Posted on 02/14/2009 3:18:19 PM PST by Davy Buck
"Jack Hinson never planned to become a deadly sniper. A prosperous and influential plantation owner in the 1850s, Hinson was devoted to raising his growing family and working his land. Though a slaveowner, Hinson was opposed to secession. But after a unit of Union occupation troops moved in on his land and summarily captured, executed, and placed the decapitated heads of his sons on his gateposts, Hinson abandoned his quiet life for one of revenge. . ."
(Excerpt) Read more at oldvirginiablog.blogspot.com ...
It’s a pretty damn good underrated movie. Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan are awesome in it.
Thanks, I will check it out.
The winners write the history.
My folks were burned out of Atlanta. Wouldn’t live there now if you paid me, it’s a cesspool!
“We thought about it for a while. And we had thought long enough, we declared war on the Union.”
You’re welcome!
There was a Colonel Turchin of the 19th Illinois who was known for his aggressiveness towards civilians. Reports of his atrocities against the civilian population of Athens, Alabama got back to senior Union officers who immediately condemned Turchin and eventually stripped him of his command. However, that consumate reprobate Abe Lincoln not only reinstated Turchin but promoted him to Brigadier general.
I do wish to point out that in general senior Union officers went pretty much by the book when it came to the treatment of civilians and did not tolerate their abuse(though, for example, the murders of civilians by order in Palmyra, Missouri civilians would prove that not all Union generals thought that way). But, generally speaking, senior Union officers, especially West Point graduates, adhered to the established rules of war vis-a-vis civilians and did not tolerate crimes against them).
Sherman’s idea of “total war,” though, caused great suffering among the civilians of the South, including starvation, but that is explained away by saying his actions were directed against the entire Confederacy (within his area of operations) with the intent to bring it (the Confederacy) to its knees. Thus, it was reasoned that his actions did not specifically target civilians, as did those of Turchin and others.
“Have you ever seen the movie Seraphim Falls?”
No, I haven’t. What’s it about?
“I guess I’m not quite as old as I thought I was.” The Chief had most of the really funny lines in that show, but almost everyone got to toss in a couple. Even Granny had that one that was something like “Never had much use for no Hoosiers, neither.”
LOL. I was a great movie.
Looks interesting.
Hope the library stocks it.
Amen!
The "North" (The northern states from the Civil War plus the 3 west-coast states)no longer has the will to fight. 100,000 armed and determined men could overthrow this government if they were US Citizens. Of course invaders would be crushed.
I have always been pro Southern but in the last few years have come to believe the war between the states was what ultimately resulted in the mess we are in now.
It was basically the decision of whether we would have A strong and eventually all powerful central government or one in which power was decentralized.
I also for the first time a few years ago came across some old newspaper stories still housed in sn old courthouse in Georgia.
I was researching one of my ancestors who came from SE Georgia and came across newspaper archives with many stories of the brutality towards civilians by the Union Army in the post-war time period.
Black troops were quite literally murdering, raping, burning houses,etc. pretty much at will. Local people literally begged the Union Army General in charge to replace them. For some time, he refused but eventually did replace them.
I don’t know this to be true but suspect that general had pressure from above to keep those Black troops in charge.
In Falls Church, VA, the union army occupied the town. Then, they literally ripped Geo. Washington’s pew out of the church, and used the chapel as a stable.
The Church is “The Church at the Falls”, or, more commonly, “The Falls Church.”
Always seemed a metaphore for the civil war to me.
The last paragraph is especially poignant in our current circumstance:
RW: Did Jack Hinson teach you anything and is there anything in particular you'd like for readers to learn from the story?
Tom McKenney: The Jack Hinson story includes at least three important lessons in life:
1. It takes two to make peace, but only one to make a fight; he didn't want the war, but the war came to him.
2. A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city (Prov 18:19). The bitterest enemies are friends whom we have betrayed.
3. Vengeance has a high price. It cost him at least 6 of his children, his plantation, businesses, and life as he had known it before the war.
Additionally, in a military sense, guerrilla warfare works. By the end of the war, the Union had committed elements of 9 regiments and an amphibious task force of Marines against that one old man, and they never got him.
RW: Thank you Colonel.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.