Union_Buff
Major
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2009
- Location
- New Zealand
William Augustus Hall was born in Portland, Maine on October 15, 1815. Hall moved with his family to Harpers Ferry, Virginia at a young age and he attended the local schools there. He attended Yale College, relocated to Missouri in 1840, and was admitted to its bar in 1841. He also served as a captain during the American-Mexican War (1846-1848).
He served as a judge of the Circuit Court in Missouri from 1847 to 1861, and as a delegate to the Missouri Constitutional Convention in 1861. That year, he was elected to the 37th Congress as a replacement for John Bullock Clark, who had been expelled from Congress for taking up arms against the United States. He was elected on his own merit in 1862 and then served from January 20 1862 to March 4 1865.
In 1855, he was the judge who presided over the trial of Celia, a 19-year-old pregnant slave woman who was on trial for the alleged murder in self-defense of her master, who had been sexually abusing her for years. Hall's personal views on slavery are not known, but he is known to have had strong unionist views. Given his position he would have been well aware of the media attention and the implications the outcome of the trial could have for Missouri and the nation. To defend Celia, Hall appointed John Jameson, a recently ordained minister who had served in Congress and had been Speaker of the Missouri State House and had a reputation as an excellent trial attorney. Hall also appointed two other attorneys from prominent Callaway County families to assist Jameson. Hall's approach to the trial gave support to the view that he wished for the trial procedures to be perceived as correct and fair insofar as the laws of Missouri allowed. The jury found Celia guilty and sentenced her to death. The conviction, and Hall's rulings, were affirmed by the Missouri Supreme Court.
He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1864, but did not seek re-election to an additional term in 1865. After his term in the United States Congress ended, he returned to the practice of law. He died near Drakesville, Missouri on December 15 1888, and was buried in the family plot.
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Note: William Augustus Hall was the brother of my Great-Great-Great-Great Granduncle, 17th Governor of Missouri, Willard Preble Hall (1864-1865).
He served as a judge of the Circuit Court in Missouri from 1847 to 1861, and as a delegate to the Missouri Constitutional Convention in 1861. That year, he was elected to the 37th Congress as a replacement for John Bullock Clark, who had been expelled from Congress for taking up arms against the United States. He was elected on his own merit in 1862 and then served from January 20 1862 to March 4 1865.
In 1855, he was the judge who presided over the trial of Celia, a 19-year-old pregnant slave woman who was on trial for the alleged murder in self-defense of her master, who had been sexually abusing her for years. Hall's personal views on slavery are not known, but he is known to have had strong unionist views. Given his position he would have been well aware of the media attention and the implications the outcome of the trial could have for Missouri and the nation. To defend Celia, Hall appointed John Jameson, a recently ordained minister who had served in Congress and had been Speaker of the Missouri State House and had a reputation as an excellent trial attorney. Hall also appointed two other attorneys from prominent Callaway County families to assist Jameson. Hall's approach to the trial gave support to the view that he wished for the trial procedures to be perceived as correct and fair insofar as the laws of Missouri allowed. The jury found Celia guilty and sentenced her to death. The conviction, and Hall's rulings, were affirmed by the Missouri Supreme Court.
He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1864, but did not seek re-election to an additional term in 1865. After his term in the United States Congress ended, he returned to the practice of law. He died near Drakesville, Missouri on December 15 1888, and was buried in the family plot.
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Note: William Augustus Hall was the brother of my Great-Great-Great-Great Granduncle, 17th Governor of Missouri, Willard Preble Hall (1864-1865).
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