HALL, JAMES (1793-1868), American judge and man of letters, was born Aug. 19, 1793. Perhaps the most zealous worker for adequate treatment of the early West in literature, Hall was nevertheless not a native of this section. He was born in Philadel phia, studied law in the East and took a gallant part in the War of 1812 before migrating to the Mississippi Valley "in search of adventure." After being admitted to the bar in Pittsburgh he commenced practice at Shawneetown (Ill.), where he also edited the Illinois Gazette. Successively public prosecutor of the circuit, circuit judge, and state treasurer (1827-31), he nevertheless con tinued his practice and did much editorial work. He died near Cincinnati, July 4, 1868.
Hall is at his best in the short stories contained in The Sol dier's Bride 0833), Tales of the Border 0835), Legends of the West (1832), and The Wilderness and the War-Path (1846) . In parts these are marred by melodrama, but his tales of the tiny French villages show a delicate humour, an imaginative charm and an ease and grace of style that reveal Hall as a follower of Irving and a significant figure in the development of the American short story.
See W. H. Venable, "Judge James Hall" in Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley (1891), and F. L. Pattee, The Development of the American Short Story (1923).