Hale, William Dinsmore, 1836-1915.

William Dinsmore Hale was born in 1836 at Noridgewock, in Somerset County, Maine and died in 1915. He spent his childhood in Maine. He served during the civil war as a member of the Third Minnesota Volunteer Regiment and the Fourth United States Colored Artillery. His father, Reverend Eusebius Hale, was a clergyman of the Congregational Church and died in 1880. William Hale also had a sister, Lucie, a teacher at the Allegany Academy of Music in Friendship, New York. In 1852, when William was 16, the family moved to Long Island, New York. The Hale family home was in Aquebogue, New York.

William Hale attended and taught school in New York from 1852-1856. In 1859, William purchased a prairie farm in Cannon Falls, Minnesota and, during 1861, he lived in Cannon Falls and St. Paul and held a position as an enrolling clerk of the Minnesota Senate.

Hale joined the army in October 1861, and began his career at Fort Snelling as a clerk in the Quartermasters Department. Hale served with the Third Minnesota Volunteer Regiment, November 24, 1861-August 28, 1862, and was assigned to numerous camps throughout the South. He was promoted to Sergeant Major and was at the surrender of the Third Minnesota at Murfreesboro. In 1862 he became ill and recovered at his farm in Cannon Falls, Minnesota.

Hale returned to service on November 16, 1862 at Fort Snelling after a march from Fort Ridgely. The Regiment was scheduled for service in the South but a long delay ensued because the men were not getting paid. Hale returned to Cannon Falls during this time, and reported back to his regiment at Winona.

In 1863, Hale took part in campaigns that resulted in the capture of Vicksburg, the opening of the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, and the capture of Little Rock, Arkansas in September 1863.

In October 1863, Hale transferred to the regiment that became the Fourth United States Colored Artillery. He remained at Fort Halleck through August 1864 and was promoted to Major, responsible for troop training.

In 1864 William married Sarah Baker of Cannon Falls, Minnesota. She died in 1868.

Hale left the army in 1866 and attempted to become a businessman in the South. He and Edward Webster rented a plantation at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where they had a disastrous experience in cotton growing. During part of 1867 he worked in Fair Dale with the Freedman's Bureau as an agent, and attempted to find more work with the Bureau in other parts of the South.

Hale returned to Minneapolis in September 1867, and was first employed by the Minnesota Central Railway Company under D. C. Sheperd. He became clerk of W. D. Washburn and Company in December 1867.

Hale spent the rest of his life in Minneapolis. He served as Postmaster for Minneapolis (1890-1894, 1902-1914), and became a partner in W. D. Washburn on the death of G. M. Stickney in 1872. Hale married Flora Hammond in 1870. She was a teacher of vocal and instrumental music. They had 3 daughters and 2 sons. One daughter died in infancy.

Hale died on January 15, 1915, after becoming ill while traveling on the steamship Mongolia . He died on the same day the steamship arrived in Honolulu.

From the guide to the William D. Hale and family papers., 1819-1914., (Minnesota Historical Society)