1. William Hinshaw (1808-1885) m Rhody - (c1806-?)
 2.. Jacob Madison Hinshaw (c1840-1861)
     +Almarinda Walker (c1843-1913)
 3...  William A. Hinshaw (c1860-(c1866)
 3...  Jacob Madison Hinshaw, Jr. (1862-1941)

Jacob Madison Hinshaw     [ID 03549]

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    (Jacob Madison Hinshaw)¹⁵⁹    (Jacob Madison Hensie)¹⁶²    (Jacob Madison Hinchey)^162,a,45,b    (Madison J. Hinchy)^c    (Matt Hinshaw)¹⁵⁹    (Matt Hincher)¹⁶²

Born about 1840, Tennessee.^d,174,e,159

He married Almarinda Walker, Sep 22 1858, Hawkins County, Tennessee.^{45,159,162,174,a,b}    (Almarind Walker)^162,e    (Lorinda Walker)^45,162,a,f,b    (Rinda Walker)^g    (Elias Beal, Security).^f    Almarinda, daughter of Gabriel Walker & Rebecca Jane Hinshaw, was born about 1843, Tennessee.^162,g,h,i

Jacob and family were shown in the 1860 census (Jul 13-16 1860), Greene County, Tennessee:^e

Jacob Madison Hinshaw died Nov 30 1861, Green County, Tennessee; age 22; buried Long Family Cemetery, near Bulls Gap, Tennessee.¹⁵⁹

Jacob was hung for his Union loyalties.    Tennessee voted for secession on June 8, 1861, with residents of eastern Tennessee voting two-to-one against secession but losing the vote to the state's larger western population.    Rev. William Carter, who had been a delegate to an early 1861 convention of pro-Union loyalists at Greeneville, devised a plan to burn down the railroad bridge over Lick Creek, near Potterstown in Greene County.    Carter went to Washington and met with President Abraham Lincoln, General George McClellan and Secretary of War William Seward.    Lincoln gave his personal approval for the plan and assured Carter that the Union army would invade eastern Tennessee from Kentucky immediately after the bridge burning to protect the Union loyalists.¹⁵⁹

Carter returned to Green County and, with the help of David Fry, assembled a party of 40 to 60 loyalist men.    The men gathered at the home of Jacob Harmon on the night of November 8.    In a corner of a large room was placed a small wooden table, over which was spread a United States flag.    Each man stepped forward, one at a time, and placed his left hand on the flag, raised his right hand, and took an oath to "do what was ordered of him that night and to never disclose what he had done.".¹⁵⁹

After midnight, the raiders set out on horseback for the two-mile ride to the wooden railroad bridge across Lick Creek.    About 2:00 A.M. on November 9, they captured several Confederate guards inside a tent at one end of the bridge.    Some of the men set fire to the bridge, while others gave the guards a choice: swear loyalty to the United States or die on the spot (none of the guards chose to die that night).¹⁵⁹

By the next day (November 10), Confederate authorities had tracked down five of the conspirators, including Jacob Hinshaw.    The promised invasion of Union soldiers never happened.¹⁵⁹

On November 11, Confederate Colonel W.B. Wood sent a dispatch to General Samuel Cooper requesting instructions.    Colonel Daniel Leadbetter, Provisional Army, was assigned to the command of troops to rebuild the bridge.¹⁵⁹

By November 25, time was running out for Jacob and his co-conspirators.    That day, J.C. Ramsey, district attorney for the Confederate District of Tennessee, sent a dispatch to Confederate War Secretary Benjamin: "The military authorities in command at this post have determined to try the bridge-burners and other men charged with treason by a court-martial.    What shall I do?    Answer.".    Benjamin sent an immediate and abrupt reply: "I am very glad to hear of the action of the military authorities and hope to hear they have hung every bridge-burner at the end of the burned bridge".¹⁵⁹

On November 30, a dispatch from Colonel Leadbetter was sent from Greeneville, Tennessee: "Two insurgents have to-day been tried for bridge-burning, found guilty, and hanged.".    The two insurgents were Henry Fry and Jacob Madison "Matt" Hinshaw, who were both hanged from a large tree near the old railway depot in Greeneville.    Colonel Leadbetter ordered their bodies be left hanging on display for hours, as a warning to others.¹⁵⁹

Jacob left his wife with 18-month old son William, and two months after Jacob was hanged Almarinda gave birth to another son, who was named after his late father Jacob.    After Jacob was hanged, his father William enlisted in the 2nd Illinois Light Artillery at age 53.¹⁵⁹

In 1862, the U.S. Congress passed a special act that made Jacob and the other executed bridge-burners posthumous members of the Union Army.    They were enrolled in Company F of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry.    The act allowed the men's widows and their nearly 20 fatherless children to draw small pensions from the government that had abandoned the loyalist raiders it had promised to protect.    The act also allowed the men's graves, all of which are in Pottertown-area cemeteries, to be marked with official U.S. government markers.¹⁵⁹

In 1865 Almaranda Hinshaw applied for a Civil War Pension as widow of Jacob M. Hinshaw, Company F, 2nd Tennessee Infantry.^k    She also listed minor child James Hinshaw [sic].^k

Almarinda ("Rinda") remarried on Jun 15 1865 to William B. Jenkins.^159,h,f

Almarinda and family were shown in the 1870 census (Aug 11 1870), Hawkins County, Tennessee:^h

Photo: Artist's rendition of Jacob's hanging ¹⁵⁹

See also - "The Pottertown Bridgeburners" narrative on the events leading to the hanging of Jacob Madison Hinshaw: http://www.rootsweb.com/~tngreene/potter.html

See also - "Civil War Times", December 1997: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/magazine/article/0,5744,25823,00.html

See also - Dave Mathews' study of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry: http://home.fuse.net/damathew

SOURCES

45. The Church Of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) International Genealogical Index (IGI) - Tennessee.

159. "Civil War Times", December, 1997, pages 48-54 & 86-87, Contributed by Jeff Hatfield ().

162. Letter from Donahue Bible, historian and author, discussing Hinshaws of eastern Tennessee.

174. Family history information contributed by James C. Henshaw.

(a) "Early East Tennessee Marriages", Sistler, 1987.

(b) "Tennessee Marriages, 1851-1900"; http://www.ancestry.com.

(c) 1850 census, 9th Division, Greene County, Tennessee; roll 880, page 164, dwelling #387.

(d) 1850 census, 9th Division, Greene County, Tennessee; roll 880, page 168, dwelling #443.

(e) 1860 census, 23rd Civil District, Blue Spring P.O., Greene County, Tennessee; page 413A, line #36, dwelling #1405, family #1405.

(f) "Tennessee Marriage Records - Volume 2, Hawkins County 1789-1865",
by Prentiss Price; 1958, Clinchdale Press, Knoxville, Tennessee;
microfilm #0469471 Item 1 in the LDS Family History Library.

(g) Contribution from Andra Walker Clark () citing: records of genealogist Prentiss Price.

(h) 1870 census, White Horn P.O., District 14, Hawkins County, Tennessee; roll M593-1535, page 183, line #36, dwelling #107, family #107.

(i) 1880 census, District 14, Hawkins County, Tennessee; roll T9-1260, ED 75, page 168C, line #11, dwelling #147, family #147.

(j) 1860 census, 23rd Civil District, Blue Spring P.O., Greene County, Tennessee; page 413A-B, line #39, dwelling #1406, family #1406.

(k) National Archives and Records Administration. "General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934":
"Civil War Pension Index". [database] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000.

(l) 1880 census, District 14, Hawkins County, Tennessee; roll T9-1260, ED 75, page 167B, line #46, dwelling #144, family #144.

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