Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Samuel Dale (1772 – May 24, 1841)

Samuel Dale in his famous 'Canoe Fight'
From “Chapter LVII: The County of Monroe” in “Alabama: Her History, Resources, War Record and Public Men From 1540 to 1872” by Willis Brewer:

SAM DALE was the first or second tax collector of this county, and the fact should be held in most honorable remembrance by all his successors in that position. He was the Daniel Boone of Alabama, and of the Gulf States; and in many respects was the superior of the Kentucky backwoodsman.

Born in Rockbridge County, Va. in 1772, his parents removed to the southwestern part of the state three years after, and there his father engaged in the thrilling scenes of the day. In 1784 the family removed to what is now Greene County, Ga. then the frontier of that state. The parents soon died and left eight children to the care of Samuel, the eldest, a youth of 16 years.

He kept up the farm, but found time to engage in much of the border warfare with the Muscogees. He saw service under the famous Capt. Jonas Fauche and distinguished himself by his prowess. At the peace, he became a trader and resided for some time in Jones County, Ga.

He heard Tecumseh’s war speech at Tookabatchee during one of his trading excursions. About the year 1810, he settled in Clarke County, this state, and in 1813 led a company from the county into the skirmish at Burnt Corn, where he was painfully wounded.

He was a participant in the bloody “Canoe Fight” recorded in this chapter, where he acted with his usual daring and prowess. Shortly after, he followed Gen. Claiborne to Econochaea as captain in a company in Major Smoot’s battalion and took part in the fight. He also commanded a battalion in Col. Russell’s expedition to the Cahaba old-towns.

Soon after the peace of Fort Jackson, he came to reside in Monroe, where he established a farm. He was for a short time in service under Gen. Jackson when that officer was sent to quell the turbulent Seminoles, and when the outrages of “Savannah Jack” in what is now Butler County caused great alarm throughout the new state, he marched promptly to the assistance of the settlers.

From the time that he came into Alabama to the day that he left it, Gen. Dale was regarded as the right arm of the frontiersmen; ever ready to pilot the immigrant to his new home and to stand between him and “the buckskinned warrior of the wood.” The people of Monroe loved and honored him and eight times elected him to the legislature between 1819 and 1830. The legislature of the State also recognized his services by appropriating to him the half-pay of a colonel, and the rank of brigadier general whenever he should be called into active service, but the latter was repealed shortly after its enactment.

About the year 1830, Gen. Dale removed to Perry County, and remained there about a year, then settled in Lauderdale County, Miss. He was the first representative of that county in the legislature of the State, in 1836, and died there, at Daleville, May 23, 1841.

The events of his remarkable career are preserved in a handsome volume, from the graceful pen of Hon. J.F.H. Claiborne of Mississippi. They read more like the exploits of a fabulous hero of a past age than like the deeds of one whose modest mien, but stalwart frame, many of the older citizens of south Alabama have looked upon, and it is quite certain that some of them are colored by fancy.

He was, however, remarkable “for caution and coolness in desperate emergencies, for exhibitions of gigantic personal strength, **** and his story is studded over with spirit-stirring incidents, unsurpassed by anything in legend or history. His celebrated ‘canoe fight’ where, on the Alabama River, he, with Smith and Austill, fought nine warriors with clubbed rifles, killed them all, and rowed to shore, would be thought fabulous if it had not been witnessed by many soldiers standing on the banks who could render them no assistance.”*

In the zenith of his manhood, Gen. Dale was erect, muscular and over six feet in height. His strength, activity and endurance was surprising. And like Bertram of Risinghame, his was ‘The sharpened ear, the piercing eye, the quick resolve when danger’s nigh.’

He felt the disadvantages of his want of education, and was diffident of his opinion in other than practical matters, as he was habitually taciturn in those. His friendships were strong, his feelings ardent, and no one was more unselfish and benevolent. The Indians revered as much as they feared him, and he was looked upon by them with admiration and confidence.

The story of Mr. Claiborne, however, is somewhat apocryphal that a Choctaw chief stood over the grave of the border hero, a day or two after his death, and exclaimed “You sleep here, ‘Big Sam,’ but your spirit is a chieftain and a brave in the ‘hunting grounds of the sky.”

Nevertheless, Gen. Dale deserves to head the list of those whose iron wills and stalwart arms have fashioned states out of the wilderness, and his name must ever stand conspicuous in the annals of Alabama. A county in the state has been named in his honor.


* Hon. J.F.H. Claiborne of Mississippi

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