Roger Weightman Hanson was born on August 27, 1827, in Winchester, Kentucky, United States, the second son of Samuel Hanson, lawyer and member of the legislature, and of Matilda (Calloway) Hanson. His father, who came of the Maryland Hanson family and was a native of Alexandria, Virginia, had moved to Kentucky in 1807.
By nature impetuous and daring, Roger Hanson served as first lieutenant in the Mexican War under Capt. J. S. (“Cerro Gordo”) Williams. In a duel after his return he received a wound which shortened one leg and gave him thereafter a peculiar gait. During convalescence he read law. He began to practise at home, then went to California with the gold rush, but returned with nothing added to his fortune. In 1851, opposing his old commander for a seat in the legislature, he lost by six votes; but two years later he was successful and became a representative from Clark County. In 1855 he removed to Lexington and won the election from Fayette County. He was an elector on the Fillmore ticket in 1856 and the following year ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Know-Nothing.
In 1860, on the eve of the great crisis, Hanson stood forth as a conservative leader, favoring Bell and Everett in the presidential campaign; but, as events unfolded, resenting the domination of the Union by the North, he joined that neutrality movement peculiar to Kentucky, and was enrolled as colonel of the State Guards. When the crisis became acute, he joined the forces of the Confederacy, leading his regiment across the border to Camp Boone, Clarksville, Tennessee, where his men formed the nucleus of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Kentucky regiments. Here and elsewhere he excelled as a drillmaster, and at the same time won the loyalty of his men.
On February 13, 1862, Hanson held the Confederate right at Fort Donelson, where he repulsed two attacks. Two days later his regiment made a successful charge, “without firing a gun, ” against a superior force which broke and fled. On the same day he was captured. He was later exchanged, and in October 1862 was restored to his old command, the 2nd Kentucky Infantry. By order of General Breckinridge he received command of the 16th Brigade, consisting of the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 9th Kentucky Infantry regiments, together with Graves's and Cobb’s batteries. At Nashville he effectively aided Forrest, November 5. and a month later, December 7, 1862, while attached to Gen. J. H. Morgan's expedition against Hartsville, he captured and destroyed a Union force of some 2, 000 men with a loss of only sixty-eight. For his conspicuous services he was promoted to be brigadier-general on December 13. Less than three weeks later, at the battle of Stone’s River or Murfreesboro, where his brigade held the left of the line, he was mortally wounded. He died after two days of suffering, and was buried at Nashville. In 1866, with permission of the War Department, his body was removed by his widow to Lexington, Kentucky, and reinterred with public honors.
Hanson's penchant for discipline earned him the nickname "Old Flintlock".
Quotes from others about the person
"Endeared to his friends by his private virtues and to his command by the vigilance with which he guarded its interest and honor, he was, by the universal testimony of his military associates, one of the finest officers that adorned the service of the Confederate States. " - General Breckinridge
