HALL COUNTY. 309 



into the Cherokee country in Georgia to quell the Indians, a 

 company was raised in Iredell for that expedition, and Rev. 

 James Hall went with his friends as chaplain to the army. 

 During the expedition, which lasted two months, the chaplain 

 offered public prayers very regularly morning and evening, 

 but had but one opportunity of preaching. On that occasion 

 he took his stand under a large shady tree ; the army, consist- 

 ing of about 4000 men, was drawn up around him ; and the sol- 

 diers, in honour of the first gospel sermon preached in the In- 

 dian territories, named the adjacent country after the chaplain. 

 Hall county, of which Gainesville is the seat of justice." 



This is a mistake. The county was named after Dr. Ly- 

 man Hall, a steady and inflexible patriot of the revolution. 

 He was born in Connecticut, in 1731, and graduated at Yale 

 College, 1747. After his collegiate course he studied medicine* 

 and removed to Dorchester in South Carolina, and came to 

 Georgia, accompanied by several persons, to whom a grant of 

 31,950 acres of land was made, in what was then known as 

 St. John's Parish, south of the Ogeechee river. The people of 

 this parish were early and decided advocates of the cause of 

 liberty, and before any general measures had been adopted by 

 the colony, had sent a delegate to the Continental Congress. 

 That delegate was Lyman Hall. Upon taking his seat in the 

 Congress at Philadelphia, in 1775, a difficulty arose as to whe- 

 ther the parish of St. John's should be considered as repre- 

 senting the colony of Georgia. Mr. Hall stated his wish 

 merely to hear and assist in the debates, as he only repre- 

 sented a part of Georgia, and to vote only when the sentiments 

 of Congress were not taken by colonies. Soon after this Geor- 

 gia, by her provincial assembly, determined to join the other 

 colonies, and Lyman Hall, in conjunction with others, was 

 selected to represent the whole province. Owing to several 

 causes, only three members from Georgia were present in the 

 Congress at the signing of the declaration. Mr. Hall was one 

 of these, and his name stands among those noble men who 

 proclaimed the Independence of America. Mr. Hall was 

 compelled to remove his family to the north when the British 

 took possession of Georgia, and his property was confiscated. 

 He returned to Georgia in 1782, and in the succeeding year 



