Midshipman Richard Dale: The Last American Death in the War of 1812

From Bermuda Historic stories:  A last casualty of the War of 1812 by Dr. Edward Cecil Harris.

On Christmas Eve 1814, the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812, but that news took several months to reach the North America.   At sea on Jan. 15, 1815, off New York City the British vessel HMS Endymion captured the USS President.

One of the Americans, however, Midshipman Richard Dale Jr., was severely wounded and had his leg amputated.  He died at Bermuda a month later and was buried at St. Peter's Church in St. George's.

In 1932, a young Bermudian, Scarritt Adams, serving in the U.S. Navy,  came upon Richard Dale's inscribed gravestone and decided that his passing should be commemorated by the United States and Bermuda.

Thus began the "Midshipman Dale Ceremony."

--Brock-Perry