At the siege of Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny, Royal Navy Petty Officer William Hall became the third Canadian and the first person of color to win the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest military honor for bravery. Hall was born in Hants county, Nova Scotia in 1827 the son of runway slaves from the United States. He joined the Royal Navy and saw action in the Crimean War before his exploit in India. He returned to Nova Scotia, farmed, and died in 1904. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Robin W. Winks, The Blacks in Canada: A History (Montreal, Quebec: McGill-Queens University Press, 1997), 330.
