Ebenezer was a 3rd Sergeant in Company E of the Mormon Battalion. The Mormon Battalion was the only religiously based unit in US military history. It was in existence from Jul 1846 to Jul 1847 during the Mexican=American Was or 1846-1848. The battalion was a volunteer unit of between 534 and 559 Latter-day Saints men led by Mormon company officers, commanded by regular U.S. Army officers. During its service, the battalion made a grueling march of nearly 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego.
The battalion’s march and service supported the eventual cession of much of the American Southwest from Mexico to the United States, especially the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 of southern Arizona and New Mexico. The march also opened a southern wagon route to California. Veterans of the battalion played significant roles in America's westward expansion in California, Utah, Arizona and other parts of the West.3,4
Our Pioneer Heritage Volume 1
Women and Children of the Mormon Battalion
Jane Wells Cooper Hanks
Jane Wells Cooper Hanks, wife of Ebenezer Hanks, started her trip west with the famous Mormon Battalion. She was an excellent cook and, therefore, proved a great asset to the welfare of the troops. History records that Jane was ever willing to do all she could for those who needed aid in any way. After spending the winter in Pueblo she and her husband came to Salt Lake where they lived for two years.
Jane Wells Cooper, daughter of Samuel Cooper and Wealthy Ann Wells, was born in Greenwich, Washington County, New York on October 4, 1817. At some time Ebenezer Hanks boarded at the home of the Coopers. It was here that he met their lovely daughter Jane who was a school teacher. She was described as "an intelligent, refined woman." She also possessed a "regal appearance and a strong mind." Jane was twice descended from the Plymouth Governor William Bradford. After courting Jane, Ebenezer married her on October 27, 1839, in Burton, Adams County, Illinois. They made a handsome couple. Ebenezer was tall with deep blue eyes.
By 1841, Jane and Ebenezer had become members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon after their marriage, Jane's father died, leaving this young couple some land. They remained in Adams County where they built a two-story house finished with black walnut. However, by 1845, they sold their house to Ebenezer's brother Ike and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois.
In February 1846, Jane and Ebenezer left with the Saints for Council Bluffs, Iowa. Ebenezer had a good team, and along the way, shot turkeys to help with the food supply. At Council Bluffs, Ebenezer joined the Mormon Battalion as a sergeant in Company E. Jane went with him as a laundress and a cook. In August 1846 the Battalion reached Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Ebenezer received his provisions: a flintlock musket, a large cartridge box with a wide belt to carry over his shoulder, another belt to carry a bayonet and scabbard, and a waist belt of all-white leather. Here they also received their clothing allowance. From this allowance Ebenezer and Jane sent money back to the Church leaders to benefit those behind. Ebenezer and Jane went with the Brown Detachment to Pueblo, Colorado, in October of 1846. At this time, Ebenezer was appointed as a hunter for the detachment. Once, near Pike's Peak, Ebenezer shot a bear and a buffalo. Meat was always welcomed, not only in Pueblo, but along the way as they traveled.
By spring of 1847, Ebenezer and Jane were prepared for their journey to the Salt Lake Valley. They saved a little flour each week and with it traded for a cow. Ebenezer killed an elk and traded the meat with a Mexican for a pony for Jane to ride on. Ebenezer rigged up a side saddle for Jane. They traveled with the James Brown Company and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 29, 1847. The first winter of 1847-48 was a hard one for all. Ebenezer and Jane spent the time improving their homestead. Because the winter had been one of hunger, Ebenezer and Jane decided to go to California and pan for gold on the American River. They built a small homestead there and used it for a store and a boarding house. It was said that Jane served such good meals that, along with the claims which Ebenezer had acquired, they soon had accumulated a small fortune.
Prosperity attracts adversity, and Eb and Jane were no exceptions. Once, one of Jane's boarders decided to rob her when her husband was away. Little did he know Jane was good with a gun. "She could take the head off a chicken from her doorway with a pistol," a granddaughter recalled. She had a pistol in a cupboard and, anticipating that he was about to rob her, quickly got her gun and subdued her boarder, making him sit in a corner, like a true school teacher, disciplining a bad student. They waited for her husband to return home. The boarder confessed his intentions and he was sent to the penitentiary for 15 years.
In 1855, the Hanks decided to liquidate their holdings. At this time Jane left for the winter to visit with her family and relatives in the East. She sailed from the coast of California to New England. While there, she visited with Ebenezer's mother who wanted to give her some of her handiwork. While Jane was away, Ebenezer went to San Bernardino where he decided to help out financially with the rancho operated by Amasa Lyman and Charles Rich for the Church. By June of 1856, Jane arrived in San Francisco, and Ebenezer, who had missed her very much, traveled to bring her to San Bernardino. They arrived on July 27, and Ebenezer gave her a grand tour of the home he had purchased and the gristmill which he had invested in.
They were happy and busy there. In October of 1857, Brigham Young called the Saints in San Bernardino to come back to Utah. They made preparations, selling out most of their holdings, and by February 1858, Ebenezer sent Jane back to Utah. After finalizing the sale of their property he was on his way with the mail train for Utah. Upon returning to Utah, Ebenezer and Jane decided to go to Parowan, Utah, to help settle that area. One business they started was a bucket factory supplying buckets for the surrounding towns. After that business outlived its usefulness, Ebenezer, along with others, worked out the details of the needed machinery and started a cotton factory. Josiah Rogerson wrote that Ebenezer "contributed liberally, and for months all the cash he could spare went to the starting of this business." Along with the cotton factory, Ebenezer opened a Parowan store which was managed by Jane and became part of her life.
In 1860 Ebnezer married a second wife: Sarah Jane Casper (1845-1920)
The year of 1864 was a hard one for the Saints in Southern Utah. In 1866, cotton prices fell. The end of the Civil War was one of the reasons for this failure. After the cotton factory closed. Ebenezer opened a sawmill and held a "workbee" to discuss financial and workable arrangements for this sawmill. Fifty people attended while Jane and two other women served a delicious dinner. It is said that no one could make a better mincemeat pie than Jane. It is reported that some of the lumber from Ebenezer's sawmill was used in the construction of the Tabernacle Organ in Salt Lake City. During this period of time, Jane and Ebenezer adopted a girl who they named Martha Catherine Hanks.
The next enterprise in which Ebenezer invested was the making of iron. This industry was near Cedar City, Utah. Ebenezer moved his second wife and their children to Iron City to be closer to his business. Jane and their adopted daughter Martha remained in Parowan and managed the store. Jane had invested in a mine she called "Mother Eve," which kept her busy. She was an exceptional woman. It is said that at one time she sold an Indian a double blanket. The Indian took the blanket, cut it in half, then decided that he didn't want it and went to Jane to trade it back. She said "you have spoiled it and no trade back." He complained to a Church authority who went to her and ordered her to give the Indian back his money. She replied, "and I order you to go straight to the Devil!" She was also interested in raising flowers, especially roses. She won many blue ribbons at fairs for her beautiful roses. She was hostess for town picnics and dinners. She and Ebenezer had a productive and busy life.
Jane died in Parowan on March 27, 1896, twelve years after Ebenezer died. They had been married for forty-five years. She left her estate to her daughter and to other family members. Her obituary states: "She was a remarkable woman and assisted her husband in various enterprise, such as the cotton factory in Parowan and also the development of iron in Iron City." She is buried in the Parowan City Cemetery.
Source:
Bate, Kerry William. "The Ebenezer Hanks Story" from Women of the Mormon Battalion
Compiled and edited by Carl V. Larson and Shirley N. Maynes keyed to digital by Renda Taylor Feb 2005.