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| 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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