Francis Langhorne Dade (1793? – December 28, 1835) was a Brevet Major in the U.S. 4th Infantry Regiment,

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, during the Second Seminole War. Dade was killed in a battle with

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

Indians that came to be known as the "

Dade Massacre The Dade battle (often called the Dade massacre) was an 1835 military defeat for the United States Army. The U.S. was attempting to force the Seminoles to move away from their land in Florida and relocate to Indian Territory (in what would becom ...

Life and career

Dade was born in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, most likely in King George County. He joined the Twelfth Infantry in March 1813 (during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

) as a

third lieutenant Junior lieutenant is a junior officer rank in several countries, equivalent to Sub-lieutenant. Germany In the National People's Army, the rank of () was introduced in 1956. Eastern Europe In many Eastern European countries, the rank of junior l ...

. He was transferred to the Fourth Infantry in May 1815. Under this post, he successfully led two military expeditions, in 1825 and 1826, from

Fort Brooke Fort Brooke was a historical military post established at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in present-day Tampa, Florida in 1824. Its original purpose was to serve as a check on and trading post for the native Seminoles who had been confined ...

in Tampa to

Fort King Fort King (also known as Camp King or Cantonment King) was a United States military fort in north central Florida, near what later developed as the city of Ocala. It was named after Colonel William King, commander of Florida's Fourth Infantry and t ...

near Ocala, through an area that was wilderness at the time and in the midst of ongoing conflict with Native Americans. He also commanded the United States Army base at Key West, and was eventually assigned to command the southern portion of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, running from

Cape Florida Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Recreation Area occupies approximately the southern third of the island of Key Biscayne, at coordinates . This park includes the Cape Florida Light, the oldest standing structure in Greater Miami. In 2005, it was ra ...

on the Atlantic coast to Charlotte Harbor on the Gulf coast. He was brevetted major in February 1828 after ten years of service as a captain.Historical Register and Dictionary of the US Army
/ref> By late 1835, he commanded a unit of 47 men, half of whom were European immigrants. Dade was stationed in Key West until October of 1835, when violence broke out in the Second Seminole War. General Duncan Lamont Clinch ordered Dade to leave one noncommissioned officer and 3 privates in Key West before taking the rest of his men to

. Dade's final mission was to lead 110 men from Fort Brooke to Fort King. The Seminoles, led by

Osceola Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Asi-yahola in Muscogee language, Creek), named Billy Powell at birth in Alabama, became an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfather was a S ...

and

Micanopy Micanopy (c. 1780 – December 1848 or January 1849), also known as Micco-Nuppe, Michenopah, Miccanopa, and Mico-an-opa, and Sint-chakkee ("pond frequenter", as he was known prior to being selected as chief), was the leading chief of the Sem ...

, destroyed bridges over the Hillsborough River and Withlacoochee River in order to delay the progress of the command, and ambushed the men on December 28, killing Dade and most of his men, and leaving only two survivors. The attack was followed in 1836 by widespread attacks on white settlers in Florida, and then by a US military buildup under General

Winfield Scott Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786May 29, 1866) was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as a general in the United States Army from 1814 to 1861, taking part in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the early s ...

. Dade and his men were not formally buried until a unit led by

Edmund P. Gaines Edmund Pendleton Gaines (March 20, 1777 – June 6, 1849) was a career United States Army officer who served for nearly fifty years, and attained the rank of major general by brevet. He was one of the Army's senior commanders during its format ...

arrived at the site of the massacre in February 1836, Dade's remains only being identifiable by his vest and infantry buttons.

Legacy

When hostilities ceased, the Army proposed to transfer the remains of all who died in the territory, including those who fell with Dade, to a single burial ground. Reinterment took place at the St. Augustine Post Cemetery, which would become

St. Augustine National Cemetery St. Augustine National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of St. Augustine in St. Johns County, Florida. Located on the grounds of the active military installation known as St. Francis Barracks, the state headqua ...

. In addition to Dade's command, more than 1,400 soldiers were interred in three

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

s. These men are memorialized by the Dade Monument, which is composed of three distinct

pyramids A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

, constructed of native coquina stone, and an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

. The dedication of the memorial at a ceremony on August 14, 1842, marked the end of the Florida

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...

. The Dade Monument was erected in 1845 at the United States Military Academy Cemetery to honor Major Dade and the men under his command killed in the Seminole War.

Miami-Dade County, Florida Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

(Dade County, until 1997);

Dade County, Georgia Dade County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia. It occupies the northwest corner of Georgia, and the county's own northwest corner is the westernmost point in the state. As of the 2020 census, the population is 16,251. The county seat an ...

; Dade County, Missouri;

Dadeville, Alabama Dadeville is a city in and the county seat of Tallapoosa County, Alabama, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 3,230, up from 3,212 in 2000. History Dadeville was named for Major Francis Langhorne Dade, who died in the Seminole ...

; and

Dade City, Florida Dade City is a city in and the county seat of Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is located in the Tampa Bay Area. The population was 6,437 at the 2010 census. Dade City is popular with tourists for its antique stores, restaurants, and ...

are all named after Major Dade. The now decommissioned fort on

Egmont Key Egmont may refer to: * Egmont Group, a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark * Egmond family (often spelled "Egmont"), an influential Dutch family, lords of the town of Egmond ** Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522–1568), the bes ...

was also named for him. The battle is re-enacted at the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park each year. In 2002, the Dade County Courthouse was renamed the Major Francis Langhorne Dade County Courthouse by the Board of County Commissioners of Miami-Dade County. In the resolution changing the courthouse's name, the Board noted that it found "that Major Francis Langhorne Dade is a person who made a significant contribution to Miami-Dade County".

Notes

References

*''Dade's Last Command'' (1995) by Frank Laumer () *John T. Kneebone et al., eds., ''

Dictionary of Virginia Biography The ''Dictionary of Virginia Biography'' (''DVB'') is a multivolume biographical reference work published by the Library of Virginia that covers aspects of Virginia's history and culture since 1607. The work was intended to run for a projected fou ...

'' (Richmond: The

Library of Virginia The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It serves as the archival agency and the reference library for Virginia's seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and ...

, 1998- ), 3: 658–659. ()

External links

*http://www.abfla.com/parks/DadeBattlefield/dadebattlefield.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20050831030840/http://www.cem.va.gov/nchp/staugustine.htm *http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiDADEMASS.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Dade, Francis Langhorne 1793 births 1835 deaths United States Army officers Deaths by firearm in Florida People from King George County, Virginia American people of the Seminole Wars American military personnel killed in the American Indian Wars