http://battleofnashville.com/jack-hinson/
We will never know for sure, but this would have been Hinson’s last chance to bag more of the 5th Iowa Cavalry that he relentlessly hunted. The 5th regiment had brutally executed his two civilian sons earlier in the war. They were assigned to the 6th Cavalry Division under Brigadier General Richard W. Johnson, of MG Wilsons Corp, at the Battle of Nashville, on the western flank.
Hinson was a compatriot of Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest and worked with him on several operations. Some of Forrest’s regiments were assigned to Nashville under General Chalmers, on the Cumberland River, during the Nashville campaign. Hinson was familiar with the area and had been with Forrest on the daring Johnsonville raid only weeks before. He had a history attacking naval vessels with his .50 caliber sniper rifle. The Navy and the 5th Iowa were in Nashville in December 1864. Nashville was only three counties away from his home near Dover, Tennessee.
There are reports of “deserters” from the 5th Iowa. Why would any US Army solider desert at the climax of the Union Civil War victory? – the last major battle of the American Civil War. Were they never found? Buried in unmarked graves? Assumed to have run off?