Willard Preble Hall
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- This article is about the Governor of Missouri. For the politician from Delaware, see Willard Hall.
William Willard Preble Hall (May 9, 1820–November 2, 1882) was the second provisional governor of Missouri from 1864 to 1865 during American Civil War.
He was born in Harpers Ferry, then in Virginia. He attended a private school in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated from Yale University in 1839.
Hall accompanied his father to Randolph County, Missouri in 1840. There he studied law and was admitted to the bar at Huntsville in 1841 and commenced practice in Sparta in 1842. He was appointed circuit attorney in 1843 and served several years. Hall was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1844.
During the Mexican-American War he enlisted as a private in the First Missouri Cavalry and later was promoted to lieutenant; he was appointed by General Kearny, together with Col. Alexander Doniphan, to construct the code of civil laws known as the “Kearny code” in English and Spanish for the territory annexed from Mexico.
Hall was elected as a Democrat to the Thirtieth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-second Congresses, serving from March 4, 1847 to March 3, 1853. During his Congressional service he was the chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims (Thirty-first Congress), and of the Committee on Public Lands (Thirty-second Congress).
He moved to St. Joseph, Missouri in 1854 and continued to practice law, being an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1856.
In 1861 he was a member of the constitutional convention of Missouri that affirmed a policy of armed neutrality (first put forth by fellow St. Joseph resident and outgoing governor Robert Marcellus Stewart that Missouri would remain in the Union but would not send troops or supplies to either side.
When Missouri Governor Claiborne Jackson (with the support lieutenant governor Thomas C. Reynolds) refused an order from Abraham Lincoln to send troops to the union cause, Union General Nathaniel Lyon captured Jefferson City, Missouri. The constitutional convention was reconvened (without the pro-Southern legislators) and declared the office of governor and lieutenant governor vacant.
Hamilton Rowan Gamble was named provisional governor and Hall was named lieutenant governor. Hall succeeded Gamble when he died from pneumonia after a fall in 1864.
Hall wa brigadier general in the Missouri Militia, he commanded the northwestern Missouri district until 1863. After leaving office, he resumed the practice of law and died in St. Joseph in 1882. He is buried in Mount Mora Cemetery.
| Preceded by Thomas Caute Reynolds |
Lieutenant Governor of Missouri 1861–1864 |
Succeeded by George Smith |
| Preceded by Hamilton Rowan Gamble |
Governor of Missouri 1864-1865 |
Succeeded by Thomas Clement Fletcher |
| Governors of Missouri |  |
|---|---|
| McNair • Bates • Williams • Miller • Dunklin • Boggs • Reynolds • M. Marmaduke • Edwards • King • Price • Polk • H. Jackson • Stewart • C. Jackson • Gamble • Hall • Fletcher • McClurg • Brown • Woodson • Hardin • Phelps • Crittenden • J. Marmaduke • Morehouse • Francis • Stone • Stephens • Dockery • Folk • Hadley • Major • Gardner • Hyde • Baker • Caulfield • Park • Stark • Donnell • Donnelly • Smith • Donnelly • Blair • Dalton • Hearnes • Bond • Teasdale • Bond • Ashcroft • Carnahan • Wilson • Holden • Blunt |
