Francis L. Dade
Encyclopedia
Francis Langhorne Dade was a Major
Major (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel...

 in the U.S. 4th Infantry Regiment
U.S. 4th Infantry Regiment
The U.S. 4th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment in the United States Army. It has served the United States for approximately two hundred years.-Origins:...

, United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

, during the Second Seminole War
Second Seminole War
The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between various groups of Native Americans collectively known as Seminoles and the United States, part of a series of conflicts called the Seminole Wars...

. Dade was killed in a battle with Seminole Indians that came to be known as the "Dade Massacre
Dade Massacre
The "Dade Massacre" was an 1835 defeat for the United States Army that started the Second Seminole War, which lasted until 1842.On December 23, 1835, two U.S. companies of 110 troops under Major Francis L. Dade departed from Fort Brooke , heading up the King Highway on a resupply and reinforce...

". Dade was born in Virginia, most likely in King George County
King George County, Virginia
As of the census of 2010, there were 23,584 people, 9,411 households, and 4,525 families residing in the county. The population density was 93 people per square mile . There were 6,820 housing units at an average density of 38 per square mile...

.

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
St. Augustine National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of St. Augustine in St. Johns County, Florida. It encompasses , and as of the end of 2005 had 2,788 interments. It is currently closed to new interments.- History :...

. In addition to Dade's command, more than 1,400 soldiers were interred in three mass grave
Mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...

s. These men are remembered by the Dade Monument, which is composed of three distinct pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...

s, constructed of native coquina
Coquina
Coquina is a sedimentary rock that is composed either wholly or almost entirely of the transported, abraded, and mechanically sorted fragments of the shells of either molluscs, trilobites, brachiopods, or other invertebrates. For a sediment to be considered to be a coquina, the average size of the...

 stone, and an obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...

. The memorial, dedicated at a ceremony on August 14, 1842, marked the end of the Florida Indian Wars
Indian Wars
American Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the native peoples of North America before and after the American Revolutionary War. The wars resulted from the arrival of European colonizers who...

.

Dade County, Missouri, Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...

, Dade County, Georgia
Dade County, Georgia
Dade County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population is 15,154. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 16,098...

, and Dade City, Florida
Dade City, Florida
Dade City is a city in Pasco County, Florida. The population was 6,188 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Pasco County. Dade City is a suburb of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S...

 are all named after Major Dade, who was originally from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. The now decommissioned fort on Egmont Key
Egmont Key State Park
Egmont Key State Park is a Florida State Park located on Egmont Key, at the mouth of Tampa Bay, in the state of Florida, United States. It lies southwest of Fort DeSoto Park. It can only be reached by boat or ferry. The Egmont Key Lighthouse and the ruins of Fort Dade, a Spanish-American War era...

 was also named for him. The battle is re-enacted at the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park
Dade Battlefield Historic State Park
Dade Battlefield Historic State Park is a Florida State Park located on County Road 603 between I-75 and U.S. 301. The park includes of pine flatwoods and a live oak hammock. Also called the Dade Massacre site, It preserves the Second Seminole War battlefield where Seminole Indian warriors...

 each year.

In 2002, the Dade County Courthouse
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...

 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."

External links

  • http://www.abfla.com/parks/DadeBattlefield/dadebattlefield.html
  • http://www.cem.va.gov/nchp/staugustine.htm
  • http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiDADEMASS.html
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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