2LT James Wilkinson Dale was born about 1842 in New Castle County, Delaware. James was the 3rd of the 10 children of John and Frances Eleanor (Boyd) Dale. His father farmed, was a postmaster of Port Penn, Delaware and engineer who had, by 1858, settled in Bridgeville, Delaware where he farmed. James requested an appointment to the United States Military Academy (West Point) in 1857 and was accepted and reported in 1858.
Virginia voted for succession on 17 Apr 1861 and soon after Cadet Dale refused to take the oath and resigned from West Point on 21 Apr 1861. He headed south and arrived at Harper's Ferry, Virginia in May 1861 with nothing but the clothes on his back and a sword. He was tasked with drilling the many new recruits (the Virginia troops were very raw at this time) and was noted by the then COL Thomas J. Jackson (not yet "Stonewall") as having "military bearing, industrious habits, and a superior mind". Having received several recommendations, James was appointed as a 2LT in C Company 5th Virginia Infantry on 29 Jul 1861 but it is likely that he was present at the First Battle of Manassas.and with his company. 2LT Dale was again elected as the 2LT in C Company in November 1861 and would have then taken part in the Romney Campaign but otherwise from January to March 1862 his life was mostly in winter quarters with his unit at Camp Zollicofer, about 4-miles north of Winchester, Virginia.
General Jackson began what would be known as the Valley Campaign on 11 March with a march north to oppose Banks but advance units missed their mark and the attack was abandoned. The regiment then marched 42-miles south to Mount Jackson, Virginia along what is now U.S. 11 and spent the next 7-days in camp there. They left camp on 22 March to pursue Federal troops moving north down the valley stopping at Cedar Creek. The next day the army marched 10 miles to Kernstown where the Union forces were engaged. The regiment spent most of the battle in reserve but was assigned to cover the Confederate withdrawal. In that fight, 9 men were killed, 48 wounded and 4 went missing out of 450 soldiers present for duty. One of those 9 men was 2LT James Dale. The enemy was apparently very close and advancing when he was shot but he refused to be carried from the field, was laid on a haystack and left behind.
2LT Dale's body was recovered and interred in the Stonewall Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia. After the war John Dale had his son's body exhumed and brought to Bridgeville for reburial. It is supposed that James was laid to rest with family members but his place of burial is unknown. His parents were buried in the Bridgeville Cemetery and he might be buried near them there.
