Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4853-z
OROON ALSTON HANNER ALBUM
Inventory
Abstract: Autograph album kept by Lt. Oroon Alston Hanner of
the 26th North Carolina Regiment, Company E, while
incarcerated at the Federal Prison on Johnson Island,
Ohio, September 1863 to March 1865. The album
contains the signatures, addresses, and military units
of approximately 155 Confederate soldiers. In
addition to the autographs are several poems by
various inmates describing prison life. Also present
are Hanner's commission in the North Carolina militia
(1866) and a photograph of Hanner in Confederate
uniform.
Online Catalog Terms:
Autograph albums--Confederate States of America.
Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Autographs.
Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry
Regiment, 26th.
Hanner, Oroon Alston, 1842-1922.
Johnson Island Prison.
Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Photographs.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Autographs.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Poetry.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Prisoners and
prisons.
Size: 3 items (including P-4853/1).
Provenance: Received from Wade H. Hadley, Jr., of Siler City,
N.C., December 1996 (Acc. 96187).
Access: No restrictions.
Related Collections: Hanner correspondence is located at the
Chatham County Historical Society, with
selected letters published in To Bear Arms
(1984) by Zeb and Martha Harrington (pp.
142-153). A roster of prisoners at
Johnson Island kept by Capt. Stephen
Brewer, 26th North Carolina Regiment, can
be found in the Brewer and Paschal Family
Papers (#4609) folder 3 (transcription
only). Other Johnson Island autograph
albums in the Southern Historical
Collection include: William D. Chipley
(#1841); L. B. Davis (#1902); William
Johnston (#1633); D. M. MacDonald (#2138);
and Benjamin R. Smith (#3379).
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Description
DESCRIPTION
Oroon (variant spelling, Oran) Alston Hanner was born 14 July
1842 on a farm located one mile south of present day Siler City,
N.C. His parents were Dr. John Gillespie and Ann Palmer
(Goldston) Hanner. Prior to his 28 May 1861 enlistment in the
Confederate Army, Hanner had been attending the Haywood Academy
in southeastern Chatham County. Hanner, a lieutenant in Company
E of the 26th North Carolina Regiment, was captured by Union
forces after being wounded at Gettysburg on or about 5 July 1863
and sent to the Johnson Island Prison, Ohio, on 18 September
1863. He was paroled in March of 1865 for transfer and exchange.
After the war, Hanner served in the North Carolina Militia and
was elected to the House of the North Carolina Assembly in 1872,
1874, and 1880.
While in prison, Hanner was given an album by a local women's
society. He used the album to collect the signatures, addresses,
and military units of approximately 155 fellow Confederate
soldier inmates. In addition to the signatures, several of the
soldiers wrote poems and copied prose in the album. Included
are:
Poems by Maj. McKnight: "Farewell Address to Johnson Island
Ohio (29 October 1864)," "So One Unites to Me," "My Love and
I";
Obituary for Capt. Simon E. Hamilton, 4 February 1864;
"Yes, They Miss Me at Home!" by Brig. Gen. Jeff Thompson;
"Battle of Gettysburg, Pa." by Capt. Barziza;
"The Imprisoned Southron."
The album ends with a letter dated 16 February 1865 by L. B.
Davis written to friends as he expected to be executed the
following day. An album kept by Davis including a copy of his
letter (and poems by Maj. McKnight) can be found in the Southern
Historical Collection (#1902).
Also included are Hanner's commission in the N.C. Militia
after the war, 16 November 1866, and a photograph of Hanner in
Confederate uniform.
Folder 1 Autograph album, 1863-1865
2 Militia Commission, 1866
P-4853/1 Photograph of Hanner in uniform (print from original)