DALE, SAMUEL
DALE, Samuel, pioneer, was born in Rockbridge county, Va., in 1772. His parents, who were Scotch-Irish, came from Pennsylvania. They removed, in 1775, to the Clinch river, in what is now Russell county, Va., and in 1783 to Greene county, Ga. These were then far on the frontier, and the youth was graduated in the border school of hunting and Indian fighting. From 1793 he was a scout in the U. S. service, and widely known as "Big Sam." His noted battle with seven Indians in a canoe on the Alabama river Nov. 13, 1813, was witnessed by several soldiers, who could not help him, having no boat; unaided he killed all the savages, and bis account of the fight was almost Homeric. He was a major in command of Kentucky forces against the Creeks in 1814; a trader at Dale's Ferry on the Alabama after the war; a colonel of militia, and laler a brigadier-general; a member of the convention to divide the territory of Mississippi in 1816, of the first assembly of that of Alabama the next year, and of the first legislature of the state in 1819— 20, as again in 1824-28. He was one of the commissioners to run a road between Tuscaloosa and Peusacola in 1821, and in 1831 was employed by the U. S. government to remove the Clioctaws to their new home iu the lucliau territory. Though pensioned by the Alabama legislature iu 1822, he removed to Mississippi, and was iu its legislature in 1836. His " Life and Times," hy J. F. H. Claiborne, was professedly taken mainly from his own lips, and appeared in 1800. He died iu Lauderdale couuty, Miss., May 23, 1841.
(Source: The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol 4, Publ. 1893. Submitted by Linda Rodriguez)

DORMAN, CHARLES P.
Charles P. Dorman, a lawyer and editor, was in the Virginia Assembly thirteen years and was an adjutant in the war of 1812. His son James B., born 1825 died 1893 graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1843 and became an attorney. The war with Mexico aroused his spirit of adventure, and he served as sergeant-major in the Texas Rangers of Colonel Wood. He was present at the capture of Monterey. Returning to Lexington, he was sent in 1861 to the State Convention as a Union man. After war came on he went into the Confederate army as a major in the 9th Virginia Infantry. Major Dorman was a fluent speaker and a man of unusual ability. He had strong literary tastes and was a master of the English language, whether written or spoken. He was married in 1871 to Mrs. Mary L. White Newman. During the last ten years of his life he was Clerk of the Supreme Court of Appeals and lived in Staunton.
(Source: The History of Rockbridge County, Virginia, By Olen Morton, Publ. 1920. Transcribed by Andrea Stawski Pack)