Appendix Article 2 the perils of pioneering Adventures with the Minnesota Indians:     …..A Hall family member finds that danger        lurks at every turn when the Indians           resent the intrusion of the settlers by Carrol C. Hall (adapted from several sources) E.B. Hall (Elisha Banks Hall, 1824-1902) was walking - walking as fast as he could - that is, for one ever on the alert, watching for the signs of Indians. He was walking on an errand to save lives. His route was from Fairmount, Minnesota to Fort Dodge, Iowa. His mission was to secure military assistance - the Indians were attacking at Jackson, Minnesota. +It was the year, 1858. Only the day before a messenger had pounded on Hall's cabin door at Fairmount. The message had been sent by Hall's former hunting and trapping partner - William Church. The Church family was in danger the Indians were stirring and their lone cabin exposed. Hall made it to Fort Dodge - a journey of many long weary miles. After calling for the soldiers, E.B. Hall accompanied them in a civilian capacity as a guide on the long march from Fort Dodge to Fort Ridgely in Minnesota. By that time their mission was to rescue the white captives taken by the Indians. Victims While our kinsman, Hall, was engaged in his long journey and errand of assistance, The Church family were victims of the Indian attack. Surprised by an Indian trick, Church had left his cabin and was fired on. The attack was on. One of Church's sons was killed and a daughter was wounded and lost an arm. Church and the others of his family survived. E.B. Hall first pioneered the region in 1853 and was the first man at what is now the city of Fairmount, Minnesota - although he did not stay there continuously. He came upon the area as a trapper, trader and fur buyer, bartering with the Indians. In the Fall of 1855, Hall with his partner (Church) built a log hut, 8 x 10 ft; also a shelter for their Oxen. This time Hall was planning to stay. During the winter they followed the fur trade and in the Spring of 1856 broke ground for planting crops. In so doing, they broke their plow and had to go to Mankato, a distance of sixty miles, to get it repaired! Returns Hall left the area for a time, going into Iowa, by 1857 he had returned with a wife and a small family. This time he made his claim which was on the banks of a large, beautiful lake. Today, it bears his name and is in the city limits of Fairmont. It is Hall's Lake. In time there were five children, three boys and two girls. Establishing a productive farm was hard, the climate was severe and the summers variable. Their were crop failures and hard times, but there was also the still-virgin county and a lake that could provide food. The county did not fill up rapidly. In the first five years came the Civil War and for a time Hall removed to Fort Dodge, Iowa. There is no record of him serving in the War. And - for the Minnestans the Indian menace still persisted. ++ Food Food was an ever-present problem with these pioneers. And now - another Indian story: This was another walking trip for Elisha Banks Hall. This time to Mankato. He carried on his back a sack of wheat to have ground into flour, no nearer mill. 'When he had not arrived home in the length of time his family thought he should, they began to fear that he had been killed by the Indians. 'After three days he arrived home, with his ground wheat.' Why so long? 'He could only travel at night and he hid in the daytime.' Telling this tale to his family, years later, E.B.'s son John said, "those were the three longest days he could ever remember." Women Stories about the frontier generally neglect to tell us about the women who faced the dangers along with their men. In 1877, Perlica, Elisha's wife and mother of his children died. Hall's youngest was sixteen months old. Taking his flock with him, he traveled back to Kentucky ( ? home country - and in some manner persuaded his mother-in-law to come back to Minnesota and raise the children. +++ This she did and was a good mother. As remembered, "she was a very brave person for at that time the Indians were not always so friendly." Comments: Elisha Banks Hall was a later-generation Hall pioneer. His movements to and from Minnesota are not exactly recorded. During the Civil War period, the Indians taking advantage of the situation, became exceedingly active, this caused Hall to remove his family to an area of greater safety. Members of his family continued the westward movement of the Hall family until in the 1900s some of them arrived in California, where there descendants now live. Hall's line is: Wm. Hall (1); Hezekiah Hall (2); Elisha Hall (Overstreet), (3); and Elisha Banks (4). He was one of fifteen children and was born during the family's stay in Ohio. The memorial to him, is Hall's Lake at Fairmount, Minn. +then known as Springfield, Minn. ++at one time Fairmount had only five residents; Martin County, twenty-nine; this is a measure of the sparseness of the area the Halls were pioneering. +++she brought back a negroe mammy to help with the children