Major John H. Hannah

Major J. H. Hannah was born in Polk County, Tennessee, May the 2nd, 1838. He came of Old Virginia Revolutionary stock. His parents, John F. and Grace Telford Hannah, moved from Virginia and settled in Polk County, Tennessee, where Major Hannah was born. When the war broke out in 1861 his father, then seventy-nine years old, with his five sons, one of whom was Major J. H. Hannah, joined the Confederate army.

His father raised a company of volunteers and was elected Captain of the company. The company was assigned to the Old Nineteenth Tennessee, but his father being too old resigned. At the organization of the regiment in June, 1861, J. H. Hannah was elected Captain of the company, and was assigned as Company F in the regiment. He served in all the Kentucky campaign under General Zollicoffer. Captain Hannah was in the Fishing Creek fight, and also in the battle of Shiloh. In the reorganization of the regiment after the battle of Shiloh, he was re-elected Captain of his company, which showed their esteem for him. He remained Captain of the company until October, 1864, when he was promoted to Major of the regiment.

Major Hannah surrendered with the regiment near Greensboro, North Carolina, in May, 1865. In one of the battles (I believe it was Shiloh) he received a severe blow from a piece of shell on the breast, which ultimately resulted in lung trouble, from which he died at his home in Oliver Springs, Tennessee, January the 11th, 1880.

Major Hannah married Miss Lillie Gerding in Louisville, Kentucky, in June, 1867, where he was engaged in the wholesale commission business. Two sons were born to them, Gerald G. and Harvey H. Hannah, the gifted orator of Tennessee, who now lives at Oliver Springs, Tennessee.

 Old Nineteenth History | AHGP Tennessee

Source: The Old Nineteenth Tennessee Regiment, C. S. A., June 1861 - April 1865, by Dr. W. J. Worsham, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1902.