In September 1864, Union soldier Warrick Tasbut Hanson sustained a massive leg wound while battling Confederate troops at Chaffin's Farm, Va.

His sergeant rushed the 26-year-old to a field hospital, but Hanson died before doctors could tend to his injury.

A year earlier, Hanson's brother, Samuel Burnham Hanson, was captured by Confederate forces during the Battle of Chickamauga, Ga., after a horse fell on him, crushing his leg.

And in 1862, another Hanson brother, John Nottingham Hanson, was shot during the Battle of Fredericksburg, Va. His arm was shattered, rendering it useless.

Until 1995, John Heine knew nothing of the heroics of these men — his great-grandfather and his two great-uncles — or the three other members of the Hanson family from Manayunk who fought for the Union in the Civil War.

Since then, Heine, who moved to Lancaster from Philadelphia in 1962, has been on a mission to preserve their memories — and those of other Union veterans of the bloody conflict.

Heine is working to raise money for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, George H. Thomas Camp 19, which plans to restore a Civil War-era cannon that stands watch over the graves of 206 Union soldiers in Lancaster Cemetery.

Their remains are clustered in the Grand Army of the Republic burial site, a scruffy patch of grass in the northeastern corner of the sprawling city cemetery.

Heine's organization — which cares for that GAR site and a similar one with 76 Union soldiers in the city's Greenwood Cemetery — has raised about $1,500 toward its $4,800 fundraising goal.

The money will pay for the replacement of a dilapidated concrete foundation beneath the cannon. If repairs aren't made, Heine said, the cannon, built in 1844, may collapse.

Stevens College of Technology has agreed to help by donating materials and the skills of its masonry students, who plan to install a new concrete foundation and a brick wall around its perimeter.

They also plan to add decorative brick pavers to the surface of the base and create a walkway around a flagpole that marks the grave site.

But more money is needed to pay for removal of the concrete base beneath the cannon.

Heine, treasurer of the Sons of Union Veterans, has approached several local construction companies for donations of labor or materials but said he hasn't heard back from any of them.

"There's a lot of charitable people in Lancaster, but it seems like the money's running dry," he said. "I've been working on this for two years, and the repairs need to get started."

Darrell Fisher, a Stevens masonry instructor, said the project will provide practical experience and a real-world history lesson for 11 of his second-year students.

"It's going to fit well with the curriculum and what students need to know," he said. "I was also able to tie in local Civil War history."

While most local Union veterans are buried in family plots, some chose to be interred with their comrades in cemeteries established by the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization for Union soldiers, Heine said.

The GAR also provided low-cost or free burials for indigent veterans and those with no surviving family members. Many soldiers buried in Greenwood were living in an almshouse, or poorhouse, when they died, he said.

As veterans began to die off, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War was formed to continue to honor Union soldiers.

Today, Camp 19 has 42 members, who maintain a database of nearly 8,000 Lancaster County Civil War veterans. The members work with local Boy Scout troops to replace illegible headstones in the GAR cemeteries with new ones.

The two groups also maintain the grave sites and adorn them with U.S. flags on Memorial Day and other holidays. In 2005, the Sons of Union Veterans erected a new flagpole at the Lancaster Cemetery GAR burial grounds.

"Our main purpose is to honor the men who fought to preserve the Union to make sure they're not forgotten and to take care of their grave sites," Heine said.

He joined the group after learning about his family's Civil War history from a relative doing genealogical research.

In addition to Warrick, Samuel and John Hanson, Heine's great-great-grandfather, Joseph Maitland Hanson Sr., served in the Pennsylvania militia. His three other sons, Joseph Jr., John Nottingham and George Parker Hanson, served in the infantry.

"To have so many men from the same family go out to fight … it was just awesome," Heine said. "What passion they must have had to all go off to war.

"I'm a patriotic person to begin with, but this just made me more patriotic."

Although his ancestors were active in the GAR, all of them — save for Warrick — are buried in private family plots in Leverington Cemetery in Manayunk, outside Philadelphia.

Warrick's body was never accounted for.

"After he got into the hospital in that area (of the battlefield), they lost track of him," Heine said. "The family never knew where he was buried."

Those interested in contributing to the cemetery project can send a check payable to "SUVCW Camp 19" to John Heine, 751 Emerald Drive, Lancaster 17603. For more information, contact Heine at 397-0051.

E-mail: bwallace@lnpnews.com