b. 11/06/1848 Randolph County, Missouri. d. 14/12/1927 Washington DC.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 20/10/1879 near Camp, White River, Colorado.
William P Hall MOH
He was appointed to West Point from the state of Missouri, graduating with the class of 1868. His first assignment was with the 19th Infantry. He then served in the 5th Cavalry, the unit in which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. He served principally on Western Frontier duty until the Spanish–American War. It was during a battle with hostile Indians while in command of a reconnoitering party near a camp on the White River (Colorado), October 28, 1879, that he was cited for the Medal of Honor. Hall went to the rescue of a fellow officer who was surrounded by about 35 warriors. He received the medal on September 18, 1897.
He also served in Puerto Rico from 1899–1900. He was appointed Adjutant General of the U.S. Army on February 17, 1912, and retired from active duty on June 11, 1912.
He was a member of several distinguished Army marksmanship teams from 1879–1892 and won medals on all the teams, shooting the carbine and revolver. While a colonel and Assistant Adjutant General, Hall authored the book How to Shoot a Revolver (Kansas City: Hudson-Kimberly, 1901, Ray Riling 1522). The author’s preface is dated December 24, 1895.
He married Ms. Terese Blackburn (1868–1943), daughter of Senator Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn of Kentucky. They had a daughter who died in childhood, Terese Preble Hall (1894–1899). Both his wife and daughter Terese are buried with him in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery. They had two additional children live to adulthood, Blackburn Hall, a graduate of West Point and former Major of the Regular Army, of Los Angeles, California, and Octavia Preble Hall (1900-1981), who later took the name Terese, and married Colonel Percy McCay Vernon, Regular Army, of Amite, Louisiana.
MOH CITATION:
With a reconnoitering party of three men, was attacked by 35 Indians and several times exposed himself to draw the fire of the enemy, giving his small party opportunity to reply with much effect.
BURIAL LOCATION: ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA.
SECTION 1, GRAVE 653.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: BELIEVED TO BE FAMILY.
