Anthony Gale was the fourth Commandant of the United States Marine Corps and the only one ever fired. Fewer records survive concerning him than any other commandant. He is the only commandant for whom the Marines neither know his burial location nor have a portrait or likeness. Early life His date of birth is in dispute. It is variously reported to be in 1761 or on September 17, 1782, in Dublin, Ireland. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant on July 26, 1798. According to a transcript of a October 23, 1838 letter to President Martin Van Buren, Anthony Gale writes (in part): "as a military man that I embraced in my nineteenth year", which would place his birth in 1779–1780. Born in Ireland to Anthony Gale and Ann Delany, Gale declared his intent to become a United States citizen on June 15, 1798, and completed the naturalization process on November 27, 1801. Ireland land records involving his mother Ann Delany suggest Gale was born in Queen's County, Ireland, subsequently renamed County Laois. Gale married Catherine Swope on January 4, 1800, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The couple settled in Philadelphia and had three children – Amelia, who died after four weeks; a son, Washington Anthony; and another daughter, Emily, both of whom survived into adulthood. Early career Early in his Marine career, he fought, in fairly quick succession, the French, the Barbary pirates, the British, and a U.S. naval officer. Angered by the mistreatment of a Marine sentry, Gale killed Navy Lieutenant Allen MacKenzie in a duel. This incident, perceived to be an affront to the Corps, subsequently brought Commandant William W. Burrows' approval for Gale's defense of his Corps' honor. Later in his military career, Gale took "an active and gallant part" during the siege of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812. Increasing rank brought other difficulties. In 1815, while commanding at Philadelphia, he fell out with Commandant Franklin Wharton over construction of barracks. Wharton had been accused of overspending on the project, and he in turn charged Gale with building extravagant officers' quarters. Gale asserted that he had been given no specific plans and that Wharton had known what was being done. A court of inquiry cleared Gale, but he was banished to a less desirable post in New Orleans, where he allegedly nursed a feeling of persecution and began to drink heavily. Rise to Commandant Brevet