fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I wrote this for an essay recently. I have changed it around a bit to protect the identity of my friend. Let me know if there any corrections I have to make. Best regards, Tony
The life and military service of William Hall, Victoria Cross (VC) recipient and African Nova Scotian has been for decades buried in anonymity. This essay serves to speak not only of his life and military service but also addresses how Canadian people posthumously recognized this humble gentleman’s contribution to Canadian society many years after his death.
Canada’s military tradition and history as we know it today was to a great degree born as a result of its involvement in the Great War from 1914 to 1918. While that history has often been written of great men and events it often excluded the heroic and unselfish service of our minority populations and men such as William Hall, VC.
According to Pachai (2007) William Hall was born in the area around Horton’s Bluff, Nova Scotia, on April 28th, 1827, on the shores of the Avon River. His Father, Jacob Hall, and his mother, Lucinda Hall, were enslaved in Virginia, but were loyal to Britain, and during the War of 1812, they were granted freedom along with 2000 other African American Loyalists, in Nova Scotia. WilliamHall's formative years included working for a local shipyard, which was an extremely profitable business in Nova Scotia at that time. Here he learned shipbuilding, bluewater sailing, and his education also included some classroom training, He became a merchant sailor for 2 years, which prepared him for the next stage of his career, with the United States Navy (USN).
William Hall joined the USN in 1847, and served as a crewman on the USS Ohio, which was a ‘ship of the line’ (a type of warship). The USS Ohio and her crew including William Hall served during the Mexican American War from 1847 to 1849. The Mexican American War started as a result of the unilateral Annexation of Texas by the United States of America which wished to expand it’s territory from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The USA secured 500,000 square miles of new territories, however the issue of slavery in the United States of America remained unresolved, which led to the American Civil War. According to a site hosted by the Lone Star Internet, (2010), approximately 115,000 US servicemen fought in the Mexican American War, with an estimated 35 percent succumbing to injuries sustained during, and diseases contracted during their service. One wonders how William Hall survived. In 1849, William Hall was discharged from the USN, and returned to Nova Scotia.
In 1852, William Hall enlisted in the British Royal Navy, and became a Royal Marine. He was now a hardened veteran, and an exemplary sailor. According to Pachai, (2007), he was posted aboard the HMS Rodney, where he served as a crewman for 4 years, during which he saw action in the Crimean War specifically the Battle of Inkerman and the Siege of Sevastopol.
The Crimean War was fought between Britain and Russia over the control of the remains of the Ottoman Empire. The Crimean War saw the use of weapons that were sophisticated for that time, and was also notable for the lack of proper medical care for the many wounded and sick combatants, leading to appalling numbers of casualties.
William Hall was placed in charge of a 68 pounder naval gun that was used at the Siege of Sevastopol, where British forces relentlessly bombarded Russian forces besieged in that city, for almost one year.
In 1856, the Crimean War ended, and William Hall was posted to the HMS Shannon, one of the Royal Navy's most modern warships, in the Pacific Ocean. In 1857, a long running dispute between Indian citizens (Sepoys) and the English East India Company boiled over into open warfare. Thirty eight thousand British servicemen, and women and children found themselves under siege from an estimated 200,000 Indian mutineers. The British fortified themselves in properties around Lucknow and Cawnpore and other areas, and asked for help. British forces were placed on full alert, and thousands of British servicemen and sailors were ordered to proceed at once to India to restore order and rescue their besieged countrymen. The HMS Shannon and it’s crew including William Hall were one of the first ships to arrive.
During the 19th century and before, the Royal Navy used naval detachments in support of colonial troops in trouble spots all over the world. The 19th century was the period of “Pax Brittanica” when the British Empire was at it’s peak of power, and the Royal Navy controlled the world’s oceans with impunity.
The 400 man naval brigade from the HMS Shannon landed as close as they could to Cawnpore and Lucknow, and met heavy resistance during their long march inland. Legion Magazine, (2004) noted that William Hall said of Cawnpore that: “There was still women’s blood on the walls.”
On September 14, 1857, the Shannon brigade finally reached Lucknow, and William Hall was ordered to take part in a crew that deployed two 24 pounder howitzers at the Shah Nujeff mosque, where approximately 2000 mutineers were besieged, in order to make a breach in the walls of the fortified mosque. Breaching the walls by force was the only way British troops could enter the mosque and end the battle. The walls of the mosque were so thick, the howitzers had to be hauled within 20 yards of the walls to have any effect. The battle for the control of the mosque went on for most of the day.
Soon William Hall and his wounded Lieutenant, Thomas Young, were the sole surviving members of the detachment tasked with bombarding the mosque. William Hall kept calmly loading and firing his muzzle loading howitzer despite heavy incoming fire while the rest of the crews lay dead and dying all around him. The experience of firing such a powerful howitzer at close range caused William Hall to comment later, as recorded by the Maple Leaf, 2010:
“After firing each round, we ran the gun forward until, finally, the crews were in danger of being hit by splinters of brick and stone torn from the wall by the round shot.”
The campaign did not end until November 1858, as the British forces had to retreat from Lucknow and could not return until reinforcements arrived. The campaign was resumed in March, 1858, until it drew to a close November of the same year. The Sepoy Rebellion had claimed the lives of an estimated 11,000 civilians. Again William Hall survived.
For his heroic service in the Relief of Lucknow, William Hall was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest honour that can be bestowed on any British or Commonwealth serviceman. William Hall was the first African Nova Scotian to be so honoured. William Hall retired from the Royal Navy on June 10, 1876, as a respected and well regarded war veteran with the rank of Quartermaster. His medals included the Crimean Medal, the Turkish Medal, the Indian Medal, and the Victoria Cross. He served in 3 wars on 3 separate continents, and lived to enjoy his retirement.
William Hall retired quietly near Hantsport, Nova Scotia, bought land, and started a small farm. He invited his 2 sisters and his niece to live with him, who he supported with his pension and work around the farm for the remainder of his life. He also enjoyed small game hunting, and lived a modest, unassuming existence. On August 24, 1904, William Hall died. His precious medals were sold by his descendants to settle a debt owed on his estate. He was buried in an unmarked grave and his legacy faded into obscurity for 40 years. In 1945, his remains were disinterred and reburied with fitting honours on the grounds of the Hantsport Baptist Church, according to the Nova Scotia Museum (2010) which is the custodian of his valuable medal.
An idea can be had of what sort of man William Hall was from this quote recorded by Pachai, (2007), from his close personal friend Dr. Henry Chapman, before he passed away.
“Allow me to say. . . that I had the honour of knowing William Hall well, and a braver, truer, more modest man, white or black, never lived. . . “
What does this say about our society today, when we forget our heroes.? William Hall was buried in an unmarked grave, and his contributions to society were forgotten most likely because he was not white.
A friend has talked with some of our unsung heroes over the years. William Hall’s Victoria Cross Medal has resided at the Nova Scotia Museum since 1967, until it was recently loaned to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. I had the opportunity to see the medal when it was in storage in the vaults of the Nova Scotia Museum. It was a moving experience, to see before me something that represented William Hall’s great deeds.
My friend told me about his grandfather, who was Mikmaq. My friend's grandfather served with the Canadian Army in WWII, and fought on the front lines during the invasion of Italy. When my friend's grandfather's unit was repatriated, a huge ceremony and celebration was organized in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, where they landed. As veterans descended the gangplank, cheerful citizens would greet the veterans, offering them rides, and inviting them for dinner and that sort of thing. My friend's grandfather was excluded from these celebrations. When he descended the gangplank wounded, the citizens pretended he was not there and greeted the next white veteran behind him. An African Nova Scotian man noticed what had happened and immediately greeted him, and offered warm hospitality and a ride in his automobile.
My friend's grandfather saw action in some of the most costly battles of the Italian campaign including the Battle of Monte Cassino.
Have we made any progress as a civilized society? I certainly hope so as we currently have a new generation of war veterans inured to any kind of hardship returning home from Afghanistan by the hundreds and thousands, some of them severely wounded.
I wonder if we can treat our veterans properly? I wonder what William Hall would have to say were he alive today? My thoughts are that he would prefer to live a quiet life far away from the sound and fury of foreign wars. The only known picture of William Hall shows a stalwart man who appeared to be made of stone, and who carried himself with a quiet dignity. When you see this picture of William Hall, do you see a victim? When you see this picture of William Hall, do you instead see a mighty conqueror, who crushed a formidable wall into dust beneath his feet? How do you choose to see William Hall? How do you choose to see veterans?
Bibliography:
The Mexican American War: An overview Van deCreek, D. Ph.D, 2004, Northern Illinois University Libraries Retrived on: December 11, 2010
http://dig.lib.niu.edu/mexicanwar/overview.html
The Mexican War
October 19, 2010 The Lone Star Internet Inc. Retreived on: December 11, 2010
http://www.lone-star.net/mall/texasinfo/mexicow.htm
The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia
Hopkirk, P.Kodansha International (May 15, 1992)
Gunboat Frontier: British Maritime Authority and Northwest Coast Indians, 1846-1890
Gough, B.M. University of British Columbia Press, 1984
Historic Black Nova Scotia
Pachai, B. Nimbus Publishing, 2007.
The Maple Leaf,
William Hall, VC, a person of national historic importance
Thermidor, E. November 30, 2010 Retrieved on: December 11, 2010
http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/commun/ml-fe/article-eng.asp?id=6621
Statistics of Wars, Oppressions and Atrocities of the 19th Centuruy
1999-2004 White, M.
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wars19c.htm
The Nova Scotia Museum
Information sheet on William Hall, VC
http://museum.gov.ns.ca/infos/william-hall-info.pdf
Canada and the Victoria Cross: of Rebellion and Rescue part 2 of 18: March 1, 2004, Bishop, A. retrieved on Deember 11, 2010 from:
http://www.legionmagazine.com/en/in...the-victoria-cross-of-rebellion-and-rescue-2/
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