JESSE HANON, Captain Company A. Captain Hanon was born in Christian County, Illinois, April 14, 1830. His father, with a widowed mother, had settled in the neighborhood when he was eighteen years old, being the first white inhabitants of the county. The log school house was the captain's college.

He was a farmer at the time of his enlistment. He took an active part in recruiting Company A and was elected second lieutenant. He was promoted to first lieutenant on the resignation of Lieutenant Bankson and was advanced to the captaincy on the promotion of Captain Lapham, after the battle of Chickamauga. In April, i863, Lieutenant Hanon acted as adjutant of the regiment until Lieutenant Litsenberger was mustered, and was then assigned to duty on the brigade staff as provost marshal, in which position he did excellent service till the battle of Chickamauga.

At the time of the advance on Snodgrass Hill, Lieutenant Hanon was in charge of the ambulance and ammunition trains, which he was ordered to place at proper distance in the rear. Having performed this duty he hurried to the front to find our division hotly engaged in battle. He at once entered on duty as volunteer aide-de-camp on General Whitaker's staff, in which he performed gallant service carrying orders to the various regiments along the line of battle. While thus engaged he was captured and remained in the hands of the enemy, enduring all the hardships of the Confederate prison pens until March 1, 1865, when he was exchanged at Wilmington, North Carolina.

Since then the captain has been a farmer most of the time. He served his county one term as superintendent of schools, and has served his town several times as supervisor. He was a democrat until the close of the war, but since then has been a republican, though never disposed to politics as a profession. The captain was married to Miss Missouri A. Minnis, of which union three children survive, William F., John E. and Cyrus E. Hanon, a daughter, Mrs. Alice E. Murphy, of Palmer, Ill., having recently died. The captain’s wife died at their home in Morrisville, IL March 12, 1897, after a life of great devotion as wife, mother, neighbor, and friend. Since then Captain Hanon has resided with his sons at Flora, Ill., where he is extensively engaged in fruit growing.

Source: History of 115th Reg ILL Vol. Infantry
By: Isaac Henry Clay Royse
2nd Lt. Co. E
Published 1900 Windsor & Kenfield Pub. Co. Chicago
Library # 973.7473R892
Terre Haute, IN. July 1900
By Dr. William L. Baran