Linebaugh Public Library System

Author Lt. Col. Tom C. McKenney will speak and sign his book Jack Hinson’s One-Man War: A Civil War Sniper at Linebaugh Public Library on Saturday, November 14, 1-3 p.m. In this new biography, McKenney recounts the extraordinary feats of Jack Hinson, a lone Confederate sniper. Copies of the book will be available for p...urchase.

In this unprecedented and incredible biography, which is set in Tennessee and Kentucky, McKenney masterfully recounts the story of Jack Hinson, who had been a prosperous and influential plantation owner before the Civil War. By 1865, Hinson had likely killed more than one hundred men and had single-handedly taken down an armed Union transport in his one-man war against Grant’s army and navy. By the end of the war, the Union had committed infantry and cavalry from nine regiments and a specially equipped amphibious task force of marines to capture Hinson, who was by that time nearly 60 years old. They never caught him. An exemplary piece of historical scholarship and the result of 15 years of research, this definitive biography includes an amazing cast of characters including the Earp Brothers, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and Jesse James, the cousin of Hinson’s wife.

McKenney is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was an infantry officer and parachutist in the United States Marine Corps, serving in Korea and Vietnam. His books and activism for veterans’ issues have had him appearing on hundreds of radio and television programs, including Fox News, the Today Show, and CBS Morning News. Read More