Born into slavery before the American Revolution, Jude Hall fought valiantly in several of the war’s most crucial battles, earning the nickname “Old Rock” for his strength and heroism.
Yet while he would gain his freedom after the war, and a small plot of land in Exeter, New Hampshire on which to raise his family, Hall couldn’t shield his children from the many perils that befell people of color in early America—from the ever-present burden of poverty to the terrifying possibility that they might be abducted and sold into slavery. Kidnapping free African Americans to transport south was a lucrative business, as southern plantation owners were hungry for laborers. And African Americans rarely had documentary proof of their status, much less legal standing to question the word of a white man in court. Children and teens made especially attractive targets.
Three of Hall’s sons would be kidnapped and shipped south, never to return home.
Military service, then freedom
Hall himself had been born into slavery around 1747 in southern New Hampshire. After being sold before the Revolution to a new owner—reportedly an unhappy change—he left in May 1775 to enlist in the 3rd New Hampshire militia regiment. It’s unclear whether he ran away or got his master’s permission to sign up, as was usually required at the time.
One month into his service, Hall became one of more than 100 African-American and Native American soldiers to fight in the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he just missed being hit by a cannonball. The first major clash of the Revolutionary War, Bunker Hill ended in a British victory but gave colonial troops a much-needed confidence boost. By the end of the war, at least 6,600 Black and Indigenous soldiers would fight for the cause of American independence, the Daughters of the American Revolution concluded in their Forgotten Patriots Project.