. When you stop and think about these men had calls of God upon their lives, but they were not elected by the people. They were not chosen by the people. They were not voted on by the people. God just simply had his hand upon them and God called them and many times they did indeed act individually and sometimes they acted corporately as well. So these people in were just simply. doing the work of God and exercising justice. That is why God raised up all the judges. If you would read the Book of Judges, and I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but in 1774, when George III would send his governors over here and those governors could not care anything at all about the colonies, they were just interested in supporting George III and his rules and regulations.

[John Weaver] So what did the colonists do? They rejected and denied the governors that George III sent over and then they chose and elected their own people and then they followed them instead of the governors by George III. So inevitably when there is injustice and the state fails to do its duty, then God always raises up someone who will execute that judgment and that justice. One such man that God used in the war of northern aggression was a man by the name of John S.

[John Weaver] Henson, who was also known as Jack Henson, or just simply Captain Jack. Jack Henson became a sniper And he kept the federal soldiers in absolute terror. He was hunted, he was tracked, he was sought after, but he was never ever captured.

[John Weaver] Now the primary goal of a sniper or a guerrilla or even a group of guerrillas is to harass, ambush, hit and destroy all of the enemy's property and goods it can possibly do. And I might add also to do all of this without being captured. So usually the sniper or the guerrilla would come along and cut telegraph lines, or tear up railroad tracks, or set fire to some property.

[John Weaver] And then of course when the federal troops came out to remedy the situation, then they were ambushed. And then they were taken care of in that sense of the word. But when more than just a few came out, then the sniper and or the gorillas would just simply fade into the woods and absolutely disappear.

[John Weaver] Now, Jack Henson became a gorilla sniper, and I might say that he was par excellence in that, and he acted alone. He moved like a ghost through the forest. And these men that fought like this were known as Bushwhackers. I have a message on Bushwhacker Johnson, who was a Methodist preacher in Alabama. And you would be amazed at what he was able to do. But Bushwhackers were not counted like regular soldiers.

[John Weaver] So if a soldier was captured in uniform, he was to be treated as a prisoner of war. But however, when the bushwhacker was caught, that was a horse of a different color because usually they were shot or hanged on the spot. So here is the order from General Clinton B. Fisk, and he wrote the order to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel M. Draper on April the 18th, 1864. And listen to what this Union general said. Try the bushwhacker by a drumhead court-martial tonight. And let every soldier in Macon shoot him if he is guilty, as he doubtless is.

[John Weaver] And then he closed with these words, don't allow in the future such prisoners to be brought in. In other words, he didn't want anyone going through a court-martial if he was deemed a bushwhacker, just kill them on the spot, leave them laying there. Again, the same day General Fiske telegraphed another subordinate, to let him know that he had not misunderstood this policy. He said, tell the party who have the Bushwhacker Honeywell that I want no such prisoners. Your orders are correct.

[John Weaver] Let that be the rule from now on. So don't even bother bringing them in. Just shoot them and kill them and leave them there. It was Union General Rose Kranz who ordered to kill any Bushwhacker that you can find engaged in his hellish work. And then General Fisk, once again, wrote to Major Samuel A. Garth and said this, we must, during the winter and spring, kill these disturbers of the peace. And in your sub-district, I trust the work will begin at once and continue until the last imp expires.

[John Weaver] Hesitate not to burn down every house where it can be demonstrated that the occupants harbor or conceal the murdering fiends. and destroy everything on the premises, deal summarily with the parties who harbor and conceal, they're equally guilty with the bushwhacker and must share his fate. William Tecumseh Sherman gave his advice to General John A. Logan concerning snipers who shot at Yankee River traffic. And I want you to listen to what Sherman said he would do for any sniper who fired a round at a Yankee transport boat. Here's what he said. For every bullet shot at a steamboat, I would shoot a thousand 30-pound parrots at his rifle cannon shells, even into helpless towns. A thousand rounds of cannon for one bullet. even into helpless towns. Jack Henson would indeed become a nightmare for the Yankee transports, gunships, and boats carrying Yankee supplies and troops.

[John Weaver] Moreover, he would become what is known as an avenging angel, and he would be dishing out.50 caliber justice. Snipers and sharpshooters from the Confederacy were so effective by the time of October 1862, that Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter issued orders to those on his ships, and listen to what he said. His orders were never to tie up at banks, to keep their deck guns loaded and trained on the banks, and to keep small arms loaded and ready to repel boarders. His orders were that if they were sniped at or attacked from the banks, that they were to shell and destroy houses near the sniping or any attack from the banks, and they were to do it with spirit, regardless of casualties among innocent civilians. Then he went on to say this, if innocent civilians were hurt or killed, it was their own fault. It was their own fault just simply because they were there, even though they did not fire at the boat.

[John Weaver] Jack Henson, although he was a Confederate sniper, was not necessarily a Confederate soldier. And the reason being, when the war began, Jack Henson was 57 years old and he was too old to be a soldier. Moreover, Jack Henson tried to take a position of neutrality. And the reason he tried to take a position of neutrality was he was also personal friends with General Ulysses S. Grant. He was also personal friends with a lot of Confederate generals as well. Jack Henson also saw the fall of Fort Donelson. And a year later, Jack Henson was called upon to testify concerning the ineptitude of Generals Floyd and Pillow in allowing that Great catastrophe with Fort Donaldson. Later on, Jack Henson actually became a scout for Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

[John Weaver] Now, Jack and his wife Elizabeth had 12 children, only five of which survived their parents. And Jack was a very successful farmer. He was also a real estate investor. He was a land developer. And overall, he was a very sharp individual and businessman. He may not have been what you and I would call extremely wealthy, but he was certainly not poor by any stretch of the imagination. Jack owned his home, which was named Bubbling Springs because of all the springs there on the property. Now, Jack also had a number of slaves. His family included not only the White Hensons, but the Black Hensons as well. In the summer of 1862, And Jack understood that it would probably be best if the Black Hensons were set free, that they would have a better chance of survival. So Jack then gave each of his slaves in 1862 their freedom papers. And each one of those slaves agreed to stay with him and work with him. Now, according to monetary values at that time, The freedom papers that he gave his slaves would have been valued at over $50,000.

[John Weaver] I might also add that the black Henson's were armed just like the white Henson's were armed. And when the Yankees came later to harass the Henson family, not only did the white Henson hide their arms, but also the black Henson's as well.

[John Weaver] Now, Jack had a number of children, as I pointed out, but he had two sons, George and John. And George and John were arrested after the fall of Fort Donaldson. And they were arrested as spies. And the interesting thing was, the boys were not spies. They were not even soldiers. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And they served about one month in confinement. until they realized they'd made a horrible mistake, and they let the boys go. So these boys were not soldiers by any stretch of the imagination whatsoever.

[John Weaver] But atrocities began to be committed everywhere in Tennessee, as well as the other states, by the Yankees. Sherman's subordinate, who happened to be Major General Stephen G. Burbidge, practiced what he called a form of atonement. And what he did was this. Whenever a Yankee soldier was killed or a Yankee sympathizer, he then went to his prison and brought out four Confederate soldiers and had them publicly shot. The soldiers had nothing to do with the death of the Yankee, but that didn't matter to Burbidge. He just brought them out and had them publicly shot because he was atoning for the death of that Yankee soldier or that Yankee sympathizer. Yankee Colonel Fielding Black, in July of 1863, captured six Confederate soldiers. And Hearst then took those Confederate soldiers, walked them down the road, shot one, buried him in the ground, standing up, With his body covered, all except his head, he did that one for each mile and left them as mile markers. It's difficult for you and I to imagine the horrendous atrocities that the Yankees really committed.

[John Weaver] If you want to read a good book, I would encourage you to read the book by Walter Bryan Sisko. Walter Brian Sisko talks about the Yankee outrages against civilians. What's the title of that book? Do you remember? Yeah, against civilians. It's crimes against civilians. Read the book. But when you read the book, make sure you don't have any loaded weapons around, because it will make you so angry to find out what the Yankees really and truly did to southern civilians. Well, there was a unique form of torture that the Yankees had, and it was called putting one's feet to the fire. Now, we use that illustration today and we say something like this, hold his feet to the fire. And by that, we mean making keep his word, make him perform, make him do what he said he would do.

[John Weaver] But the way that came about is this. And they would give this exquisite torture to those upon whom refused to reveal where their jewels were, where their silver and gold and where their money was. They happened to capture one old man by the name of James Gray. James Gray was not only a farmer, he was also a preacher. He was also one who had served in the state assembly of Tennessee. He was also one who had helped to write the Constitution of the state of Tennessee. He was also a man who had fought with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. When they asked James Ray for his money, he said he had none. So in order to make him to reveal where his money was hidden.

[John Weaver] They stretched his neck three times. Now, if you don't know what stretching the neck is, they simply formed a noose, put it around the man's neck through the rope over a limb, and then they would pull him up with their hands and let his feet dangle until he nearly choked to death, nearly smothered to death. Then they would drop him, let him catch his breath, stand him up, pull him up again, choke him down again. They did this three times to this old man.

[John Weaver] Each time they asked him for his money, each time he said, I have no money. So they then designed this exquisite torture to make him reveal where his money was. They tied him to a board. Took his shoes off. Built a fire under his feet. And cooked his feet until the flesh fell off. And then they asked him where his money was. And he said, I have none. And he did not.

[John Weaver] Then they left the old man in suffering and agony and pain. And believe it or not, he survived it. He was certainly crippled, but he certainly survived the torture. So indiscriminate looting and killing was everywhere in the county, and in neighboring counties as well. And for a while, the Henson's were safe, or at least thought they were safe, because of his friendship with General Grant. But pretty soon, that was not to hold any favor at all with the Yankees.

[John Weaver] And tragedy was going to strike, and it's going to strike hard. Now, Jack's oldest son, William, also was a Confederate soldier. However, he was fighting in Virginia and not in Tennessee, where Jack and his family lived. George, his 22-year-old son, and John, his 17-year-old son, had not joined the Army. They were at home. And so one morning, George and John decided that they were going to go deer hunting. It was one of their favorite spots into which they went. And they were sitting there with their weapons in their hand, waiting for the deer to come along.

[John Weaver] And all of a sudden they heard the rattle of sabers, horse hooves, and they knew a Yankee patrol was coming. Now, they could have run, they could have disappeared in the forest, but they were not soldiers and they were out hunting. And they had already been captured previously and let go, so clearly they were not frightful. It happened to be the 5th Iowa Cavalry coming. And when the lieutenant saw these two boys with their weapons in their hands, he'd been out looking for bushwhackers, and he assumed now that he had found bushwhackers. And so he leveled his carbine at these boys, and then all the troops under him also pointed their carbines at the boys. And very quickly, these boys were disarmed and they did not resist.

[John Weaver] And finally, he started making them walk down the road toward Dover, Tennessee. And they just assumed that pretty soon this is going to be over, he's going to realize who we are and he's going to find out that we are not bushwhackers and we'll go home. But it didn't turn out like that. They never went home again. They never saw another sunrise. The boys protested their innocence, but it was to no avail. The Union soldiers then raised their carbines and shot and murdered these two innocent boys.

[John Weaver] Now, murder was bad enough in and of itself. But what the soldiers did next was absolutely horrifying. The lieutenant took his heavy saber and cut the heads off from the bodies. The soldiers then took the bodies of these two boys into town, into Dover, Tennessee, tied their bodies to the back of their horses and drove them around town, pulled them around town, further mutilating their bodies. Well, the citizens of Dover, Tennessee, had seen much carnage and much murder. And yet they were absolutely horrified when they saw what was done to these two boys. They also recognized the bodies of these boys. They knew they were Henson boys. And they knew that Jack Henson was a leading man in that county. And they also knew that he was a friend of General Grant.

[John Weaver] It was Dr. J.W. Smith who was a local physician and also a friend of the Henson's, when he saw the bodies and he knew exactly who they were, he made a beeline to the Henson farm in order to prepare the Henson's for the shock and for the news. Thankfully, he got there a good while before the Yankees got there as well. So the problem now is very simple.

[John Weaver] George and John had been labeled bushwhackers. And according to the Union officers, if you had boys that were bushwhackers, it meant the family were bushwhackers as well. And the family was to share in the fate of the bushwhackers. Colonel Lowe had demanded that his soldiers have no mercy upon bushwhackers or upon their families or even their neighbors. It was Dr. Smith then who helped the ensigns to hide their weapons, both the white ensigns and the black ensigns. All the servants were instructed to know nothing about any weapons. Jack was thinking that he was prepared for the soldiers. When the soldiers got there, the lieutenant got off his horse, drew his pistol, and pointed it right in the face of Jack. Dr. Smith was there. Jack was absolutely flabbergasted.

[John Weaver] But the next thing really, really shook him. Because the sergeant got off his horse with a sack. It was very, very bloody. The sergeant then reached into the sack and pulled out the heads of Jack's sons and crammed them down on the gate posts. Dr. Smith had to talk very fast and he let these men know that Jack Henson was not a criminal and Jack Henson and his family were not bushwhackers at all and that they had destroyed two innocent men. So the lieutenant then and his men went into the house searching the house for weapons. They overturned the furniture. They emptied the drawers.

[John Weaver] They threw over the mattresses. They went through the barns. They went through everywhere and they found absolutely No weapons. And so they left. Jack was still with grief and rage at the same time. He was stunned. He was shocked. And he was unable to even think for a moment. And the only thing that he could think about was to retrieve the bodies of his sons. And unite the heads with those bodies and give them a proper burial. And he did so. Jack Henson was a very deliberate man. He was not a man that was moved with passion, although obviously. He was a man who had a rage against these men who murdered his sons.

[John Weaver] But now plan was forming in his mind. And he determined that he would make these Yankee soldiers learn the law of sowing and reaping. In order to do so, Jack determined that he needed a special weapon. He had a smoothbore rifle, obviously, but that was not going to do for him. He wanted one of the latest rifles, one with a rifled barrel, one that would shoot accurately for long distances, and one that had such a heavy caliber that if it hit a man above the legs, it would be a fatal shot. So Jack wanted such a weapon. He wanted a weapon that would shoot accurately out to a thousand yards and better. So it's going to take time then for this weapon to be built. Moreover, it's going to take time for him to accrue all of the equipment that he needs, caps and powder and mini balls, that kind of thing, without attracting attention to himself. You have to remember, I told you earlier that Jack was not only a farmer, he was also a land developer.

[John Weaver] He was into real estate. And many times he rode through other counties looking at land and looking at crops as well. And while he was doing this, he began gathering all the equipment that he would need to shoot his new rifle. Jack knew that when he put his plan into action, he was going to be a hunted man. However, I'm sure that Jack Henson never, never dreamed of how desperately he would be hunted before the war was over. Listen carefully. Before the war was over, the union would have two cavalry regiments. seven infantry regiments, and a specially equipped amphibious task force of sailors and marines, both infantry and mounted, all searching for Jack Henson. Jack Henson, with his new rifle, which I'm going to tell you about, before the war ended, killed over a hundred Union soldiers, officers mainly. When Jack received his rifle, the stock was made from the best maple wood available.

[John Weaver] The octagonal barrel was 41 inches long. It was an inch and a half thick. The rifle weighed 18 pounds. It was impossible then just about to hold this rifle and shoot it off hand. So it was designed to shoot from stumps and logs and limbs and anything that would help support that rifle. And Jack was concerned particularly about these men who had murdered his son. So in order to throw suspicion from himself, he went down to the fort one day when hardly anyone was there.

[John Weaver] And he deliberately took the oath of allegiance. Now, he did not intend on keeping that oath, but all he was doing at that particular time was trying to throw them off his trail and to keep them away from his family. He was not at this point really and truly at war with the U.S. government. He was at war with the two men particularly responsible for the murder of his sons.

[John Weaver] So Jack then was a very thoroughly reasonable man. And what he was about to do and what he was about to undertake, he had thought out very well. And his plan was ultimately to bring these murderers to justice. So Jack had scouted out all the routes that had been taken by the patrols. And so he went to a spot where he knew these Yankee patrols would be going up and down. And so he found a spot where he could be well camouflaged and well hidden.

[John Weaver] And he laid out all of his weaponry, had it ready. He put 100 grains of powder in that muzzleloader. Put his bullet in, took the ramrod, pushed it down, cocked it, put the cap on and waited. And sure enough, along came the Yankee patrol and the lieutenant was leading that patrol. Jack pressed the set trigger. And all the set trigger does is make the firing trigger very, very light. And so when he saw the lieutenant, he took dead aim. And just as he pressed the trigger, the lieutenant turned and looked at him. And the bullet hit the lieutenant in the throat and killed him instantly.

[John Weaver] He fell from his horse. The other Yankee patrolmen jumped from their horses, tried to figure out where the shot had come from. By that time, Jack had gotten clean away. Here is the lieutenant that was responsible for the murder of his sons now dead. So Jack now had another man in his sight, and that was the sergeant that came out and took the heads of his sons out of the sack and crammed them down with a sneer on the gateposts. Again, Jack was out looking and scouting, and he saw the patrol and he watched them as they passed. And as they passed by, he saw the face of this sergeant.

[John Weaver] He knew who he was. And so he waited. He cleared his spot. And waited and waited until the patrol came back by. Once they came by. He'd cleared his area in which he was going to shoot. He had everything laid out. And when that sergeant's sneering face came in, Jack took dead aim and shot, and it went right through his chest, killing him instantly. But as he fell from the horse, his foot got caught in the stirrup. The horse began to run and the Yankee soldier was being dragged by the horse. Some of the other soldiers were running to get this man away from the horse.

[John Weaver] Others were firing needlessly into the brush. No one knew where Jack was. And by this time, Jack was gone. All the confusion helped him to escape. Now, Jack had to ask himself a question. The question was, is it over? He had gotten the two men who were most responsible for the murder of his sons. But events were fixing the heat up so greatly for the Henson family, and all Southern families as well, that it could not possibly be over. Union General George Thomas advocating depopulating the area of Southern people and pro-Confederate people.

[John Weaver] Here's what he said, listen carefully. This report exhibits a state of affairs by no means peculiar to Tennessee. The state of Kentucky is in the same condition. The conciliatory has failed. And however, as much as we may regret the necessity, we shall be compelled to send disloyal people of all ages and sexes to the South or beyond our lines. In other words, just like the state of Missouri now in Tennessee, they're going to take all the Southern people and drive them from their homes and drive them from their farms just simply because there were Southern people just because They believed that they were disloyal to the Union. The Union officer in charge of that area where Jack lived determined that he must do something about all the bushwhackers and about all the pro-Southern people.

[John Weaver] And so he decided that he wanted to exterminate the rascals and literally wipe them out. And it did not take proof. All it took was just mere suspicion. And if you were suspected of being a bushwhacker, if you were suspected of helping bushwhackers, if you were suspected of harboring bushwhackers in your home, you were guilty as well. Most of you have heard of Lieutenant General Louis V.

[John Weaver] Puller, United States Marine Corps, who's better known as Chesty Puller. Chesty Puller, is the most decorated, I should say was because he's now dead, but he was the most decorated marine in history. And before his death, Chesty Puller told of his grandmother's death at the hands of the Yankees. It was wintertime. It was cold. The ground was covered with snow. The Yankees visited his grandmother. and decided that they were going to burn her house down. And they did. And she had to walk ten miles in the snow, in the winter, in the dark, in order to get to a neighbor's house where she could find some help.

[John Weaver] She eventually died from the episode. Do you know why they burned her house to the ground? Because they saw her dead husband Spurs hanging on the wall. And they said she was guilty of having war supplies in her house. And so they burned the house to the ground. The Yanks finally came after the Henson family to burn them out, but thankfully it was winter, it was snow, ice, muddy, slick roads, and those things slowed the soldiers down.

[John Weaver] Word quickly spread to the Hensons that they were next on the list. And so as much food and supplies and weapons that could be hidden weren't hidden. The Henson family was very quickly put into a sled with all the money and all the provisions they could carry, and they were covered with hay. The black Hensons accompanied Mrs. Henson and the children, and they told Jack that they would give their lives to protect his wife and his children. And Jack went with them for about a mile just to see that they got away safely and the Yanks had not come for them. And by the way, the Black Hensons were successful. They did get the White Hensons away to safety. Jack, of course, then had to continue his mission. When the Yanks reached Bubbling Springs, the Henson home, They were infuriated that they had missed their mark, that the Henson's were gone. The only people there were the black Henson's. And one black woman claimed that the home, Bubbling Springs, was now her home and they should not burn it.

[John Weaver] But the Yanks were infuriated and they were going to burn everything. They did burn the Henson home. And so finally, the black service said, you cannot burn the barn and you cannot burn our houses. Yes, they said we're going to burn everything. Then the black said, good, if you do so, please understand we're coming down to the fort and we're going to live with you and you're going to take care of us and support us.

[John Weaver] Well, they didn't want that. And so they spared the barn and the homes of the black people, but they burned bubbling springs to the ground. Jack had committed his family to the Lord. and asked for his protection upon them. And he also asked for his protection upon himself. And he then set off to find a place for him to live in the middle of the winter. And he found it.

[John Weaver] It was a cave high above the river that overlooked that river. And there was a chute in which the boats had to come down and coming down, they traveled at great speed because of the current. But coming up the river, they traveled ever so slowly because the current was against them. It was this place that Jack Henson would use that 50 caliber rifle and with great efficiency. Jack always made it a point to target the officers first. And on one occasion, a Union transport full of Yankee soldiers and war supplies was making its way up the river ever so slowly. Jack was 600 yards away. They would never see the smoke from his muzzleloader at 600 yards. Moreover, there was the mist of the river. So Jack singled out the Union officer that was in command of the troops. And he shot him first. And when he fell, another Union officer stepped forward. Jack shot him second. Another Union officer came up. Jack killed him.

[John Weaver] Now there's blood all over the deck. The Yankee soldiers are firing into the banks and into the bushes, but nowhere near Jack Henson. And so Jack Henson, coolly, calmly and deliberately laid down one Yankee after the other. And all of a sudden, Something unusual happened. The boat cut its engines and hoisted a white flag. The boat was surrendering to Jack Enson. Well, Jack could not come down and take command of that boat very clearly. And so after a while, When no one came to take control of the boat, the captain started the engines, lowered the white flag and very slowly continued up the river. According to Tom C. McKinney, who's the author of Jack Henson, One Man's War, he said this.

[John Weaver] It was the only time in recorded history that a fully armed naval vessel with embarked combat troops ever surrendered to one man. So a whole boatload of troops surrendered to one man. By this time, Jack had a price on his head. And Jack was not wanted dead or alive, Jack was just wanted dead. By this time, his rifle had 36 marks on it just from the officers that he had killed. He had a stamp And every time he killed a Yankee officer, he would hit it down on the barrel. And there were 36 marks for the 36 officers that he killed. While Jack was helping General Nathan Bedford Forrest as a scout at Johnsonville, Tennessee, he was asked about his campaign as a sniper and the growing price on his head by Major Charles W. Anderson. And Jack replied, he said, they murdered my boys. And they may kill me yet, but the marks on the barrel of my gun will show that I'm a long way ahead of them. And I'm not through yet.

[John Weaver] Major Anderson gave this description of Jack Henson, he said, Henson's clear gray eyes Compressed lips and massive jaws clearly indicated that under no circumstances was he a man to be trifled with or aroused, and under the great bereavement inflicted upon him by the wanton slaughter of his sons, he kept his oath to the close of the war, that is, to take care of all of those who were being unjust. Here's the interesting thing. Many of you know that during a time of war, there are a lot of criminals that will take advantage of the situation.

[John Weaver] And so there were men in Tennessee who were raping, looting, murdering. And it didn't matter if it was pro-Union or pro-Southern. They were doing it to anyone and everyone. Jack Henson discovered some of their names. And one by one, they begin to disappear. And Jack won the appreciation of the pro-Southern men and the pro-Union men as well, because most of the men who were left at home were aged and elderly.

[John Weaver] I suppose that may be where we get the words and the saying that he just needed killing. Because Jack did take care of these men who just needed killing. Let me give you one quick illustration of how good Jack was with this rifle. On one occasion, Jack rode into an open field and he immediately saw up ahead of him two Union soldiers. So he very quickly lured his rifle into the grass, took his possible bag off, dropped it in the grass and continued riding to the two Union soldiers. When he met them, they asked him, did he know Jack Henson? He replied, yes, he knew Jack Henson.

[John Weaver] The next question was, have you seen him lately? Yes, he said, I've seen him. Well, they asked, do you know where we might could find him? He said, well, of course I do. And he told him how to go and where to go where they might find Jack Henson. And so they galloped off. Jack Henson then turned around, picked up his rifle, picked up his possible bags, took a shortcut to where he told the two Union soldiers to go.

[John Weaver] He got there just a few minutes ahead of them. He knew he would have to be quick. He knew he would have to be good. He had his weapon laid out. He had his weapon loaded. He had everything else laid out. And when the two Union soldiers showed up. Listen. He took the first shot. And kill the first Yankee soldier. He knew he'd have to be fast because the second Yankee soldier is going to be pulling his carbine out to shoot. And Jack reloaded, shot, and killed a second Yankee soldier before the Yankee soldier could ever get a rifle on him and press the trigger. Now, would you listen to me? It's recorded. He shot the first man, reloaded. Remember, you've got to pour the powder into the barrel. You've got to push the bullet down.

[John Weaver] You have to cock it. You have to cap the nipple. You have to pull the set trigger. He did all of that in six seconds. In six seconds. Jack Henson's weapon killed over 100 of Grant's soldiers. Some of his shots were over 1,000 yards. When you stop and think of 1,000 yards, that is 3,000 feet, which is nearly three quarters of a mile. Alice and I have been to some of the battlefields. On one of those battlefields, here was a Confederate soldier, a valley, the next hill, a Union sentry. And the Confederate soldier aimed at that sentry, elevated his rifle, shot and killed the Union sentry, and it was exactly one mile. And here's Jack Henson, shooting accurately to well over a thousand yards with his specially made rifle. Although Jack Henson was hunted, he was never found. And many wanted him dead, but their wants never materialized.

[John Weaver] This courageous outdoorsman and woodsman finally died in 1874. His last years had been tough ones, but he lived with his family. He loved with his family until the end. And Jack died of natural causes at the age of 67 in July of 1874. He was truly a sniper and a marksman par excellence.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make you some applications, and I want you to think with me on this. The first one is this. We must learn that all injustice, tyranny and despotism will at last be righted in some manner. King Saul was a tyrant. King Saul did everything he could to murder innocent David. David had the opportunity to kill Saul and he would not. And here's what David said in first Samuel, chapter 26 in verse 10, he said, is the Lord live it. The Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to die or he shall descend in the battle and perish. David was emphasizing the fact that sooner or later Saul would be judged by God. Saul is not going to escape.

[John Weaver] It doesn't matter if it's old age. It doesn't matter if it's a natural death. It doesn't matter if it's in battle. God is going to take him out. That's exactly what he's saying. Please understand this. I don't care how great a sinner is. I don't care how rich the sinner is. I don't care how much power he has. He is not going to escape the wrath and the judgment of God with his sin.

[John Weaver] Here's another illustration, as well as an application. We have to learn that there are some men that are not to be trifled with. There are some men you better not pick on. The illustration I want to give you is I have a young preacher friend. I say young preacher friend. He's up in his forties now, fifties. And he is a small man. I mean, a small man, I suppose he's this high.

[John Weaver] Probably doesn't weigh over 130-140 pounds sopping wet. He was also an ex-marine. But he and his wife and two children were in a fast food restaurant eating. They finished and they started going out the door. And as they went out the door, a big burly man bumped into him, cursed him, took God's name in vain in front of his wife and children and went on outside.

[John Weaver] My pastor friend was wearing one of those little belly pouches, you know, that go around here. And so he looked at this man and he said, sir, the man turned around, he said, sir, you owe my wife and children an apology. You cursed when you walked past us and bumped into me." Moreover, he said, you owe God an apology. You took his name in vain. The man, ha, and cursed again. And my friend said to him, sir, you're not very observant, are you?

[John Weaver] He said, you see my hand in my pouch? He said, if I have to pull my hand out, you're either going to the morgue or to the hospital.

[John Weaver] Now, do we give you an apology? The man said, yes, I will apologize and I'm sorry. What I'm trying to tell you is this, sooner or later, sooner or later, they're going to run into the wrong man. I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to Psalm 149. I want you to see this. Psalm 149. And let's begin reading there with verse 5. Psalm 149 and verse 5. Look at it.

[John Weaver] God says, Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. Why should we sing aloud upon our beds? Let the high praises of God be in their mouth. Why should the high praises of God be in our mouth? And a two-edged sword in their hand. Are you looking? To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people. To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron. To execute upon them the judgment written This honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. Do you realize? When God brought Israel out of the land of Egypt. And brought them into the Canaan land. He put a sword in their hands and said slay them all. Slay them all. No one is going to escape the righteous wrath and judgment of God. Here's the third application.

[John Weaver] We must learn to trust and obey. I realize, especially to the young, war seems to be very romantic. I had a cousin who's now dead. He was a machine gunner in a helicopter in Vietnam. He got wounded, was sent home. Medically discharged. You know what he told me? He said, I am so thankful I got wounded. I said, really? Why are you so thankful you got wounded? I'm sure it's painful. He said, yes, I know it was painful, but I was shooting at them.

[John Weaver] And he said, I discovered something. I said, what's that? He said, they shoot back. They shoot back. I want you to listen to me. It is true a lot of times the enemy dies. But sometimes it's true that we die. Our family dies. The point I'm trying to make is this. If war and violence can be avoided by obedience and by trust, I'd much rather take the easy way out and be obedient to my God and trust in Him. Because war, no matter how romantic it may sound and no matter how heroic you may think you are, it doesn't always work out the way you think it's going to work out.

[John Weaver] So in that light, we better learn to obey and we better learn to seek God's protection on our lives. And let me tell you, It is true that God has given us weapons. It is true that God has given us minds. It is true that God has given us ability. But I will tell you this, unless God gives you His grace and His mercy, none of that's any good. I've had people ask me, do you have loaded weapons in your house? And I tell them every weapon in my house is loaded. I have weapons in the corner. I have weapons by my bed.

[John Weaver] Sometimes I have them under my pillow. I have, but let me tell you something. I could have 50 caliber machine guns stacked all around my bedroom. I could have a house in my bedroom. I could have anything in the world in my bedroom. But if intruders came in with intent of murdering me, if God didn't awaken me in time and enable me to shoot accurately, all of that machinery would be worthless and useless.

[John Weaver] As the song goes, trust and obey, for there's no other way. And if we can avoid problems by trusting and obedience, that's exactly the way we need to go. Jack Henson, like Captain Jonathan Davis, was a man who was willing to fight and bring forth justice. And God did use him just like he used Jephthah and Ehud and Gideon. How do we know? How do we know God used those men because of the successes in their lives? How do we know God used Jack Henson because of the success in his life?

[John Weaver] There was no law and order in Dover, Tennessee or in that area. No, none, because the Yanks were the ones who were doing most of the atrocities and violating the law. But God used Jack Henson to bring a measure of justice to that area. And inevitably, as unjust as our society becomes, God will raise up another Jack Henson. He will raise up another Samson. He will raise up another judge because justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne.

[John Weaver] Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We thank you, Lord, for the men whom you have used throughout the ages. Give us grace, Lord, that we may serve thee acceptably. Use us, teach us, build us up in the most holy faith. In thy name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Captain Jack Hinson and Divine Justice

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	78222350202428
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Authority
Genre	Sermon
Date	2022-07-06
Dictation Name
Book	Book 008: Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13 — Chapter 17
Source Timed Segments	74

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Biblical Mandate for Justice

Justice is a primary function of civil government according to Romans 13, and God prefers justice over sacrifice. The sermon opens with Ezekiel 45:9 and other verses establishing God's demand for justice.

Ezekiel chapter 45 and verse 9. Notice, if you would, what the Word of God says:

Scripture Reading — Ezekiel 45:9

"Thus saith the Lord God, let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice. Take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God."

Justice is extremely important. In fact, justice is one of the two functions of civil government that is outlined in Romans chapter 13. In fact, there are only basically two reasons why God instituted civil government, and that is number one, for the protection of the righteous, and number two, for the punishment of the wicked. So judges have been ordained by God basically to bring forth judges, to bring forth justice. And in Psalm 82 and verse 3, the Bible tells the judges to defend the poor and the fatherless and to do justice to the afflicted and the needy. And interestingly enough, the Bible says in Psalm 89 and verse 14, that judgment and justice are the habitation of his throne. And here's a thought that you might consider, and that is God is so interested in justice that He actually prefers justice before sacrifice, because the Bible says in Proverbs 21 and verse 3, "To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."

The Failure of Civil Government and God's Response

When civil government fails to execute justice, God raises up exceptional individuals to administer His justice, often those who have suffered injustices themselves.

So God would much rather have our obedience than anything else. So there's a question that has to be asked because obviously we are living in a day when justice is fallen and we no longer have justice. So what in the world happens when civil government fails in its responsibility? What happens when injustice prevails? We are today in a position much like they were in the days of Isaiah, when he said in Isaiah 59 and verse 14,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 59:14

"And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter."

So what happens when civil government refuses to execute the justice that God demands and the justice for which God instituted government to begin with? And here's the answer to that question. Inevitably, God in His sovereignty will raise up someone who will administer His justice. Usually that someone will be an exceptional individual or an exceptional group. It'll be someone upon whom God has placed His hand, and usually it'll be someone who suffered innumerable injustices in himself and or in his family.

Now, what you're going to tell me is this: "Well, Pastor, that almost sounds like vigilantism." Well, let me give you tonight a concept on vigilantism that you may not have considered before. Vigilantism is a word that is often misused and misunderstood. Originally, this term vigilantism did not refer to a single man, as we would say today, taking the law into his own hands. The term vigilantism actually refers to the creation and the enforcement of law by an organized extra-legal group in the supposed absence of adequate law enforcement and justice. So, vigilantism actually began in the United States in 1767 in South Carolina, where the backcountry people were suffering repeated wrongs and injustices by outlaws. There was no law around, there were no courts around, and so the people then gathered together and formed a group that would actually protect themselves from all of these outlaws. Now, the word vigilantism actually comes from the word "vigilance" and or "to be vigilant."

Understanding Vigilantism

Vigilantism originally referred to organized extra-legal groups enforcing law in the absence of adequate justice, not mere lawlessness. Biblical examples include Ehud, Jephthah, and Gideon.

Black's Law Dictionary defines vigilance as "watchfulness, precaution, a proper degree of activity and promptness in pursuing one's rights or guarding them from infraction, or in making or discovering opportunities for the enforcement of one's lawful claims and demands." So vigilantism is not necessarily something that's evil in and of itself. So technically and legally, according to Black's Law Dictionary, vigilantes are only doing that which the law will not do or cannot do. They're simply protecting themselves and their families, and they're trying to secure their rights and their freedoms. And so they are introducing justice in and of themselves. I suppose that according to Black's Law Dictionary, if you read the Bible, there are several individuals you might consider as vigilantes. For instance, there is Ehud and there was Jephthah and there was even Gideon. When you stop and think about these men, they had calls of God upon their lives, but they were not elected by the people. They were not chosen by the people. They were not voted on by the people. God just simply had His hand upon them and God called them, and many times they did indeed act individually and sometimes they acted corporately as well. So these people were just simply doing the work of God and exercising justice. That is why God raised up all the judges. If you would read the Book of Judges, and I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but in 1774, when George III would send his governors over here and those governors could not care anything at all about the colonies, they were just interested in supporting George III and his rules and regulations.

Introduction to Jack Hinson

Jack Hinson was a Confederate sniper who terrorized Union forces after the murder of his sons. He acted alone as a bushwhacker, a role that invited summary execution if captured.

Hinson, who was also known as Jack Hinson, or just simply Captain Jack. Jack Hinson became a sniper, and he kept the federal soldiers in absolute terror. He was hunted, he was tracked, he was sought after, but he was never ever captured. Now the primary goal of a sniper or a guerrilla or even a group of guerrillas is to harass, ambush, hit and destroy all of the enemy's property and goods it can possibly do. And I might add also to do all of this without being captured. So usually the sniper or the guerrilla would come along and cut telegraph lines, or tear up railroad tracks, or set fire to some property. And then of course when the federal troops came out to remedy the situation, then they were ambushed. And then they were taken care of in that sense of the word. But when more than just a few came out, then the sniper and or the guerrillas would just simply fade into the woods and absolutely disappear.

Now, Jack Hinson became a guerrilla sniper, and I might say that he was par excellence in that, and he acted alone. He moved like a ghost through the forest. And these men that fought like this were known as bushwhackers. I have a message on Bushwhacker Johnson, who was a Methodist preacher in Alabama. And you would be amazed at what he was able to do. But bushwhackers were not counted like regular soldiers.

So if a soldier was captured in uniform, he was to be treated as a prisoner of war. But however, when the bushwhacker was caught, that was a horse of a different color because usually they were shot or hanged on the spot. So here is the order from General Clinton B. Fisk, and he wrote the order to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel M. Draper on April the 18th, 1864. And listen to what this Union general said: "Try the bushwhacker by a drumhead court-martial tonight. And let every soldier in Macon shoot him if he is guilty, as he doubtless is."

And then he closed with these words: "Don't allow in the future such prisoners to be brought in." In other words, he didn't want anyone going through a court-martial if he was deemed a bushwhacker, just kill them on the spot, leave them laying there. Again, the same day General Fisk telegraphed another subordinate to let him know that he had not misunderstood this policy. He said, "Tell the party who have the bushwhacker Honeywell that I want no such prisoners. Your orders are correct." "Let that be the rule from now on." So don't even bother bringing them in. Just shoot them and kill them and leave them there. It was Union General Rosecrans who ordered to kill any bushwhacker that you can find engaged in his hellish work. And then General Fisk, once again, wrote to Major Samuel A. Garth and said this: "We must, during the winter and spring, kill these disturbers of the peace. And in your sub-district, I trust the work will begin at once and continue until the last imp expires."

Union Atrocities and the Murder of Hinson's Sons

Union forces committed widespread atrocities against Southern civilians. Hinson's two sons, George and John, were falsely accused of being bushwhackers, murdered, and beheaded by a Union patrol.

But atrocities began to be committed everywhere in Tennessee, as well as the other states, by the Yankees. Sherman's subordinate, who happened to be Major General Stephen G. Burbridge, practiced what he called a form of atonement. And what he did was this: whenever a Yankee soldier was killed or a Yankee sympathizer, he then went to his prison and brought out four Confederate soldiers and had them publicly shot. The soldiers had nothing to do with the death of the Yankee, but that didn't matter to Burbridge. He just brought them out and had them publicly shot because he was atoning for the death of that Yankee soldier or that Yankee sympathizer. Yankee Colonel Fielding Black, in July of 1863, captured six Confederate soldiers. And he then took those Confederate soldiers, walked them down the road, shot one, buried him in the ground, standing up, with his body covered, all except his head. He did that one for each mile and left them as mile markers. It's difficult for you and I to imagine the horrendous atrocities that the Yankees really committed.

If you want to read a good book, I would encourage you to read the book by Walter Brian Cisco. Walter Brian Cisco talks about the Yankee outrages against civilians. What's the title of that book? Do you remember? Yeah, "Against Civilians." It's "Crimes Against Civilians." Read the book. But when you read the book, make sure you don't have any loaded weapons around, because it will make you so angry to find out what the Yankees really and truly did to southern civilians. Well, there was a unique form of torture that the Yankees had, and it was called putting one's feet to the fire. Now, we use that illustration today and we say something like this: "Hold his feet to the fire." And by that, we mean make him keep his word, make him perform, make him do what he said he would do.

But the way that came about is this. And they would give this exquisite torture to those who refused to reveal where their jewels were, where their silver and gold and where their money was. They happened to capture one old man by the name of James Gray. James Gray was not only a farmer, he was also a preacher. He was also one who had served in the state assembly of Tennessee. He was also one who had helped to write the Constitution of the state of Tennessee. He was also a man who had fought with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. When they asked James Gray for his money, he said he had none. So in order to make him reveal where his money was hidden,

they stretched his neck three times. Now, if you don't know what stretching the neck is, they simply formed a noose, put it around the man's neck, threw the rope over a limb, and then they would pull him up with their hands and let his feet dangle until he nearly choked to death, nearly smothered to death. Then they would drop him, let him catch his breath, stand him up, pull him up again, choke him down again. They did this three times to this old man. Each time they asked him for his money, each time he said, "I have no money." So they then designed this exquisite torture to make him reveal where his money was. They tied him to a board. Took his shoes off. Built a fire under his feet. And cooked his feet until the flesh fell off. And then they asked him where his money was. And he said, "I have none." And he did not.

Then they left the old man in suffering and agony and pain. And believe it or not, he survived it. He was certainly crippled, but he certainly survived the torture. So indiscriminate looting and killing was everywhere in the county, and in neighboring counties as well. And for a while, the Hinsons were safe, or at least thought they were safe, because of his friendship with General Grant. But pretty soon, that was not to hold any favor at all with the Yankees. And tragedy was going to strike, and it's going to strike hard. Now, Jack's oldest son, William, also was a Confederate soldier. However, he was fighting in Virginia and not in Tennessee, where Jack and his family lived. George, his 22-year-old son, and John, his 17-year-old son, had not joined the Army. They were at home. And so one morning, George and John decided that they were going to go deer hunting. It was one of their favorite spots into which they went. And they were sitting there with their weapons in their hand, waiting for the deer to come along.

And all of a sudden they heard the rattle of sabers, horse hooves, and they knew a Yankee patrol was coming. Now, they could have run, they could have disappeared in the forest, but they were not soldiers and they were out hunting. And they had already been captured previously and let go, so clearly they were not frightful. It happened to be the 5th Iowa Cavalry coming. And when the lieutenant saw these two boys with their weapons in their hands, he'd been out looking for bushwhackers, and he assumed now that he had found bushwhackers. And so he leveled his carbine at these boys, and then all the troops under him also pointed their carbines at the boys. And very quickly, these boys were disarmed and they did not resist.

And finally, he started making them walk down the road toward Dover, Tennessee. And they just assumed that pretty soon this is going to be over, he's going to realize who we are and he's going to find out that we are not bushwhackers and we'll go home. But it didn't turn out like that. They never went home again. They never saw another sunrise. The boys protested their innocence, but it was to no avail. The Union soldiers then raised their carbines and shot and murdered these two innocent boys.

Now, murder was bad enough in and of itself. But what the soldiers did next was absolutely horrifying. The lieutenant took his heavy saber and cut the heads off from the bodies. The soldiers then took the bodies of these two boys into town, into Dover, Tennessee, tied their bodies to the back of their horses and drove them around town, pulled them around town, further mutilating their bodies. Well, the citizens of Dover, Tennessee, had seen much carnage and much murder. And yet they were absolutely horrified when they saw what was done to these two boys. They also recognized the bodies of these boys. They knew they were Hinson boys. And they knew that Jack Hinson was a leading man in that county. And they also knew that he was a friend of General Grant.

Hinson's Preparation and Vengeance

Hinson acquired a custom .50 caliber rifle and systematically hunted down the lieutenant and sergeant responsible for his sons' deaths, killing them from ambush.

But now a plan was forming in his mind. And he determined that he would make these Yankee soldiers learn the law of sowing and reaping. In order to do so, Jack determined that he needed a special weapon. He had a smoothbore rifle, obviously, but that was not going to do for him. He wanted one of the latest rifles, one with a rifled barrel, one that would shoot accurately for long distances, and one that had such a heavy caliber that if it hit a man above the legs, it would be a fatal shot. So Jack wanted such a weapon. He wanted a weapon that would shoot accurately out to a thousand yards and better. So it's going to take time then for this weapon to be built. Moreover, it's going to take time for him to accrue all of the equipment that he needs, caps and powder and mini balls, that kind of thing, without attracting attention to himself. You have to remember, I told you earlier that Jack was not only a farmer, he was also a land developer.

He was into real estate. And many times he rode through other counties looking at land and looking at crops as well. And while he was doing this, he began gathering all the equipment that he would need to shoot his new rifle. Jack knew that when he put his plan into action, he was going to be a hunted man. However, I'm sure that Jack Hinson never, never dreamed of how desperately he would be hunted before the war was over. Listen carefully. Before the war was over, the Union would have two cavalry regiments, seven infantry regiments, and a specially equipped amphibious task force of sailors and marines, both infantry and mounted, all searching for Jack Hinson. Jack Hinson, with his new rifle, which I'm going to tell you about, before the war ended, killed over a hundred Union soldiers, officers mainly. When Jack received his rifle, the stock was made from the best maple wood available.

The octagonal barrel was 41 inches long. It was an inch and a half thick. The rifle weighed 18 pounds. It was impossible then just about to hold this rifle and shoot it off hand. So it was designed to shoot from stumps and logs and limbs and anything that would help support that rifle. And Jack was concerned particularly about these men who had murdered his sons. So in order to throw suspicion from himself, he went down to the fort one day when hardly anyone was there.

And he deliberately took the oath of allegiance. Now, he did not intend on keeping that oath, but all he was doing at that particular time was trying to throw them off his trail and to keep them away from his family. He was not at this point really and truly at war with the U.S. government. He was at war with the two men particularly responsible for the murder of his sons.

So Jack then was a very thoroughly reasonable man. And what he was about to do and what he was about to undertake, he had thought out very well. And his plan was ultimately to bring these murderers to justice. So Jack had scouted out all the routes that had been taken by the patrols. And so he went to a spot where he knew these Yankee patrols would be going up and down. And so he found a spot where he could be well camouflaged and well hidden. And he laid out all of his weaponry, had it ready. He put 100 grains of powder in that muzzleloader. Put his bullet in, took the ramrod, pushed it down, cocked it, put the cap on and waited. And sure enough, along came the Yankee patrol and the lieutenant was leading that patrol. Jack pressed the set trigger. And all the set trigger does is make the firing trigger very, very light. And so when he saw the lieutenant, he took dead aim. And just as he pressed the trigger, the lieutenant turned and looked at him. And the bullet hit the lieutenant in the throat and killed him instantly.

He fell from his horse. The other Yankee patrolmen jumped from their horses, tried to figure out where the shot had come from. By that time, Jack had gotten clean away. Here is the lieutenant that was responsible for the murder of his sons now dead. So Jack now had another man in his sight, and that was the sergeant that came out and took the heads of his sons out of the sack and crammed them down with a sneer on the gateposts. Again, Jack was out looking and scouting, and he saw the patrol and he watched them as they passed. And as they passed by, he saw the face of this sergeant.

He knew who he was. And so he waited. He cleared his spot. And waited and waited until the patrol came back by. Once they came by, he'd cleared his area in which he was going to shoot. He had everything laid out. And when that sergeant's sneering face came in, Jack took dead aim and shot, and it went right through his chest, killing him instantly. But as he fell from the horse, his foot got caught in the stirrup. The horse began to run and the Yankee soldier was being dragged by the horse. Some of the other soldiers were running to get this man away from the horse.

Others were firing needlessly into the brush. No one knew where Jack was. And by this time, Jack was gone. All the confusion helped him to escape. Now, Jack had to ask himself a question. The question was, is it over? He had gotten the two men who were most responsible for the murder of his sons. But events were fixing the heat up so greatly for the Hinson family, and all Southern families as well, that it could not possibly be over. Union General George Thomas advocating depopulating the area of Southern people and pro-Confederate people.

Hinson's Continued Campaign and Legacy

Hinson continued targeting Union officers, once forcing a fully armed naval vessel to surrender. He also eliminated criminals taking advantage of the war. He died of natural causes in 1874.

It was a cave high above the river that overlooked that river. And there was a chute in which the boats had to come down and coming down, they traveled at great speed because of the current. But coming up the river, they traveled ever so slowly because the current was against them. It was this place that Jack Hinson would use that .50 caliber rifle and with great efficiency. Jack always made it a point to target the officers first. And on one occasion, a Union transport full of Yankee soldiers and war supplies was making its way up the river ever so slowly. Jack was 600 yards away. They would never see the smoke from his muzzleloader at 600 yards. Moreover, there was the mist of the river. So Jack singled out the Union officer that was in command of the troops. And he shot him first. And when he fell, another Union officer stepped forward. Jack shot him second. Another Union officer came up. Jack killed him.

Now there's blood all over the deck. The Yankee soldiers are firing into the banks and into the bushes, but nowhere near Jack Hinson. And so Jack Hinson, coolly, calmly and deliberately laid down one Yankee after the other. And all of a sudden, something unusual happened. The boat cut its engines and hoisted a white flag. The boat was surrendering to Jack Hinson. Well, Jack could not come down and take command of that boat very clearly. And so after a while, when no one came to take control of the boat, the captain started the engines, lowered the white flag and very slowly continued up the river. According to Tom C. McKinney, who's the author of "Jack Hinson, One Man's War," he said this.

"It was the only time in recorded history that a fully armed naval vessel with embarked combat troops ever surrendered to one man." So a whole boatload of troops surrendered to one man. By this time, Jack had a price on his head. And Jack was not wanted dead or alive, Jack was just wanted dead. By this time, his rifle had 36 marks on it just from the officers that he had killed. He had a stamp and every time he killed a Yankee officer, he would hit it down on the barrel. And there were 36 marks for the 36 officers that he killed. While Jack was helping General Nathan Bedford Forrest as a scout at Johnsonville, Tennessee, he was asked about his campaign as a sniper and the growing price on his head by Major Charles W. Anderson. And Jack replied, he said, "They murdered my boys. And they may kill me yet, but the marks on the barrel of my gun will show that I'm a long way ahead of them. And I'm not through yet."

Major Anderson gave this description of Jack Hinson, he said, "Hinson's clear gray eyes, compressed lips and massive jaws clearly indicated that under no circumstances was he a man to be trifled with or aroused, and under the great bereavement inflicted upon him by the wanton slaughter of his sons, he kept his oath to the close of the war, that is, to take care of all of those who were being unjust." Here's the interesting thing. Many of you know that during a time of war, there are a lot of criminals that will take advantage of the situation. And so there were men in Tennessee who were raping, looting, murdering. And it didn't matter if it was pro-Union or pro-Southern. They were doing it to anyone and everyone. Jack Hinson discovered some of their names. And one by one, they begin to disappear. And Jack won the appreciation of the pro-Southern men and the pro-Union men as well, because most of the men who were left at home were aged and elderly.

I suppose that may be where we get the words and the saying that "he just needed killing." Because Jack did take care of these men who just needed killing. Let me give you one quick illustration of how good Jack was with this rifle. On one occasion, Jack rode into an open field and he immediately saw up ahead of him two Union soldiers. So he very quickly lowered his rifle into the grass, took his possible bag off, dropped it in the grass and continued riding to the two Union soldiers. When he met them, they asked him, did he know Jack Hinson? He replied, yes, he knew Jack Hinson.

The next question was, "Have you seen him lately?" "Yes," he said, "I've seen him." Well, they asked, "Do you know where we might could find him?" He said, "Well, of course I do." And he told them how to go and where to go where they might find Jack Hinson. And so they galloped off. Jack Hinson then turned around, picked up his rifle, picked up his possible bags, took a shortcut to where he told the two Union soldiers to go. He got there just a few minutes ahead of them. He knew he would have to be quick. He knew he would have to be good. He had his weapon laid out. He had his weapon loaded. He had everything else laid out. And when the two Union soldiers showed up, listen. He took the first shot and killed the first Yankee soldier. He knew he'd have to be fast because the second Yankee soldier is going to be pulling his carbine out to shoot. And Jack reloaded, shot, and killed the second Yankee soldier before the Yankee soldier could ever get a rifle on him and press the trigger. Now, would you listen to me? It's recorded. He shot the first man, reloaded. Remember, you've got to pour the powder into the barrel. You've got to push the bullet down.

You have to cock it. You have to cap the nipple. You have to pull the set trigger. He did all of that in six seconds. In six seconds. Jack Hinson's weapon killed over 100 of Grant's soldiers. Some of his shots were over 1,000 yards. When you stop and think of 1,000 yards, that is 3,000 feet, which is nearly three quarters of a mile. Alice and I have been to some of the battlefields. On one of those battlefields, here was a Confederate soldier, a valley, the next hill, a Union sentry. And the Confederate soldier aimed at that sentry, elevated his rifle, shot and killed the Union sentry, and it was exactly one mile. And here's Jack Hinson, shooting accurately to well over a thousand yards with his specially made rifle. Although Jack Hinson was hunted, he was never found. And many wanted him dead, but their wants never materialized.

This courageous outdoorsman and woodsman finally died in 1874. His last years had been tough ones, but he lived with his family. He loved with his family until the end. And Jack died of natural causes at the age of 67 in July of 1874. He was truly a sniper and a marksman par excellence.

Applications: Trusting God's Justice and Obedience

Applications include: all injustice will ultimately be righted by God; some men are not to be trifled with; and believers should trust and obey God rather than romanticize violence.

Now, let me make you some applications, and I want you to think with me on this. The first one is this. We must learn that all injustice, tyranny and despotism will at last be righted in some manner. King Saul was a tyrant. King Saul did everything he could to murder innocent David. David had the opportunity to kill Saul and he would not. And here's what David said in 1 Samuel, chapter 26 in verse 10, he said,

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 26:10

"As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle and perish."

David was emphasizing the fact that sooner or later Saul would be judged by God. Saul is not going to escape.

It doesn't matter if it's old age. It doesn't matter if it's a natural death. It doesn't matter if it's in battle. God is going to take him out. That's exactly what he's saying. Please understand this. I don't care how great a sinner is. I don't care how rich the sinner is. I don't care how much power he has. He is not going to escape the wrath and the judgment of God with his sin.

Here's another illustration, as well as an application. We have to learn that there are some men that are not to be trifled with. There are some men you better not pick on. The illustration I want to give you is I have a young preacher friend. I say young preacher friend. He's up in his forties now, fifties. And he is a small man. I mean, a small man, I suppose he's this high.

Probably doesn't weigh over 130-140 pounds sopping wet. He was also an ex-marine. But he and his wife and two children were in a fast food restaurant eating. They finished and they started going out the door. And as they went out the door, a big burly man bumped into him, cursed him, took God's name in vain in front of his wife and children and went on outside. My pastor friend was wearing one of those little belly pouches, you know, that go around here. And so he looked at this man and he said, "Sir," the man turned around, he said, "Sir, you owe my wife and children an apology. You cursed when you walked past us and bumped into me." Moreover, he said, "You owe God an apology. You took His name in vain." The man, "Ha," and cursed again. And my friend said to him, "Sir, you're not very observant, are you?"

He said, "You see my hand in my pouch?" He said, "If I have to pull my hand out, you're either going to the morgue or to the hospital." Now, do we give you an apology? The man said, "Yes, I will apologize and I'm sorry." What I'm trying to tell you is this, sooner or later, sooner or later, they're going to run into the wrong man. I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to Psalm 149. I want you to see this. Psalm 149. And let's begin reading there with verse 5. Psalm 149 and verse 5. Look at it.

God says, "Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds." Why should we sing aloud upon our beds? "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth." Why should the high praises of God be in our mouth? "And a two-edged sword in their hand." Are you looking? "To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord." Do you realize? When God brought Israel out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the Canaan land, He put a sword in their hands and said, "Slay them all. Slay them all." No one is going to escape the righteous wrath and judgment of God. Here's the third application.

We must learn to trust and obey. I realize, especially to the young, war seems to be very romantic. I had a cousin who's now dead. He was a machine gunner in a helicopter in Vietnam. He got wounded, was sent home. Medically discharged. You know what he told me? He said, "I am so thankful I got wounded." I said, "Really? Why are you so thankful you got wounded? I'm sure it's painful." He said, "Yes, I know it was painful, but I was shooting at them."

And he said, "I discovered something." I said, "What's that?" He said, "They shoot back. They shoot back." I want you to listen to me. It is true a lot of times the enemy dies. But sometimes it's true that we die. Our family dies. The point I'm trying to make is this. If war and violence can be avoided by obedience and by trust, I'd much rather take the easy way out and be obedient to my God and trust in Him. Because war, no matter how romantic it may sound and no matter how heroic you may think you are, it doesn't always work out the way you think it's going to work out.

So in that light, we better learn to obey and we better learn to seek God's protection on our lives. And let me tell you, it is true that God has given us weapons. It is true that God has given us minds. It is true that God has given us ability. But I will tell you this, unless God gives you His grace and His mercy, none of that's any good. I've had people ask me, "Do you have loaded weapons in your house?" And I tell them every weapon in my house is loaded. I have weapons in the corner. I have weapons by my bed.

Sometimes I have them under my pillow. I have, but let me tell you something. I could have .50 caliber machine guns stacked all around my bedroom. I could have a howitzer in my bedroom. I could have anything in the world in my bedroom. But if intruders came in with intent of murdering me, if God didn't awaken me in time and enable me to shoot accurately, all of that machinery would be worthless and useless. As the song goes, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way." And if we can avoid problems by trusting and obedience, that's exactly the way we need to go. Jack Hinson, like Captain Jonathan Davis, was a man who was willing to fight and bring forth justice. And God did use him just like He used Jephthah and Ehud and Gideon. How do we know? How do we know God used those men? Because of the successes in their lives. How do we know God used Jack Hinson? Because of the success in his life.

There was no law and order in Dover, Tennessee or in that area. No, none, because the Yanks were the ones who were doing most of the atrocities and violating the law. But God used Jack Hinson to bring a measure of justice to that area. And inevitably, as unjust as our society becomes, God will raise up another Jack Hinson. He will raise up another Samson. He will raise up another judge because justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You, Lord, for the men whom You have used throughout the ages. Give us grace, Lord, that we may serve Thee acceptably. Use us, teach us, build us up in the most holy faith. In Thy name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Divine Justice and Civil Government

Summary: God instituted civil government to protect the righteous and punish the wicked. When government fails, God raises up individuals to execute justice.

Evidence: Weaver cites Romans 13, Psalm 82:3, Psalm 89:14, and Proverbs 21:3 to establish the biblical mandate for justice, then argues that God raises up judges like Ehud, Jephthah, and Gideon when government fails.

Vigilantism as a Biblical Concept

Summary: Vigilantism, properly understood, is the organized enforcement of law in the absence of adequate government justice, and has biblical precedent.

Evidence: Weaver defines vigilantism using Black's Law Dictionary and historical examples from 1767 South Carolina, then connects it to biblical judges who were not elected but called by God.

The Sovereignty of God in Raising Up Deliverers

Summary: God sovereignly raises up individuals like Jack Hinson to administer justice when earthly authorities fail.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Inevitably, God in His sovereignty will raise up someone who will administer His justice,' and applies this to Hinson and the biblical judges.

The Law of Sowing and Reaping

Summary: Hinson determined to make the Union soldiers learn the law of sowing and reaping, a principle of divine retribution.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'He determined that he would make these Yankee soldiers learn the law of sowing and reaping.'

Trust and Obedience Over Violence

Summary: While God may use violence to bring justice, believers should prefer trust and obedience to avoid war and its unpredictable consequences.

Evidence: Weaver shares his cousin's Vietnam experience and his own reliance on God's protection despite being armed, emphasizing 'Trust and obey, for there's no other way.'

Key Arguments

Justice is a primary function of government

Summary: Civil government exists to protect the righteous and punish the wicked; justice is so important that God prefers it over sacrifice.

Evidence: Weaver cites Romans 13, Psalm 82:3, Psalm 89:14, and Proverbs 21:3.

When government fails, God raises up individuals to execute justice

Summary: In the absence of just government, God sovereignly raises up exceptional individuals, often those who have suffered injustice, to administer His justice.

Evidence: Weaver states this directly and supports it with the example of the biblical judges and Jack Hinson.

Vigilantism is not inherently evil

Summary: Historically and legally, vigilantism refers to organized extra-legal enforcement of law when government fails, not mere lawlessness.

Evidence: Weaver cites Black's Law Dictionary and the 1767 South Carolina backcountry example.

Jack Hinson was a divinely used instrument of justice

Summary: Hinson's success as a sniper, despite massive Union manhunts, demonstrates God's hand upon him to bring justice for his sons' murders and protect the community.

Evidence: Weaver details Hinson's kills, the surrender of a naval vessel, and his elimination of criminals, concluding 'God did use him just like He used Jephthah and Ehud and Gideon.'

All injustice will ultimately be righted by God

Summary: No sinner, regardless of power or wealth, will escape God's judgment; this is illustrated by David's words about Saul.

Evidence: Weaver quotes 1 Samuel 26:10 and applies it to the certainty of divine judgment.

Some men are not to be trifled with

Summary: There are individuals whom God uses to execute judgment, and provoking them can lead to severe consequences.

Evidence: Weaver shares the story of his ex-marine pastor friend confronting a man who cursed in front of his family.

Believers should trust and obey God rather than seek violence

Summary: While God may use violence, it is better to avoid it through obedience and trust, as war often brings unforeseen suffering.

Evidence: Weaver recounts his cousin's Vietnam experience and his own dependence on God's protection despite being heavily armed.

Scripture References

Ezekiel 45:9

Context: Opening verse calling princes to remove violence and execute justice.

Romans 13

Context: Outlines the two functions of civil government: protection of the righteous and punishment of the wicked.

Psalm 82:3

Context: Commands judges to defend the poor and fatherless and do justice to the afflicted.

Psalm 89:14

Context: States that judgment and justice are the habitation of God's throne.

Proverbs 21:3

Context: To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

Isaiah 59:14

Context: Describes a time when judgment is turned away backward and justice stands afar off.

1 Samuel 26:10

Context: David's declaration that the Lord will smite Saul, or his day will come to die, or he will perish in battle.

Psalm 149:5-9

Context: The saints are honored to execute vengeance and punishments upon the heathen, binding kings and nobles.

Historical References

Jack Hinson (Captain Jack)

Context: Confederate sniper who killed over 100 Union soldiers in retaliation for the murder of his sons; never captured.

General Ulysses S. Grant

Context: Personal friend of Jack Hinson before the war; Hinson initially tried to remain neutral due to this friendship.

Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest

Context: Confederate general for whom Hinson served as a scout.

General Clinton B. Fisk

Context: Union general who ordered bushwhackers to be summarily executed without trial.

General William Tecumseh Sherman

Context: Advised shooting a thousand cannon shells into helpless towns for every bullet fired at a steamboat.

Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter

Context: Issued orders to shell and destroy houses near any sniper attack, regardless of civilian casualties.

Major General Stephen G. Burbridge

Context: Practiced 'atonement' by publicly shooting four Confederate prisoners for every Union soldier or sympathizer killed.

Colonel Fielding Black

Context: Union colonel who buried captured Confederate soldiers as mile markers after shooting them.

James Gray

Context: Elderly Tennessee preacher and former assemblyman tortured by Union soldiers by having his feet burned; survived.

Lieutenant General Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller

Context: Most decorated Marine in history; his grandmother died after Yankees burned her house for having her dead husband's spurs.

Important Quotes

Thus saith the Lord God, let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice. Take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God.

Significance: Opening Scripture that establishes the sermon's theme of divine justice as a mandate for rulers.

Inevitably, God in His sovereignty will raise up someone who will administer His justice.

Significance: Core thesis of the sermon: God raises up individuals to execute justice when government fails.

Try the bushwhacker by a drumhead court-martial tonight. And let every soldier in Macon shoot him if he is guilty, as he doubtless is.

Significance: Illustrates the Union's harsh policy toward bushwhackers, which Hinson faced.

For every bullet shot at a steamboat, I would shoot a thousand 30-pound Parrott shells, even into helpless towns.

Significance: Sherman's disproportionate retaliation policy, showing the brutality Hinson opposed.

They murdered my boys. And they may kill me yet, but the marks on the barrel of my gun will show that I'm a long way ahead of them. And I'm not through yet.

Significance: Hinson's own words explaining his motivation and determination for vengeance.

It was the only time in recorded history that a fully armed naval vessel with embarked combat troops ever surrendered to one man.

Significance: Highlights the extraordinary effectiveness of Hinson as a sniper.

As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle and perish.

Significance: David's words about Saul, used to illustrate that all injustice will ultimately be judged by God.

Discussion Questions

How does the biblical mandate for civil government in Romans 13 shape our understanding of justice today?

Context: Weaver opens by stating that justice is one of the two functions of civil government.

In what ways might God raise up individuals to administer justice when government fails, and how can we discern such a calling?

Context: Weaver argues that God sovereignly raises up deliverers like the biblical judges and Jack Hinson.

How should Christians evaluate the concept of vigilantism in light of biblical examples and historical definitions?

Context: Weaver defines vigilantism and gives biblical examples like Ehud and Gideon.

What does Jack Hinson's story teach us about the law of sowing and reaping and personal vengeance?

Context: Hinson sought out the specific men who murdered his sons, and Weaver frames it as learning the law of sowing and reaping.

How do we balance the biblical call to execute justice with the command to trust and obey God rather than resort to violence?

Context: Weaver's final application emphasizes trust and obedience over romanticizing war.

What does Psalm 149 teach about the role of God's people in executing judgment, and how should this be applied today?

Context: Weaver reads Psalm 149:5-9 to show that executing vengeance is an honor for the saints.

Applications

Trust in God's ultimate justice

Summary: All injustice, tyranny, and despotism will eventually be righted by God; no sinner will escape His judgment.

Evidence: Weaver uses David's words about Saul in 1 Samuel 26:10 to illustrate that God will judge the wicked in His time.

Recognize that some men are instruments of God's justice

Summary: There are individuals whom God uses to execute judgment, and provoking them can lead to severe consequences.

Evidence: Weaver shares the story of his pastor friend confronting a man who cursed, warning that some men are not to be trifled with.

Prefer trust and obedience over violence

Summary: While God may use violence to bring justice, believers should seek to avoid war through obedience and trust in God's protection.

Evidence: Weaver recounts his cousin's Vietnam experience and his own reliance on God despite being armed, emphasizing 'Trust and obey.'

Acknowledge God's sovereignty in raising up deliverers

Summary: God will raise up individuals like Jack Hinson to bring justice when earthly authorities fail; believers should recognize His hand in history.

Evidence: Weaver concludes that God used Hinson just as He used the biblical judges, evidenced by his success.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T19:54:31Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:38:47Z

Clean Transcript

Captain Jack Hinson and Divine Justice

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Ezekiel chapter 45 and verse 9. Notice, if you would, what the Word of God says: "Thus saith the Lord God, let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice. Take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God." Justice is extremely important. In fact, justice is one of the two functions of civil government that is outlined in Romans chapter 13. In fact, there are only basically two reasons why God instituted civil government, and that is number one, for the protection of the righteous, and number two, for the punishment of the wicked. So judges have been ordained by God basically to bring forth judges, to bring forth justice. And in Psalm 82 and verse 3, the Bible tells the judges to defend the poor and the fatherless and to do justice to the afflicted and the needy. And interestingly enough, the Bible says in Psalm 89 and verse 14, that judgment and justice are the habitation of his throne. And here's a thought that you might consider, and that is God is so interested in justice that He actually prefers justice before sacrifice, because the Bible says in Proverbs 21 and verse 3, "To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."
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So God would much rather have our obedience than anything else. So there's a question that has to be asked because obviously we are living in a day when justice is fallen and we no longer have justice. So what in the world happens when civil government fails in its responsibility? What happens when injustice prevails? We are today in a position much like they were in the days of Isaiah, when he said in Isaiah 59 and verse 14, "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." So what happens when civil government refuses to execute the justice that God demands and the justice for which God instituted government to begin with? And here's the answer to that question. Inevitably, God in His sovereignty will raise up someone who will administer His justice. Usually that someone will be an exceptional individual or an exceptional group. It'll be someone upon whom God has placed His hand, and usually it'll be someone who suffered innumerable injustices in himself and or in his family.
#2 | 1:41 to 3:07 | cleaned
Now, what you're going to tell me is this: "Well, Pastor, that almost sounds like vigilantism." Well, let me give you tonight a concept on vigilantism that you may not have considered before. Vigilantism is a word that is often misused and misunderstood. Originally, this term vigilantism did not refer to a single man, as we would say today, taking the law into his own hands. The term vigilantism actually refers to the creation and the enforcement of law by an organized extra-legal group in the supposed absence of adequate law enforcement and justice. So, vigilantism actually began in the United States in 1767 in South Carolina, where the backcountry people were suffering repeated wrongs and injustices by outlaws. There was no law around, there were no courts around, and so the people then gathered together and formed a group that would actually protect themselves from all of these outlaws. Now, the word vigilantism actually comes from the word "vigilance" and or "to be vigilant."
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Black's Law Dictionary defines vigilance as "watchfulness, precaution, a proper degree of activity and promptness in pursuing one's rights or guarding them from infraction, or in making or discovering opportunities for the enforcement of one's lawful claims and demands." So vigilantism is not necessarily something that's evil in and of itself. So technically and legally, according to Black's Law Dictionary, vigilantes are only doing that which the law will not do or cannot do. They're simply protecting themselves and their families, and they're trying to secure their rights and their freedoms. And so they are introducing justice in and of themselves. I suppose that according to Black's Law Dictionary, if you read the Bible, there are several individuals you might consider as vigilantes.
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For instance, there is Ehud and there was Jephthah and there was even Gideon. When you stop and think about these men, they had calls of God upon their lives, but they were not elected by the people. They were not chosen by the people. They were not voted on by the people. God just simply had His hand upon them and God called them, and many times they did indeed act individually and sometimes they acted corporately as well. So these people were just simply doing the work of God and exercising justice. That is why God raised up all the judges. If you would read the Book of Judges, and I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but in 1774, when George III would send his governors over here and those governors could not care anything at all about the colonies, they were just interested in supporting George III and his rules and regulations.
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So what did the colonists do? They rejected and denied the governors that George III sent over and then they chose and elected their own people and then they followed them instead of the governors by George III. So inevitably when there is injustice and the state fails to do its duty, then God always raises up someone who will execute that judgment and that justice. One such man that God used in the war of northern aggression was a man by the name of John S.
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Hinson, who was also known as Jack Hinson, or just simply Captain Jack. Jack Hinson became a sniper, and he kept the federal soldiers in absolute terror. He was hunted, he was tracked, he was sought after, but he was never ever captured.
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Now the primary goal of a sniper or a guerrilla or even a group of guerrillas is to harass, ambush, hit and destroy all of the enemy's property and goods it can possibly do. And I might add also to do all of this without being captured. So usually the sniper or the guerrilla would come along and cut telegraph lines, or tear up railroad tracks, or set fire to some property.
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And then of course when the federal troops came out to remedy the situation, then they were ambushed. And then they were taken care of in that sense of the word. But when more than just a few came out, then the sniper and or the guerrillas would just simply fade into the woods and absolutely disappear.
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Now, Jack Hinson became a guerrilla sniper, and I might say that he was par excellence in that, and he acted alone. He moved like a ghost through the forest. And these men that fought like this were known as bushwhackers. I have a message on Bushwhacker Johnson, who was a Methodist preacher in Alabama. And you would be amazed at what he was able to do. But bushwhackers were not counted like regular soldiers.
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So if a soldier was captured in uniform, he was to be treated as a prisoner of war. But however, when the bushwhacker was caught, that was a horse of a different color because usually they were shot or hanged on the spot. So here is the order from General Clinton B. Fisk, and he wrote the order to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel M. Draper on April the 18th, 1864. And listen to what this Union general said: "Try the bushwhacker by a drumhead court-martial tonight. And let every soldier in Macon shoot him if he is guilty, as he doubtless is."
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And then he closed with these words: "Don't allow in the future such prisoners to be brought in." In other words, he didn't want anyone going through a court-martial if he was deemed a bushwhacker, just kill them on the spot, leave them laying there. Again, the same day General Fisk telegraphed another subordinate to let him know that he had not misunderstood this policy. He said, "Tell the party who have the bushwhacker Honeywell that I want no such prisoners. Your orders are correct."
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"Let that be the rule from now on." So don't even bother bringing them in. Just shoot them and kill them and leave them there. It was Union General Rosecrans who ordered to kill any bushwhacker that you can find engaged in his hellish work. And then General Fisk, once again, wrote to Major Samuel A. Garth and said this: "We must, during the winter and spring, kill these disturbers of the peace. And in your sub-district, I trust the work will begin at once and continue until the last imp expires."
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"Hesitate not to burn down every house where it can be demonstrated that the occupants harbor or conceal the murdering fiends, and destroy everything on the premises. Deal summarily with the parties who harbor and conceal; they're equally guilty with the bushwhacker and must share his fate." William Tecumseh Sherman gave his advice to General John A. Logan concerning snipers who shot at Yankee river traffic. And I want you to listen to what Sherman said he would do for any sniper who fired a round at a Yankee transport boat. Here's what he said: "For every bullet shot at a steamboat, I would shoot a thousand 30-pound Parrott shells, even into helpless towns." A thousand rounds of cannon for one bullet, even into helpless towns. Jack Hinson would indeed become a nightmare for the Yankee transports, gunships, and boats carrying Yankee supplies and troops.
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Moreover, he would become what is known as an avenging angel, and he would be dishing out .50 caliber justice. Snipers and sharpshooters from the Confederacy were so effective by the time of October 1862, that Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter issued orders to those on his ships, and listen to what he said. His orders were never to tie up at banks, to keep their deck guns loaded and trained on the banks, and to keep small arms loaded and ready to repel boarders. His orders were that if they were sniped at or attacked from the banks, that they were to shell and destroy houses near the sniping or any attack from the banks, and they were to do it with spirit, regardless of casualties among innocent civilians. Then he went on to say this: if innocent civilians were hurt or killed, it was their own fault. It was their own fault just simply because they were there, even though they did not fire at the boat.
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Jack Hinson, although he was a Confederate sniper, was not necessarily a Confederate soldier. And the reason being, when the war began, Jack Hinson was 57 years old and he was too old to be a soldier. Moreover, Jack Hinson tried to take a position of neutrality. And the reason he tried to take a position of neutrality was he was also personal friends with General Ulysses S. Grant. He was also personal friends with a lot of Confederate generals as well. Jack Hinson also saw the fall of Fort Donelson. And a year later, Jack Hinson was called upon to testify concerning the ineptitude of Generals Floyd and Pillow in allowing that great catastrophe with Fort Donelson. Later on, Jack Hinson actually became a scout for Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
#16 | 13:00 to 14:03 | cleaned
Now, Jack and his wife Elizabeth had 12 children, only five of which survived their parents. And Jack was a very successful farmer. He was also a real estate investor. He was a land developer. And overall, he was a very sharp individual and businessman. He may not have been what you and I would call extremely wealthy, but he was certainly not poor by any stretch of the imagination. Jack owned his home, which was named Bubbling Springs because of all the springs there on the property. Now, Jack also had a number of slaves. His family included not only the white Hinsons, but the black Hinsons as well. In the summer of 1862, Jack understood that it would probably be best if the black Hinsons were set free, that they would have a better chance of survival. So Jack then gave each of his slaves in 1862 their freedom papers. And each one of those slaves agreed to stay with him and work with him. Now, according to monetary values at that time, the freedom papers that he gave his slaves would have been valued at over $50,000.
#17 | 14:04 to 15:22 | cleaned
I might also add that the black Hinsons were armed just like the white Hinsons were armed. And when the Yankees came later to harass the Hinson family, not only did the white Hinsons hide their arms, but also the black Hinsons as well.
#18 | 15:22 to 15:44 | cleaned
Now, Jack had a number of children, as I pointed out, but he had two sons, George and John. And George and John were arrested after the fall of Fort Donelson. And they were arrested as spies. And the interesting thing was, the boys were not spies. They were not even soldiers. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And they served about one month in confinement until they realized they'd made a horrible mistake, and they let the boys go. So these boys were not soldiers by any stretch of the imagination whatsoever.
#19 | 15:45 to 16:23 | cleaned
But atrocities began to be committed everywhere in Tennessee, as well as the other states, by the Yankees. Sherman's subordinate, who happened to be Major General Stephen G. Burbridge, practiced what he called a form of atonement. And what he did was this: whenever a Yankee soldier was killed or a Yankee sympathizer, he then went to his prison and brought out four Confederate soldiers and had them publicly shot. The soldiers had nothing to do with the death of the Yankee, but that didn't matter to Burbridge. He just brought them out and had them publicly shot because he was atoning for the death of that Yankee soldier or that Yankee sympathizer. Yankee Colonel Fielding Black, in July of 1863, captured six Confederate soldiers. And he then took those Confederate soldiers, walked them down the road, shot one, buried him in the ground, standing up, with his body covered, all except his head. He did that one for each mile and left them as mile markers. It's difficult for you and I to imagine the horrendous atrocities that the Yankees really committed.
#20 | 16:24 to 17:55 | cleaned
If you want to read a good book, I would encourage you to read the book by Walter Brian Cisco. Walter Brian Cisco talks about the Yankee outrages against civilians. What's the title of that book? Do you remember? Yeah, "Against Civilians." It's "Crimes Against Civilians." Read the book. But when you read the book, make sure you don't have any loaded weapons around, because it will make you so angry to find out what the Yankees really and truly did to southern civilians. Well, there was a unique form of torture that the Yankees had, and it was called putting one's feet to the fire. Now, we use that illustration today and we say something like this: "Hold his feet to the fire." And by that, we mean make him keep his word, make him perform, make him do what he said he would do.
#21 | 17:56 to 18:59 | cleaned
But the way that came about is this. And they would give this exquisite torture to those who refused to reveal where their jewels were, where their silver and gold and where their money was. They happened to capture one old man by the name of James Gray. James Gray was not only a farmer, he was also a preacher. He was also one who had served in the state assembly of Tennessee. He was also one who had helped to write the Constitution of the state of Tennessee. He was also a man who had fought with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. When they asked James Gray for his money, he said he had none. So in order to make him reveal where his money was hidden,
#22 | 19:00 to 19:50 | cleaned
they stretched his neck three times. Now, if you don't know what stretching the neck is, they simply formed a noose, put it around the man's neck, threw the rope over a limb, and then they would pull him up with their hands and let his feet dangle until he nearly choked to death, nearly smothered to death. Then they would drop him, let him catch his breath, stand him up, pull him up again, choke him down again. They did this three times to this old man.
#23 | 19:52 to 20:25 | cleaned
Each time they asked him for his money, each time he said, "I have no money." So they then designed this exquisite torture to make him reveal where his money was. They tied him to a board. Took his shoes off. Built a fire under his feet. And cooked his feet until the flesh fell off. And then they asked him where his money was. And he said, "I have none." And he did not.
#24 | 20:26 to 21:10 | cleaned
Then they left the old man in suffering and agony and pain. And believe it or not, he survived it. He was certainly crippled, but he certainly survived the torture. So indiscriminate looting and killing was everywhere in the county, and in neighboring counties as well. And for a while, the Hinsons were safe, or at least thought they were safe, because of his friendship with General Grant. But pretty soon, that was not to hold any favor at all with the Yankees.
#25 | 21:11 to 21:46 | cleaned
And tragedy was going to strike, and it's going to strike hard. Now, Jack's oldest son, William, also was a Confederate soldier. However, he was fighting in Virginia and not in Tennessee, where Jack and his family lived. George, his 22-year-old son, and John, his 17-year-old son, had not joined the Army. They were at home. And so one morning, George and John decided that they were going to go deer hunting. It was one of their favorite spots into which they went. And they were sitting there with their weapons in their hand, waiting for the deer to come along.
#26 | 21:47 to 22:27 | cleaned
And all of a sudden they heard the rattle of sabers, horse hooves, and they knew a Yankee patrol was coming. Now, they could have run, they could have disappeared in the forest, but they were not soldiers and they were out hunting. And they had already been captured previously and let go, so clearly they were not frightful. It happened to be the 5th Iowa Cavalry coming. And when the lieutenant saw these two boys with their weapons in their hands, he'd been out looking for bushwhackers, and he assumed now that he had found bushwhackers. And so he leveled his carbine at these boys, and then all the troops under him also pointed their carbines at the boys. And very quickly, these boys were disarmed and they did not resist.
#27 | 22:27 to 23:22 | cleaned
And finally, he started making them walk down the road toward Dover, Tennessee. And they just assumed that pretty soon this is going to be over, he's going to realize who we are and he's going to find out that we are not bushwhackers and we'll go home. But it didn't turn out like that. They never went home again. They never saw another sunrise. The boys protested their innocence, but it was to no avail. The Union soldiers then raised their carbines and shot and murdered these two innocent boys.
#28 | 23:23 to 24:02 | cleaned
Now, murder was bad enough in and of itself. But what the soldiers did next was absolutely horrifying. The lieutenant took his heavy saber and cut the heads off from the bodies. The soldiers then took the bodies of these two boys into town, into Dover, Tennessee, tied their bodies to the back of their horses and drove them around town, pulled them around town, further mutilating their bodies. Well, the citizens of Dover, Tennessee, had seen much carnage and much murder. And yet they were absolutely horrified when they saw what was done to these two boys. They also recognized the bodies of these boys. They knew they were Hinson boys. And they knew that Jack Hinson was a leading man in that county. And they also knew that he was a friend of General Grant.
#29 | 24:05 to 25:10 | cleaned
It was Dr. J.W. Smith who was a local physician and also a friend of the Hinsons. When he saw the bodies and he knew exactly who they were, he made a beeline to the Hinson farm in order to prepare the Hinsons for the shock and for the news. Thankfully, he got there a good while before the Yankees got there as well. So the problem now is very simple.
#30 | 25:12 to 25:38 | cleaned
George and John had been labeled bushwhackers. And according to the Union officers, if you had boys that were bushwhackers, it meant the family were bushwhackers as well. And the family was to share in the fate of the bushwhackers. Colonel Lowe had demanded that his soldiers have no mercy upon bushwhackers or upon their families or even their neighbors. It was Dr. Smith then who helped the Hinsons to hide their weapons, both the white Hinsons and the black Hinsons. All the servants were instructed to know nothing about any weapons. Jack was thinking that he was prepared for the soldiers. When the soldiers got there, the lieutenant got off his horse, drew his pistol, and pointed it right in the face of Jack. Dr. Smith was there. Jack was absolutely flabbergasted.
#31 | 25:40 to 26:52 | cleaned
But the next thing really, really shook him. Because the sergeant got off his horse with a sack. It was very, very bloody. The sergeant then reached into the sack and pulled out the heads of Jack's sons and crammed them down on the gate posts. Dr. Smith had to talk very fast and he let these men know that Jack Hinson was not a criminal and Jack Hinson and his family were not bushwhackers at all and that they had destroyed two innocent men. So the lieutenant then and his men went into the house searching the house for weapons. They overturned the furniture. They emptied the drawers.
#32 | 26:54 to 27:55 | cleaned
They threw over the mattresses. They went through the barns. They went through everywhere and they found absolutely no weapons. And so they left. Jack was still with grief and rage at the same time. He was stunned. He was shocked. And he was unable to even think for a moment. And the only thing that he could think about was to retrieve the bodies of his sons. And unite the heads with those bodies and give them a proper burial. And he did so. Jack Hinson was a very deliberate man. He was not a man that was moved with passion, although obviously he was a man who had a rage against these men who murdered his sons.
#33 | 27:55 to 28:45 | cleaned
But now a plan was forming in his mind. And he determined that he would make these Yankee soldiers learn the law of sowing and reaping. In order to do so, Jack determined that he needed a special weapon. He had a smoothbore rifle, obviously, but that was not going to do for him. He wanted one of the latest rifles, one with a rifled barrel, one that would shoot accurately for long distances, and one that had such a heavy caliber that if it hit a man above the legs, it would be a fatal shot. So Jack wanted such a weapon. He wanted a weapon that would shoot accurately out to a thousand yards and better. So it's going to take time then for this weapon to be built. Moreover, it's going to take time for him to accrue all of the equipment that he needs, caps and powder and mini balls, that kind of thing, without attracting attention to himself. You have to remember, I told you earlier that Jack was not only a farmer, he was also a land developer.
#34 | 28:47 to 30:03 | cleaned
He was into real estate. And many times he rode through other counties looking at land and looking at crops as well. And while he was doing this, he began gathering all the equipment that he would need to shoot his new rifle. Jack knew that when he put his plan into action, he was going to be a hunted man. However, I'm sure that Jack Hinson never, never dreamed of how desperately he would be hunted before the war was over. Listen carefully. Before the war was over, the Union would have two cavalry regiments, seven infantry regiments, and a specially equipped amphibious task force of sailors and marines, both infantry and mounted, all searching for Jack Hinson. Jack Hinson, with his new rifle, which I'm going to tell you about, before the war ended, killed over a hundred Union soldiers, officers mainly. When Jack received his rifle, the stock was made from the best maple wood available.
#35 | 30:03 to 31:24 | cleaned
The octagonal barrel was 41 inches long. It was an inch and a half thick. The rifle weighed 18 pounds. It was impossible then just about to hold this rifle and shoot it off hand. So it was designed to shoot from stumps and logs and limbs and anything that would help support that rifle. And Jack was concerned particularly about these men who had murdered his sons. So in order to throw suspicion from himself, he went down to the fort one day when hardly anyone was there.
#36 | 31:25 to 32:07 | cleaned
And he deliberately took the oath of allegiance. Now, he did not intend on keeping that oath, but all he was doing at that particular time was trying to throw them off his trail and to keep them away from his family. He was not at this point really and truly at war with the U.S. government. He was at war with the two men particularly responsible for the murder of his sons.
#37 | 32:09 to 32:36 | cleaned
So Jack then was a very thoroughly reasonable man. And what he was about to do and what he was about to undertake, he had thought out very well. And his plan was ultimately to bring these murderers to justice. So Jack had scouted out all the routes that had been taken by the patrols. And so he went to a spot where he knew these Yankee patrols would be going up and down. And so he found a spot where he could be well camouflaged and well hidden.
#38 | 32:37 to 33:11 | cleaned
And he laid out all of his weaponry, had it ready. He put 100 grains of powder in that muzzleloader. Put his bullet in, took the ramrod, pushed it down, cocked it, put the cap on and waited. And sure enough, along came the Yankee patrol and the lieutenant was leading that patrol. Jack pressed the set trigger. And all the set trigger does is make the firing trigger very, very light. And so when he saw the lieutenant, he took dead aim. And just as he pressed the trigger, the lieutenant turned and looked at him. And the bullet hit the lieutenant in the throat and killed him instantly.
#39 | 33:12 to 34:19 | cleaned
He fell from his horse. The other Yankee patrolmen jumped from their horses, tried to figure out where the shot had come from. By that time, Jack had gotten clean away. Here is the lieutenant that was responsible for the murder of his sons now dead. So Jack now had another man in his sight, and that was the sergeant that came out and took the heads of his sons out of the sack and crammed them down with a sneer on the gateposts. Again, Jack was out looking and scouting, and he saw the patrol and he watched them as they passed. And as they passed by, he saw the face of this sergeant.
#40 | 34:20 to 35:11 | cleaned
He knew who he was. And so he waited. He cleared his spot. And waited and waited until the patrol came back by. Once they came by, he'd cleared his area in which he was going to shoot. He had everything laid out. And when that sergeant's sneering face came in, Jack took dead aim and shot, and it went right through his chest, killing him instantly. But as he fell from the horse, his foot got caught in the stirrup. The horse began to run and the Yankee soldier was being dragged by the horse. Some of the other soldiers were running to get this man away from the horse.
#41 | 35:12 to 36:11 | cleaned
Others were firing needlessly into the brush. No one knew where Jack was. And by this time, Jack was gone. All the confusion helped him to escape. Now, Jack had to ask himself a question. The question was, is it over? He had gotten the two men who were most responsible for the murder of his sons. But events were fixing the heat up so greatly for the Hinson family, and all Southern families as well, that it could not possibly be over. Union General George Thomas advocating depopulating the area of Southern people and pro-Confederate people.
#42 | 36:11 to 36:58 | cleaned
Here's what he said, listen carefully: "This report exhibits a state of affairs by no means peculiar to Tennessee. The state of Kentucky is in the same condition. The conciliatory has failed. And however, as much as we may regret the necessity, we shall be compelled to send disloyal people of all ages and sexes to the South or beyond our lines." In other words, just like the state of Missouri, now in Tennessee, they're going to take all the Southern people and drive them from their homes and drive them from their farms just simply because they were Southern people, just because they believed that they were disloyal to the Union. The Union officer in charge of that area where Jack lived determined that he must do something about all the bushwhackers and about all the pro-Southern people.
#43 | 36:59 to 37:55 | cleaned
And so he decided that he wanted to exterminate the rascals and literally wipe them out. And it did not take proof. All it took was just mere suspicion. And if you were suspected of being a bushwhacker, if you were suspected of helping bushwhackers, if you were suspected of harboring bushwhackers in your home, you were guilty as well. Most of you have heard of Lieutenant General Lewis B.
#44 | 37:56 to 38:27 | cleaned
Puller, United States Marine Corps, who's better known as Chesty Puller. Chesty Puller is the most decorated, I should say was because he's now dead, but he was the most decorated marine in history. And before his death, Chesty Puller told of his grandmother's death at the hands of the Yankees. It was wintertime. It was cold. The ground was covered with snow. The Yankees visited his grandmother and decided that they were going to burn her house down. And they did. And she had to walk ten miles in the snow, in the winter, in the dark, in order to get to a neighbor's house where she could find some help.
#45 | 38:27 to 39:25 | cleaned
She eventually died from the episode. Do you know why they burned her house to the ground? Because they saw her dead husband's spurs hanging on the wall. And they said she was guilty of having war supplies in her house. And so they burned the house to the ground. The Yanks finally came after the Hinson family to burn them out, but thankfully it was winter, it was snow, ice, muddy, slick roads, and those things slowed the soldiers down.
#46 | 39:26 to 40:02 | cleaned
Word quickly spread to the Hinsons that they were next on the list. And so as much food and supplies and weapons that could be hidden were hidden. The Hinson family was very quickly put into a sled with all the money and all the provisions they could carry, and they were covered with hay. The black Hinsons accompanied Mrs. Hinson and the children, and they told Jack that they would give their lives to protect his wife and his children. And Jack went with them for about a mile just to see that they got away safely and the Yanks had not come for them. And by the way, the black Hinsons were successful. They did get the white Hinsons away to safety. Jack, of course, then had to continue his mission. When the Yanks reached Bubbling Springs, the Hinson home, they were infuriated that they had missed their mark, that the Hinsons were gone. The only people there were the black Hinsons. And one black woman claimed that the home, Bubbling Springs, was now her home and they should not burn it.
#47 | 40:03 to 41:24 | cleaned
But the Yanks were infuriated and they were going to burn everything. They did burn the Hinson home. And so finally, the black servants said, "You cannot burn the barn and you cannot burn our houses." Yes, they said, "We're going to burn everything." Then the black said, "Good, if you do so, please understand we're coming down to the fort and we're going to live with you and you're going to take care of us and support us."
#48 | 41:26 to 41:48 | cleaned
Well, they didn't want that. And so they spared the barn and the homes of the black people, but they burned Bubbling Springs to the ground. Jack had committed his family to the Lord and asked for His protection upon them. And he also asked for His protection upon himself. And he then set off to find a place for him to live in the middle of the winter. And he found it.
#49 | 41:49 to 42:17 | cleaned
It was a cave high above the river that overlooked that river. And there was a chute in which the boats had to come down and coming down, they traveled at great speed because of the current. But coming up the river, they traveled ever so slowly because the current was against them. It was this place that Jack Hinson would use that .50 caliber rifle and with great efficiency. Jack always made it a point to target the officers first. And on one occasion, a Union transport full of Yankee soldiers and war supplies was making its way up the river ever so slowly. Jack was 600 yards away. They would never see the smoke from his muzzleloader at 600 yards. Moreover, there was the mist of the river. So Jack singled out the Union officer that was in command of the troops. And he shot him first. And when he fell, another Union officer stepped forward. Jack shot him second. Another Union officer came up. Jack killed him.
#50 | 42:18 to 43:54 | cleaned
Now there's blood all over the deck. The Yankee soldiers are firing into the banks and into the bushes, but nowhere near Jack Hinson. And so Jack Hinson, coolly, calmly and deliberately laid down one Yankee after the other. And all of a sudden, something unusual happened. The boat cut its engines and hoisted a white flag. The boat was surrendering to Jack Hinson. Well, Jack could not come down and take command of that boat very clearly. And so after a while, when no one came to take control of the boat, the captain started the engines, lowered the white flag and very slowly continued up the river. According to Tom C. McKinney, who's the author of "Jack Hinson, One Man's War," he said this.
#51 | 43:56 to 45:11 | cleaned
"It was the only time in recorded history that a fully armed naval vessel with embarked combat troops ever surrendered to one man." So a whole boatload of troops surrendered to one man. By this time, Jack had a price on his head. And Jack was not wanted dead or alive, Jack was just wanted dead. By this time, his rifle had 36 marks on it just from the officers that he had killed. He had a stamp and every time he killed a Yankee officer, he would hit it down on the barrel. And there were 36 marks for the 36 officers that he killed. While Jack was helping General Nathan Bedford Forrest as a scout at Johnsonville, Tennessee, he was asked about his campaign as a sniper and the growing price on his head by Major Charles W. Anderson. And Jack replied, he said, "They murdered my boys. And they may kill me yet, but the marks on the barrel of my gun will show that I'm a long way ahead of them. And I'm not through yet."
#52 | 45:11 to 46:27 | cleaned
Major Anderson gave this description of Jack Hinson, he said, "Hinson's clear gray eyes, compressed lips and massive jaws clearly indicated that under no circumstances was he a man to be trifled with or aroused, and under the great bereavement inflicted upon him by the wanton slaughter of his sons, he kept his oath to the close of the war, that is, to take care of all of those who were being unjust." Here's the interesting thing. Many of you know that during a time of war, there are a lot of criminals that will take advantage of the situation.
#53 | 46:28 to 47:04 | cleaned
And so there were men in Tennessee who were raping, looting, murdering. And it didn't matter if it was pro-Union or pro-Southern. They were doing it to anyone and everyone. Jack Hinson discovered some of their names. And one by one, they begin to disappear. And Jack won the appreciation of the pro-Southern men and the pro-Union men as well, because most of the men who were left at home were aged and elderly.
#54 | 47:05 to 47:57 | cleaned
I suppose that may be where we get the words and the saying that "he just needed killing." Because Jack did take care of these men who just needed killing. Let me give you one quick illustration of how good Jack was with this rifle. On one occasion, Jack rode into an open field and he immediately saw up ahead of him two Union soldiers. So he very quickly lowered his rifle into the grass, took his possible bag off, dropped it in the grass and continued riding to the two Union soldiers. When he met them, they asked him, did he know Jack Hinson? He replied, yes, he knew Jack Hinson.
#55 | 47:58 to 48:53 | cleaned
The next question was, "Have you seen him lately?" "Yes," he said, "I've seen him." Well, they asked, "Do you know where we might could find him?" He said, "Well, of course I do." And he told them how to go and where to go where they might find Jack Hinson. And so they galloped off. Jack Hinson then turned around, picked up his rifle, picked up his possible bags, took a shortcut to where he told the two Union soldiers to go.
#56 | 48:54 to 49:25 | cleaned
He got there just a few minutes ahead of them. He knew he would have to be quick. He knew he would have to be good. He had his weapon laid out. He had his weapon loaded. He had everything else laid out. And when the two Union soldiers showed up, listen. He took the first shot and killed the first Yankee soldier. He knew he'd have to be fast because the second Yankee soldier is going to be pulling his carbine out to shoot. And Jack reloaded, shot, and killed the second Yankee soldier before the Yankee soldier could ever get a rifle on him and press the trigger. Now, would you listen to me? It's recorded. He shot the first man, reloaded. Remember, you've got to pour the powder into the barrel. You've got to push the bullet down.
#57 | 49:26 to 50:28 | cleaned
You have to cock it. You have to cap the nipple. You have to pull the set trigger. He did all of that in six seconds. In six seconds. Jack Hinson's weapon killed over 100 of Grant's soldiers. Some of his shots were over 1,000 yards. When you stop and think of 1,000 yards, that is 3,000 feet, which is nearly three quarters of a mile. Alice and I have been to some of the battlefields. On one of those battlefields, here was a Confederate soldier, a valley, the next hill, a Union sentry. And the Confederate soldier aimed at that sentry, elevated his rifle, shot and killed the Union sentry, and it was exactly one mile. And here's Jack Hinson, shooting accurately to well over a thousand yards with his specially made rifle. Although Jack Hinson was hunted, he was never found. And many wanted him dead, but their wants never materialized.
#58 | 50:28 to 51:58 | cleaned
This courageous outdoorsman and woodsman finally died in 1874. His last years had been tough ones, but he lived with his family. He loved with his family until the end. And Jack died of natural causes at the age of 67 in July of 1874. He was truly a sniper and a marksman par excellence.
#59 | 52:00 to 52:28 | cleaned
Now, let me make you some applications, and I want you to think with me on this. The first one is this. We must learn that all injustice, tyranny and despotism will at last be righted in some manner. King Saul was a tyrant. King Saul did everything he could to murder innocent David. David had the opportunity to kill Saul and he would not. And here's what David said in 1 Samuel, chapter 26 in verse 10, he said, "As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle and perish." David was emphasizing the fact that sooner or later Saul would be judged by God. Saul is not going to escape.
#60 | 52:30 to 53:20 | cleaned
It doesn't matter if it's old age. It doesn't matter if it's a natural death. It doesn't matter if it's in battle. God is going to take him out. That's exactly what he's saying. Please understand this. I don't care how great a sinner is. I don't care how rich the sinner is. I don't care how much power he has. He is not going to escape the wrath and the judgment of God with his sin.
#61 | 53:21 to 53:45 | cleaned
Here's another illustration, as well as an application. We have to learn that there are some men that are not to be trifled with. There are some men you better not pick on. The illustration I want to give you is I have a young preacher friend. I say young preacher friend. He's up in his forties now, fifties. And he is a small man. I mean, a small man, I suppose he's this high.
#62 | 53:48 to 54:23 | cleaned
Probably doesn't weigh over 130-140 pounds sopping wet. He was also an ex-marine. But he and his wife and two children were in a fast food restaurant eating. They finished and they started going out the door. And as they went out the door, a big burly man bumped into him, cursed him, took God's name in vain in front of his wife and children and went on outside.
#63 | 54:24 to 54:57 | cleaned
My pastor friend was wearing one of those little belly pouches, you know, that go around here. And so he looked at this man and he said, "Sir," the man turned around, he said, "Sir, you owe my wife and children an apology. You cursed when you walked past us and bumped into me." Moreover, he said, "You owe God an apology. You took His name in vain." The man, "Ha," and cursed again. And my friend said to him, "Sir, you're not very observant, are you?"
#64 | 54:59 to 55:41 | cleaned
He said, "You see my hand in my pouch?" He said, "If I have to pull my hand out, you're either going to the morgue or to the hospital."
#65 | 55:44 to 55:53 | cleaned
Now, do we give you an apology? The man said, "Yes, I will apologize and I'm sorry." What I'm trying to tell you is this, sooner or later, sooner or later, they're going to run into the wrong man. I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to Psalm 149. I want you to see this. Psalm 149. And let's begin reading there with verse 5. Psalm 149 and verse 5. Look at it.
#66 | 55:55 to 56:33 | cleaned
God says, "Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds." Why should we sing aloud upon our beds? "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth." Why should the high praises of God be in our mouth? "And a two-edged sword in their hand." Are you looking? "To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord." Do you realize? When God brought Israel out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the Canaan land, He put a sword in their hands and said, "Slay them all. Slay them all." No one is going to escape the righteous wrath and judgment of God. Here's the third application.
#67 | 56:34 to 57:48 | cleaned
We must learn to trust and obey. I realize, especially to the young, war seems to be very romantic. I had a cousin who's now dead. He was a machine gunner in a helicopter in Vietnam. He got wounded, was sent home. Medically discharged. You know what he told me? He said, "I am so thankful I got wounded." I said, "Really? Why are you so thankful you got wounded? I'm sure it's painful." He said, "Yes, I know it was painful, but I was shooting at them."
#68 | 57:49 to 58:34 | cleaned
And he said, "I discovered something." I said, "What's that?" He said, "They shoot back. They shoot back." I want you to listen to me. It is true a lot of times the enemy dies. But sometimes it's true that we die. Our family dies. The point I'm trying to make is this. If war and violence can be avoided by obedience and by trust, I'd much rather take the easy way out and be obedient to my God and trust in Him. Because war, no matter how romantic it may sound and no matter how heroic you may think you are, it doesn't always work out the way you think it's going to work out.
#69 | 58:34 to 59:30 | cleaned
So in that light, we better learn to obey and we better learn to seek God's protection on our lives. And let me tell you, it is true that God has given us weapons. It is true that God has given us minds. It is true that God has given us ability. But I will tell you this, unless God gives you His grace and His mercy, none of that's any good. I've had people ask me, "Do you have loaded weapons in your house?" And I tell them every weapon in my house is loaded. I have weapons in the corner. I have weapons by my bed.
#70 | 59:31 to 1:00:05 | cleaned
Sometimes I have them under my pillow. I have, but let me tell you something. I could have .50 caliber machine guns stacked all around my bedroom. I could have a howitzer in my bedroom. I could have anything in the world in my bedroom. But if intruders came in with intent of murdering me, if God didn't awaken me in time and enable me to shoot accurately, all of that machinery would be worthless and useless.
#71 | 1:00:06 to 1:00:30 | cleaned
As the song goes, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way." And if we can avoid problems by trusting and obedience, that's exactly the way we need to go. Jack Hinson, like Captain Jonathan Davis, was a man who was willing to fight and bring forth justice. And God did use him just like He used Jephthah and Ehud and Gideon. How do we know? How do we know God used those men? Because of the successes in their lives. How do we know God used Jack Hinson? Because of the success in his life.
#72 | 1:00:34 to 1:01:16 | cleaned
There was no law and order in Dover, Tennessee or in that area. No, none, because the Yanks were the ones who were doing most of the atrocities and violating the law. But God used Jack Hinson to bring a measure of justice to that area. And inevitably, as unjust as our society becomes, God will raise up another Jack Hinson. He will raise up another Samson. He will raise up another judge because justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne.
#73 | 1:01:17 to 1:02:01 | cleaned
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You, Lord, for the men whom You have used throughout the ages. Give us grace, Lord, that we may serve Thee acceptably. Use us, teach us, build us up in the most holy faith. In Thy name we pray. Amen. Amen.
#74 | 1:02:02 to 1:02:25 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T19:54:31Z

Captain Jack Hinson and Divine Justice

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver examines the biblical foundation for justice as a primary purpose of civil government, then explores what happens when government fails to execute justice. Using the historical account of Captain Jack Hinson—a Confederate sniper who sought vengeance after Union soldiers murdered his two sons—Weaver argues that God sovereignly raises up individuals to administer justice when the state defaults. The sermon includes applications about trusting God's ultimate judgment, recognizing that some men are not to be trifled with, and the importance of obedience and trust over romanticized violence.

Introduction: The Biblical Mandate for Justice

Ezekiel chapter 45 and verse 9. Notice, if you would, what the Word of God says:

Scripture Reading — Ezekiel 45:9

"Thus saith the Lord God, let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice. Take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God."

The Failure of Civil Government and God's Response

When civil government fails to execute justice, God raises up exceptional individuals to administer His justice, often those who have suffered injustices themselves.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 59:14

"And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter."

Understanding Vigilantism

Vigilantism originally referred to organized extra-legal groups enforcing law in the absence of adequate justice, not mere lawlessness. Biblical examples include Ehud, Jephthah, and Gideon.

Introduction to Jack Hinson

Jack Hinson was a Confederate sniper who terrorized Union forces after the murder of his sons. He acted alone as a bushwhacker, a role that invited summary execution if captured.

Union Atrocities and the Murder of Hinson's Sons

Union forces committed widespread atrocities against Southern civilians. Hinson's two sons, George and John, were falsely accused of being bushwhackers, murdered, and beheaded by a Union patrol.

Hinson's Preparation and Vengeance

Hinson acquired a custom .50 caliber rifle and systematically hunted down the lieutenant and sergeant responsible for his sons' deaths, killing them from ambush.

Hinson's Continued Campaign and Legacy

Hinson continued targeting Union officers, once forcing a fully armed naval vessel to surrender. He also eliminated criminals taking advantage of the war. He died of natural causes in 1874.

Applications: Trusting God's Justice and Obedience

Applications include: all injustice will ultimately be righted by God; some men are not to be trifled with; and believers should trust and obey God rather than romanticize violence.

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 26:10

"As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle and perish."

David was emphasizing the fact that sooner or later Saul would be judged by God. Saul is not going to escape.

Captain Jack Hinson and Divine Justice

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	78222350202428
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Authority
Genre	Sermon
Date	2022-07-06
Dictation Name
Book	Book 008: Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13 — Chapter 17
Source Timed Segments	74

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Biblical Mandate for Justice: Justice is a primary function of civil government according to Romans 13, and God prefers justice over sacrifice. The sermon opens with Ezekiel 45:9 and other verses establishing God's demand for justice.
The Failure of Civil Government and God's Response: When civil government fails to execute justice, God raises up exceptional individuals to administer His justice, often those who have suffered injustices themselves.
Understanding Vigilantism: Vigilantism originally referred to organized extra-legal groups enforcing law in the absence of adequate justice, not mere lawlessness. Biblical examples include Ehud, Jephthah, and Gideon.
Introduction to Jack Hinson: Jack Hinson was a Confederate sniper who terrorized Union forces after the murder of his sons. He acted alone as a bushwhacker, a role that invited summary execution if captured.
Union Atrocities and the Murder of Hinson's Sons: Union forces committed widespread atrocities against Southern civilians. Hinson's two sons, George and John, were falsely accused of being bushwhackers, murdered, and beheaded by a Union patrol.
Hinson's Preparation and Vengeance: Hinson acquired a custom .50 caliber rifle and systematically hunted down the lieutenant and sergeant responsible for his sons' deaths, killing them from ambush.
Hinson's Continued Campaign and Legacy: Hinson continued targeting Union officers, once forcing a fully armed naval vessel to surrender. He also eliminated criminals taking advantage of the war. He died of natural causes in 1874.
Applications: Trusting God's Justice and Obedience: Applications include: all injustice will ultimately be righted by God; some men are not to be trifled with; and believers should trust and obey God rather than romanticize violence.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Justice is a primary function of government

Civil government exists to protect the righteous and punish the wicked; justice is so important that God prefers it over sacrifice.

Weaver cites Romans 13, Psalm 82:3, Psalm 89:14, and Proverbs 21:3.

When government fails, God raises up individuals to execute justice

In the absence of just government, God sovereignly raises up exceptional individuals, often those who have suffered injustice, to administer His justice.

Weaver states this directly and supports it with the example of the biblical judges and Jack Hinson.

Vigilantism is not inherently evil

Historically and legally, vigilantism refers to organized extra-legal enforcement of law when government fails, not mere lawlessness.

Weaver cites Black's Law Dictionary and the 1767 South Carolina backcountry example.

Jack Hinson was a divinely used instrument of justice

Hinson's success as a sniper, despite massive Union manhunts, demonstrates God's hand upon him to bring justice for his sons' murders and protect the community.

Weaver details Hinson's kills, the surrender of a naval vessel, and his elimination of criminals, concluding 'God did use him just like He used Jephthah and Ehud and Gideon.'

All injustice will ultimately be righted by God

No sinner, regardless of power or wealth, will escape God's judgment; this is illustrated by David's words about Saul.

Weaver quotes 1 Samuel 26:10 and applies it to the certainty of divine judgment.

Some men are not to be trifled with

There are individuals whom God uses to execute judgment, and provoking them can lead to severe consequences.

Weaver shares the story of his ex-marine pastor friend confronting a man who cursed in front of his family.

Believers should trust and obey God rather than seek violence

While God may use violence, it is better to avoid it through obedience and trust, as war often brings unforeseen suffering.

Weaver recounts his cousin's Vietnam experience and his own dependence on God's protection despite being heavily armed.

Scripture References

Ezekiel 45:9: Opening verse calling princes to remove violence and execute justice.
Romans 13: Outlines the two functions of civil government: protection of the righteous and punishment of the wicked.
Psalm 82:3: Commands judges to defend the poor and fatherless and do justice to the afflicted.
Psalm 89:14: States that judgment and justice are the habitation of God's throne.
Proverbs 21:3: To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Isaiah 59:14: Describes a time when judgment is turned away backward and justice stands afar off.
1 Samuel 26:10: David's declaration that the Lord will smite Saul, or his day will come to die, or he will perish in battle.
Psalm 149:5-9: The saints are honored to execute vengeance and punishments upon the heathen, binding kings and nobles.

Historical References

Jack Hinson (Captain Jack): Confederate sniper who killed over 100 Union soldiers in retaliation for the murder of his sons; never captured.
General Ulysses S. Grant: Personal friend of Jack Hinson before the war; Hinson initially tried to remain neutral due to this friendship.
Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest: Confederate general for whom Hinson served as a scout.
General Clinton B. Fisk: Union general who ordered bushwhackers to be summarily executed without trial.
General William Tecumseh Sherman: Advised shooting a thousand cannon shells into helpless towns for every bullet fired at a steamboat.
Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter: Issued orders to shell and destroy houses near any sniper attack, regardless of civilian casualties.
Major General Stephen G. Burbridge: Practiced 'atonement' by publicly shooting four Confederate prisoners for every Union soldier or sympathizer killed.
Colonel Fielding Black: Union colonel who buried captured Confederate soldiers as mile markers after shooting them.
James Gray: Elderly Tennessee preacher and former assemblyman tortured by Union soldiers by having his feet burned; survived.
Lieutenant General Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller: Most decorated Marine in history; his grandmother died after Yankees burned her house for having her dead husband's spurs.

Important Quotes

Thus saith the Lord God, let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice. Take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God.

Opening Scripture that establishes the sermon's theme of divine justice as a mandate for rulers.

Inevitably, God in His sovereignty will raise up someone who will administer His justice.

Core thesis of the sermon: God raises up individuals to execute justice when government fails.

Try the bushwhacker by a drumhead court-martial tonight. And let every soldier in Macon shoot him if he is guilty, as he doubtless is.

Illustrates the Union's harsh policy toward bushwhackers, which Hinson faced.

For every bullet shot at a steamboat, I would shoot a thousand 30-pound Parrott shells, even into helpless towns.

Sherman's disproportionate retaliation policy, showing the brutality Hinson opposed.

They murdered my boys. And they may kill me yet, but the marks on the barrel of my gun will show that I'm a long way ahead of them. And I'm not through yet.

Hinson's own words explaining his motivation and determination for vengeance.

It was the only time in recorded history that a fully armed naval vessel with embarked combat troops ever surrendered to one man.

Highlights the extraordinary effectiveness of Hinson as a sniper.

As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle and perish.

David's words about Saul, used to illustrate that all injustice will ultimately be judged by God.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the biblical mandate for civil government in Romans 13 shape our understanding of justice today?

[Context]

Weaver opens by stating that justice is one of the two functions of civil government.

[Question]

In what ways might God raise up individuals to administer justice when government fails, and how can we discern such a calling?

[Context]

Weaver argues that God sovereignly raises up deliverers like the biblical judges and Jack Hinson.

[Question]

How should Christians evaluate the concept of vigilantism in light of biblical examples and historical definitions?

[Context]

Weaver defines vigilantism and gives biblical examples like Ehud and Gideon.

[Question]

What does Jack Hinson's story teach us about the law of sowing and reaping and personal vengeance?

[Context]

Hinson sought out the specific men who murdered his sons, and Weaver frames it as learning the law of sowing and reaping.

[Question]

How do we balance the biblical call to execute justice with the command to trust and obey God rather than resort to violence?

[Context]

Weaver's final application emphasizes trust and obedience over romanticizing war.

[Question]

What does Psalm 149 teach about the role of God's people in executing judgment, and how should this be applied today?

[Context]

Weaver reads Psalm 149:5-9 to show that executing vengeance is an honor for the saints.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:38:47Z