Samuel Dale

Samuel Dale (1772 – May 24, 1841) was an American soldier and pioneer.

Dale was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, to Scots-Irish parents from Pennsylvania. As a boy, both he and his parents moved many times with westward border expansion, most notably in 1775 and 1783. With the death of his parents in December 1792, he was responsible for the welfare of eight younger children. From 1793–96 he served as a U.S. Government scout. He abandoned work as a trader between Savannah and the border settlements and as a mill owner-operator to guide immigrants into Mississippi, over Native American lands.

Dale was present when Tecumseh, in 1814, enlisted local Alabama Native Americans to fight against Americans at the request of British agents in Detroit, Michigan. He was involved in many of these confrontations, particularly in 1814 when he served as a courier bringing vital documents to Andrew Jackson in New Orleans, Louisiana, from Georgia in only eight days.

He was elected to the first Alabama General Assembly (1817–29). As a legislator and distinguished veteran brigadier general, he and four other men received the visiting Marquis de Lafayette into Alabama. Ten years later, he was accidentally injured and could not transport the local Choctaw the full distance to their assigned territories west of the Mississippi River. He served as first member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from Lauderdale County, Mississippi. He then visited George Washington to request compensation for supplies for troops. He was disappointed when he received no recognition from Washington.

Dale died in Lauderdale County, Mississippi. Dale County, Alabama, is so named in his honor.

References

* Johnson, Allen & Malone, Dumas, eds. "Dictionary of American Biography". New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1959.