Hall was one of four Covenanting elders who, at a council of war at Shawhead Muir, on 18 June 1679, were appointed, with Cargill, Douglas, King, and Barclay, to draw up a statement of "Causes of the Lord's wrath against the Land". He was also one of the commanding officers of the Covenanters' army from the skirmish at Drumclog till their defeat at Bothwell Bridge (June 1679). The blue silk banner carried before him in battle was in possession of a family in Moffat, Dumfriesshire. On 25 June 1679 the Scottish privy council ordered a search for Hall but he escaped to the Netherlands and returned after three months.