Jude Hall

Jude Hall's grave recognize his service at Bunker Hill and throughout the Revolutionary War.

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Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Kensington, New Hampshire

Date of Birth:

Circa 1747

Place of Death:

Exeter, New Hampshire

Date of Death:

August 22, 1827

Place of Burial:

Exeter, New Hampshire

Cemetery Name:

Winter Street Cemetery

Jude Hall's life is a story of tragedy, courage, and sacrifice. He won freedom for himself fighting for American freedom. Serving in the Revolutionary army from 1775 to 1783, Hall battled British and Loyalist forces at Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga, Trenton, Hubbardton, Saratoga, and Monmouth. He returned to New Hampshire, built a home, married, and raised a family. Although born free, three of his sons were kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana and the West Indies. Jude Hall never saw them again. He died in 1827, but his grandsons Aaron and Moses Hall continued his fight against slavery, serving in the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment and the 3^rd US Colored Infantry respectively during the American Civil War.

Jude Hall was born in Kensington, New Hampshire about 1748. He grew up "a slave in Captain Philemon Blake's family."¹ Captain Blake (b. 1738, d. 1826) lived on the Blake family homestead in Kensington with his father Philemon Blake, Jr. (b. 1705/6, d. 1788), other family members, and possibly other enslaved workers. Local histories remember Hall as a big, powerful man who "could lift a barrel of cider and drink from the bunghole."²

How Jude Hall came to enlist in the Revolution, even exactly how he gained his freedom, remains unclear. Sarah Cram, a descendant of Philemon Blake, gave us one story:

Jude, himself, was sold by my ancestor, Philemon Blake, to a townsman, Nathaniel Healey, before the Revolution. He was not “old” Jude then and resented being sold and ran away from his new master When the War of the Revolution broke out, he enlisted and fought on the Colonial side.³

The wording of that last sentence, combined with the fact that Jude Hall enlisted and served with men "from Kensington" make it improbable that he simply ran away and enlisted without his enslaver's permission.⁴ More likely, Jude Hall used running away as an attempt to negotiate limits to his enslavement. Those negotiations could have led to his enlisting "on the Colonial side" in exchange for his freedom. The Blakes and Healey clearly supported the revolutionary cause. All three signed the 1776 New Hampshire Association Test:

solemnly [engaging], and [promising], that we will, to the utmost of our power, at the Risque of our Lives and Fortunes, with Arms, oppose the Hostile Proceedings of the British Fleets and Armies against the United American Colonies.⁵

They could well have decided that granting Hall his freedom for service in the revolutionary cause was part of their "solemnly [engaging], and [promising]."

Jude Hall enlisted in the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment on May 10, 1775. During the Battle of Bunker Hill, the New Hampshire regiments occupied the rail fence which ran from the northeast side of Breed's Hill down to the Mystic River. According to local history, during the battle he was "thrown headlong by a cannonball striking near him."⁶ In December 1775, he enlisted in the new Continental Army. He re-enlisted twice more, serving "until the Peace and then was discharged."⁷ He fought at Ticonderoga, Trenton, Hubbardton, Saratoga, and Monmouth. According to a local history, in one battle, Hall “stood behind a tree and escaped unhurt. He said that he cut the tree down the next day and obtained a basinful of bullets."⁸

Jude Hall settled in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1783. According to the Exeter Historical Society, he was "granted his freedom and some land."⁹ In 1785 or 1786 he married Rhoda Paul, a member of one of New Hampshire's leading free Black families.¹⁰ At some point (the records are unclear), the Hall's settled on land next to a pond on the outskirts of Exeter, New Hampshire. The pond is still called "Jude's Pond."

At this time Jude Hall was "a 'yeoman,' or land-owning farmer …"¹¹ Although he did own his own land and home and was respected enough to be allowed to testify in a local murder trial, he was never wealthy. In 1818 he applied for the pension the US government allowed for poor veterans of the Revolution. In his application he said he was "a laborer" and was no longer able to work. He was living with his wife and seven children in a "small one story house two rooms in it" and had only a few possessions.¹²

Race and slavery turned poverty into tragedy for Jude and Rhoda Hall. In 1807, their son Aaron was kidnapped in Rhode Island, "sent to sea, and has not been heard of since." Six years later David Wedgewood of Exeter claimed their 18-year-old son James Hall owed Wedgewood four dollars. Wedgewood had James "tied and carried to Newburyport jail, and the next morning … put on board a vessel bound for New Orleans, and sold as a slave." At an unknown date the Halls' son William "went to sea in the barque Hannibal, of Newburyport. After arriving in the West Indies, [William] was sold there as a slave." William apparently did manage to escape, make his way to England, and become captain of a ship carrying coal from Newcastle to London. Jude Hall died before the news of his son's freedom reached the family. He never saw his sons again.¹³

Jude Hall died August 27, 1837. His family continued to serve the cause of freedom. His grandson Aaron Hall enlisted in the 54^th Massachusetts Infantry in 1863 and served until the 54^th was mustered out in August 1865. Aaron's brother Moses enlisted in the 3^rd US Colored Infantry in 1864 and served until it mustered out in October 1865. These three generations of Halls serve as reminders of the failures of the American Revolution and of the vital role Black men and women have played in the struggle to make the ideals of that Revolution real and complete.

Footnotes

1. D. Hurd Hamilton, History of Rockingham and Strafford Counties with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1882), 360.
2. Ronald D. Sawyer, The History of Kensington, NH, 1663 to 1945 (Farmington, ME: Knowlton and McLeary Co., 1946), 200-201.
3. Sarah E. Cram, Reminiscences of Sarah E. Cram of Hampton Falls (NH), in Exeter News-Letter, April 2, 1926, 1.
4. Jude Hall, Pension Number W. 23,238 Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files. NARA M804, via Fold3.com.
5. Nathaniel Bouton, Documents and records relating to the State of New-Hampshire : during the period of the American revolution, from 1776 to 1783, Vol. VII (Concord, NH: Edward A. Jenks, State Printer, 1874), 244-45.
6. Sawyer, The History of Kensington, NH, 201.
7. Hall, Pension.
8. Hurd, History of Rockingham and Strafford Counties, 360.
9. Barbara Rimkunas, "Jude Hall and His Family," Exeter News-Letter, February 28, 2014.
10. One of Rhoda Paul's brothers was the Reverend Thomas Paul, first minister of Boston's African Baptist Church on Beacon Hill.
11. Rimkunas, "Jude Hall."
12. Hall, Pension.
13. "Affidavit of Robert Roberts," in Child, David L, The despotism of freedom, or, The tyranny and cruelty of American republican slave-masters, shown to be the worst in the world (Boston : Boston Young Men's Anti-Slavery Association, 1834), Appendix.

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The following is from the 2004 National Park Service study Patriots of Color researched and prepared by George Quintal:

Jude Hall was born circa 1747^I in Exeter (NH). ‘He was a powerful man and could lift a barrel of cider and drink from the bunghole.’^II It was said ‘that the parts of his ribs which are usually cartilaginous were of solid bone, so that his vital organs were enclosed in a sort of osseous case.’^III A newspaper article provides more details of his life:^IV

Slaves were kept, in pre-Revolution times, on the old Blake homestead where the writer was born in 1840 and the story of one slave in particular is preserved in the family traditions even after the days of the Revolution. This slave was old Jude Hall, and I remember the feeling of childish awe and wonder when the spot was shown me, in the old garden, behind the “bee-hives” where the little pickaninnies who had died were buried perhaps a hundred years before. Jude, himself, was sold by my ancestor, Philemon Blake, to a townsman, Nathaniel Healey, before the Revolution. He was not “old” Jude then and resented being sold and ran away from his new master. When the War of the Revolution broke out, he enlisted and fought on the Colonial side. After the war ended and the slaves were automatically freed, he came back to this vicinity, built a cabin in the Exeter woods, settled there and raised a family. I do not, of course, remember Jude, but I distinctly recall seeing one of his sons, who lived in or near Exeter for years. He was George Hall and I remember the impression made on my youthful mind by his enormous nose, that was so flattened out as to seem to cover half his face.

He enlisted on 10 May 1775 into Capt. Jacob Hinds company, in Col. James Reed’s regiment.^V With his company he was at the Battle of Bunker Hill where he ‘was thrown headlong by a cannon ball striking near him.’^VI On 4 October 1775 he received four dollars for a ‘regimental coat.’^VII

In 1776 he was in the same unit. He never mentioned any engagements in which he served but we can assume that he was at Ticonderoga with his company and even possibly at Trenton.

In April 1777 he enlisted from Kensington, out of the 3^rd NH regiment of militia,^VIII into the company of Capt. Elijah Clayes in Col. Nathan Hale’s 2^nd NH Continental regiment. This service was for three years.^IX His regiment suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Hubbardton (VT), on 7 July 1777, where his Colonel was captured. It also served at both battles at Saratoga in the fall of 1777, under Col. George Reid. A ‘Size Roll of Absentees’ describes him as a ‘Negro’ from Kensington and as follows:^X

complexion: black
hair: black
eyes: black
left at: Albany

His regiment also served at Valley Forge, at the Battle of Monmouth on 28 June 1778, and on Sullivan’s Expedition against the Iroquois in the summer of 1779. In December 1779 he reenlisted into Capt. William Rowell’s company in the 2^nd NH regiment of Col. George Reid, for a term ‘during the war.’^XI He served in 1780^XII and was listed on a February 1781^XIII return. He was discharged in 1783.^XIV

Local tradition gives us these stories:

… in one battle [he] stood behind a tree and escaped unhurt. He said that he cut the tree down the next day and obtained a basinful of bullets.

One Sunday morning, as he found a man washing out his cider-barrels at the brook, the man, who seemed ashamed of his Sabbath-breaking, said that he looked every way to see if any one was coming, when Jude replied with his characteristic shrewdness, “Brother, did you look above?”^XV

He ‘lived in a small house near Jude’s Pond [named after him] on the old road to Exeter.’^XVI ‘He was the chief witness of the government in the trial of John Blaisdell for the homicide of John Wadleigh.’^XVII

The 1790 census of Exeter lists him as head in a household of five free people of color.^XVIII

A statement by Jude Hall’s son-in-law gives the sad details of the enslavement of Jude’s three sons:^XIX

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AFFIDAVIT OF ROBERT ROBERTS, OF BOSTON.

An account of the kidnapping of James Hall, son of Jude Hall, Exeter, New Hampshire:

JAMES HALL was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, and at the age of eighteen years, was kidnapped by a man named David Wedgewood of Exeter, but now resides at Greenland [NH]. By him (D.W.) he was taken, tied and carried to Newburyport jail, and the next morning was put on board of a vessel bound for New Orleans, and sold as a slave. The Captain of the vessel’s name was Isaac Stone. The vessel belonged to Johnston & _____, of Newburyport. He was taken from his father’s house at Exeter, in the absence of his father, by D.W., who said that he owed him four dollars. His mother said that he was a minor, and forbid him from taking him. Regardless to what she said, he bound and carried him to Newburyport. He was seen, not long since, at New Orleans, by George Ashton, a colored man, from Exeter; he said he was chained up in the calaboose or jail, at New Orleans, as a run-away; and, in the mean time, his master (a Frenchman from Kentucky) came, and commanded him to be punished severely, and carried him back.

His father was born at Exeter, (N.H.) and was a soldier during the old revolutionary war, under General Poor. His mother was granddaughter of Esquire Rollins, of Stratham. She is now living and will testify to all that is written here concerning her son, and more if wished.

AARON, another son of Jude Hall, in 1807, was kidnapped by some villain at Providence, Rhode Island, and has not been heard of since. At first, he went from this city to Providence, in order to get ready for sea; he went into a clothing store, and gave a due bill for a suit of sea clothes, which was twenty dollars; and, being unable to read or write, he made his cross for $200 instead of 20. And when he returned from sea, he started from Providence to carry his money to his father, and was overtaken to Roxbury (Mass.), on his way home, and carried back, sent to sea, and has not been heard of since.

WILLIAM, a third son, went to sea in the barque Hannibal, of Newburyport. After arriving at the West Indies, was sold there as a slave; and, after remaining in slavery ten years, by some means run away, and is now in England, a captain of a collier from Newcastle to London. About three years ago, his mother heard of him, the first time for upwards of twenty years. His father was a pensioner of the United States, having served faithfully for eight years, and fought in most all the battles, beginning with the Bunker Hill. He was called a great soldier, and was known in New Hampshire to the day of his death, by the name of “Old Rock.” He was alive when James was first heard of in slavery; but he did not live to hear from William. Nobody has ever heard from Aaron.

The above-named Jude Hall was my father-in-law, and my wife was the eldest child. I have often heard these facts from my mother-in-law, and others of the family; and I have made exertions to get information and give assistance to my brothers[-in-law] in their captivity, and so did my father[-in-law]; but was kept running from one lawyer and judge to another, until he died without being able to help either of his sons.

ROBT. ROBERTS
Suffolk, ss: Boston, Nov. 22d, 1833.
The above-named Robert Roberts personally appeared and subscribed the foregoing statement, and made solemn oath that the same is true, according to the best of his knowledge and belief.

Before me. DAVID L. CHILD, Justice of the Peace.

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Jude Hall received U.S. Bounty Land on 21 July 1789, the land being assigned to ‘Ladd and Cass.’^XX He applied for a U.S. Pension on 4 April 1818^XXI and was awarded one at the rate of $96 per year.^XXII He reapplied on 28 June 1820,^XXIII at which time he was required to provide an inventory of his property:^XXIV

One small one story house two rooms in it – A few plates
Earthen Shovel & Tongs
A few other articles of furniture of small value

He died in Exeter on 22 August 1827, at the age of 80.^XXV He was buried in the northeast corner of the old Winter Hill graveyard [now called Winter Street Cemetery].^XXVI

He married Rhoda Paul^XXVII in September of 1785.^XXVIII Jude and Rhoda had at least twelve children:

• Dorothy
  • m. Robert Roberts in Exeter (NH) on 15 December 1805^XXIX
• James
  • b. Exeter (NH)
• Aaron
• William
• George
• Clarissa
  • bca. 1792^XXX
• name unknown
• Mary
  • bca. 1796
  • unm.
  • d. 10 June 1859^XXXI
• name unknown
• Rhoda A.
  • bca. 1807
  • m. ___ Cook
  • res. Belfast (ME) in 1839^XXXII
• name unknown
• name unknown
  • bca. 1809

Footnotes:

1. Birth date backwardly-computed, based on age at time of death.
2. Sawyer, Roland A., Rev. The History of Kensington New Hampshire 1663 to 1945 … (1946), 201.
3. Bell, Charles H. History of Exeter New Hampshire (1888), 398.
4. Reminiscences of Sarah E. Cram of Hampton Falls (NH) in 2 April 1826 Exeter News-Letter. Copy provided by Nancy Merrill, Exeter (NH) Historical Society. The offensive colloquialisms have been left in the text as is.
5. Hammond, Isaac. New Hampshire State and Provincial Papers (1885-1889). Vols 14-17, 14:85.
6. Sawyer, Roland A., Rev. The History of Kensington New Hampshire 1663 to 1945 … (1946), 201.
7. Hammond, Isaac. New Hampshire State and Provincial Papers (1885-1889). Vols 14-17, 14:199.
8. Ibid, 15:457.
9. Ibid, 14:632; his residence is listed as Amherst (NH).
10. Ibid, 15:444.
11. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804, 2670 rolls, Frame 603.
12. Hammond, Isaac. New Hampshire State and Provincial Papers (1885-1889). Vols 14-17, 16:206.
13. Ibid, 16:227.
14. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804, 2670 rolls, Frame 603.
15. Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Rockingham and Strafford Counties, New Hampshire … (1882), 360.
16. Sawyer, Roland A., Rev. The History of Kensington New Hampshire 1663 to 1945 … (1946), 201. The pond still exists on Drinkwater Rd. in Exeter just north of the Kensington town line. No trace of the cabin could be found.
17. Bell, Charles H. History of Exeter New Hampshire (1888), 398, the injured victim was brought to Jude’s ‘shanty’ by the man who murdered him. Jude took care of the man until he died in the night. Details of the case are described in pages 405-7.
18. United States Census, National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 29 (1790-1850). Index, 1790, New Hampshire, Exeter, 67.
19. Child, David L. “Abolitionist’s Library … No 1 The Despotism of Freedom; of the Tyranny and Cruelty of American Republican Slave-Masters, Shown to be the Worst in the World: in a Speech, Delivered at the First Anniversary of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, 1825.” (1833; reprinted 1971), Appendix. Copy provided by Nancy Merrill, Exeter (NH) Historical Society, “Jude Hall” file.
20. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Roll 1163, Pension# W23238; Bounty Land Warrant# 3189, containing no further details.
21. Ibid, Frame 603.
22. Ibid, Frame 600.
23. Ibid, Frame 605.
24. Ibid, Frame 606.
25. New Hampshire Vital Records (Births, Deaths, Marriages) on registration cards. Department of Health and Human Services, Concord (NH).
26. Sawyer, Roland A., Rev. The History of Kensington New Hampshire 1663 to 1945 … (1946), 201-2. This graveyard was personally visited on two occasions in the summer of 2000, but no gravestone could be found.
27. She went to live after her husband’s death, with her daughter Rhoda A. in Belfast (ME) (United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frame 609). She received a widow’s pension of $80 per year (United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frame 623) until her death in Belfast in 1844, at the age of 74 (Chipman, Scott Lee. New England Vital Records from the Exeter News-Letter … (1993). 5 vols: 1831-1840, 1841-1846, 1847-1852, 1853-1858, 1859-1865, 2:101).
28. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frame 607. However, Bell, Charles H. History of Exeter New Hampshire (1888) 80g lists their marriage intentions in Exeter on 21 January 1786.
29. New Hampshire Vital Records (Births, Deaths, Marriages) on registration cards. Department of Health and Human Services, Concord (NH), courtesy Exeter (NH) Historical Society.
30. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frame 605; family living with him in 1820: “Clarissa 28 and the other children down to eleven years.”
31. Chipman, Scott Lee. New England Vital Records from the Exeter News-Letter … (1993). 5 vols: 1831-1840, 1841-1846, 1847-1852, 1853-1858, 1859-1865, 2:21.
32. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frame 609; Rhoda A. stated that she had ‘nine brothers and sisters all older than herself all children of the said Jude & Rhoda.’

Learn more about Quintal's study.