Major Francis Langhorne Dade was born on February 22, 1791 in Prince William County, Virginia. A veteran of the War of 1812, he was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1818 and marched with Andrew Jackson to Pensacola in July 1821 to take possession of the newly surrendered Florida territory from the Spanish in Ferdinand Plaza. The Pensacola Gazette of April 15, 1826 speaks of Major Dade's horse "Richard the III" loosing a race in Cantonment. The Gazette reported again on December 14, 1827 of Major Dade's marriage here to Amanda Malvina Middleton, daughter of a Pensacola carpenter, Isaac S. Middleton. The blissful couple moved into their spacious house on Palafox Street overlooking Pensacola Bay. He was promoted to Brevet Major in 1828 and was lucky enough to be home when his daughter, Fannie Langhorne Dade was born in 1830. But, as hostilities arose over deportation of the Seminole Indians, he was ordered to Key West in 1835 to take control of the area between Cape Florida and Charlotte Harbor. He set sail with Amanda and Fannie along with fifteen soldiers. However, tensions increased so Captain George W. Gardiner was ordered to take two companies from Tampa's Fort Brooke and reinforce Fort King in Ocala. This was a distance of a hundred miles through dense Florida pine and palmetto forests. Major Dade was then ordered to Ft. Brooke in his stead. However, Gardiner's wife became seriously ill, so Dade volunteered to take his place on the march. (Gardiner unfortunately rejoined the column enroute to Fort King while his wife lived another 61 years).
He marched out with 110 men on December 23, 1836, while his wife and daughter remained in Key West to await his return. After a five day march, the column neared the end of their journey and began to relax believing they were safe. But unknown to Dade, Seminole Chief Micanopy lay hidden in the woods nearby and saw the Major sitting on his horse sixty feet, way wearing his tall, black leather hat. Behind Micanopy, was 180 warriors who had no intention of being relocated to Andrew Jackson's "Indian Territory." Micanopy sited his rifle and pulled the trigger! The battle's first bullet pierced Dade’s heart, and he fell dead to the ground. The shot was a signal to the warriors, who emerged simultaneously from the forest, firing their guns. The first volley killed more than half of the shocked soldiers. By battle’s end that afternoon, only three men, two severely wounded, had survived to tell the tale of the bloody beginning of the Second Seminole War.
Amanda was notified on January 9, 1836 that her husband and his men had been wiped out. Devastated, she and Fannie boarded a ship and returned to Pensacola. News of the massacre spread ever so slowly throughout America, especially since it was overshadowed by the news of the fall of the Alamo in Texas. Popular opinion demanded that Amanda and the families of the heroic soldiers receive a government pension. The War Department agreed that Amanda be granted $300 per year for five years. They later repealed it then later reinstated it. Three years after her husband's death she lost her brother-in-law, Navy Midshipman Stephen Wright Wilkinson in Pensacola on November 14, 1839. Again, tragedy struck Amanda and her sister Mary on May 26, 1848 when Mary's son Stephen Dade Wilkinson suddenly passed away. Three months later, Amanda lost her only child Fannie on August 28, 1848 when she died in their Palafox & Gregory Street home of tuberculosis and was buried with her family. Now, there was only Amanda and Mary left! Tax records show that Amanda paid her taxes through the years, but she may have had to mortgage property to do so. The two sisters had their father's remaining estate and Amanda's small military pension plus Mary's income as a teacher to survive. Following Amanda's death in 1867, she left everything she had to her sister Mary Stuart Middleton Wilkinson who would join them in St. Michael's in 1887. But, Major Dade's name lived on after him in such namesakes as Dade County, Missouri; Dade County, Georgia; Dade City, Florida; Dade County, Florida, and Dadeville, Alabama.
Actual marriage date December 6, 1827
Grave of Amanda Malvina Middleton Dade
Grave of Amanda Malvina Dade, Mary
Stuart Middleton Wilkinson, Isaac S.
Middleton, Stephen Dade Wilkinson, Stephen
Wright Wilkinson in St. Michael's Cemetery
Grave of Fannie Langhorne Dade, St. Michael's Cemetery
Major Francis Langhorne Dade was
killed by Seminole Warrior Micanopy,
the first fatality of the battle
Dade's Massacre of December 28, 1935
Casualties: American 107 dead - Seminoles 3 killed
Dade Monument at West Point, erected 1848
Initially buried at the site of the ambush, Dade and his men were reinterred
to the Saint Augustine National Cemetery under three pyramids constructed
of native coquina stone in 1842.