Does anyone that has researched the Jack Hinson story know of any clues as to the identity of the Union Lieutenant (5th Iowa Cavalry), that led the patrol that captured, shot, and beheaded Hinson's sons ? He was reportedly one of the fabled sniper's first victims. The incident surely affected the family years following the war :

Albert (or Ab) Hinson was one of Jack Hinson's surviving sons, was ambushed and killed by brothers, John and Dave Wiggins, In September, 1898. Ab's son, Joseph, after burying his father, went after the Wiggins brothers. he found Dave. This is from the Bakersfield, Tennessee, Review :

"We have heard a great deal of unreliable news about a terrible tragedy that took place at Danville, Tennessee. One Ab Hinson was waylaid by two young men named Wiggins and shot and killed. Later Joe Hinson, son of the murdered man killed one of the Wiggins boys with a knife and cut his heart entirely out of his body. We have not heard all the particulars of the double crime, except that it originated from an old family feud. We have been very much interested in this affair, fom the fact that we knew the Wiggins' father when he was our preceptor, and we also knew the father of Ab Hinson, the redoubtable Capt. Jack Hinson."

One thing the article failed to mention. Not only did Joe Hinson cut out Wiggins' heart, he then proceeded to hang it on the railroad crossing sign in the center of Danville, the very spot where his father was killed. Neither Joe Hinson or the surviving John Wiggins, were ever charged with any crime. Hinson soon moved to Kentucky, where he died years later of TB.

I'd appreciate any help,

Glenn