Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/196

 PROMINENT PERSONS

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in 1783. His health declined and he re- lumed to Virginia, but died suddenly at the scat of Col. Abraham Bird on the Shenan- doah river, August 2, 1784, aged twenty- nine years, and was buried in the burying ground in the vicinity.

Dale, Richard, was born near Norfolk, Virginia, November 6, 1756, died in Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1826. He entered the merchant service at the age of twelve, and at nineteen commanded a ship. In 1776 he was a lieutenant in the Virginia navy, was soon captured and con- fined in a prison ship at Norfolk. Persuaded by some Royalist schoolmates he embarked on an English cruiser against the vessels of his state; was wounded in an engagement with an American flotilla. After the Dec- laration of Independence he became a mid- shipman on the American brig Lexington^ which was captured on the coast of France by the English cutter Alert in 1777. Dale, with others of the officers and crew, was thrown into Mill prison, at Plymouth, on the charge of high treason; escaping with many of his fellow prisoners, in February, 1778, he was recaptured, escaped again, dis- guised as a British naval officer, reached FVance, where he joined John Paul Jones' squadron as master's mate. Jones soon made him first lieutenant of the Bon Homme Richard, and in that capacity he fought with distinction in the famous battle with the Sera pis, on September 23, 1779, receiving a severe splinter wound. After the sinking of the Bon Homme Richard in that engagement, Dale served with Jones in the Alliance, and afterward in the Ariel, Returning to Philadelphia. Febru- ary 28, 1781. he was placed on the list of lieutenants in the navy, and joined the

Trumbull, which was captured in August of that year, Dale receiving his third wound in this engagement. He was exchanged in November, obtained leave of absence, served on letters of marque and in the mer- chant service until the close of the war. He was appointed captain in 1794, served on a short cruise in the "Ganges," during the trouble with France, and in 1801 was given command of a squadron and ordered to the Mediterranean during the hostilities with Tripoli. Although greatly hampered by instructions, so that no serious enter- prise could be attempted, he prevented the Tripolitans from making any captures dur- ing his command. Returning to the United States in 1802, he was again ordered to the Mediterranean, but resigned his commis- sion December 17, and having gained a competency, spent the rest of his life in retirement. Dale enjoyed the unusual dis- tinction of having been praised by Lord Nelson, who after critically watching the seamanship of the commodore's squadron, said that there was in the handling of those transatlantic ships a nucleus of trouble for the navy of Great Britain. The prediction was soon verified. Two of Commodore Dale's sons held commissions in the navy.

Pendleton, Nathaniel, was born in Cul- peper county, Virginia, in 1756, son of Henry Pendleton, and grandson of Philip Pendleton, the emigrant. He joined the revolutionary army, 1775 : was promoted brevet-major, serving as aide-de-camp to Gen. Nathaniel Greene, and received the thanks of congress for his gallantry at Eu- taw Springs. South Carolina, September 8, 1 78 1. On the close of the war he stud- ied law and was subsequently appointed United States district judge for Georgia.

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