At the battle of Chancellorsville he was in the column sent out to cut
Jackson's line as he moved in front of the army, and in the gallant
action of the third division of the third corps, under Gen. Whipple, of
whose staff he was a member, and was with that lamented officer when he
fell mortally wounded. Capt. Hall was then assigned to the staff of Gen.
Oliver O. Howard, commander of the eleventh corps, and with him went to
Gettysburg. His position in that action was important. When Gen.
Reynolds, commanding the first corps, had advanced through the town and
encountered the enemy, Gen. Howard, then moving up and about five miles
to the rear, hearing the heavy firing, ordered Capt. Hall to ride
forward as rapidly as possible, find Gen. Reynolds, ascertain the
condition of affairs, and obtain his orders. Capt. Hall's fleet horse
soon covered the distance, and he found Gen. Reynolds himself in an
advanced and exposed position from the enemy's fire. He did his errand;
Gen. Reynolds said he had met the enemy in force, and sent the order to
Gen. Howard to bring up his corps with all possible dispatch. Scarcely
had Capt. Hall got back through the town, when he was overtaken by the
intelligence that Gen. Reynolds was mortally wounded, and near the
cemetery he met Gen. Howard impatiently coming up in advance of his
corps. Passing Cemetery Ridge, Gen. Howard said, "That is the place to
fight this battle," and directed Capt. Hall to take a battery from the
leading division, and place it in position on the crest of the hill.
This was done, and that battery, the first planted on Cemetery Hill,
remained on that spot through the three days of the conflict. When Gen.
Howard took his own place there, Capt. Hall was of course with him, and
on the second day of the engagement was slightly wounded by a shell.
These details are given, simply to place on record, in this permanent
form, his testimony to the justice of the claim made by the friends of
Gen. Howard, that he was fully entitled to the thanks voted him by
congress for selecting Cemetery Hill and holding it as the battleground
of the great and glorious battle of Gettysburg.
In the latter part of 1863 his health suffered, and he was forced to
leave the service in December, 1863. But in June, 1864, he was appointed
provost-marshal of the first New Hampshire district, being stationed at
Portsmouth, and here he remained until the close of the war. The affairs
of the office were in some confusion, but his methodical habits soon
reduced it to order. During his term of service, he enlisted or drafted,
and forwarded, over four thousand men to the army. This service ceased
in October, 1865. "He was one of the men," said a substitute broker to
the writer of this sketch, "that no man dared approach with a crooked
proposition, no matter how much was in it."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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