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SERGT. HENRY HALL BIOGRAPHY AS RECORDED IN: COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF TOLLAND AND WINDHAM COUNTIES CONNECTICUT. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES. PUBLISHER: J.H.BEERS & CO., CHICAGO; 1903 P. 1134 SERGT. HENRY HALL, a veteran of the Civil war, lives quietly in the town of his birth, after a laborious and active life. He was born in Plainfield, April 19, 1818, and though nearly eighty-six years old, has vivid memories of events three-quarters of a century ago. One of his early recollections is of shaking hands with Gen. Lafayette, in October, 1824, on the steps of the old "Eaton Hotel." The hardships endured by Sergeant Hall during the war of the Rebellion have left their impression upon him, though a slight limp and a trifling deafness are the only evidence that he has passed the allotted time of life. Mr. Hall was born in the house now owned and occupied by Judge Waldo Tillinghast, and attended school in Flat Rock and Stone Hill Districts. When he was eighteen he began driving stage between Brooklyn and Norwich, a business which was only discontinued by the introduction of the railroad. For several years he was employed in Providence by Charles H. Childs and a Mr. Baxter. After the completion of the Providence & Worcester railroad he was employed by that company for ten years, advancing step by step until he became a conductor, and had a train for some six years. Henry Hall became a soldier early in life, serving two years in the Seminole war in Florida. He enlisted in the Union army in February, 1862, becoming a member of Company D, 1st C.H.A., holding the position of sergeant until his discharge, March 1, 1865. During these memorable years he took part in several of the bloodiest battles of the war, a few of the engagements in which he participated being Yorktown, Hancock Court House, Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, Cold Harbor and Fair Harbor. At Malvern Hill he was run over by a piece of artillery, a thirty-pound Parrot gun passing over his left ankle, and crushing the foot so badly that amputation seemed necessary. However, the waters of the James river saved his foot, though there is no strength in it now. As it was, he was laid up in the hospital for some time, and when he returned to his company he was on detached service until his discharge. For nine years following the war Mr. Hall was employed in the shops of the New Jersey Railroad & Transportation Company at Newark. Returning to Plainfield, he took up house and sign painting, an occupation at which he was engaged until a few years ago, when he gave up active employment, and is now living quietly in a neat cottage near the Plainfield postoffice. In politics he is an independent Republican, and is a member of Kilborn Post, G.A.R., of Central Village, Connecticut. Mr. Hall was married, in Pomfret, to Juliette Gallup, who is now deceased, and to this marriage were born two sons: (1) Willis A., born Oct. 20, 1843, enlisted in Company H, 9th C.V.I., was taken sick and was discharged from the service at New Orleans. His health was never fully restored, and he died in Massachusetts Oct. 18, 1877, being at the time of his death an engineer on the Boston & Gardiner railroad. He married Belle Cord, of Plainfield. (2) Ernest C., the second son, was born June 17, 1862, is a druggist, and lives in New York, where he married and has a family. Mr. Hall possesses an oil painting executed
by a brother, and which he prizes very highly. It represents one of the
battles of the Civil war, and Reproduced by: Linda D. Pingel - great-great granddaughter of Cyrus White of Rockville, Ct. |
