John Hanna was born on February 8, 1841 at New York City, New York. John Hanna by his own admission was also known as Robert Hanna, per Statutory Declarations filled out by him in the early 1900's. Hanna used several aliases throughout his life, including the names Robert Hanna and John Wilson. John’s father had been a cooper by trade, as was John in the years to follow; learning the trade from his father. As a young man, however, John became interested in the sea and became a mariner, ending up in Mobile, Alabama in l862. In Alabama, where because of the introduction of conscription for military service , John was drafted into the Confederate Army; the 36th Alabama Infantry, Company D. The 36th was organized in May, 1862, with men from Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Greene, Fayette, Sumter, and Monroe counties and was involved in constructing the defences at Oven and Choctaw Bluffs; before being stationed at Mobile until April, 1863

He didn’t like army life however, and didn’t stay in long.  At his first available opportunity John deserted and made his way north to New York City, without being caught, and on September 8, 1862 joined the U.S. Navy as a Landsman; using the alias of John Wilson. He could not afford to use his real name for fear of retribution and being shot if he was ever captured by Confederate forces.

Hanna served for one month aboard the U.S.S. “North Carolina”  receiving ship and  was then transferred to the Union gunboat “Memphis”. The “Memphis”, actually the second to bear that name, was a 7‑gun screw steamer, built by William Denny & Bros., Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1861 and was captured from the Confederacy by the USS “Magnolia” off Charleston, South Carolina on July 31, 1862 by the side wheel Union gunboat “Magnola” while running the blockade from Charleston, S.C., with a cargo of cotton; on  July 31, 1862. It was purchased by the Navy from a prize court at New York on September 4, 1862 and commissioned on October 4, 1862 with Acting Volunteer Lt. Pendleton G. Watmough in command.

Aboard the “Memphis” he was sent to Charleston, South Carolina to join the blockade squadron, under the command of Admiral DuPont.  DuPont was later relieved by Admiral Dahlgren. The Union Captain of the Memphis at the time was Captain Whatmore, with Lieutenant Sophleigh as second officer. During the voyage to Charleston they encountered and captured the steamer “Ouachita” bound for Havana, on October 14, 1862.  On January 4th  she joined side wheel steamer “Quaker City” in taking the Confederate sloop “Mercury” with a cargo of turpentine for Nassau. . During 1863 she was involved in the capture of three more blockade violators, among them the steamship Havelock on June 11th. She also had two actions with enemy warships. The first took place on January 31, 1863 when the Confederate ironclads “Chicora” and “Palmetto State” attacked Union vessels off Charleston. During that battle, “Memphis” towed the disabled USS “Keystone State” out of  harm's way. Hanna was also present during the capture of Forts Greig and Wagner, being with the squadron some twelve months. At one point a Confederate Ram sailed out of Charleston Harbor and attacked the “Memphis”, damaging her starboard bow and requiring her to put in to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for repairs.

After repairs the “Memphis” once again resumed her blockading duties off Charleston, being there during the first bombardment of Fort Sumter. On January 4, 1863 the “Memphis” captured the Confederate ship “Mercury”, then the “Antelope” on March 31st and the Confederate steamer “Havelock” on June 11, 1863. After one year with the blockade squadron, Hanna was transferred, on September 7, 1863, to the U.S.S. “Princeton” in Philadelphia, and ten days later, on September 17, he was discharged. The “Memphis” was also involved with battling the ironclads off Charleston on January 31, 1863, under attack by the Confederate torpedo boat “David” in the North Edisto River on March 6, 1864 and though hit, remained undamaged; the torpedo failed to explode.

In early 1864 Hanna left New York City aboard the ship “Lyttleton” for Australia, arriving on January 30, 1864 in the port of Lyttleton, Christchurch, New Zealand. From there he made his way to Melbourne, Australia aboard the same ship. On October 9, 1869, while working as a cooper making wooden barrels, kasks, buckets and other wooden objects, he married Selina Dean at the St. Silas Church in Waterloo, Sydney. He was living in Waterloo at the time. John and Selina had six children; John Henry born in 1871 but died the same year, Robert George born in 1872, Angelina born in 1874, William J. born in 1876, Josephine Bell born in 1879 and John H, born in 1882 who also died the same year. By 1882, however, John and Selina’s marriage had fallen apart and records reveal they were no longer living together. After John disappeared, thought to be dead when he had actually returned unsuccessfully to the United States to claim an inheritance, Selina was remarried to a John Tregent in 1893, and had six more children; only to have John reappear in Sydney, much to the embarrassment of everyone concerned. Records reveal, however, there was a daughter born to Selina in 1891 and at the time she carried the name Agnes Hanna; leaving one to speculation that Selina may have gotten back with John at least once more before her death.  Selina died on April 16, 1897.

John was admitted to the Liverpool Asylum in New South Wales in 1905, where he remained until his death from “senile dementia”. John Hanna, Confederate deserter and Union seaman, died on August 28, 1910 in Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia and was buried in St. Lukes Cemetery. Years later a rectangular marble headstone was supplied by the American Veterans Administration in Washington D.C. and placed on his grave.

Christchurch, New Zealand Archives

 Dept. of the Interior, Pension Office, Washington, D.C.

 Dept. of the Navy, Personnel Records, Washington, D.C.

 “Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War”, Stephen R. Wise

National Archives, Washington, D.C.

 New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

 New York state Archives, New York - Sands Directory

“Sydney Morning Herald”, newspaper, Feb. 24, 1864

 “Warships of the Civil War”, Paul H. Silverstone