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Isaac Hall.-Born in Fairfax Connty; lives near Occoquan; was always a Southern man; voted for secession; owns a farm and slaves. Never had any communication with the enemy. Yankees once stole one of his slaves but the boy escaped and returned home. Mr. Huntt, Mr. Thomas and Doctor Mason proved his character is good, and he has seven nephews in our army. He was sent here from Manassas with an order dated November 14 in which it is said Major Boyle will forward the five men to Richmond, noting Bayless as a dangerous character, understood to have been specially active in communicating with the enemy. The other four persons it is not considered safe to have about our lines. No specific charge is made against Hall. I am satisfied he is a Southern man of good character, and his feelings are with our cause. On what grounds he has become an object of suspicion to our officers I do not know. From the evidence before me I do not see anything charged against him which would prevent his immediate discharge on a writ of habeas corpus. While I feel a large discretion must be vested in our officers, yet that discretion must be reconciled to the rights of the citizen, and I know of no mode of doing so but to require with each prisoner sent here there should be a statement of some fact which justifies the arrest and detention, with the evidence to sustain it. In this mode each case may be reached and the proper prosecutions be instituted. In the present case the continuance of this man's confinement for anything I can see would be simply an exercise of arbitrary power on suspicion. I recommend his discharge.
SOURCE: Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series 2, Volume 2, pg. 1453
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