In August 1876, Hall joined the Texas Rangers, serving under Ranger legend Leander H. McNelly, and was immediately posted to the Nueces Strip, where he solved a recent bank robbery in Goliad, Texas.

Hall married Bessie Weidman, who hated the Texas Rangers service, prompting him to resign, albeit against his own will.

He later served as an agent for the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache and Wichita Reservations at Anadarko, Indian Territory; he was indicted for embezzlement, but the charges were dismissed in 1888 for lack of evidence.

Until 1898, Hall engaged in several businesses, and in 1898 at the outbreak of the Spanish–American War he raised two companies for service, despite his wife's objections.

He left the military in October 1900, and from 1906 through 1907 he managed security for the Giroux Consolidated Mining Company.