Anthony Gale

Anthony Gale
Anthony Gale Memorial, Lincoln County Courthouse, Stanford, Kentucky
Born	Ireland
Died	December 12, 1843(1843-12-12) Stanford, Kentucky
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1798–1820 (Dismissed from Service)
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Commands held	Commandant of the Marine Corps
Battles/wars	Quasi-War of 1798-1800 First Barbary War of 1801-1805 War of 1812

1798–1820

Anthony Gale was the fourth Commandant of the United States Marine Corps and the only one ever fired. Fewer records survive concerning him than any other commandant. He is the only commandant for whom the Marines neither know his burial location nor have a portrait or likeness.

His date of birth is in dispute. It is variously reported to be in 1761 or on September 17, 1782 in Dublin, Ireland. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant on July 26, 1798. According to a transcript of a 23 October 1838 letter to President Martin Van Buren, Anthony Gale writes (in part): “as a military man that I embraced in my nineteenth year”, which would place his birth in 1779-1780.

Born in Ireland to Anthony Gale and Ann Delany, Gale declared his intent to become a United States citizen on June 15, 1798, and completed the naturalization process on November 27, 1801.Ireland land records involving his mother Ann Delany suggest Gale was born in Queen’s County, Ireland, subsequently renamed County Laois.

Gale married Catherine Swope on January 4, 1800, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The couple settled in Philadelphia and had three children – Amelia, who died after four weeks; a son, Washington Anthony; and another daughter, Emily, both of whom survived into adulthood.

Early in his Marine career, he fought, in fairly quick succession, the French, the Barbary pirates, the British, and was a U.S. naval officer. Angered by the mistreatment of a Marine sentry, Gale killed Navy Lieutenant Allen MacKenzie in a duel. This incident, perceived to be an affront to the Corps, subsequently brought Commandant William W. Burrows' approval for Gale's defense of his Corps' honor. Later in his military career, Gale took “an active and gallant part” during the siege of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.