Lieutenant Elijah Hall, Continental Navy
Elijah Hall was born December 8, 1742 in Raynham, Massachusetts. He was the son of Phillip and Huldah (Leonard) Hall. He removed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire when he was a young man and married Elisabeth Stoodley, a daughter of Colonel James Stoodley of Portsmouth.
Elijah Hall was appointed Lieutenant in the Continental Navy on June 14, 1777, to serve on the frigate Ranger under Captain John Paul Jones. Ranger sailed for France on November 1, 1777, taking two prizes en route, then put to sea from Brest on April 10, 1778, to cruise in the Irish Sea. Lieutenant Hall took part in the capture of several vessels, the landing at St. Mary’s Isle April 23, and the capture of HMS Drake next day. Hall commanded the prize crew which took Drake into Brest. Hall continued to serve as Lieutenant of the Ranger until he was captured at Charleston, South Carolina, May 12, 1780.
Released after the end of the war, Hall settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1818 and held various community positions until his death there on June 22, 1830.
Lieutenant Elijah Hall was the namesake for the destroyer USS Hall (DD-583) that was commissioned July 6, 1943.
Sources: Oliver Philbrick Remick, A Record of the Services of the Commissioned Officers and Enlisted Men of Kittery and Eliot, Maine (Boston, 1901), 214; Elijah Hall, Naval History and Heritage Command; NavSource Naval History; Selected Wartime Service Records of Lieutenant Elijah Hall.
