Thomas Dale

File:Dale2.gifSir Thomas Dale (d. August 19, 1619) was a British naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. Governor Dale is best remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration in Virginia, which established order and in various ways seems to have benefited the colony. He is also credited with the establishment of Bermuda Hundred, Bermuda Cittie (sic), and the progressive but ill-fated development at Henricus.

Early career

Sir Thomas Dale was a scientist from England who studied the science of reproduction. Thomas as a young man from Oxford went to America to study reproduction there. His ship got blown off course and he ended up on the Chesapeake Bay.The people of James town thought he was so smart that they decided to send Lord De La Warr back to England. They made him their Governor.

Leading the Virginia Colony

Five years later, the Virginia Company of London sent Sir Thomas Dale to act as deputy-governor or as "Marshall of Virginia" (a new position) for the Virginia Colony under the authority of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (Lord Delaware). Sent with three ships, on May 19, 1611, he arrived at Jamestown (named after King James) with men, cattle, and provisions. he found the conditions unhealthy and greatly in need of improvement. Dale immediately called for a meeting of the Jamestown Council, and established crews to rebuild Jamestown.

He served as acting Governor for 3 months in 1611, and again for a two year period between 1614 and 1616. In the interim, he served as the Marshall of the colony, initially serving directly under Deputy Governor Sir Thomas Gates. Effectively, for five years, he was the highest ranking law enforcement officer in Virginia. He exhibited a certain stern efficiency which was perhaps the best support and medicine that could have been devised. [1]. It was during his administration that the first code of laws of Virginia, nominally in force from 1611 to 1619, was effectively tested. This code, entitled "Articles, Lawes, and Orders Divine, Politique, and Martiall" (popularly known as Dale's Code), was notable for its pitiless severity, and seems to have been prepared in large part by Dale himself.

Upstream: a better environment than Jamestown

Seeking a better site than Jamestown, Thomas Dale sailed up the James River (also named after King James) to the area now known as Chesterfield County. He was apparently impressed with the possibilities of the general area where the Appomattox River joins the James River, and there are published references to the name "New Bermuda" although it apparently was never formalized. (Far from the mainland of North America, the archipelago of Bermuda had been established as part of the Virginia Colony in 1612 following the shipwreck of the Sea Venture in 1609).

A short distance further up the James, in 1611, he began the construction of a progressive development at Henricus on and about what was later known as Farrars Island. Henricus was envisioned as possible replacement capital for Jamestown, and was to have the first college in Virginia. (The ill-fated Henricus was destroyed during the Indian Massacre of 1622, during which a third of the colonists were killed). In addition to creating the new settlement at Henricus, Dale also established the port town of Bermuda Hundred and "Bermuda Cittie" (sic). He began the excavation work at Dutch Gap, using methods he had learned while serving in Holland.

America's First Terrorist

Dale could be described as America's first terrorist. His famous quotation: "Terrour . . . makes short warres" (Source: Quoted in George Percy, A True Relation, 1612) was implemeted in practice by his introduction of the the technique of attacking Indian villages, whether hostile or not, and totally burning them to the ground and taking all their crops or burning what they could not carry. Surviving Indians who escaped into the forest had nothing to return to and had to go to other distant tribes and bands for survival. This it was the first major American “ethnic cleansing.”

Eastern Shore: salt works, Dale's Gift

In 1614, Governor Thomas Dale sent 20 men, under Lieutenant William Craddock, to the area across the Chesapeake Bay from mainland Virginia now known as the Eastern Shore to establish a salt works and to catch fish for the colonists. They intended to make salt by boiling down the sea water. They settled along Old Plantation Creek at a place named "Dale's Gift" on the mainland, but established the salt works on Smith Island, which is located adjacent to the southern portion of the Eastern Shore in present-day Northampton County near Cape Charles. [2]

Return to England, publication, death

Governor Dale sailed back to England in the spring of 1616 aboard the Treasurer. Accompanying him on what was considered an investor-relations journey were John Rolfe, his wife Pocahontas, and their baby son, Thomas Rolfe. Queen Anne and others were reportedly charmed by Pocahontas, and investment in the Virginia Company was enhanced. However, soon after leaving London, as John Rolfe and his wife sailed down the Thames River, Pocahontas became very ill and died on March 21, 1617 while still in England.

Although Dale and Pocahontas were destined to never to return to Virginia, he wrote A True Relation of the State of Virginia, Left by Sir Thomas Dale, Knight, in May last, 1616. On a new military assignment, during a subsequent trip to the West Indies, he became sick and died at sea on August 19, 1619 of a fever.

Legacy

• Thomas Dale High School in Chesterfield County, Virginia is named after him.

• The Dale Magisterial District of Chesterfield County is also named in honor of Sir Thomas Dale.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sir Thomas Dale". [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|Encyclopædia Britannica]] (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)

Additional reading

• Scarboro, D. Dewey The Establisher: The Story of Sir Thomas Dale, Old Mountain Press, Fayetteville, NC ISBN 1-931575-58-4

External links

• http://www.famousamericans.net/sirthomasdale/
• http://chesterfield.k12.va.us/Schools/Dale_HS/history/history.html
• 1911 Britannica