Elijah Simeon Hall was born March 16, 1845 near Lowell and Coal Run, Adams Township, Washington County, Ohio, one of 11 children born to Dudley and Rebecca (Brown) Hall. He was known as "Sim," "Simmie," or "Simeon" to his friends and family. Union army pension records tell us that Elijah was 5'11½" tall with blue eyes and dark hair. He listed his profession as a cooper (barrel maker). Stories of Elijah's heroic Civil War service were passed down in the family as verbal history, and most of these stories have been proven to be factually correct - verified by his pension records. Elijah first joined the Union Army in Marietta, Ohio, on September 21, 1861 at the age of 16. He was severely wounded in the shoulder by a shell fighting alongside his father at Shiloh and then caught typhoid. After extensive hospitalization, he was discharged in November of 1862 (due mostly to typhoid and his young age) and went home to Ohio to recover. After 9 months, Elijah crossed the Ohio River and enlisted again, this time in the 2nd West Virginia Cavalry on June 22, 1863 at Parkersburg. Elijah was discharged for the last time at the age of 20 at Wheeling, WV, on June 30, 1865. Elijah began working on an Ohio River steamboat by 1868. After a brief and tumultuous marriage to Adaline Booth which produced no children, Elijah married Lillian Gladis Mason (20 years his junior) on March 7, 1884 at New Martinsville, Wetzel County, WV. This marriage resulted in 5 children born in Ohio: Jesse Lee (b. 1884), William D. (b. 1887), Bertha "Birdie" May (b. 1888), Ray Thomas (b. 1893), and "Little Simmie" (b. 1894 and did not live past infancy). The Civil War was Elijah's greatest glory and his painful ruin. In addition to the typhoid and shoulder injury which became arthritic and painfully disfigured, Elijah also suffered a stab wound completely through the abdomen with a bayonet, a broken wrist which never healed properly, and a severe head injury caused by a horse falling on him which left him with painfully debilitating headaches and other neurological problems from that time on. Near the time of his marriage to Lillian, Dr. Seth Hart described Elijah's condition as "a perfect wreck." Due to his deteriorating health, Elijah worked sporadically and spent many years in and out of hospitals and Veterans Homes throughout the remainder of his life. His family life and family stability suffered greatly as a result. Elijah died at the Wood Veterans Home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on October 1, 1913. He is buried there at the Wood National Cemetery in section 19. The only known surviving photo of Elijah Simeon Hall was discovered in his Union Army pension file. We believe this was his 1884 wedding photo, and it clearly shows another Civil War scar from a slash across his handsome face. He has left us a tale of bravery and suffering, and he deserves to be remembered kindly.