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

Jack Hinson, Confederate Sniper

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Civil Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2009-08-16

Synopsis: John Weaver uses the story of Jack Hinson, a Confederate sniper, to illustrate biblical principles of justice. He argues that when civil governments fail to execute God's justice, God raises up individuals to administer it. The sermon traces Hinson's transformation from a neutral farmer to a guerrilla fighter after Union soldiers murdered his sons, emphasizing themes of divine justice, sowing and reaping, and the limits of governmental authority.

[John Weaver] All right, let's open our Bibles to the book of Ezekiel chapter 45 Ezekiel 45. We're just going to read one verse. I was asked this week. One of our men, he said, Pastor. You haven't brought anything on Southern history in a long time, I said, well, just wait till Sunday. Because this is not only Southern history, this is biblical truth. So I'm going to bring a study today. Actually, it's a study on justice, but it's going to be built around a man by the name of Jack Henson, who was a Confederate sniper.

[John Weaver] So I want you to listen very carefully. Ezekiel 45 in verse 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, said the Lord God. Now, I want you to note what God said to the princes, to the civil rulers of Israel. He said, let this be sufficient for you. What? Remove violence and spoil. And you then turn around and execute judgment and justice. And then he said, take away all of your exactions from my people. Throughout the Bible, justice is important. In fact, justice is one of the main functions of civil government. I've told you repeatedly that Romans chapter 13 teaches there is basically a twofold responsibility of civil government, and that twofold responsibility is, number one, punishing the wicked and number two protecting the righteous. So basically it is a function of justice. If you would turn in your Bibles very quickly to Psalm 82 and notice if you would verse three. In fact Psalm 82 is a Psalm directed against judges particularly.

[John Weaver] And he says this in Psalm 82 and verse three. Note if you would. God, in fact, let's read verse two. God asked the judges, how long would you judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked? And then God says, defend the poor and the fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and needy. God is indeed the God of justice. God demands justice. And if you look at Psalm 89 in verse 14, since you were that close, notice what the scripture says concerning God's throne. Psalm 89 verse 14, justice and judgment or the habitation of my throne, mercy and truth shall go before thy face. But notice judgment and justice or the habitation of God's throne. God desired justice even above sacrifice. One of the scripture, if you would turn right over to Proverbs, look in 21 and verse three, Proverbs 21 verse three. Notice, if you would, what the scripture says. Proverbs 21 and verse three of the Word of God says this to do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

[John Weaver] Think about that to do judgment and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than to do sacrifice. Let me just spell it out. God had rather have us living righteously and obediently more than all the sacrifice that we could ever give.

[John Weaver] Now, the question has to be asked. What happens when civil governments fail in their responsibility to provide justice? And by the way, let me remind you that justice is determined by God. Justice is that which is in accordance with God's law. I've told you before, but let me remind you. The Hebrew word for justice and the Hebrew word for righteousness are one in the same word. So whatever is just is right. Whatever is right is just. You cannot have justice without righteousness. I get not only perturbed, but sometimes downright tickled when I see courthouses in federal buildings with the inscription Department of Justice. And you know there's no real justice there. Justice is determined by God. But if you look very quickly in Isaiah 59 and verse 14, you will see what happens when governments fail to give true justice. In Isaiah 59 and verse 14, notice what God says. God is charging Israel with all of their leaders with injustice. And in Isaiah 59 and verse 14, God says this, and judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off, and truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

[John Weaver] So, in other words, when governments fail to do that which God has established them for, It's presented here as judgment. It's turned away backward. Justice stands as far off. In other words, there is no justice. And truth is fallen in the street. And that which is right cannot enter. Why can it not enter? Because there's no truth and there is no justice.

[John Weaver] Now, ask yourself this question. What happens when governments fail to exercise God's justice? Do you remember how the Bible says in Proverbs 17 that they which condemn the just and justify the wicked, even they both are an abomination to the Lord. So it's an abomination to sting in God's nostrils when there is no true justice. So when you have men then who are justifying the wicked and they're condemning the just, which is just upside down, God says it is indeed a stench in his nostrils. So what is going to happen then when you have governments that invariably, inevitably refuse to give justice? Well, here's what's going to happen. God in his absolute justice and God in his sovereignty will always raise up someone or some group to administer justice.

[John Weaver] The individual that God raises up will be uniquely qualified to execute justice, not only because of the call of God upon his life, but also usually because he and his family have been recipients of repeated injustices so that he hungers and longs for true justice. Now, before someone gets all bent out of shape and say, now wait a minute, Brother Weaver, that is nothing more than pure vigilantism. No, it is not vigilantism. And before I go any further, let me give you a perspective on vigilantism that you may not have considered, or at least you've not thought of in a while. You see, the word vigilantism is a word that is misused and misunderstood. The term vigilantism did not originally signify what modern-day politicians want it to mean. It did not signify just someone quote-unquote taking the law into his own hands. The term vigilantism actually refers to the creation and enforcement of law by organized extra-legal groups in the supposed absence of adequate law enforcement and justice. So, in other words, when there is a failure on the part of the state to administer justice, then vigilantism was a rise of an extra-legal group, that is someone outside of the legal system, that arose to defend and to execute justice in the absence of adequate law enforcement or in the absence of

[John Weaver] adequate justice. So I could say that the word vigilantism probably has a good and a bad connotation. Vigilantism began in the United States in 1767 in South Carolina, where the South Carolinians, backcountry people, suffered widespread depredation from outlaws. There was no law enforcement. There was no one to execute justice and therefore the people then banded together and they undertook to defend themselves and to evict justice to the extent that they could do so.

[John Weaver] Now if you would be wise enough to look up the word vigilanteism in Black's Law Dictionary or Bouvier's Law Dictionary, you would find this. Here is a quote from Black's Law Dictionary that the word vigilantism comes from the word vigilant or vigilance. And Black's Law Dictionary defends vigilance as this, 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.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to notice what that definition says. Watchfulness, precaution, a proper degree. Not an improper, but a proper degree. And then it says,"...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 technically and legally, all vigilantism is, and all vigilantes are doing, is protecting and guarding themselves and their rights and enforcing their lawful claims in the absence of real justice. and in the absence of a state who will not do it for them.

[John Weaver] So, to answer the question, what happens then when governments fail to give forth true justice, the answer is invariably God is going to raise up someone or some group that will indeed ensure that justice is done. I suppose that if you were to look at Black's Law Dictionary and consider the definition there, we could probably classify Men such as Ehud, Jephthah, and Gideon as vigilantes.

[John Weaver] Now stop and think about that. It is true that they were called of God. Yet it is equally true that they also acted individually in some instances and collectively in other instances. But neither of these men were elected to offices by the people, but yet they were called of God. And that call was demonstrated only by their godliness, their obedience, and their successes. One such man that God used in the War of Northern Aggression was a man by the name of John S. Henson. He was also known as Jack Henson, or Captain Jack. Jack Henson was a sniper, and he kept Federal soldiers in absolute terror.

[John Weaver] He was hunted, he was tracked, he was sought after, but he was never captured. I want you to understand that the primary goal of a sniper or a guerrilla is to harass, to ambush, to hit and run, to destroy all of the enemy's transports, property, and materials that he possibly can do, and I might also add, to do all this without getting caught.

[John Weaver] Now individual snipers and small bands of guerrillas oftentimes in those days cut telegraph lines, tore up railroad tracks, burned bridges, destroyed Union properties, and when repair parties were sent out to fix those things, they were ambushed. And seldom did the Yankees ever get to see such an enemy. When confronted with larger numbers, the sniper or the gorilla would just simply fade away into the forest and disappear. Jack Henson became a gorilla fighter who operated alone. And I can truly say that Jack Henson was a man who moved like a ghost through the forest. You have to remember that such men were designated by the Yankees as bushwhackers, And they were not to be treated as regular soldiers. If they were captured, they were not to be treated as prisoners of war.

[John Weaver] Rather, they were to be either shot or hanged on the spot. Let me just show you the attitude. Brigadier General Clinton B. Fiske, a Yankee soldier, sent orders to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel M. Draper on April 18, 1864, and he said this, try the bushwhacker, they had caught one, Try the bushwhacker by drumhead court-martial tonight and let every soldier in Macon shoot him if 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, you kill them, don't bring them in. The same day General Fisk telegraphed another subordinate that he had not misunderstood the policy. He said, tell the party who have the bushwhacker at Honeywell that I want no such prisoners. Your orders are correct. Let that be the rule from henceforth. Don't bring these men in, he says, you kill them, you take care of it before you get back to the fort. General Rosecrans gave the order to kill any bushwhacker you can find engaged in his hellish work. General Fisk then wrote again to Major Samuel Garth and said this.

[John Weaver] Now listen carefully because I want you to see an attitude. We must during the winter and spring kill these disturbers of the peace and in your sub-district, I trust that the work will begin at once and continue until the last imp expires. Hesitate not to burn down every house where it can be demonstrated that the occupants harbor and conceal the murdering fiends and destroy everything on the premises, deal summarily with the parties who harbor and conceal. They are equally guilty with the bushwhacker and must share his fate." So, the attitude is you kill everybody and everything, burn down every house.

[John Weaver] Now, everyone knows the wickedness of General William Tecumseh Sherman. And Sherman was indeed a wicked, wicked man. And Sherman offered his advice to John A. Logan concerning snipers who hindered river traffic. Here is what General Sherman wrote to General John A. Logan in December of 1863. He said this, here is how he would handle snipers and sharpshooters. Listen, quote, for every bullet shot at a steamboat, for every bullet shot at a steamboat, I would shoot a thousand 30-pound parrot, that is, rifle cannon shells, even into helpless towns. So for one shot at a steamboat, he's going to shoot a thousand 30-pound parrot shells in the neighboring towns. Towns doesn't have anything to do with it, but that's how he said he would handle it. In other words, he would murder everyone and everything.

[John Weaver] Jack Henson actually became a nightmare for Yankee transports, gunships, and boats carrying Yankee supplies and troops. Jack Henson would normally become an avenging angel. He would deal out what I am calling 50 caliber justice. Snipers and sharpshooters were so effective that by October of 1862, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter issued orders for boats never to tie up to banks to keep deck guns loaded and trained on the banks, and to keep small arms loaded and ready to repel boarders. His orders were that when they were sniped at or attacked from the banks, that they were to shell and destroy any houses near the sniping or any attack from the banks, and they were to do it with spirit, regardless of the casualties among innocent civilians. He goes on, if innocent civilians were hurt or killed, according to Porter, it was their own fault.

[John Weaver] They shouldn't have been there. Now, Jack Henson was not actually a Confederate soldier. Although he fought for the Confederacy. In fact, when the war began, he was actually too old. He was 57 years old. And originally, Jack Henson tried to maintain a position of neutrality. He was friends with Union General Ulysses S. Grant as well as friends with numerous Confederate generals. Jack Henson saw the fall of Fort Donelson.

[John Weaver] He had first-hand knowledge of the situation. In fact, he was called a year later to testify concerning the ineptitude of Confederate Generals Pilla and Floyd. Also during the war, he also worked as a scout for General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

[John Weaver] Now Jack and his wife Elizabeth had 12 children, five of which survived their parents. Jack was a very successful farmer, he was a real estate investor, he was a land developer, and overall he was a very sharp businessman. Now Jack may not have been a multi-millionaire, But he was certainly not poor by any stretch of the imagination. I mean, he was a shrewd businessman. His home was known as Bubbling Springs because there were numerous springs where the house was built and on the land that he possessed. Jack also had a number of slaves.

[John Weaver] And the interesting thing is, when you read about his family, it talks about the Whitehensons and the Black Hensons. And in the summer of 1862, Jack understood that his Black family would have a better chance of survival if they were free. So he freed every one of his slaves voluntarily. He asked them to stay on and help him, and that he would pay them for their labor. Every slave to the man stayed. None wanted to leave. Jack gave his slaves their freedom papers. At the time Jack gave his slaves their freedom papers, his slave property was valued at over $50,000. So while I say he wasn't necessarily a multimillionaire, he was certainly not a poor man by any stretch of the imagination. And by the way, the Black Hensons stayed on the White Henson land and stayed with the family through every ordeal that they face. And you don't have, I can't even give you in this message today, the ordeals that just this one family went through. But the Black Hensons stayed with the family as well.

[John Weaver] And later on, you're going to find out when the Yankees came after Jack and his wife and the other children. Jack had to hide his weapons because he had not yet started a war with the Union Army. But when Jack hid his weapons, listen carefully, the Black Hensons hid their weapons as well. In other words, all of Jack's slaves were armed. Now, the way this thing really started was two of Jack's sons, George and John, were arrested after the fall of Fort Donaldson as spies. They were not spies.

[John Weaver] They were not even soldiers. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And it took the federal government about a month to figure out, hey, we've got two innocent boys here. And they let them go. Atrocities were committed by the Union Army as a matter of policy. One way they tried to subdue the Southern people was through fear. And so they would be as brutal as they possibly could be.

[John Weaver] Whenever, let's see, it was Major General Stephen G. Burbridge, a Yankee general, he practiced a form of retaliation that he called atonement. So whenever any Yankee soldier or any Yankee sympathizer was killed, he would immediately march four Confederate prisoners out into the town square and have them shot down like animals. They had nothing to do with the murder. They had nothing to do with the killings of other people. That was just his method of atonement. He'd take four for everyone, just march them out and shoot them down. Yankee Colonel Fielding Hurst, in July of 1863, captured six Confederate soldiers, and he had them march down the road a distance of one mile, and at every mile he would shoot one of them, bury him in the ground with his head sticking out, And he left them then as mild markers.

[John Weaver] You and I cannot conceive of some of the atrocities that took place. It's difficult for you and I to imagine the horrendous atrocities that were committed on a regular basis by the Yankee soldiers. There was a common technique, and I'll tell you, it made my hair stand on end just reading it. But there was a common technique that the Yankee soldiers used against southern civilians called putting their feet to the fire. And the reason they would do this would be to make the civilian tell where his money or where his jewels were. It was an exquisite method of torture that was used to really get to where the money was.

[John Weaver] In 1863, There's a prominent man by the name of James Gray, who was not only a farmer, he was also a preacher. He's one who had served in the state assembly of Tennessee. He was also a framer of the Constitution of the state of Tennessee. He had also fought with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. And when the Yankee soldiers came to him, and demanded his money.

[John Weaver] He told them he had none. They then threw a rope over a tree and hanged him three times. And the way they would do it, of course, they would pull him up and it would choke him. And just before he would die, they would release him. It was called stretching the neck and let him get his breath back. And then they'd do it again. Well, after three times, he kept telling them he did not have any money.

[John Weaver] Finally, exasperated, they tied him to a board and built a fire under his feet. And roasted his feet until the flesh fell off. And he still said he had no money. Finally, they left him in agony And believe it or not, the old man lived through it all. He was crippled, but he survived the torture. This kind of action, these kinds of atrocities, fomented and steeled Southern resistance against the Yankees.

[John Weaver] Indiscriminate looting and killing was everywhere in the county. and neighboring counties as well as where the Henson lives. For a time, it seemed as if Henson's friendship with General Grant allowed him and his family a little bit of security and a little bit of safety. However, that was certainly not to last and tragedy was going to strike and it was going to strike very hard.

[John Weaver] Now, Jack's oldest son, William, was a Confederate soldier. However, William was fighting in Virginia, not in Tennessee. George, his 22-year-old son, had not joined the army. Neither had John, his 17-year-old son. And one morning, these two boys left home very early, before daylight, to go deer hunting. They went to one of their very favorite spots to hunt. And just at the break of day, they heard horses and riders approaching.

[John Weaver] It was a patrol from the 5th Iowa cavalry. The boys could have merely just disappeared in the forest. But they didn't. And their reasoning was this. We're not soldiers. We're not doing anything wrong. We're just out here deer hunting. Why should we run? Why should we try to get away? When the lieutenant saw them, he immediately halted his patrol aimed his carbine at them, and so did all the other soldiers instantaneously. Well, the boys had been arrested before, falsely, as you remember, and it was worked out. It took them a month to get back home. And they supposed that, well, you know, this is the same thing.

[John Weaver] They'll find out the truth and they'll let us go. However, the lieutenant had been on the prowl for bushwhackers. And now he's found two. With a weapon in their hand, he's caught. He began to march the boys down the road. And when he began to accuse them, they began to protest, although they had not resisted. And said, no, we were out deer hunting. We're not soldiers. We're not bushwhackers.

[John Weaver] We weren't waiting for you. We were waiting for deer. At that point, the lieutenant stopped them. leveled his carbine at them again, so did the other soldiers, and very brutally murdered them. Murder was bad enough, but what the soldiers did next was unforgivable. The lieutenant then raised his heavy saber and severed their heads from their bodies. They then tied their bodies behind the horses and drug them into town around the town square.

[John Weaver] Everyone knew it was the Hinson boys. Jack was an upstanding man in the community. He was a man who had tried to remain neutral. He was a man Who was General Grant's friend? Dr. J.W. Smith, a local physician, when he saw the boys, immediately headed out to the Henson farm. He was going to prepare the family for the monstrous news, and he got Jack away from Elizabeth and the rest of the family.

[John Weaver] And he told them what had happened. Thankfully, he had arrived a great deal before the soldiers got there. You see, the problem was really very simple for the soldiers. Since Jack's sons were now labeled and killed as bushwhackers, that meant Jack and the rest of the family were guilty as well. And they, too, were to be executed. And Colonel Lowe had demanded that his men show no mercy to bushwhackers, their families, or their neighbors. It was at this point that Dr. Smith helped Jack and his family hide all their weapons. Thankfully, they took them out of the house, did not put them in the barn, hid them out in an old tree, in an old stump. The Black Hensons hid their weapons as well. And so now, Dr. Smith and Jack are standing outside when the soldiers ride up. The lieutenant immediately pulls his pistol and points it at Jack. Dr. Smith intervenes and is explaining to the lieutenant that Jack is an upstanding man, he's General Grant's friend, etc. And all of a sudden, Jack is standing there.

[John Weaver] Here, one soldier from the 5th Iowa Cavalry. reaches into a blood-soaked sack and takes the heads of his two sons and crams them on the gatepost. Jack was full of grief and full of rage at the same time, yet he kept his tongue. Dr. Smith prevailed with his reasoning But still they were going to search the house and the barns and search it they did. They turned over everything, emptied every drawer, looked behind everything. I mean left the house an absolute mess. And the barns as well, but they found no weapons. And with that the soldiers turned around and left. Jack Henson was a deliberate man.

[John Weaver] He always thought things through before he acted. He had a plan, and that plan was forming in his mind. After he had given his boys a proper burial, they had retrieved the bodies as well as the Athens, and gave the boys a burial. He now formulated that plan, and he decided he was going to teach the Yankees the truth of what the Bible meant when it says, whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. He's going to give them a lesson in the law of sowing and reaping.

[John Weaver] In order to do that, Jack needed a rifle. But not the old smooth-bore musket that he had. He needed a special rifle. He needed a rifle that could shoot accurately at long distances. He needed a rifled barrel. He needed something with grooves in it. He needed something with such a big caliber that if it hit a man above the legs, it would be a fatal blow. Jack knew exactly what he was going to do. He had a rifle specially made, custom made for himself. The barrel would have an octagonal It would be an octagonal barrel. It would be rifled. He would shoot the latest pointed-nosed mini-balls for greater accuracy. And it would have to be a rifle that he could shoot accurately out to and over a thousand yards. He would have this weapon custom-made. And he knew likewise he would have to have time to get all the materials that he needed. Remember now, Jack was a land investor and Jack oftentimes rode to different parts of the counties and to different counties buying and selling land.

[John Weaver] And Jack used those trips to start purchasing powder and balls and caps, everything that he was going to need. And he did so without attracting attention to himself. Jack knew that once he put his plan into action, He was going to be a hunted man. However, I can assure you Jack Henson never imagined in his wildest dreams exactly how hunted he would be. Before the war was over, the Union would have at least two cavalry regiments, seven infantry regiments, and one specially equipped amphibious task force of sailors and marines, both infantry and mounted, searching for Jack. Jack Henson and his custom-made rifle would kill over 100 of them before the war was over. When Jack received his rifle, the stock was from the best maple wood available at that time.

[John Weaver] The octagonal barrel was 41 inches long. It was an inch and a half thick, and it weighed 18 pounds. It was too heavy to shoot offhand, so he would need a support or shoot from a tree limb or something like that. And when Jack got that rifle, he practiced with it. He knew exactly what that rifle would do and what it would not do. You'll find out just a little bit later at how good he was with his rival. In order to throw suspicion from himself and to protect his family, Jack went down to the Yankee fort and voluntarily took the oath of allegiance.

[John Weaver] And he did so on a day when no one else would be there. Now, that particular time, Jack was not necessarily just going to make war against the federal government. He was going to make war against those men who murdered his sons. But Jack, remember, I told you, was a thoroughly reasonable man. Because what he was about to do was not taken in the heat of passion, nor in an emotional response. He had a well thought out plan and he was going to make sure that those murderers were brought to justice. Jack scouted and knew the routes that the patrols took going out of the fort and returning back to the fort.

[John Weaver] And so he watched the patrol go out and he saw the lieutenant. He found his spot where they would be returning. He then took his specially made custom built rifle, measured out a hundred grains of powder, stuck the mini ball down into the barrel, kept the nipple, set the set trigger, and laid it to the side and waited. And sure enough, the patrol came back exactly where he knew they would. He knew that he could escape because of the foliage that was around him. He knew that they would never, ever get him the way he was then. And as the patrol came back, they were talking, laughing. Jack heard them.

[John Weaver] He surveyed his field of view. took the rifle, laid it over a stump, and waited. And sure enough, the lieutenant was in the lead. And as it just happened, someone was talking to the lieutenant. And the lieutenant turned to look back, and as he turned to look back, he saw Jack with a.50 caliber aimed right at him. before the lieutenant could say anything, a.50 caliber mini ball hit him right in the throat.

[John Weaver] Knocked him off the horse. The other men then sat there and shot for a moment. By this time, Jack had escaped. He was nowhere around. Jack began to ask himself, is it over? Have I finished? But he knew that was not quite it. He knew it was not going to be over. Events would soon heat up for the Henson family. Not only for the Henson family, but for all the pro-Southern families in that area. Union General George H. Thomas advocated depopulating the area of all people who were pro-Confederate.

[John Weaver] He wrote, 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. So like the state of Missouri, the Southern people in Tennessee and Kentucky were to be driven from their homes just simply because they were Southern.

[John Weaver] Now, the union officer in charge where Jack lived had determined that he was going to do something concerning the guerrilla problem, and he wanted to exterminate all the rascals and burn them out. And he planned to burn out everyone that he thought supported the guerrillas. Proof was not necessary. Suspicion would suffice. Many of you have heard of General Lewis B. Puller, United States Marine Corps, better known as Chesty Puller. You remember Chesty Puller? Chesty Puller was the most decorated United States Marine. And Chesty Puller told of his witted grandmother's death at the hands of Union soldiers.

[John Weaver] Her home was burned and she was left in the snow to walk ten miles through the snow to find shelter. It was from that ordeal that she ultimately died. Why did the Yankee soldiers burn this widow woman's home? Here's why. Because when they went to her house, they found her dead husband's spurs hanging on the wall, and therefore she was guilty of possessing war supplies. And they burned her house to the ground. The Yanks finally came to get the Henson family and to burn them out. Thankfully, it was wintertime, snow, ice, muddy and slick roads slowed down the Yankee soldiers.

[John Weaver] Word reached the Hensons that they were next on the list. And what the Henson's did was this, as much food and supplies and money as they could, they took and hid it. Made sure it was well hidden. The family then was quickly put in a sled with all the money and provisions that they could carry and then covered with hay. Several of the black Henson's accompanied Mrs. Henson and the children and they were charged with their safety and they declared that they would give their lives to protect them and get them to safety.

[John Weaver] And by the way, they did indeed accomplish their mission. Jack went with them only about a mile to make sure that they had gotten away, and he knew that he could not be with them. And so he sent them on their way, and then he turned to find him a place to live and to continue his mission. When the Yankees reached Bubbling Springs, the Henson home, they were infuriated that they had missed their target.

[John Weaver] Aunt Sarah, the black slave, had moved into the house to take care of the house. When she let them know the Hensons were not there, they came in to search the house and, of course, tore everything up again. And then they told her to get out. They were going to burn it to the ground and everything in it. Well, all the black Hensons then came around. And beg them not to burn the barn. Nor the black Henson homes. And of course, the lieutenant then was going to. Burn everything. But the black servant said this. If you burn everything.

[John Weaver] The only place that we can go is to the fort. And you'll have to support us. Wouldn't it be better if you left us alone and left us a house and something to live in where we can take care of ourselves?

[John Weaver] Finally, the lieutenant agreed, and he spared their homes and the barn. And, of course, they had, and by the way, before Jack had left, he had given the Black Hensons a sufficient amount of money, had hidden them a large amount of food that they would be well taken care of until the spring. When Jack left his family, and he didn't know at that time that the house was being burned, he set out to find him a place to live. I wish I had time to just elaborate, but he found a cave high above the river. It was a cave that you could not even see, and once you got close to it, you still would not even know it was there unless you had been there before, basically. So he found the cave, and he went in, and he made a good bed, he built him a fire, he made it as comfortable as he possibly could. And of course, it was this cave that was right above the river where the Yankee boats had to come through a chute.

[John Weaver] Now going downriver, they flew down that chute. But coming upriver at full speed, it was like they were standing still. It was so slow going through that chute. Jack, remember, could shoot effectively over a thousand yards. He would find plenty of targets coming up that river. Many of them over 600 yards distance. And at 600 and 700 yards, they would never even see the smoke from that.50 caliber rifle, especially because of the mist in the river. And Jack always made it a point to target the officers And he would always usually shoot the captain of the boat first. On one occasion, as one transport entered the chute, Jack first shot the naval officer in command of the troops on board. He then shot another naval officer. Some men then began to fire frantically at the banks of the river, but nowhere near Jack was located. Jack then took the life of another officer, and the deck was literally covered with blood. He coolly then laid down officer after officer.

[John Weaver] Confusion, chaos, and carnage reigned, and then an unusual thing happened. The captain of the transport, and they've been transporting troops now, the captain of the transport commanded the engines to be cut, and a white flag was raised. The transport was surrendering. It was the first time in naval history that a transport ship loaded with troops and supplies surrendered to a lone shooter. Naturally, Jack could not accept the surrender because he was alone. And when no one attempted to board the ship, finally the captain realized that, I might as well lower my flag and start going through the chute.

[John Weaver] And that's exactly what it did. Now, according to Tom C. McKinney, who is the author of Jack Henson's One Man War, he said it's the only time in recorded history that a fully armored naval vessel embarked with combat troops ever surrendered to one man. Now, Jack took out captain after captain and ship after ship. And by this time, Jack Henson, of course, had a price on his head. Jack Henson was not wanted dead or alive. He was wanted dead. Jack got him a hammer and a little piece of metal that would make a little round mark.

[John Weaver] And for every officer that he killed, he would tap on the barrel of his rifle. He had 36 little holes on his rifle before he basically ran out of room. And Jack was quite a man.

[John Weaver] Now listen, while Jack was scouting for and helping General Nathan Bedford Forrest on his raid to Johnstonville, Tennessee, he was asked about his campaign as a sniper and the growing price on his head by Major Charles W. Anderson. Jack replied to Anderson, they murdered my boys and they may kill me yet. But the marks on my barrel of my gun will show that I'm a long way ahead in the game now and I'm not done yet. Major Anderson gave this description of Jack Henson.

[John Weaver] 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, that is, of killing all those men until the close of the war.

[John Weaver] Now, there were men in those days, especially toward the end of the war, who just simply raped, robbed, murdered, and pillaged. They were not necessarily soldiers. Some of them were. Some of them were not. And it didn't matter who they raped, robbed, or pillaged, or murdered. Pro-Union, pro-Confederate, they didn't care. And usually, they were preying upon helpless women and children and old men. Jack Henson identified some of these leading murderers and looters.

[John Weaver] And somehow, one by one, they begin to disappear from the scene. And Jack had the gratitude and the appreciation of both pro-Union and pro-Confederate people in that area. So he made sure that those who were doing all of that were taken out. And I thought about this as I was preparing. I wonder if this is where we got the expression, he just needed killing. Because evidently those did and Jack took care of it. Now let me give you one quick story to illustrate how good Jack was with his rifle.

[John Weaver] There was a field, it was referred to as the 100 acre field. It had been cleared, and it had sawgrass in it. Jack rode into that field, and as he rode into the field, he immediately saw two Union soldiers. Very quickly, very quietly, he took his possible's bag off and his rifle, and he laid it in the grass where it would not be seen. And then he slowly but surely rode straight toward those two Union soldiers.

[John Weaver] When he got to them, they asked him. Did he know Jack Henson? Why, yes, he said. I know Jack Henson. They said, have you seen him lately? Well, he said, yes, I have. In fact, this morning he was back at such and such place and he described the area where He had seen Jack Henson. He said, if you go, and he gave them directions, he said, if you go this way, you will probably find him because he'll probably still be around in the area. And so with that, they took off after Jack Henson. Jack then turned around, went back where he dropped his rifle and his supplies, picked them up, and then took a shortcut to the place where he directed the soldiers.

[John Weaver] He knew that he would have to be fast. Remember now, although he is shooting the most modern weapon in that day, it is still a muzzleloader. You have to put the powder in, you have to put the bullet in, you have to ram it down, you have to put a cap on the nipple, and then you have to Of course, you have the set trigger, you have to pull the set trigger as well. If you don't know what a set trigger does, when you snap the set trigger, all it does is make the real trigger very light and very easy, where you just have to touch it, and then we go off. So Jack then found him a spot, laid all of his equipment out, because he knew, once again, he would have to be very fast, and sure enough, he only got there two or three minutes ahead of the soldiers.

[John Weaver] He picked out his field of view. And as the soldiers came into view, he very quickly aimed at one, shot him, and the soldier fell from the horse. The other soldier then immediately knew where the shot came from. Of course, he was trying to get his horse still. The horse was rearing just a little bit. And at the same time, he was drawing his pistol. And as he threw his pistol, shoot at Jack. Jack also didn't pull the trigger. And kill the second soldier.

[John Weaver] Now I want you to listen. Jack shot. Reloaded. Aimed and shot again. In six seconds. He had practiced. He knew that speed and agility. Would save his life. And here's the man who shot one man, reloaded, aimed and killed another one before the second man could even get his weapon on Jack. In six seconds, two were dead. Some of Jack's kills, listen now, some of Jack's kills were over a thousand yards. Now I want you to put that in perspective.

[John Weaver] That is 3,000 feet. Do you realize a mile is 5,280 feet? Which means Jack was using that rifle and shooting men at three quarters of a mile away. I told you earlier, he is credited with over 100 kills during the war. Although many Yankee troops sought him, none ever found him. Although many wanted him, their wants never materialized. This courageous woodsman and outdoorsman finally died in 1874.

[John Weaver] His last years have been tough ones, but he lived and loved his family until the end. Jack died a natural death 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 just a couple of applications. Here's something we have to learn in light of everything that I told you. We must learn that all injustice, tyranny, and despotism will at last be righted in some manner. Do you remember what David said concerning King Saul? Remember Saul was a tyrant. Remember Saul was persecuting David and countless others wrongfully and wickedly. And David said in 1 Samuel 26 and verse 10 concerning King Saul, As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish. What was David saying? David was emphasizing the fact and reality that sooner or later Saul would be judged by God one way or the other. God would either smite him supernaturally or he would die naturally or God would see that his life was taken to battle. In other words, it doesn't matter which way God was going to judge him and God was going to take care of him. So it was with Saul. And so it will be with all those who follow after King Saul.

[John Weaver] And act like Saul. The second application is this. We must also learn. There are some men not to be trifled with. And sooner or later, the wicked will pick on the wrong man. Or the wrong group of men. God will raise up, empower, enable those whom he has chosen to exercise his just wrath upon the ungodly.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 149. I want you to see this. I could just read it to you, but I want you to follow me. Because I think this is a very important, in fact, I thought this morning, I probably need to preach on this passage. I know I've used it in times past, but I don't know that I have several sermons or just one sermon just on this one passage. But look at Psalm 149.

[John Weaver] And remember what I'm saying now, the wicked will pick on the wrong man or the wrong group of men sooner or later. Notice Psalm 149. Let's begin reading with verse 4. For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people. He will beautify the meat with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand. Now look. 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 what? The judgment written, and then he says this, this honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord.

[John Weaver] What does that tell you? Do you remember what God did to Israel? When he brought them out of the land of Egypt, when he put a sword in their hand, said, you go in the land, you take care of the Amorites, the Jebusites, the Hittites, the Hivites and all the other rights, you just killed them. But notice, if you were to execute upon them the judgment written, not our judgment, but God's judgment. In God's time, when God's time comes, he will make it known he will raise up a deliverer. He will raise up a leader of his people who shall deliver his people as he has always done in time and in history.

[John Weaver] The third application is this. We must learn to trust and obey.

[John Weaver] Now, let me tell you. I don't know about you, but when I read the life of Jack Henson, I got excited. I liked it. But let me tell you, as exciting and as romantic, and I'm using that word purposefully, as war sounds, I can assure you it's not always as we like to think it is. Unhappily, it is not always the enemies who die. Sometimes it is you. Sometimes it is your family and I understand that death is not the end for the child of God. Yet listen, if war and carnage.

[John Weaver] Can be averted by our trust and obedience. That's the best avenue to take. And you have to understand this. Our trust and obedience are necessary in peace and in war. Just because there's a war does not mean that you can throw obedience to the wind. Just because there's a war doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want to do. No. If you and I fight, we have to fight on God's terms according to God's Word, and if we don't, we'll be in rebellion to Him. And God is not going to bless rebellion, whether it be in war or whether it be in peace.

[John Weaver] And when you stop to think, as wicked as we are in this country, As wicked as our government is, and it is wicked, as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah were, God was willing to spare them if he found ten righteous people.

[John Weaver] I can assure you There are some people that need killing. But I'd rather let God do it. He can do a far better job. But I can tell you this, if it comes to war, God will use those men who are trusting in Him and obedient to Him. You study Ehud. You study Gideon. You study all of these men. Jephthah. They were men who wanted to obey God and do what God used them in battle. That is a fact. But they were men who usually trusted in God before they went into battle.

[John Weaver] How do we sing that song? Trust and obey, for there is no other way. And that's a fact. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask for your blessing and your help. We pray that you would teach us, build us up in the most holy faith. And Lord, we do pray that thou wouldst indeed execute thy divine justice in this day and time in history. We do pray, Father, you may do anything that you please. You may regenerate. You may restrain or you may remove. But Father, we commit our ways unto Thee and ask You to establish our thoughts. Help us, Lord, to thank Thee for Your grace and mercy and Your protection in our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

[John Weaver] This program was produced by Dominion Ministry. For more information about Pastor Weaver's sermons, You may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn, that's A-B-E-R-C-O-R-N Street, Suite 705, PMV 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Or give us a call at 912-925-0995.

[John Weaver] You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com

Jack Hinson, Confederate Sniper

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	105091215367
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Christian & Civil Government
Genre	Sermon
Date	2009-08-16
Dictation Name
Book	Book 008: Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13 — Chapter 13
Source Timed Segments	83

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Biblical Foundation for Justice

Weaver introduces the topic by reading Ezekiel 45:9 and explaining that justice is a primary function of civil government, as taught in Romans 13. He emphasizes that God desires justice above sacrifice.

All right, let's open our Bibles to the book of Ezekiel chapter 45, Ezekiel 45. We're just going to read one verse. I was asked this week by one of our men. He said, "Pastor, you haven't brought anything on Southern history in a long time." I said, "Well, just wait till Sunday, because this is not only Southern history, this is biblical truth." So I'm going to bring a study today. Actually, it's a study on justice, but it's going to be built around a man by the name of Jack Henson, who was a Confederate sniper.

So I want you to listen very carefully. Ezekiel 45 and verse 9:

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."

Now, I want you to note what God said to the princes, to the civil rulers of Israel. He said, "Let this be sufficient for you." What?

Scripture Reading — Ezekiel 45:9

"Remove violence and spoil. And you then turn around and execute judgment and justice."

And then He said,

Scripture Reading — Ezekiel 45:9

"Take away all of your exactions from my people."

Throughout the Bible, justice is important. In fact, justice is one of the main functions of civil government. I've told you repeatedly that Romans chapter 13 teaches there is basically a twofold responsibility of civil government, and that twofold responsibility is, number one, punishing the wicked and number two, protecting the righteous. So basically it is a function of justice. If you would turn in your Bibles very quickly to Psalm 82 and notice, if you would, verse 3. In fact, Psalm 82 is a psalm directed against judges particularly.

And he says this in Psalm 82 and verse 3. Note, if you would. God—in fact, let's read verse 2. God asked the judges, "How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?" And then God says, "Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy." God is indeed the God of justice. God demands justice. And if you look at Psalm 89 in verse 14, since you were that close, notice what the Scripture says concerning God's throne. Psalm 89 verse 14: "Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face." But notice, judgment and justice are the habitation of God's throne. God desired justice even above sacrifice. One of the Scripture—if you would turn right over to Proverbs, look in 21 and verse 3, Proverbs 21 verse 3. Notice, if you would, what the Scripture says. Proverbs 21 and verse 3 of the Word of God says this: "To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."

Think about that: to do judgment and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than to do sacrifice. Let me just spell it out. God had rather have us living righteously and obediently more than all the sacrifice that we could ever give.

The Failure of Government and God's Response

When governments fail to provide justice, God raises up individuals or groups to execute it. Weaver clarifies the historical meaning of vigilantism as a response to inadequate law enforcement.

Now, the question has to be asked: What happens when civil governments fail in their responsibility to provide justice? And by the way, let me remind you that justice is determined by God. Justice is that which is in accordance with God's law. I've told you before, but let me remind you: the Hebrew word for justice and the Hebrew word for righteousness are one and the same word. So whatever is just is right. Whatever is right is just. You cannot have justice without righteousness. I get not only perturbed, but sometimes downright tickled when I see courthouses in federal buildings with the inscription "Department of Justice," and you know there's no real justice there. Justice is determined by God. But if you look very quickly in Isaiah 59 and verse 14, you will see what happens when governments fail to give true justice. In Isaiah 59 and verse 14, notice what God says. God is charging Israel with all of their leaders with injustice. And in Isaiah 59 and verse 14, God says this: "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter."

So, in other words, when governments fail to do that which God has established them for, it's presented here as judgment. It's turned away backward. Justice stands as far off. In other words, there is no justice. And truth is fallen in the street. And that which is right cannot enter. Why can it not enter? Because there's no truth and there is no justice.

Now, ask yourself this question: What happens when governments fail to exercise God's justice? Do you remember how the Bible says in Proverbs 17 that they which condemn the just and justify the wicked, even they both are an abomination to the Lord? So it's an abomination, a stench in God's nostrils, when there is no true justice. So when you have men then who are justifying the wicked and they're condemning the just, which is just upside down, God says it is indeed a stench in His nostrils. So what is going to happen then when you have governments that invariably, inevitably refuse to give justice? Well, here's what's going to happen. God in His absolute justice and God in His sovereignty will always raise up someone or some group to administer justice.

The individual that God raises up will be uniquely qualified to execute justice, not only because of the call of God upon his life, but also usually because he and his family have been recipients of repeated injustices so that he hungers and longs for true justice. Now, before someone gets all bent out of shape and says, "Now wait a minute, Brother Weaver, that is nothing more than pure vigilantism." No, it is not vigilantism. And before I go any further, let me give you a perspective on vigilantism that you may not have considered, or at least you've not thought of in a while. You see, the word "vigilantism" is a word that is misused and misunderstood. The term "vigilantism" did not originally signify what modern-day politicians want it to mean. It did not signify just someone, quote-unquote, taking the law into his own hands. The term "vigilantism" actually refers to the creation and enforcement of law by organized extra-legal groups in the supposed absence of adequate law enforcement and justice. So, in other words, when there is a failure on the part of the state to administer justice, then vigilantism was a rise of an extra-legal group, that is someone outside of the legal system, that arose to defend and to execute justice in the absence of adequate law enforcement or in the absence of adequate justice.

So I could say that the word "vigilantism" probably has a good and a bad connotation. Vigilantism began in the United States in 1767 in South Carolina, where the South Carolinians, backcountry people, suffered widespread depredation from outlaws. There was no law enforcement. There was no one to execute justice, and therefore the people then banded together and they undertook to defend themselves and to exact justice to the extent that they could do so.

Now, if you would be wise enough to look up the word "vigilantism" in Black's Law Dictionary or Bouvier's Law Dictionary, you would find this. Here is a quote from Black's Law Dictionary that the word "vigilantism" comes from the word "vigilant" or "vigilance." And Black's Law Dictionary defines vigilance as this: "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." Now, I want you to notice what that definition says: "Watchfulness, precaution, a proper degree"—not an improper, but a proper degree. And then it says, "...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 technically and legally, all vigilantism is, and all vigilantes are doing, is protecting and guarding themselves and their rights and enforcing their lawful claims in the absence of real justice, and in the absence of a state who will not do it for them.

So, to answer the question, what happens then when governments fail to give forth true justice, the answer is invariably God is going to raise up someone or some group that will indeed ensure that justice is done. I suppose that if you were to look at Black's Law Dictionary and consider the definition there, we could probably classify men such as Ehud, Jephthah, and Gideon as vigilantes.

Introduction to Jack Hinson

Jack Hinson is presented as a man raised up by God during the Civil War. He was a sniper who terrorized Federal soldiers, operating alone and never captured.

Now stop and think about that. It is true that they were called of God. Yet it is equally true that they also acted individually in some instances and collectively in other instances. But neither of these men were elected to offices by the people, but yet they were called of God. And that call was demonstrated only by their godliness, their obedience, and their successes. One such man that God used in the War of Northern Aggression was a man by the name of John S. Henson. He was also known as Jack Henson, or Captain Jack. Jack Henson was a sniper, and he kept Federal soldiers in absolute terror.

He was hunted, he was tracked, he was sought after, but he was never captured. I want you to understand that the primary goal of a sniper or a guerrilla is to harass, to ambush, to hit and run, to destroy all of the enemy's transports, property, and materials that he possibly can do, and I might also add, to do all this without getting caught. Now individual snipers and small bands of guerrillas oftentimes in those days cut telegraph lines, tore up railroad tracks, burned bridges, destroyed Union properties, and when repair parties were sent out to fix those things, they were ambushed. And seldom did the Yankees ever get to see such an enemy. When confronted with larger numbers, the sniper or the guerrilla would just simply fade away into the forest and disappear. Jack Henson became a guerrilla fighter who operated alone. And I can truly say that Jack Henson was a man who moved like a ghost through the forest. You have to remember that such men were designated by the Yankees as bushwhackers, and they were not to be treated as regular soldiers. If they were captured, they were not to be treated as prisoners of war.

Union Atrocities and Hinson's Neutrality

Weaver describes Union policies of brutality against Southern civilians, including executions and torture. Hinson initially tried to remain neutral and was friends with General Grant.

Rather, they were to be either shot or hanged on the spot. Let me just show you the attitude. Brigadier General Clinton B. Fisk, a Yankee soldier, sent orders to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel M. Draper on April 18, 1864, and he said this: "Try the bushwhacker"—they had caught one—"try the bushwhacker by drumhead court-martial tonight and let every soldier in Macon shoot him if 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, you kill them, don't bring them in. The same day General Fisk telegraphed another subordinate that he had not misunderstood the policy. He said, "Tell the party who have the bushwhacker at Honeywell that I want no such prisoners. Your orders are correct. Let that be the rule from henceforth." Don't bring these men in, he says, you kill them, you take care of it before you get back to the fort. General Rosecrans gave the order to kill any bushwhacker you can find engaged in his hellish work. General Fisk then wrote again to Major Samuel Garth and said this.

Now listen carefully because I want you to see an attitude. "We must during the winter and spring kill these disturbers of the peace and in your sub-district, I trust that the work will begin at once and continue until the last imp expires. Hesitate not to burn down every house where it can be demonstrated that the occupants harbor and conceal the murdering fiends and destroy everything on the premises, deal summarily with the parties who harbor and conceal. They are equally guilty with the bushwhacker and must share his fate." So, the attitude is you kill everybody and everything, burn down every house.

Now, everyone knows the wickedness of General William Tecumseh Sherman. And Sherman was indeed a wicked, wicked man. And Sherman offered his advice to John A. Logan concerning snipers who hindered river traffic. Here is what General Sherman wrote to General John A. Logan in December of 1863. He said this, here is how he would handle snipers and sharpshooters. Listen, quote: "For every bullet shot at a steamboat, I would shoot a thousand 30-pound parrot"—that is, rifle cannon shells—"even into helpless towns." So for one shot at a steamboat, he's going to shoot a thousand 30-pound parrot shells in the neighboring towns. Towns doesn't have anything to do with it, but that's how he said he would handle it. In other words, he would murder everyone and everything.

Jack Henson actually became a nightmare for Yankee transports, gunships, and boats carrying Yankee supplies and troops. Jack Henson would normally become an avenging angel. He would deal out what I am calling .50 caliber justice. Snipers and sharpshooters were so effective that by October of 1862, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter issued orders for boats never to tie up to banks, to keep deck guns loaded and trained on the banks, and to keep small arms loaded and ready to repel boarders. His orders were that when they were sniped at or attacked from the banks, that they were to shell and destroy any houses near the sniping or any attack from the banks, and they were to do it with spirit, regardless of the casualties among innocent civilians. He goes on, if innocent civilians were hurt or killed, according to Porter, it was their own fault.

They shouldn't have been there. Now, Jack Henson was not actually a Confederate soldier, although he fought for the Confederacy. In fact, when the war began, he was actually too old. He was 57 years old. And originally, Jack Henson tried to maintain a position of neutrality. He was friends with Union General Ulysses S. Grant as well as friends with numerous Confederate generals. Jack Henson saw the fall of Fort Donelson.

He had first-hand knowledge of the situation. In fact, he was called a year later to testify concerning the ineptitude of Confederate Generals Pillow and Floyd. Also during the war, he also worked as a scout for General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Now Jack and his wife Elizabeth had 12 children, five of which survived their parents. Jack was a very successful farmer, he was a real estate investor, he was a land developer, and overall he was a very sharp businessman. Now Jack may not have been a multi-millionaire, but he was certainly not poor by any stretch of the imagination. I mean, he was a shrewd businessman. His home was known as Bubbling Springs because there were numerous springs where the house was built and on the land that he possessed. Jack also had a number of slaves.

And the interesting thing is, when you read about his family, it talks about the White Hensons and the Black Hensons. And in the summer of 1862, Jack understood that his Black family would have a better chance of survival if they were free. So he freed every one of his slaves voluntarily. He asked them to stay on and help him, and that he would pay them for their labor. Every slave to the man stayed. None wanted to leave. Jack gave his slaves their freedom papers. At the time Jack gave his slaves their freedom papers, his slave property was valued at over $50,000. So while I say he wasn't necessarily a multimillionaire, he was certainly not a poor man by any stretch of the imagination. And by the way, the Black Hensons stayed on the White Henson land and stayed with the family through every ordeal that they faced. And you don't have—I can't even give you in this message today the ordeals that just this one family went through. But the Black Hensons stayed with the family as well.

The Murder of Hinson's Sons

Hinson's two sons were falsely accused of being bushwhackers and brutally murdered by Union soldiers, who then desecrated their bodies. This event transformed Hinson.

And later on, you're going to find out when the Yankees came after Jack and his wife and the other children, Jack had to hide his weapons because he had not yet started a war with the Union Army. But when Jack hid his weapons, listen carefully, the Black Hensons hid their weapons as well. In other words, all of Jack's slaves were armed. Now, the way this thing really started was two of Jack's sons, George and John, were arrested after the fall of Fort Donelson as spies. They were not spies. They were not even soldiers. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And it took the federal government about a month to figure out, "Hey, we've got two innocent boys here." And they let them go. Atrocities were committed by the Union Army as a matter of policy. One way they tried to subdue the Southern people was through fear. And so they would be as brutal as they possibly could be.

Whenever—let's see, it was Major General Stephen G. Burbridge, a Yankee general, he practiced a form of retaliation that he called atonement. So whenever any Yankee soldier or any Yankee sympathizer was killed, he would immediately march four Confederate prisoners out into the town square and have them shot down like animals. They had nothing to do with the murder. They had nothing to do with the killings of other people. That was just his method of atonement. He'd take four for everyone, just march them out and shoot them down. Yankee Colonel Fielding Hurst, in July of 1863, captured six Confederate soldiers, and he had them march down the road a distance of one mile, and at every mile he would shoot one of them, bury him in the ground with his head sticking out, and he left them then as mile markers.

You and I cannot conceive of some of the atrocities that took place. It's difficult for you and I to imagine the horrendous atrocities that were committed on a regular basis by the Yankee soldiers. There was a common technique, and I'll tell you, it made my hair stand on end just reading it. But there was a common technique that the Yankee soldiers used against southern civilians called "putting their feet to the fire." And the reason they would do this would be to make the civilian tell where his money or where his jewels were. It was an exquisite method of torture that was used to really get to where the money was. In 1863, there's a prominent man by the name of James Gray, who was not only a farmer, he was also a preacher. He's one who had served in the state assembly of Tennessee. He was also a framer of the Constitution of the state of Tennessee. He had also fought with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. And when the Yankee soldiers came to him and demanded his money,

he told them he had none. They then threw a rope over a tree and hanged him three times. And the way they would do it, of course, they would pull him up and it would choke him. And just before he would die, they would release him. It was called "stretching the neck" and let him get his breath back. And then they'd do it again. Well, after three times, he kept telling them he did not have any money.

Finally, exasperated, they tied him to a board and built a fire under his feet and roasted his feet until the flesh fell off. And he still said he had no money. Finally, they left him in agony. And believe it or not, the old man lived through it all. He was crippled, but he survived the torture. This kind of action, these kinds of atrocities, fomented and steeled Southern resistance against the Yankees. Indiscriminate looting and killing was everywhere in the county and neighboring counties as well as where the Hensons lived. For a time, it seemed as if Henson's friendship with General Grant allowed him and his family a little bit of security and a little bit of safety. However, that was certainly not to last and tragedy was going to strike and it was going to strike very hard.

Now, Jack's oldest son, William, was a Confederate soldier. However, William was fighting in Virginia, not in Tennessee. George, his 22-year-old son, had not joined the army. Neither had John, his 17-year-old son. And one morning, these two boys left home very early, before daylight, to go deer hunting. They went to one of their very favorite spots to hunt. And just at the break of day, they heard horses and riders approaching.

It was a patrol from the 5th Iowa Cavalry. The boys could have merely just disappeared in the forest. But they didn't. And their reasoning was this: "We're not soldiers. We're not doing anything wrong. We're just out here deer hunting. Why should we run? Why should we try to get away?" When the lieutenant saw them, he immediately halted his patrol, aimed his carbine at them, and so did all the other soldiers instantaneously. Well, the boys had been arrested before, falsely, as you remember, and it was worked out. It took them a month to get back home. And they supposed that, well, you know, this is the same thing.

"They'll find out the truth and they'll let us go." However, the lieutenant had been on the prowl for bushwhackers. And now he's found two with a weapon in their hand, he's caught. He began to march the boys down the road. And when he began to accuse them, they began to protest, although they had not resisted. And said, "No, we were out deer hunting. We're not soldiers. We're not bushwhackers.

We weren't waiting for you. We were waiting for deer." At that point, the lieutenant stopped them, leveled his carbine at them again, so did the other soldiers, and very brutally murdered them. Murder was bad enough, but what the soldiers did next was unforgivable. The lieutenant then raised his heavy saber and severed their heads from their bodies. They then tied their bodies behind the horses and drug them into town around the town square. Everyone knew it was the Hinson boys. Jack was an upstanding man in the community. He was a man who had tried to remain neutral. He was a man who was General Grant's friend. Dr. J.W. Smith, a local physician, when he saw the boys, immediately headed out to the Henson farm. He was going to prepare the family for the monstrous news, and he got Jack away from Elizabeth and the rest of the family.

And he told them what had happened. Thankfully, he had arrived a great deal before the soldiers got there. You see, the problem was really very simple for the soldiers. Since Jack's sons were now labeled and killed as bushwhackers, that meant Jack and the rest of the family were guilty as well. And they, too, were to be executed. And Colonel Lowe had demanded that his men show no mercy to bushwhackers, their families, or their neighbors. It was at this point that Dr. Smith helped Jack and his family hide all their weapons. Thankfully, they took them out of the house, did not put them in the barn, hid them out in an old tree, in an old stump. The Black Hensons hid their weapons as well. And so now, Dr. Smith and Jack are standing outside when the soldiers ride up. The lieutenant immediately pulls his pistol and points it at Jack. Dr. Smith intervenes and is explaining to the lieutenant that Jack is an upstanding man, he's General Grant's friend, etc. And all of a sudden, Jack is standing there.

Here, one soldier from the 5th Iowa Cavalry reaches into a blood-soaked sack and takes the heads of his two sons and crams them on the gatepost. Jack was full of grief and full of rage at the same time, yet he kept his tongue. Dr. Smith prevailed with his reasoning. But still they were going to search the house and the barns, and search it they did. They turned over everything, emptied every drawer, looked behind everything. I mean left the house an absolute mess. And the barns as well, but they found no weapons. And with that the soldiers turned around and left. Jack Henson was a deliberate man.

Hinson's Preparation and Vengeance

Hinson had a custom rifle made and began a campaign of targeted killings against Union officers, operating from a cave above the Tennessee River. He killed over 100 men.

He always thought things through before he acted. He had a plan, and that plan was forming in his mind. After he had given his boys a proper burial—they had retrieved the bodies as well as the heads, and gave the boys a burial—he now formulated that plan, and he decided he was going to teach the Yankees the truth of what the Bible meant when it says, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." He's going to give them a lesson in the law of sowing and reaping. In order to do that, Jack needed a rifle. But not the old smooth-bore musket that he had. He needed a special rifle. He needed a rifle that could shoot accurately at long distances. He needed a rifled barrel. He needed something with grooves in it. He needed something with such a big caliber that if it hit a man above the legs, it would be a fatal blow. Jack knew exactly what he was going to do. He had a rifle specially made, custom made for himself. The barrel would have an octagonal—it would be an octagonal barrel. It would be rifled. He would shoot the latest pointed-nosed minié balls for greater accuracy. And it would have to be a rifle that he could shoot accurately out to and over a thousand yards. He would have this weapon custom-made. And he knew likewise he would have to have time to get all the materials that he needed. Remember now, Jack was a land investor and Jack oftentimes rode to different parts of the counties and to different counties buying and selling land.

And Jack used those trips to start purchasing powder and balls and caps, everything that he was going to need. And he did so without attracting attention to himself. Jack knew that once he put his plan into action, he was going to be a hunted man. However, I can assure you Jack Henson never imagined in his wildest dreams exactly how hunted he would be. Before the war was over, the Union would have at least two cavalry regiments, seven infantry regiments, and one specially equipped amphibious task force of sailors and marines, both infantry and mounted, searching for Jack. Jack Henson and his custom-made rifle would kill over 100 of them before the war was over. When Jack received his rifle, the stock was from the best maple wood available at that time.

The octagonal barrel was 41 inches long. It was an inch and a half thick, and it weighed 18 pounds. It was too heavy to shoot offhand, so he would need a support or shoot from a tree limb or something like that. And when Jack got that rifle, he practiced with it. He knew exactly what that rifle would do and what it would not do. You'll find out just a little bit later at how good he was with his rifle. In order to throw suspicion from himself and to protect his family, Jack went down to the Yankee fort and voluntarily took the oath of allegiance.

And he did so on a day when no one else would be there. Now, at that particular time, Jack was not necessarily just going to make war against the federal government. He was going to make war against those men who murdered his sons. But Jack, remember, I told you, was a thoroughly reasonable man. Because what he was about to do was not taken in the heat of passion, nor in an emotional response. He had a well thought out plan and he was going to make sure that those murderers were brought to justice. Jack scouted and knew the routes that the patrols took going out of the fort and returning back to the fort.

And so he watched the patrol go out and he saw the lieutenant. He found his spot where they would be returning. He then took his specially made custom built rifle, measured out a hundred grains of powder, stuck the minié ball down into the barrel, capped the nipple, set the set trigger, and laid it to the side and waited. And sure enough, the patrol came back exactly where he knew they would. He knew that he could escape because of the foliage that was around him. He knew that they would never, ever get him the way he was then. And as the patrol came back, they were talking, laughing. Jack heard them.

He surveyed his field of view, took the rifle, laid it over a stump, and waited. And sure enough, the lieutenant was in the lead. And as it just happened, someone was talking to the lieutenant. And the lieutenant turned to look back, and as he turned to look back, he saw Jack with a .50 caliber aimed right at him. Before the lieutenant could say anything, a .50 caliber minié ball hit him right in the throat. Knocked him off the horse. The other men then sat there and shot for a moment. By this time, Jack had escaped. He was nowhere around. Jack began to ask himself, "Is it over? Have I finished?" But he knew that was not quite it. He knew it was not going to be over. Events would soon heat up for the Henson family. Not only for the Henson family, but for all the pro-Southern families in that area. Union General George H. Thomas advocated depopulating the area of all people who were pro-Confederate.

He wrote, "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." So like the state of Missouri, the Southern people in Tennessee and Kentucky were to be driven from their homes just simply because they were Southern. Now, the Union officer in charge where Jack lived had determined that he was going to do something concerning the guerrilla problem, and he wanted to exterminate all the rascals and burn them out. And he planned to burn out everyone that he thought supported the guerrillas. Proof was not necessary. Suspicion would suffice. Many of you have heard of General Lewis B. Puller, United States Marine Corps, better known as Chesty Puller. You remember Chesty Puller? Chesty Puller was the most decorated United States Marine. And Chesty Puller told of his widowed grandmother's death at the hands of Union soldiers.

Her home was burned and she was left in the snow to walk ten miles through the snow to find shelter. It was from that ordeal that she ultimately died. Why did the Yankee soldiers burn this widow woman's home? Here's why. Because when they went to her house, they found her dead husband's spurs hanging on the wall, and therefore she was guilty of possessing war supplies. And they burned her house to the ground. The Yanks finally came to get the Henson family and to burn them out. Thankfully, it was wintertime, snow, ice, muddy and slick roads slowed down the Yankee soldiers.

Word reached the Hensons that they were next on the list. And what the Hensons did was this: as much food and supplies and money as they could, they took and hid it. Made sure it was well hidden. The family then was quickly put in a sled with all the money and provisions that they could carry and then covered with hay. Several of the black Hensons accompanied Mrs. Henson and the children and they were charged with their safety and they declared that they would give their lives to protect them and get them to safety. And by the way, they did indeed accomplish their mission. Jack went with them only about a mile to make sure that they had gotten away, and he knew that he could not be with them. And so he sent them on their way, and then he turned to find him a place to live and to continue his mission. When the Yankees reached Bubbling Springs, the Henson home, they were infuriated that they had missed their target.

Aunt Sarah, the black slave, had moved into the house to take care of the house. When she let them know the Hensons were not there, they came in to search the house and, of course, tore everything up again. And then they told her to get out. They were going to burn it to the ground and everything in it. Well, all the black Hensons then came around and begged them not to burn the barn, nor the black Henson homes. And of course, the lieutenant then was going to burn everything. But the black servant said this: "If you burn everything,

the only place that we can go is to the fort. And you'll have to support us. Wouldn't it be better if you left us alone and left us a house and something to live in where we can take care of ourselves?" Finally, the lieutenant agreed, and he spared their homes and the barn. And, of course, they had—and by the way, before Jack had left, he had given the Black Hensons a sufficient amount of money, had hidden them a large amount of food that they would be well taken care of until the spring. When Jack left his family, and he didn't know at that time that the house was being burned, he set out to find him a place to live. I wish I had time to just elaborate, but he found a cave high above the river. It was a cave that you could not even see, and once you got close to it, you still would not even know it was there unless you had been there before, basically. So he found the cave, and he went in, and he made a good bed, he built him a fire, he made it as comfortable as he possibly could. And of course, it was this cave that was right above the river where the Yankee boats had to come through a chute.

Now going downriver, they flew down that chute. But coming upriver at full speed, it was like they were standing still. It was so slow going through that chute. Jack, remember, could shoot effectively over a thousand yards. He would find plenty of targets coming up that river. Many of them over 600 yards distance. And at 600 and 700 yards, they would never even see the smoke from that .50 caliber rifle, especially because of the mist in the river. And Jack always made it a point to target the officers. And he would always usually shoot the captain of the boat first. On one occasion, as one transport entered the chute, Jack first shot the naval officer in command of the troops on board. He then shot another naval officer. Some men then began to fire frantically at the banks of the river, but nowhere near Jack was located. Jack then took the life of another officer, and the deck was literally covered with blood. He coolly then laid down officer after officer.

Confusion, chaos, and carnage reigned, and then an unusual thing happened. The captain of the transport—and they've been transporting troops now—the captain of the transport commanded the engines to be cut, and a white flag was raised. The transport was surrendering. It was the first time in naval history that a transport ship loaded with troops and supplies surrendered to a lone shooter. Naturally, Jack could not accept the surrender because he was alone. And when no one attempted to board the ship, finally the captain realized that, "I might as well lower my flag and start going through the chute." And that's exactly what it did. Now, according to Tom C. McKinney, who is the author of "Jack Henson's One Man War," he said it's the only time in recorded history that a fully armored naval vessel embarked with combat troops ever surrendered to one man. Now, Jack took out captain after captain and ship after ship. And by this time, Jack Henson, of course, had a price on his head. Jack Henson was not wanted dead or alive. He was wanted dead. Jack got him a hammer and a little piece of metal that would make a little round mark.

And for every officer that he killed, he would tap on the barrel of his rifle. He had 36 little holes on his rifle before he basically ran out of room. And Jack was quite a man. Now listen, while Jack was scouting for and helping General Nathan Bedford Forrest on his raid to Johnsonville, Tennessee, he was asked about his campaign as a sniper and the growing price on his head by Major Charles W. Anderson. Jack replied to Anderson, "They murdered my boys and they may kill me yet. But the marks on my barrel of my gun will show that I'm a long way ahead in the game now and I'm not done yet." Major Anderson gave this description of Jack Henson.

Hinson's Skill and Legacy

Stories illustrate Hinson's marksmanship, including a transport ship surrendering to him. He died a natural death in 1874, having exacted his own form of justice.

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"—that is, of killing all those men—"until the close of the war." Now, there were men in those days, especially toward the end of the war, who just simply raped, robbed, murdered, and pillaged. They were not necessarily soldiers. Some of them were. Some of them were not. And it didn't matter who they raped, robbed, or pillaged, or murdered. Pro-Union, pro-Confederate, they didn't care. And usually, they were preying upon helpless women and children and old men. Jack Henson identified some of these leading murderers and looters.

And somehow, one by one, they begin to disappear from the scene. And Jack had the gratitude and the appreciation of both pro-Union and pro-Confederate people in that area. So he made sure that those who were doing all of that were taken out. And I thought about this as I was preparing. I wonder if this is where we got the expression, "He just needed killing." Because evidently those did and Jack took care of it. Now let me give you one quick story to illustrate how good Jack was with his rifle.

There was a field, it was referred to as the 100 acre field. It had been cleared, and it had sawgrass in it. Jack rode into that field, and as he rode into the field, he immediately saw two Union soldiers. Very quickly, very quietly, he took his possibles bag off and his rifle, and he laid it in the grass where it would not be seen. And then he slowly but surely rode straight toward those two Union soldiers.

When he got to them, they asked him, "Did he know Jack Henson?" "Why, yes," he said. "I know Jack Henson." They said, "Have you seen him lately?" "Well," he said, "yes, I have. In fact, this morning he was back at such and such place" and he described the area where he had seen Jack Henson. He said, "If you go"—and he gave them directions—he said, "if you go this way, you will probably find him because he'll probably still be around in the area." And so with that, they took off after Jack Henson. Jack then turned around, went back where he dropped his rifle and his supplies, picked them up, and then took a shortcut to the place where he directed the soldiers. He knew that he would have to be fast. Remember now, although he is shooting the most modern weapon in that day, it is still a muzzleloader. You have to put the powder in, you have to put the bullet in, you have to ram it down, you have to put a cap on the nipple, and then you have to—of course, you have the set trigger, you have to pull the set trigger as well. If you don't know what a set trigger does, when you snap the set trigger, all it does is make the real trigger very light and very easy, where you just have to touch it, and then we go off. So Jack then found him a spot, laid all of his equipment out, because he knew, once again, he would have to be very fast, and sure enough, he only got there two or three minutes ahead of the soldiers.

He picked out his field of view. And as the soldiers came into view, he very quickly aimed at one, shot him, and the soldier fell from the horse. The other soldier then immediately knew where the shot came from. Of course, he was trying to get his horse still. The horse was rearing just a little bit. And at the same time, he was drawing his pistol. And as he threw his pistol to shoot at Jack, Jack also then pulled the trigger and killed the second soldier.

Now I want you to listen. Jack shot. Reloaded. Aimed and shot again. In six seconds. He had practiced. He knew that speed and agility would save his life. And here's the man who shot one man, reloaded, aimed and killed another one before the second man could even get his weapon on Jack. In six seconds, two were dead. Some of Jack's kills—listen now—some of Jack's kills were over a thousand yards. Now I want you to put that in perspective.

That is 3,000 feet. Do you realize a mile is 5,280 feet? Which means Jack was using that rifle and shooting men at three quarters of a mile away. I told you earlier, he is credited with over 100 kills during the war. Although many Yankee troops sought him, none ever found him. Although many wanted him, their wants never materialized. This courageous woodsman and outdoorsman finally died in 1874.

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

Applications: Trusting God's Justice

Weaver applies the story by teaching that all injustice will be righted, some men are not to be trifled with, and believers must trust and obey God rather than take vengeance into their own hands.

Now, let me make just a couple of applications. Here's something we have to learn in light of everything that I told you. We must learn that all injustice, tyranny, and despotism will at last be righted in some manner. Do you remember what David said concerning King Saul? Remember Saul was a tyrant. Remember Saul was persecuting David and countless others wrongfully and wickedly. And David said in 1 Samuel 26 and verse 10 concerning King Saul,

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."

What was David saying? David was emphasizing the fact and reality that sooner or later Saul would be judged by God one way or the other. God would either smite him supernaturally or he would die naturally or God would see that his life was taken in battle. In other words, it doesn't matter which way, God was going to judge him and God was going to take care of him. So it was with Saul. And so it will be with all those who follow after King Saul

and act like Saul. The second application is this: We must also learn there are some men not to be trifled with. And sooner or later, the wicked will pick on the wrong man. Or the wrong group of men. God will raise up, empower, enable those whom He has chosen to exercise His just wrath upon the ungodly.

Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 149. I want you to see this. I could just read it to you, but I want you to follow me. Because I think this is a very important—in fact, I thought this morning, I probably need to preach on this passage. I know I've used it in times past, but I don't know that I have several sermons or just one sermon just on this one passage. But look at Psalm 149. And remember what I'm saying now, the wicked will pick on the wrong man or the wrong group of men sooner or later. Notice Psalm 149. Let's begin reading with verse 4.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 149:4-9

"For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 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."

What does that tell you? Do you remember what God did to Israel? When He brought them out of the land of Egypt, when He put a sword in their hand, said, "You go in the land, you take care of the Amorites, the Jebusites, the Hittites, the Hivites and all the other -ites, you just kill them." But notice, "to execute upon them the judgment written"—not our judgment, but God's judgment. In God's time, when God's time comes, He will make it known. He will raise up a deliverer. He will raise up a leader of His people who shall deliver His people as He has always done in time and in history. The third application is this: We must learn to trust and obey.

Now, let me tell you. I don't know about you, but when I read the life of Jack Henson, I got excited. I liked it. But let me tell you, as exciting and as romantic—and I'm using that word purposefully—as war sounds, I can assure you it's not always as we like to think it is. Unhappily, it is not always the enemies who die. Sometimes it is you. Sometimes it is your family. And I understand that death is not the end for the child of God. Yet listen, if war and carnage

can be averted by our trust and obedience, that's the best avenue to take. And you have to understand this: our trust and obedience are necessary in peace and in war. Just because there's a war does not mean that you can throw obedience to the wind. Just because there's a war doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want to do. No. If you and I fight, we have to fight on God's terms according to God's Word, and if we don't, we'll be in rebellion to Him. And God is not going to bless rebellion, whether it be in war or whether it be in peace.

And when you stop to think, as wicked as we are in this country, as wicked as our government is—and it is wicked—as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah were, God was willing to spare them if He found ten righteous people.

I can assure you there are some people that need killing. But I'd rather let God do it. He can do a far better job. But I can tell you this, if it comes to war, God will use those men who are trusting in Him and obedient to Him. You study Ehud. You study Gideon. You study all of these men. Jephthah. They were men who wanted to obey God and do what God used them in battle. That is a fact. But they were men who usually trusted in God before they went into battle.

How do we sing that song? "Trust and obey, for there is no other way." And that's a fact. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask for Your blessing and Your help. We pray that You would teach us, build us up in the most holy faith. And Lord, we do pray that Thou wouldst indeed execute Thy divine justice in this day and time in history. We do pray, Father, You may do anything that You please. You may regenerate. You may restrain or You may remove. But Father, we commit our ways unto Thee and ask You to establish our thoughts. Help us, Lord, to thank Thee for Your grace and mercy and Your protection in our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Divine Justice

Summary: God is the ultimate source of justice, and He demands that civil governments execute judgment and justice according to His law.

Evidence: Weaver cites Ezekiel 45:9, Psalm 82:3, Psalm 89:14, and Proverbs 21:3 to establish that justice is central to God's character and required of rulers.

Failure of Civil Government

Summary: When governments fail to provide justice, God raises up individuals to administer it, which is not mere vigilantism but a response to tyranny.

Evidence: Weaver explains that vigilantism historically meant extra-legal groups enforcing law when the state fails, and he cites biblical examples like Ehud, Jephthah, and Gideon.

Sowing and Reaping

Summary: The wicked will eventually face consequences for their actions, as illustrated by Hinson's vengeance on his sons' murderers.

Evidence: Weaver states that Hinson decided to teach the Yankees the truth of 'whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap' after his sons were killed.

God's Sovereignty in Raising Deliverers

Summary: God empowers specific individuals to execute His wrath on the ungodly, as seen in Hinson and biblical figures.

Evidence: Weaver says God will raise up, empower, and enable those He has chosen to exercise His just wrath, and he references Psalm 149.

Trust and Obedience

Summary: Believers should trust God to handle justice rather than taking matters into their own hands, and obedience is required even in war.

Evidence: Weaver concludes that if war can be averted by trust and obedience, that is best, and that fighting must be on God's terms.

Key Arguments

Justice is defined by God's law

Summary: True justice is inseparable from righteousness, and governments that fail to uphold God's law are abominable.

Evidence: Weaver states that the Hebrew words for justice and righteousness are the same, and he cites Proverbs 17 to say that justifying the wicked is an abomination.

Vigilantism is a legitimate response to governmental failure

Summary: Historically, vigilantism meant citizens enforcing law when the state could not, and it is not inherently wrong.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Black's Law Dictionary and describes the 1767 South Carolina vigilantes as an example of necessary extra-legal action.

Jack Hinson was a divinely raised instrument of justice

Summary: Hinson's unique skills, motivation from personal injustice, and success indicate God's calling on his life.

Evidence: Weaver says Hinson was 'uniquely qualified to execute justice' and that his call was demonstrated by his godliness and successes.

Union atrocities justified Southern resistance

Summary: The brutal policies of Union generals, including murder and torture of civilians, provoked men like Hinson to fight back.

Evidence: Weaver details orders from Generals Fisk, Rosecrans, and Sherman to kill bushwhackers and destroy civilian property, and describes the torture of James Gray.

God will ultimately judge all tyrants

Summary: As David said of Saul, God will smite the wicked either supernaturally, naturally, or in battle.

Evidence: Weaver quotes 1 Samuel 26:10 and applies it to all who act like Saul.

Scripture References

Ezekiel 45:9

Context: Weaver reads this verse to introduce the topic of justice, emphasizing God's command to civil rulers to remove violence and execute judgment.

Romans 13

Context: Weaver references Romans 13 to explain the twofold responsibility of civil government: punishing the wicked and protecting the righteous.

Psalm 82:2-3

Context: Weaver reads these verses to show God's demand for judges to defend the poor and do justice.

Psalm 89:14

Context: Weaver cites this verse to illustrate that justice and judgment are the foundation of God's throne.

Proverbs 21:3

Context: Weaver quotes this verse to argue that doing justice is more acceptable to God than sacrifice.

Isaiah 59:14

Context: Weaver reads this verse to describe what happens when governments fail to provide justice: truth falls and equity cannot enter.

Proverbs 17

Context: Weaver paraphrases Proverbs 17 to say that condemning the just and justifying the wicked are both an abomination to the Lord.

1 Samuel 26:10

Context: Weaver quotes David's words about Saul to illustrate that God will judge tyrants in His own way and time.

Psalm 149:4-9

Context: Weaver reads this passage to show that God's people are called to execute written judgment on the wicked, but only at God's direction.

Historical References

Jack Hinson (Confederate sniper)

Context: The central figure of the sermon, a Tennessee farmer who became a guerrilla sniper after Union soldiers murdered his sons.

Vigilantism in South Carolina (1767)

Context: Weaver mentions this as the origin of vigilantism in the U.S., where backcountry people banded together against outlaws due to lack of law enforcement.

General Ulysses S. Grant

Context: Hinson was friends with Grant, which initially provided some security for his family.

General Nathan Bedford Forrest

Context: Hinson worked as a scout for Forrest during the war.

Brigadier General Clinton B. Fisk

Context: Union general who ordered the execution of bushwhackers without trial.

General William Tecumseh Sherman

Context: Weaver describes Sherman's advice to shell towns in retaliation for sniper attacks.

Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter

Context: Issued orders to destroy houses near riverbanks in response to sniper fire.

James Gray (Tennessee preacher and politician)

Context: A prominent man tortured by Union soldiers by hanging and having his feet roasted.

General Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller

Context: Weaver mentions Puller's grandmother died after Union soldiers burned her home because they found her dead husband's spurs.

Tom C. McKinney (author)

Context: Author of 'Jack Hinson's One Man War,' cited for the story of the transport ship surrendering to Hinson.

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: This is the foundational scripture for the sermon, establishing God's command for civil rulers to administer justice.

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

Significance: Weaver uses this verse to emphasize that God prioritizes righteous living and justice over religious rituals.

God in His absolute justice and God in His sovereignty will always raise up someone or some group to administer justice.

Significance: This is the central thesis of the sermon, explaining God's response to governmental failure.

They murdered my boys and they may kill me yet. But the marks on my barrel of my gun will show that I'm a long way ahead in the game now and I'm not done yet.

Significance: Hinson's own words summarizing his motivation and determination for his campaign of vengeance.

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 by Weaver to illustrate that God will judge tyrants in His own way.

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 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.

Significance: Weaver reads this passage to show that God's people may be called to execute divine judgment, but only according to God's written judgment.

Discussion Questions

How does the biblical definition of justice differ from modern secular understandings of justice?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that justice is defined by God's law and is inseparable from righteousness.

Is vigilantism ever justified according to the Bible, and how does the historical definition of vigilantism inform this question?

Context: Weaver argues that vigilantism originally meant extra-legal enforcement of law when the state fails, and he cites biblical examples like Ehud and Gideon.

What can we learn from Jack Hinson's story about the limits of patience and the point at which resistance becomes necessary?

Context: Hinson initially tried to remain neutral and even took an oath of allegiance, but the murder of his sons pushed him to action.

How should Christians balance the commands to trust God for justice with the call to act against evil?

Context: Weaver concludes that trust and obedience are paramount, but he also acknowledges that God may raise up individuals to execute justice.

In what ways did the Union's counterinsurgency tactics during the Civil War mirror or differ from modern military policies?

Context: Weaver describes orders to kill bushwhackers on sight, burn homes, and shell towns, raising ethical questions about collective punishment.

Applications

Trust God to execute justice

Summary: Believers should trust that God will right all injustices in His time, rather than taking vengeance into their own hands.

Evidence: Weaver cites David's words about Saul in 1 Samuel 26:10 and says, 'I'd rather let God do it. He can do a far better job.'

Obey God even in conflict

Summary: If war comes, Christians must fight on God's terms according to His Word, not in rebellion.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'If you and I fight, we have to fight on God's terms according to God's Word, and if we don't, we'll be in rebellion to Him.'

Recognize that some men are instruments of God's wrath

Summary: God may raise up individuals like Jack Hinson to execute judgment on the wicked, and believers should not be surprised by such figures.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'God will raise up, empower, enable those whom He has chosen to exercise His just wrath upon the ungodly.'

Value justice over religious ritual

Summary: Doing justice is more acceptable to God than sacrifice, so believers should prioritize righteous living.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Proverbs 21:3 and explains, 'God had rather have us living righteously and obediently more than all the sacrifice that we could ever give.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T22:07:09Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T13:48:29Z

Clean Transcript

Jack Hinson, Confederate Sniper

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

All right, let's open our Bibles to the book of Ezekiel chapter 45, Ezekiel 45. We're just going to read one verse. I was asked this week by one of our men. He said, "Pastor, you haven't brought anything on Southern history in a long time." I said, "Well, just wait till Sunday, because this is not only Southern history, this is biblical truth." So I'm going to bring a study today. Actually, it's a study on justice, but it's going to be built around a man by the name of Jack Henson, who was a Confederate sniper.
#1 | 0:02 to 0:46 | cleaned
So I want you to listen very carefully. Ezekiel 45 and verse 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." Now, I want you to note what God said to the princes, to the civil rulers of Israel. He said, "Let this be sufficient for you." What? "Remove violence and spoil. And you then turn around and execute judgment and justice." And then He said, "Take away all of your exactions from my people." Throughout the Bible, justice is important. In fact, justice is one of the main functions of civil government. I've told you repeatedly that Romans chapter 13 teaches there is basically a twofold responsibility of civil government, and that twofold responsibility is, number one, punishing the wicked and number two, protecting the righteous. So basically it is a function of justice. If you would turn in your Bibles very quickly to Psalm 82 and notice, if you would, verse 3. In fact, Psalm 82 is a psalm directed against judges particularly.
#2 | 0:47 to 2:13 | cleaned
And he says this in Psalm 82 and verse 3. Note, if you would. God—in fact, let's read verse 2. God asked the judges, "How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?" And then God says, "Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy." God is indeed the God of justice. God demands justice. And if you look at Psalm 89 in verse 14, since you were that close, notice what the Scripture says concerning God's throne. Psalm 89 verse 14: "Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face." But notice, judgment and justice are the habitation of God's throne. God desired justice even above sacrifice. One of the Scripture—if you would turn right over to Proverbs, look in 21 and verse 3, Proverbs 21 verse 3. Notice, if you would, what the Scripture says. Proverbs 21 and verse 3 of the Word of God says this: "To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."
#3 | 2:13 to 3:32 | cleaned
Think about that: to do judgment and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than to do sacrifice. Let me just spell it out. God had rather have us living righteously and obediently more than all the sacrifice that we could ever give.
#4 | 3:34 to 3:49 | cleaned
Now, the question has to be asked: What happens when civil governments fail in their responsibility to provide justice? And by the way, let me remind you that justice is determined by God. Justice is that which is in accordance with God's law. I've told you before, but let me remind you: the Hebrew word for justice and the Hebrew word for righteousness are one and the same word. So whatever is just is right. Whatever is right is just. You cannot have justice without righteousness. I get not only perturbed, but sometimes downright tickled when I see courthouses in federal buildings with the inscription "Department of Justice," and you know there's no real justice there. Justice is determined by God. But if you look very quickly in Isaiah 59 and verse 14, you will see what happens when governments fail to give true justice. In Isaiah 59 and verse 14, notice what God says. God is charging Israel with all of their leaders with injustice. And in Isaiah 59 and verse 14, God says this: "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter."
#5 | 3:50 to 5:26 | cleaned
So, in other words, when governments fail to do that which God has established them for, it's presented here as judgment. It's turned away backward. Justice stands as far off. In other words, there is no justice. And truth is fallen in the street. And that which is right cannot enter. Why can it not enter? Because there's no truth and there is no justice.
#6 | 5:28 to 5:50 | cleaned
Now, ask yourself this question: What happens when governments fail to exercise God's justice? Do you remember how the Bible says in Proverbs 17 that they which condemn the just and justify the wicked, even they both are an abomination to the Lord? So it's an abomination, a stench in God's nostrils, when there is no true justice. So when you have men then who are justifying the wicked and they're condemning the just, which is just upside down, God says it is indeed a stench in His nostrils. So what is going to happen then when you have governments that invariably, inevitably refuse to give justice? Well, here's what's going to happen. God in His absolute justice and God in His sovereignty will always raise up someone or some group to administer justice.
#7 | 5:50 to 6:54 | cleaned
The individual that God raises up will be uniquely qualified to execute justice, not only because of the call of God upon his life, but also usually because he and his family have been recipients of repeated injustices so that he hungers and longs for true justice. Now, before someone gets all bent out of shape and says, "Now wait a minute, Brother Weaver, that is nothing more than pure vigilantism." No, it is not vigilantism. And before I go any further, let me give you a perspective on vigilantism that you may not have considered, or at least you've not thought of in a while. You see, the word "vigilantism" is a word that is misused and misunderstood. The term "vigilantism" did not originally signify what modern-day politicians want it to mean. It did not signify just someone, quote-unquote, taking the law into his own hands. The term "vigilantism" actually refers to the creation and enforcement of law by organized extra-legal groups in the supposed absence of adequate law enforcement and justice. So, in other words, when there is a failure on the part of the state to administer justice, then vigilantism was a rise of an extra-legal group, that is someone outside of the legal system, that arose to defend and to execute justice in the absence of adequate law enforcement or in the absence of adequate justice.
#8 | 6:56 to 8:47 | cleaned
So I could say that the word "vigilantism" probably has a good and a bad connotation. Vigilantism began in the United States in 1767 in South Carolina, where the South Carolinians, backcountry people, suffered widespread depredation from outlaws. There was no law enforcement. There was no one to execute justice, and therefore the people then banded together and they undertook to defend themselves and to exact justice to the extent that they could do so.
#9 | 8:48 to 9:26 | cleaned
Now, if you would be wise enough to look up the word "vigilantism" in Black's Law Dictionary or Bouvier's Law Dictionary, you would find this. Here is a quote from Black's Law Dictionary that the word "vigilantism" comes from the word "vigilant" or "vigilance." And Black's Law Dictionary defines vigilance as this: "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."
#10 | 9:27 to 10:18 | cleaned
Now, I want you to notice what that definition says: "Watchfulness, precaution, a proper degree"—not an improper, but a proper degree. And then it says, "...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 technically and legally, all vigilantism is, and all vigilantes are doing, is protecting and guarding themselves and their rights and enforcing their lawful claims in the absence of real justice, and in the absence of a state who will not do it for them.
#11 | 10:19 to 11:08 | cleaned
So, to answer the question, what happens then when governments fail to give forth true justice, the answer is invariably God is going to raise up someone or some group that will indeed ensure that justice is done. I suppose that if you were to look at Black's Law Dictionary and consider the definition there, we could probably classify men such as Ehud, Jephthah, and Gideon as vigilantes.
#12 | 11:08 to 11:39 | cleaned
Now stop and think about that. It is true that they were called of God. Yet it is equally true that they also acted individually in some instances and collectively in other instances. But neither of these men were elected to offices by the people, but yet they were called of God. And that call was demonstrated only by their godliness, their obedience, and their successes. One such man that God used in the War of Northern Aggression was a man by the name of John S. Henson. He was also known as Jack Henson, or Captain Jack. Jack Henson was a sniper, and he kept Federal soldiers in absolute terror.
#13 | 11:41 to 12:32 | cleaned
He was hunted, he was tracked, he was sought after, but he was never captured. I want you to understand that the primary goal of a sniper or a guerrilla is to harass, to ambush, to hit and run, to destroy all of the enemy's transports, property, and materials that he possibly can do, and I might also add, to do all this without getting caught.
#14 | 12:33 to 12:55 | cleaned
Now individual snipers and small bands of guerrillas oftentimes in those days cut telegraph lines, tore up railroad tracks, burned bridges, destroyed Union properties, and when repair parties were sent out to fix those things, they were ambushed. And seldom did the Yankees ever get to see such an enemy. When confronted with larger numbers, the sniper or the guerrilla would just simply fade away into the forest and disappear. Jack Henson became a guerrilla fighter who operated alone. And I can truly say that Jack Henson was a man who moved like a ghost through the forest. You have to remember that such men were designated by the Yankees as bushwhackers, and they were not to be treated as regular soldiers. If they were captured, they were not to be treated as prisoners of war.
#15 | 12:56 to 13:52 | cleaned
Rather, they were to be either shot or hanged on the spot. Let me just show you the attitude. Brigadier General Clinton B. Fisk, a Yankee soldier, sent orders to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel M. Draper on April 18, 1864, and he said this: "Try the bushwhacker"—they had caught one—"try the bushwhacker by drumhead court-martial tonight and let every soldier in Macon shoot him if guilty, as he doubtless is."
#16 | 13:52 to 14:22 | cleaned
And then he closed with these words: "Don't allow in the future such prisoners to be brought in." In other words, you kill them, don't bring them in. The same day General Fisk telegraphed another subordinate that he had not misunderstood the policy. He said, "Tell the party who have the bushwhacker at Honeywell that I want no such prisoners. Your orders are correct. Let that be the rule from henceforth." Don't bring these men in, he says, you kill them, you take care of it before you get back to the fort. General Rosecrans gave the order to kill any bushwhacker you can find engaged in his hellish work. General Fisk then wrote again to Major Samuel Garth and said this.
#17 | 14:23 to 15:09 | cleaned
Now listen carefully because I want you to see an attitude. "We must during the winter and spring kill these disturbers of the peace and in your sub-district, I trust that the work will begin at once and continue until the last imp expires. Hesitate not to burn down every house where it can be demonstrated that the occupants harbor and conceal the murdering fiends and destroy everything on the premises, deal summarily with the parties who harbor and conceal. They are equally guilty with the bushwhacker and must share his fate." So, the attitude is you kill everybody and everything, burn down every house.
#18 | 15:09 to 15:51 | cleaned
Now, everyone knows the wickedness of General William Tecumseh Sherman. And Sherman was indeed a wicked, wicked man. And Sherman offered his advice to John A. Logan concerning snipers who hindered river traffic. Here is what General Sherman wrote to General John A. Logan in December of 1863. He said this, here is how he would handle snipers and sharpshooters. Listen, quote: "For every bullet shot at a steamboat, I would shoot a thousand 30-pound parrot"—that is, rifle cannon shells—"even into helpless towns." So for one shot at a steamboat, he's going to shoot a thousand 30-pound parrot shells in the neighboring towns. Towns doesn't have anything to do with it, but that's how he said he would handle it. In other words, he would murder everyone and everything.
#19 | 15:52 to 17:10 | cleaned
Jack Henson actually became a nightmare for Yankee transports, gunships, and boats carrying Yankee supplies and troops. Jack Henson would normally become an avenging angel. He would deal out what I am calling .50 caliber justice. Snipers and sharpshooters were so effective that by October of 1862, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter issued orders for boats never to tie up to banks, to keep deck guns loaded and trained on the banks, and to keep small arms loaded and ready to repel boarders. His orders were that when they were sniped at or attacked from the banks, that they were to shell and destroy any houses near the sniping or any attack from the banks, and they were to do it with spirit, regardless of the casualties among innocent civilians. He goes on, if innocent civilians were hurt or killed, according to Porter, it was their own fault.
#20 | 17:11 to 18:16 | cleaned
They shouldn't have been there. Now, Jack Henson was not actually a Confederate soldier, although he fought for the Confederacy. In fact, when the war began, he was actually too old. He was 57 years old. And originally, Jack Henson tried to maintain a position of neutrality. He was friends with Union General Ulysses S. Grant as well as friends with numerous Confederate generals. Jack Henson saw the fall of Fort Donelson.
#21 | 18:18 to 19:03 | cleaned
He had first-hand knowledge of the situation. In fact, he was called a year later to testify concerning the ineptitude of Confederate Generals Pillow and Floyd. Also during the war, he also worked as a scout for General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
#22 | 19:03 to 19:23 | cleaned
Now Jack and his wife Elizabeth had 12 children, five of which survived their parents. Jack was a very successful farmer, he was a real estate investor, he was a land developer, and overall he was a very sharp businessman. Now Jack may not have been a multi-millionaire, but he was certainly not poor by any stretch of the imagination. I mean, he was a shrewd businessman. His home was known as Bubbling Springs because there were numerous springs where the house was built and on the land that he possessed. Jack also had a number of slaves.
#23 | 19:24 to 20:08 | cleaned
And the interesting thing is, when you read about his family, it talks about the White Hensons and the Black Hensons. And in the summer of 1862, Jack understood that his Black family would have a better chance of survival if they were free. So he freed every one of his slaves voluntarily. He asked them to stay on and help him, and that he would pay them for their labor. Every slave to the man stayed. None wanted to leave. Jack gave his slaves their freedom papers. At the time Jack gave his slaves their freedom papers, his slave property was valued at over $50,000. So while I say he wasn't necessarily a multimillionaire, he was certainly not a poor man by any stretch of the imagination. And by the way, the Black Hensons stayed on the White Henson land and stayed with the family through every ordeal that they faced. And you don't have—I can't even give you in this message today the ordeals that just this one family went through. But the Black Hensons stayed with the family as well.
#24 | 20:09 to 21:36 | cleaned
And later on, you're going to find out when the Yankees came after Jack and his wife and the other children, Jack had to hide his weapons because he had not yet started a war with the Union Army. But when Jack hid his weapons, listen carefully, the Black Hensons hid their weapons as well. In other words, all of Jack's slaves were armed. Now, the way this thing really started was two of Jack's sons, George and John, were arrested after the fall of Fort Donelson as spies. They were not spies.
#25 | 21:37 to 22:22 | cleaned
They were not even soldiers. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And it took the federal government about a month to figure out, "Hey, we've got two innocent boys here." And they let them go. Atrocities were committed by the Union Army as a matter of policy. One way they tried to subdue the Southern people was through fear. And so they would be as brutal as they possibly could be.
#26 | 22:23 to 23:01 | cleaned
Whenever—let's see, it was Major General Stephen G. Burbridge, a Yankee general, he practiced a form of retaliation that he called atonement. So whenever any Yankee soldier or any Yankee sympathizer was killed, he would immediately march four Confederate prisoners out into the town square and have them shot down like animals. They had nothing to do with the murder. They had nothing to do with the killings of other people. That was just his method of atonement. He'd take four for everyone, just march them out and shoot them down. Yankee Colonel Fielding Hurst, in July of 1863, captured six Confederate soldiers, and he had them march down the road a distance of one mile, and at every mile he would shoot one of them, bury him in the ground with his head sticking out, and he left them then as mile markers.
#27 | 23:02 to 24:11 | cleaned
You and I cannot conceive of some of the atrocities that took place. It's difficult for you and I to imagine the horrendous atrocities that were committed on a regular basis by the Yankee soldiers. There was a common technique, and I'll tell you, it made my hair stand on end just reading it. But there was a common technique that the Yankee soldiers used against southern civilians called "putting their feet to the fire." And the reason they would do this would be to make the civilian tell where his money or where his jewels were. It was an exquisite method of torture that was used to really get to where the money was.
#28 | 24:14 to 25:05 | cleaned
In 1863, there's a prominent man by the name of James Gray, who was not only a farmer, he was also a preacher. He's one who had served in the state assembly of Tennessee. He was also a framer of the Constitution of the state of Tennessee. He had also fought with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. And when the Yankee soldiers came to him and demanded his money,
#29 | 25:06 to 25:41 | cleaned
he told them he had none. They then threw a rope over a tree and hanged him three times. And the way they would do it, of course, they would pull him up and it would choke him. And just before he would die, they would release him. It was called "stretching the neck" and let him get his breath back. And then they'd do it again. Well, after three times, he kept telling them he did not have any money.
#30 | 25:41 to 26:11 | cleaned
Finally, exasperated, they tied him to a board and built a fire under his feet and roasted his feet until the flesh fell off. And he still said he had no money. Finally, they left him in agony. And believe it or not, the old man lived through it all. He was crippled, but he survived the torture. This kind of action, these kinds of atrocities, fomented and steeled Southern resistance against the Yankees.
#31 | 26:13 to 27:03 | cleaned
Indiscriminate looting and killing was everywhere in the county and neighboring counties as well as where the Hensons lived. For a time, it seemed as if Henson's friendship with General Grant allowed him and his family a little bit of security and a little bit of safety. However, that was certainly not to last and tragedy was going to strike and it was going to strike very hard.
#32 | 27:04 to 27:27 | cleaned
Now, Jack's oldest son, William, was a Confederate soldier. However, William was fighting in Virginia, not in Tennessee. George, his 22-year-old son, had not joined the army. Neither had John, his 17-year-old son. And one morning, these two boys left home very early, before daylight, to go deer hunting. They went to one of their very favorite spots to hunt. And just at the break of day, they heard horses and riders approaching.
#33 | 27:28 to 28:02 | cleaned
It was a patrol from the 5th Iowa Cavalry. The boys could have merely just disappeared in the forest. But they didn't. And their reasoning was this: "We're not soldiers. We're not doing anything wrong. We're just out here deer hunting. Why should we run? Why should we try to get away?" When the lieutenant saw them, he immediately halted his patrol, aimed his carbine at them, and so did all the other soldiers instantaneously. Well, the boys had been arrested before, falsely, as you remember, and it was worked out. It took them a month to get back home. And they supposed that, well, you know, this is the same thing.
#34 | 28:03 to 28:56 | cleaned
"They'll find out the truth and they'll let us go." However, the lieutenant had been on the prowl for bushwhackers. And now he's found two with a weapon in their hand, he's caught. He began to march the boys down the road. And when he began to accuse them, they began to protest, although they had not resisted. And said, "No, we were out deer hunting. We're not soldiers. We're not bushwhackers.
#35 | 28:56 to 29:28 | cleaned
We weren't waiting for you. We were waiting for deer." At that point, the lieutenant stopped them, leveled his carbine at them again, so did the other soldiers, and very brutally murdered them. Murder was bad enough, but what the soldiers did next was unforgivable. The lieutenant then raised his heavy saber and severed their heads from their bodies. They then tied their bodies behind the horses and drug them into town around the town square.
#36 | 29:29 to 30:18 | cleaned
Everyone knew it was the Hinson boys. Jack was an upstanding man in the community. He was a man who had tried to remain neutral. He was a man who was General Grant's friend. Dr. J.W. Smith, a local physician, when he saw the boys, immediately headed out to the Henson farm. He was going to prepare the family for the monstrous news, and he got Jack away from Elizabeth and the rest of the family.
#37 | 30:20 to 31:04 | cleaned
And he told them what had happened. Thankfully, he had arrived a great deal before the soldiers got there. You see, the problem was really very simple for the soldiers. Since Jack's sons were now labeled and killed as bushwhackers, that meant Jack and the rest of the family were guilty as well. And they, too, were to be executed. And Colonel Lowe had demanded that his men show no mercy to bushwhackers, their families, or their neighbors. It was at this point that Dr. Smith helped Jack and his family hide all their weapons. Thankfully, they took them out of the house, did not put them in the barn, hid them out in an old tree, in an old stump. The Black Hensons hid their weapons as well. And so now, Dr. Smith and Jack are standing outside when the soldiers ride up. The lieutenant immediately pulls his pistol and points it at Jack. Dr. Smith intervenes and is explaining to the lieutenant that Jack is an upstanding man, he's General Grant's friend, etc. And all of a sudden, Jack is standing there.
#38 | 31:06 to 32:27 | cleaned
Here, one soldier from the 5th Iowa Cavalry reaches into a blood-soaked sack and takes the heads of his two sons and crams them on the gatepost. Jack was full of grief and full of rage at the same time, yet he kept his tongue. Dr. Smith prevailed with his reasoning. But still they were going to search the house and the barns, and search it they did. They turned over everything, emptied every drawer, looked behind everything. I mean left the house an absolute mess. And the barns as well, but they found no weapons. And with that the soldiers turned around and left. Jack Henson was a deliberate man.
#39 | 32:28 to 33:24 | cleaned
He always thought things through before he acted. He had a plan, and that plan was forming in his mind. After he had given his boys a proper burial—they had retrieved the bodies as well as the heads, and gave the boys a burial—he now formulated that plan, and he decided he was going to teach the Yankees the truth of what the Bible meant when it says, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." He's going to give them a lesson in the law of sowing and reaping.
#40 | 33:25 to 34:04 | cleaned
In order to do that, Jack needed a rifle. But not the old smooth-bore musket that he had. He needed a special rifle. He needed a rifle that could shoot accurately at long distances. He needed a rifled barrel. He needed something with grooves in it. He needed something with such a big caliber that if it hit a man above the legs, it would be a fatal blow. Jack knew exactly what he was going to do. He had a rifle specially made, custom made for himself. The barrel would have an octagonal—it would be an octagonal barrel. It would be rifled. He would shoot the latest pointed-nosed minié balls for greater accuracy. And it would have to be a rifle that he could shoot accurately out to and over a thousand yards. He would have this weapon custom-made. And he knew likewise he would have to have time to get all the materials that he needed. Remember now, Jack was a land investor and Jack oftentimes rode to different parts of the counties and to different counties buying and selling land.
#41 | 34:05 to 35:33 | cleaned
And Jack used those trips to start purchasing powder and balls and caps, everything that he was going to need. And he did so without attracting attention to himself. Jack knew that once he put his plan into action, he was going to be a hunted man. However, I can assure you Jack Henson never imagined in his wildest dreams exactly how hunted he would be. Before the war was over, the Union would have at least two cavalry regiments, seven infantry regiments, and one specially equipped amphibious task force of sailors and marines, both infantry and mounted, searching for Jack. Jack Henson and his custom-made rifle would kill over 100 of them before the war was over. When Jack received his rifle, the stock was from the best maple wood available at that time.
#42 | 35:34 to 36:48 | cleaned
The octagonal barrel was 41 inches long. It was an inch and a half thick, and it weighed 18 pounds. It was too heavy to shoot offhand, so he would need a support or shoot from a tree limb or something like that. And when Jack got that rifle, he practiced with it. He knew exactly what that rifle would do and what it would not do. You'll find out just a little bit later at how good he was with his rifle. In order to throw suspicion from himself and to protect his family, Jack went down to the Yankee fort and voluntarily took the oath of allegiance.
#43 | 36:48 to 37:30 | cleaned
And he did so on a day when no one else would be there. Now, at that particular time, Jack was not necessarily just going to make war against the federal government. He was going to make war against those men who murdered his sons. But Jack, remember, I told you, was a thoroughly reasonable man. Because what he was about to do was not taken in the heat of passion, nor in an emotional response. He had a well thought out plan and he was going to make sure that those murderers were brought to justice. Jack scouted and knew the routes that the patrols took going out of the fort and returning back to the fort.
#44 | 37:33 to 38:25 | cleaned
And so he watched the patrol go out and he saw the lieutenant. He found his spot where they would be returning. He then took his specially made custom built rifle, measured out a hundred grains of powder, stuck the minié ball down into the barrel, capped the nipple, set the set trigger, and laid it to the side and waited. And sure enough, the patrol came back exactly where he knew they would. He knew that he could escape because of the foliage that was around him. He knew that they would never, ever get him the way he was then. And as the patrol came back, they were talking, laughing. Jack heard them.
#45 | 38:28 to 39:30 | cleaned
He surveyed his field of view, took the rifle, laid it over a stump, and waited. And sure enough, the lieutenant was in the lead. And as it just happened, someone was talking to the lieutenant. And the lieutenant turned to look back, and as he turned to look back, he saw Jack with a .50 caliber aimed right at him. Before the lieutenant could say anything, a .50 caliber minié ball hit him right in the throat.
#46 | 39:31 to 40:10 | cleaned
Knocked him off the horse. The other men then sat there and shot for a moment. By this time, Jack had escaped. He was nowhere around. Jack began to ask himself, "Is it over? Have I finished?" But he knew that was not quite it. He knew it was not going to be over. Events would soon heat up for the Henson family. Not only for the Henson family, but for all the pro-Southern families in that area. Union General George H. Thomas advocated depopulating the area of all people who were pro-Confederate.
#47 | 40:12 to 40:51 | cleaned
He wrote, "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." So like the state of Missouri, the Southern people in Tennessee and Kentucky were to be driven from their homes just simply because they were Southern.
#48 | 40:51 to 41:23 | cleaned
Now, the Union officer in charge where Jack lived had determined that he was going to do something concerning the guerrilla problem, and he wanted to exterminate all the rascals and burn them out. And he planned to burn out everyone that he thought supported the guerrillas. Proof was not necessary. Suspicion would suffice. Many of you have heard of General Lewis B. Puller, United States Marine Corps, better known as Chesty Puller. You remember Chesty Puller? Chesty Puller was the most decorated United States Marine. And Chesty Puller told of his widowed grandmother's death at the hands of Union soldiers.
#49 | 41:25 to 42:12 | cleaned
Her home was burned and she was left in the snow to walk ten miles through the snow to find shelter. It was from that ordeal that she ultimately died. Why did the Yankee soldiers burn this widow woman's home? Here's why. Because when they went to her house, they found her dead husband's spurs hanging on the wall, and therefore she was guilty of possessing war supplies. And they burned her house to the ground. The Yanks finally came to get the Henson family and to burn them out. Thankfully, it was wintertime, snow, ice, muddy and slick roads slowed down the Yankee soldiers.
#50 | 42:14 to 43:09 | cleaned
Word reached the Hensons that they were next on the list. And what the Hensons did was this: as much food and supplies and money as they could, they took and hid it. Made sure it was well hidden. The family then was quickly put in a sled with all the money and provisions that they could carry and then covered with hay. Several of the black Hensons accompanied Mrs. Henson and the children and they were charged with their safety and they declared that they would give their lives to protect them and get them to safety.
#51 | 43:11 to 43:49 | cleaned
And by the way, they did indeed accomplish their mission. Jack went with them only about a mile to make sure that they had gotten away, and he knew that he could not be with them. And so he sent them on their way, and then he turned to find him a place to live and to continue his mission. When the Yankees reached Bubbling Springs, the Henson home, they were infuriated that they had missed their target.
#52 | 43:50 to 44:16 | cleaned
Aunt Sarah, the black slave, had moved into the house to take care of the house. When she let them know the Hensons were not there, they came in to search the house and, of course, tore everything up again. And then they told her to get out. They were going to burn it to the ground and everything in it. Well, all the black Hensons then came around and begged them not to burn the barn, nor the black Henson homes. And of course, the lieutenant then was going to burn everything. But the black servant said this: "If you burn everything,
#53 | 44:19 to 45:09 | cleaned
the only place that we can go is to the fort. And you'll have to support us. Wouldn't it be better if you left us alone and left us a house and something to live in where we can take care of ourselves?"
#54 | 45:12 to 45:27 | cleaned
Finally, the lieutenant agreed, and he spared their homes and the barn. And, of course, they had—and by the way, before Jack had left, he had given the Black Hensons a sufficient amount of money, had hidden them a large amount of food that they would be well taken care of until the spring. When Jack left his family, and he didn't know at that time that the house was being burned, he set out to find him a place to live. I wish I had time to just elaborate, but he found a cave high above the river. It was a cave that you could not even see, and once you got close to it, you still would not even know it was there unless you had been there before, basically. So he found the cave, and he went in, and he made a good bed, he built him a fire, he made it as comfortable as he possibly could. And of course, it was this cave that was right above the river where the Yankee boats had to come through a chute.
#55 | 45:29 to 46:35 | cleaned
Now going downriver, they flew down that chute. But coming upriver at full speed, it was like they were standing still. It was so slow going through that chute. Jack, remember, could shoot effectively over a thousand yards. He would find plenty of targets coming up that river. Many of them over 600 yards distance. And at 600 and 700 yards, they would never even see the smoke from that .50 caliber rifle, especially because of the mist in the river. And Jack always made it a point to target the officers. And he would always usually shoot the captain of the boat first. On one occasion, as one transport entered the chute, Jack first shot the naval officer in command of the troops on board. He then shot another naval officer. Some men then began to fire frantically at the banks of the river, but nowhere near Jack was located. Jack then took the life of another officer, and the deck was literally covered with blood. He coolly then laid down officer after officer.
#56 | 46:35 to 47:52 | cleaned
Confusion, chaos, and carnage reigned, and then an unusual thing happened. The captain of the transport—and they've been transporting troops now—the captain of the transport commanded the engines to be cut, and a white flag was raised. The transport was surrendering. It was the first time in naval history that a transport ship loaded with troops and supplies surrendered to a lone shooter. Naturally, Jack could not accept the surrender because he was alone. And when no one attempted to board the ship, finally the captain realized that, "I might as well lower my flag and start going through the chute."
#57 | 47:53 to 48:48 | cleaned
And that's exactly what it did. Now, according to Tom C. McKinney, who is the author of "Jack Henson's One Man War," he said it's the only time in recorded history that a fully armored naval vessel embarked with combat troops ever surrendered to one man. Now, Jack took out captain after captain and ship after ship. And by this time, Jack Henson, of course, had a price on his head. Jack Henson was not wanted dead or alive. He was wanted dead. Jack got him a hammer and a little piece of metal that would make a little round mark.
#58 | 48:49 to 49:36 | cleaned
And for every officer that he killed, he would tap on the barrel of his rifle. He had 36 little holes on his rifle before he basically ran out of room. And Jack was quite a man.
#59 | 49:37 to 49:55 | cleaned
Now listen, while Jack was scouting for and helping General Nathan Bedford Forrest on his raid to Johnsonville, Tennessee, he was asked about his campaign as a sniper and the growing price on his head by Major Charles W. Anderson. Jack replied to Anderson, "They murdered my boys and they may kill me yet. But the marks on my barrel of my gun will show that I'm a long way ahead in the game now and I'm not done yet." Major Anderson gave this description of Jack Henson.
#60 | 49:55 to 50:28 | cleaned
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"—that is, of killing all those men—"until the close of the war."
#61 | 50:29 to 50:48 | cleaned
Now, there were men in those days, especially toward the end of the war, who just simply raped, robbed, murdered, and pillaged. They were not necessarily soldiers. Some of them were. Some of them were not. And it didn't matter who they raped, robbed, or pillaged, or murdered. Pro-Union, pro-Confederate, they didn't care. And usually, they were preying upon helpless women and children and old men. Jack Henson identified some of these leading murderers and looters.
#62 | 50:50 to 51:30 | cleaned
And somehow, one by one, they begin to disappear from the scene. And Jack had the gratitude and the appreciation of both pro-Union and pro-Confederate people in that area. So he made sure that those who were doing all of that were taken out. And I thought about this as I was preparing. I wonder if this is where we got the expression, "He just needed killing." Because evidently those did and Jack took care of it. Now let me give you one quick story to illustrate how good Jack was with his rifle.
#63 | 51:33 to 52:17 | cleaned
There was a field, it was referred to as the 100 acre field. It had been cleared, and it had sawgrass in it. Jack rode into that field, and as he rode into the field, he immediately saw two Union soldiers. Very quickly, very quietly, he took his possibles bag off and his rifle, and he laid it in the grass where it would not be seen. And then he slowly but surely rode straight toward those two Union soldiers.
#64 | 52:20 to 52:55 | cleaned
When he got to them, they asked him, "Did he know Jack Henson?" "Why, yes," he said. "I know Jack Henson." They said, "Have you seen him lately?" "Well," he said, "yes, I have. In fact, this morning he was back at such and such place" and he described the area where he had seen Jack Henson. He said, "If you go"—and he gave them directions—he said, "if you go this way, you will probably find him because he'll probably still be around in the area." And so with that, they took off after Jack Henson. Jack then turned around, went back where he dropped his rifle and his supplies, picked them up, and then took a shortcut to the place where he directed the soldiers.
#65 | 52:58 to 53:46 | cleaned
He knew that he would have to be fast. Remember now, although he is shooting the most modern weapon in that day, it is still a muzzleloader. You have to put the powder in, you have to put the bullet in, you have to ram it down, you have to put a cap on the nipple, and then you have to—of course, you have the set trigger, you have to pull the set trigger as well. If you don't know what a set trigger does, when you snap the set trigger, all it does is make the real trigger very light and very easy, where you just have to touch it, and then we go off. So Jack then found him a spot, laid all of his equipment out, because he knew, once again, he would have to be very fast, and sure enough, he only got there two or three minutes ahead of the soldiers.
#66 | 53:50 to 54:41 | cleaned
He picked out his field of view. And as the soldiers came into view, he very quickly aimed at one, shot him, and the soldier fell from the horse. The other soldier then immediately knew where the shot came from. Of course, he was trying to get his horse still. The horse was rearing just a little bit. And at the same time, he was drawing his pistol. And as he threw his pistol to shoot at Jack, Jack also then pulled the trigger and killed the second soldier.
#67 | 54:43 to 55:14 | cleaned
Now I want you to listen. Jack shot. Reloaded. Aimed and shot again. In six seconds. He had practiced. He knew that speed and agility would save his life. And here's the man who shot one man, reloaded, aimed and killed another one before the second man could even get his weapon on Jack. In six seconds, two were dead. Some of Jack's kills—listen now—some of Jack's kills were over a thousand yards. Now I want you to put that in perspective.
#68 | 55:16 to 56:10 | cleaned
That is 3,000 feet. Do you realize a mile is 5,280 feet? Which means Jack was using that rifle and shooting men at three quarters of a mile away. I told you earlier, he is credited with over 100 kills during the war. Although many Yankee troops sought him, none ever found him. Although many wanted him, their wants never materialized. This courageous woodsman and outdoorsman finally died in 1874.
#69 | 56:11 to 56:57 | cleaned
His last years had been tough ones, but he lived and loved his family until the end. Jack died a natural death at the age of 67 in July of 1874. He was truly a sniper and a marksman par excellence.
#70 | 56:57 to 57:21 | cleaned
Now, let me make just a couple of applications. Here's something we have to learn in light of everything that I told you. We must learn that all injustice, tyranny, and despotism will at last be righted in some manner. Do you remember what David said concerning King Saul? Remember Saul was a tyrant. Remember Saul was persecuting David and countless others wrongfully and wickedly. And David said in 1 Samuel 26 and verse 10 concerning King Saul, "As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle and perish." What was David saying? David was emphasizing the fact and reality that sooner or later Saul would be judged by God one way or the other. God would either smite him supernaturally or he would die naturally or God would see that his life was taken in battle. In other words, it doesn't matter which way, God was going to judge him and God was going to take care of him. So it was with Saul. And so it will be with all those who follow after King Saul
#71 | 57:22 to 58:48 | cleaned
and act like Saul. The second application is this: We must also learn there are some men not to be trifled with. And sooner or later, the wicked will pick on the wrong man. Or the wrong group of men. God will raise up, empower, enable those whom He has chosen to exercise His just wrath upon the ungodly.
#72 | 58:50 to 59:19 | cleaned
Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 149. I want you to see this. I could just read it to you, but I want you to follow me. Because I think this is a very important—in fact, I thought this morning, I probably need to preach on this passage. I know I've used it in times past, but I don't know that I have several sermons or just one sermon just on this one passage. But look at Psalm 149.
#73 | 59:19 to 59:55 | cleaned
And remember what I'm saying now, the wicked will pick on the wrong man or the wrong group of men sooner or later. Notice Psalm 149. Let's begin reading with verse 4. "For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 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."
#74 | 59:55 to 1:00:59 | cleaned
What does that tell you? Do you remember what God did to Israel? When He brought them out of the land of Egypt, when He put a sword in their hand, said, "You go in the land, you take care of the Amorites, the Jebusites, the Hittites, the Hivites and all the other -ites, you just kill them." But notice, "to execute upon them the judgment written"—not our judgment, but God's judgment. In God's time, when God's time comes, He will make it known. He will raise up a deliverer. He will raise up a leader of His people who shall deliver His people as He has always done in time and in history.
#75 | 1:01:02 to 1:01:45 | cleaned
The third application is this: We must learn to trust and obey.
#76 | 1:01:47 to 1:01:51 | cleaned
Now, let me tell you. I don't know about you, but when I read the life of Jack Henson, I got excited. I liked it. But let me tell you, as exciting and as romantic—and I'm using that word purposefully—as war sounds, I can assure you it's not always as we like to think it is. Unhappily, it is not always the enemies who die. Sometimes it is you. Sometimes it is your family. And I understand that death is not the end for the child of God. Yet listen, if war and carnage
#77 | 1:01:51 to 1:02:41 | cleaned
can be averted by our trust and obedience, that's the best avenue to take. And you have to understand this: our trust and obedience are necessary in peace and in war. Just because there's a war does not mean that you can throw obedience to the wind. Just because there's a war doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want to do. No. If you and I fight, we have to fight on God's terms according to God's Word, and if we don't, we'll be in rebellion to Him. And God is not going to bless rebellion, whether it be in war or whether it be in peace.
#78 | 1:02:43 to 1:03:38 | cleaned
And when you stop to think, as wicked as we are in this country, as wicked as our government is—and it is wicked—as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah were, God was willing to spare them if He found ten righteous people.
#79 | 1:03:44 to 1:04:12 | cleaned
I can assure you there are some people that need killing. But I'd rather let God do it. He can do a far better job. But I can tell you this, if it comes to war, God will use those men who are trusting in Him and obedient to Him. You study Ehud. You study Gideon. You study all of these men. Jephthah. They were men who wanted to obey God and do what God used them in battle. That is a fact. But they were men who usually trusted in God before they went into battle.
#80 | 1:04:20 to 1:05:21 | cleaned
How do we sing that song? "Trust and obey, for there is no other way." And that's a fact. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask for Your blessing and Your help. We pray that You would teach us, build us up in the most holy faith. And Lord, we do pray that Thou wouldst indeed execute Thy divine justice in this day and time in history. We do pray, Father, You may do anything that You please. You may regenerate. You may restrain or You may remove. But Father, we commit our ways unto Thee and ask You to establish our thoughts. Help us, Lord, to thank Thee for Your grace and mercy and Your protection in our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
#81 | 1:05:23 to 1:06:13 | cleaned
This program was produced by Dominion Ministry. For more information about Pastor Weaver's sermons, you may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn—that's A-B-E-R-C-O-R-N—Street, Suite 705, PMB 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Or give us a call at 912-925-0995.
#82 | 1:06:16 to 1:06:39 | cleaned
You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com.
#83 | 1:06:49 to 1:06:56 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T22:07:09Z

Jack Hinson, Confederate Sniper

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver uses the story of Jack Hinson, a Confederate sniper, to illustrate biblical principles of justice. He argues that when civil governments fail to execute God's justice, God raises up individuals to administer it. The sermon traces Hinson's transformation from a neutral farmer to a guerrilla fighter after Union soldiers murdered his sons, emphasizing themes of divine justice, sowing and reaping, and the limits of governmental authority.

Introduction and Biblical Foundation for Justice

So I want you to listen very carefully. Ezekiel 45 and verse 9:

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."

Now, I want you to note what God said to the princes, to the civil rulers of Israel. He said, "Let this be sufficient for you." What?

Scripture Reading — Ezekiel 45:9

"Remove violence and spoil. And you then turn around and execute judgment and justice."

And then He said,

Scripture Reading — Ezekiel 45:9

"Take away all of your exactions from my people."

The Failure of Government and God's Response

When governments fail to provide justice, God raises up individuals or groups to execute it. Weaver clarifies the historical meaning of vigilantism as a response to inadequate law enforcement.

Introduction to Jack Hinson

Jack Hinson is presented as a man raised up by God during the Civil War. He was a sniper who terrorized Federal soldiers, operating alone and never captured.

Union Atrocities and Hinson's Neutrality

Weaver describes Union policies of brutality against Southern civilians, including executions and torture. Hinson initially tried to remain neutral and was friends with General Grant.

The Murder of Hinson's Sons

Hinson's two sons were falsely accused of being bushwhackers and brutally murdered by Union soldiers, who then desecrated their bodies. This event transformed Hinson.

Hinson's Preparation and Vengeance

Hinson had a custom rifle made and began a campaign of targeted killings against Union officers, operating from a cave above the Tennessee River. He killed over 100 men.

Hinson's Skill and Legacy

Stories illustrate Hinson's marksmanship, including a transport ship surrendering to him. He died a natural death in 1874, having exacted his own form of justice.

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

Applications: Trusting God's Justice

Weaver applies the story by teaching that all injustice will be righted, some men are not to be trifled with, and believers must trust and obey God rather than take vengeance into their own hands.

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."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 149:4-9

"For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 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."

Jack Hinson, Confederate Sniper

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	105091215367
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Christian & Civil Government
Genre	Sermon
Date	2009-08-16
Dictation Name
Book	Book 008: Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13 — Chapter 13
Source Timed Segments	83

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Biblical Foundation for Justice: Weaver introduces the topic by reading Ezekiel 45:9 and explaining that justice is a primary function of civil government, as taught in Romans 13. He emphasizes that God desires justice above sacrifice.
The Failure of Government and God's Response: When governments fail to provide justice, God raises up individuals or groups to execute it. Weaver clarifies the historical meaning of vigilantism as a response to inadequate law enforcement.
Introduction to Jack Hinson: Jack Hinson is presented as a man raised up by God during the Civil War. He was a sniper who terrorized Federal soldiers, operating alone and never captured.
Union Atrocities and Hinson's Neutrality: Weaver describes Union policies of brutality against Southern civilians, including executions and torture. Hinson initially tried to remain neutral and was friends with General Grant.
The Murder of Hinson's Sons: Hinson's two sons were falsely accused of being bushwhackers and brutally murdered by Union soldiers, who then desecrated their bodies. This event transformed Hinson.
Hinson's Preparation and Vengeance: Hinson had a custom rifle made and began a campaign of targeted killings against Union officers, operating from a cave above the Tennessee River. He killed over 100 men.
Hinson's Skill and Legacy: Stories illustrate Hinson's marksmanship, including a transport ship surrendering to him. He died a natural death in 1874, having exacted his own form of justice.
Applications: Trusting God's Justice: Weaver applies the story by teaching that all injustice will be righted, some men are not to be trifled with, and believers must trust and obey God rather than take vengeance into their own hands.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Justice is defined by God's law

True justice is inseparable from righteousness, and governments that fail to uphold God's law are abominable.

Weaver states that the Hebrew words for justice and righteousness are the same, and he cites Proverbs 17 to say that justifying the wicked is an abomination.

Vigilantism is a legitimate response to governmental failure

Historically, vigilantism meant citizens enforcing law when the state could not, and it is not inherently wrong.

Weaver quotes Black's Law Dictionary and describes the 1767 South Carolina vigilantes as an example of necessary extra-legal action.

Jack Hinson was a divinely raised instrument of justice

Hinson's unique skills, motivation from personal injustice, and success indicate God's calling on his life.

Weaver says Hinson was 'uniquely qualified to execute justice' and that his call was demonstrated by his godliness and successes.

Union atrocities justified Southern resistance

The brutal policies of Union generals, including murder and torture of civilians, provoked men like Hinson to fight back.

Weaver details orders from Generals Fisk, Rosecrans, and Sherman to kill bushwhackers and destroy civilian property, and describes the torture of James Gray.

God will ultimately judge all tyrants

As David said of Saul, God will smite the wicked either supernaturally, naturally, or in battle.

Weaver quotes 1 Samuel 26:10 and applies it to all who act like Saul.

Scripture References

Ezekiel 45:9: Weaver reads this verse to introduce the topic of justice, emphasizing God's command to civil rulers to remove violence and execute judgment.
Romans 13: Weaver references Romans 13 to explain the twofold responsibility of civil government: punishing the wicked and protecting the righteous.
Psalm 82:2-3: Weaver reads these verses to show God's demand for judges to defend the poor and do justice.
Psalm 89:14: Weaver cites this verse to illustrate that justice and judgment are the foundation of God's throne.
Proverbs 21:3: Weaver quotes this verse to argue that doing justice is more acceptable to God than sacrifice.
Isaiah 59:14: Weaver reads this verse to describe what happens when governments fail to provide justice: truth falls and equity cannot enter.
Proverbs 17: Weaver paraphrases Proverbs 17 to say that condemning the just and justifying the wicked are both an abomination to the Lord.
1 Samuel 26:10: Weaver quotes David's words about Saul to illustrate that God will judge tyrants in His own way and time.
Psalm 149:4-9: Weaver reads this passage to show that God's people are called to execute written judgment on the wicked, but only at God's direction.

Historical References

Jack Hinson (Confederate sniper): The central figure of the sermon, a Tennessee farmer who became a guerrilla sniper after Union soldiers murdered his sons.
Vigilantism in South Carolina (1767): Weaver mentions this as the origin of vigilantism in the U.S., where backcountry people banded together against outlaws due to lack of law enforcement.
General Ulysses S. Grant: Hinson was friends with Grant, which initially provided some security for his family.
General Nathan Bedford Forrest: Hinson worked as a scout for Forrest during the war.
Brigadier General Clinton B. Fisk: Union general who ordered the execution of bushwhackers without trial.
General William Tecumseh Sherman: Weaver describes Sherman's advice to shell towns in retaliation for sniper attacks.
Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter: Issued orders to destroy houses near riverbanks in response to sniper fire.
James Gray (Tennessee preacher and politician): A prominent man tortured by Union soldiers by hanging and having his feet roasted.
General Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller: Weaver mentions Puller's grandmother died after Union soldiers burned her home because they found her dead husband's spurs.
Tom C. McKinney (author): Author of 'Jack Hinson's One Man War,' cited for the story of the transport ship surrendering to Hinson.

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.

This is the foundational scripture for the sermon, establishing God's command for civil rulers to administer justice.

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

Weaver uses this verse to emphasize that God prioritizes righteous living and justice over religious rituals.

God in His absolute justice and God in His sovereignty will always raise up someone or some group to administer justice.

This is the central thesis of the sermon, explaining God's response to governmental failure.

They murdered my boys and they may kill me yet. But the marks on my barrel of my gun will show that I'm a long way ahead in the game now and I'm not done yet.

Hinson's own words summarizing his motivation and determination for his campaign of vengeance.

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 by Weaver to illustrate that God will judge tyrants in His own way.

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 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.

Weaver reads this passage to show that God's people may be called to execute divine judgment, but only according to God's written judgment.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the biblical definition of justice differ from modern secular understandings of justice?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that justice is defined by God's law and is inseparable from righteousness.

[Question]

Is vigilantism ever justified according to the Bible, and how does the historical definition of vigilantism inform this question?

[Context]

Weaver argues that vigilantism originally meant extra-legal enforcement of law when the state fails, and he cites biblical examples like Ehud and Gideon.

[Question]

What can we learn from Jack Hinson's story about the limits of patience and the point at which resistance becomes necessary?

[Context]

Hinson initially tried to remain neutral and even took an oath of allegiance, but the murder of his sons pushed him to action.

[Question]

How should Christians balance the commands to trust God for justice with the call to act against evil?

[Context]

Weaver concludes that trust and obedience are paramount, but he also acknowledges that God may raise up individuals to execute justice.

[Question]

In what ways did the Union's counterinsurgency tactics during the Civil War mirror or differ from modern military policies?

[Context]

Weaver describes orders to kill bushwhackers on sight, burn homes, and shell towns, raising ethical questions about collective punishment.

Applications

Format deepseek deepseek-v4-pro structured study JSON | Source Commentary.net transcript enrichment

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T13:48:29Z