James Hinton was born in Johnston County, North Carolina in about 1750. The son of a militia colonel, he was a captain in the Johnston County Regiment of the North Carolina Militia in as early as 1773. When the American Revolution broke out he joined the Patriot forces and was present at the Battle of Moores Creek in 1776. By 1780 he was a colonel of the Wake County Regiment and commanded men under General John Lillington. After the war he ran a plantation in Wake County and served in the state legislature from 1780 to 1788, as well as serving as a register and justice of the peace. He died in Wake County, North Carolina on June 12, 1794.