HANNA, EBENEZER (1844-1862). Ebenezer (Abe) Hanna, historian in Sibley's Brigadeqv during the Civil War,qv was born in Washington County, Arkansas, on December 13, 1844, the son of Jesse Pearce (Pierce) and Elizabeth (Williams) Hanna. The family moved to Denton County, Texas, in October 1846, back to Arkansas in August 1847, to Williamson County, Texas, in October 1850, and to Brown County in September 1856. Hanna was living in Goliad County in October 1858. On August 21, 1861, he joined Sibley's Brigade, later the Fourth Regiment, Mounted Volunteers, C.S.A. He was elected historian for the brigade on February 10, 1862, and recorded its movements from that date until a few days before he was killed in New Mexico in the battle of Glorieta,qv on March 28, 1862. The youngest fatality of the battle, Hanna was one of thirty-one soldiers to be buried in a mass grave near the battlesite. In June 1987 this grave was discovered, and Hanna's body was identified by the nature of his wound. His remains, along with the others found in the grave, were reinterred in the Santa Fe National Cemetery in 1993. Hanna's account of the common soldier's experience in the New Mexico campaign was returned to his family by a fellow soldier. In 1933 the journal was deposited by the family in the Texas State Library.qv It was published in the Password of the El Paso Historical Society in 1958.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Martin H. Hall, ed., "The Journal of Ebenezer Hanna," Password, January 1958. Ebenezer Hanna, Journal (MS, Texas State Archives, Austin).
Carolyn Hyman
