Hugh Hall
Private Hugh Hall was a soldier from Pennsylvania who served in the Corps of Discovery. He was court-martialed along with John Collins early in the expedition for tapping into the whiskey supply without authorization. Hall was a reliable member of the Corps throughout the journey, participating in hunting parties and daily duties. Little is known of his life after the expedition, though he is believed to have settled in the St. Louis area.
Biography
Hugh Hall (1772-after 1809) was a private in the Corps of Discovery from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He is primarily known in expedition history for being court-martialed along with John Collins for unauthorized drinking of whiskey from the supply barrels in June 1804.
Hall received 50 lashes for his offense — harsh but standard military punishment for the era. Despite this early lapse, Hall served competently throughout the remainder of the expedition, participating in the full round-trip journey to the Pacific and back.
After the expedition, Hall collected his pay and land warrant. His subsequent life is poorly documented, though records suggest he was alive at least until 1809.
Related Locations
Journal Entries (3)
Cross-Narrator Analyses
Analyses that cite or discuss Hugh Hall — showing 5 of the most recent matches.
Court-Martial at St. Charles: Discipline on the Eve of Departure
The entries for 17 May 1804 from St. Charles, Missouri, illustrate a pattern in the expedition's documentary record: the radical disparity between…
Discipline and a Near Disaster at the Kansas
The expedition's departure from the mouth of the Kansas River on June 29, 1804, produced four journal entries that, read together, reveal…
John Colter: The Hunter Who Walked Away From Home
Enlistment and First Mess AssignmentJohn Colter first appears in the official record on May 26, 1804, when Meriwether Lewis issued detachment orders…
Silas Goodrich: The Expedition’s Fisherman
Enlistment and Mess AssignmentSilas Goodrich first appears in the expedition record on May 26, 1804, when Captain Meriwether Lewis issued his Detachment…
William Bratton: Hunter, Saltmaker, and Patient of the Corps of Discovery
Enlistment and Place in the CorpsWilliam Bratton enters the expedition record on May 26, 1804, when Meriwether Lewis issued his Detachment Orders…
From the Heacock Memorial Archive
2 lewis-clark.org articles that mention Hugh Hall, preserved here for Robert Heacock’s photography. The articles were written by that site’s contributing authors.
Researcher or educator?
Get help using the archive in your work, suggest sources we should include, or talk with us about collaboration and classroom use.
