Hall, Edward Dudley

27 Sept. 1823–11 June 1896

Edward Dudley Hall, Confederate officer and public official, was born in Wilmington, the son of Edward Pearsall and Eliza J. Hall. Educated at Donaldson Academy, Fayetteville, as a young man in Wilmington he was an active member of the Thalian Association, a local dramatic group. The 1850 census lists his occupation as manufacturer; at the time, he was involved in turpentine distilling and had interests in a rice mill. Hall represented New Hanover County in the state House of Commons in 1846–47 and was sheriff of the county from 1852 to 1860. He was also the inventor of a machine for gathering, stemming, and shelling peanuts.

In May 1861, even before North Carolina seceded from the Union, Hall organized and served as captain of a company that became Company A, Second Regiment of North Carolina Troops; it afterwards became Company H, Fortieth Regiment. In August 1861 Hall was promoted to major in the Seventh Regiment and saw service in eastern North Carolina, including action at the Battle of New Bern. The following March he was promoted to colonel and transferred to the Forty-sixth Regiment. With this command he saw extensive service, particularly at the Battle of Sharpsburg, at Bristoe Station, and elsewhere in Virginia. He declined a promotion to brigadier general.

Colonel Hall resigned his commission in 1863 upon being elected sheriff of New Hanover County. Within a short time he was elected to the state senate, where he served three terms between 1864 and 1867. In 1868 he was a candidate for lieutenant governor on the Conservative ticket, but his party was defeated. In 1883 he began a four-year term as mayor of Wilmington, after which he was elected chief of police. He also served as special inspector of customs for the Wilmington district for three years and, for four years before his health failed, as major general of the North Carolina Division, United Confederate Veterans.

In 1845 Hall married Susan Hill Lane of Wilmington, who died five years later; they were the parents of a son. Hall afterwards married Sallie Loudon Green, and they became the parents of two sons and three daughters.