William Hall (February 11, 1775October 7, 1856) was an American politician who served as the seventh

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

from April to October 1829. Hall ascended to the office when Governor

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...

resigned amidst a scandal, and, as Speaker of the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any issue rega ...

, he was the first in the line of succession. After finishing Houston's term, he did not seek reelection. Hall had previously served in the Tennessee state legislature, both in the House and Senate. Following his brief term as governor, he served one term in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Early life

Hall was born in Surry County in the

Province of North Carolina Province of North Carolina was a province of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712(p. 80) to 1776. It was one of the five Southern Colonies, Southern colonies and one of the Thirteen Colonies, thir ...

. He was the son of Major William Hall and Elizabeth Thankful Doak. In 1779, the family moved to the

New River Valley The New River Valley is a region along the New River in Southwest Virginia in the United States. It is usually defined as the counties of Montgomery (including the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg), Pulaski, Floyd, and Giles and the ...

of Virginia. In 1785, they moved again, this time to a tract of land that would eventually be known as "Locustland," near modern

Castalian Springs, Tennessee Castalian Springs is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Sumner County, Tennessee, United States. History In the early 19th century, it was known locally as Bledsoe's Lick, and was the location of Bledsoe's Station, ...

. Jay Guy Cisco,
Historic Sumner County, Tennessee
' (1909, reprinted 2009), pp. 255–262. Locustland would remain Hall's residence for much of the remainder of his life. The

Cherokee–American wars The Cherokee–American wars, also known as the Chickamauga Wars, were a series of raids, campaigns, ambushes, minor skirmishes, and several full-scale frontier battles in the Old Southwest from 1776 to 1794 between the Cherokee and American se ...

were raging at this time, and the Sumner County area north of

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

was particularly vulnerable. On June 3, 1787, William's brother, James, was killed as the two were ambushed as they walked through a field, though William managed to escape. Two months later, as the family was moving its possessions into nearby

Bledsoe's Station Bledsoe's Station, also known as Bledsoe's Fort, was an 18th-century, fortified, frontier settlement located in what is now Castalian Springs, Tennessee. The fort was built by long hunter and Sumner County pioneer Isaac Bledsoe (c. 1735–1793) ...

in anticipation of a

Chickamauga Cherokee The Chickamauga Cherokee refers to a group that separated from the greater body of the Cherokee during the American Revolutionary War. The majority of the Cherokee people wished to make peace with the Americans near the end of 1776, following se ...

attack, they were again ambushed. William's brother, Richard, brother-in-law, Charles Morgan, and father were killed. William, along with his mother and two younger siblings, John and Prudence, managed to make it into the fort.Albert Goodpasture
Indian ''Wars and Warriors of the Old Southwest''
"Tennessee Historical Magazine;" Vol. 4, No. 2; June 1918; pp. 122–124; accessed at Archive.org, September 21, 2012.

Career

During the early 1790s, Hall served as sheriff of Sumner County.Phillip Langsdon, ''Tennessee: A Political History'' (Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Press, 2000), p. 79. In 1796, he was promoted to the rank of major in the Sumner County militia. He served in the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

from 1797 until 1805. At the outbreak of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, he joined the Tennessee Volunteer Infantry with the rank of colonel, and had achieved the rank of brigadier general by the following year. In 1821, Hall was elected to the

. In 1827, he was chosen as

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the senate. In April 1829,

resigned the governorship following a personal scandal. As Speaker of the Senate, Hall was the first in the line of succession, and thus became governor on April 16. He did not seek reelection, however, and Houston's predecessor, William Carroll, was elected without opposition a few months later. During his brief time in office, Hall continued with the reform plans that Carroll and Houston had started. An ally of

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

, Hall later served in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for one term (1831–1833) ( Twenty-second Congress) and then retired from public life.

Death

Hall died at his farm, ''Locustland'', in Sumner County, a few weeks after giving an account of his frontier experiences for the June 1856 issue of ''Southwestern Monthly''. He is interred at the family cemetery there.

References

External links

National Governors Association

The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, William 1775 births 1856 deaths Democratic Party governors of Tennessee Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Democratic Party Tennessee state senators People of the Creek War People from Sumner County, Tennessee Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee 19th-century American politicians