COMMODORE RICHARD DALE, REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO BOOKS

Description

This two-volume set of autographed books belonged to Commodore Richard Dale. Richard Dale, naval officer, was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1756. He went to sea at the age of twelve and gained command of a ship at the age of eighteen. He joined the Virginia navy as a lieutenant before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He served on many ships during the Revolutionary War and was injured and captured six times. He served on the “Lexington” as Master’s Mate and off the coast of France captured fourteen prizes before being captured by the British. He joined John Paul Jones in fitting out the “Bon Homme Richard” as First Lieutenant and commanded the main deck in the battle with the “Serapis” and was the first officer on board the “Serapis”. On the re-organization of the navy in 1794 he was the first captain under the US flag. In 1801 he was commander of the Mediterranean squadron during the hostilities with Tripoli aboard the flagship “President”. He resigned in 1802. Commodore Dale organized a mariner’s church in Philadelphia and travelled to various seaports to set up the mariner’s religion. This pair of books are Volume 1 & 11 of Buck’s Theological Dictionary and printed in Philadelphia in 1810. The full leather-bound books contain the autographs of Richard Dale and both volumes contain the book plate of the “Parish Library Protestant Episcopal Church, Grand Gulf, Miss. "#5, #6”. Grand Gulf, Miss was a major port in the early 19th century and many sailors were buried there. This port would have been a logical place for the mariner’s religion to be established. We will never know for certain how the books ended up in the Grand Gulf church. Richard Dale had a son that survived the War of 1812 and we know there is a Dale family with Revolutionary War association living in a town ten miles away from Grand Gulf. Grand Gulf is situated on the Mississippi River between Natchez and Vicksburg. When the river changed its course after the Civil War, the town was abolished and as of today no buildings are standing.