Anthony Gale was an Irish–American military officer who served as the fourth Commandant of the United States Marine Corps and is known as being the only one ever fired.

[2][5] According to a transcript of an 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.

[12] 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.

[13] Early in his Marine career, he fought, in fairly quick succession, the French, the Barbary pirates, the British, and a U.S. naval officer.

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.

[19] Major Samuel Miller, the adjutant and inspector at the Marine Corps Headquarters, two days after notifying Navy Secretary Benjamin Williams Crowninshield of Wharton's death, considering himself well suited for the job, suggested that he conduct the affairs of the commandancy until a successor was appointed.

[21] After the court of inquiry exonerated him of these charges for the second time, Gale, with 21 years of service and therefore senior, became Lieutenant Colonel Commandant on March 3, 1819,[22] ending a six-month period during which the Corps had been leaderless.

[15] Finally, on August 8, 1820, Gale submitted a letter analyzing the proper division of function between himself and the Secretary, pointing out the impossibility of his position.

There were three specifications: first, that Gale had visited a house of prostitution near the Marine Barracks "in open and disgraceful manner" on that same August 31; second, that he had on September 1 - a date on which he was in custody - called Lieutenant Richard M. Desha, the Corps' Paymaster and son of Congressman Joseph Desha of Kentucky [19] - who had earlier charged Gale with misappropriation [25] - "a damned rascal, liar and coward" and threatening him with personal chastisement unless he would immediately challenge and fight him;[26] and, finally, that he had declared in front of the Marine Barracks "that he did not care a damn for the President, Jesus Christ or God Almighty!"

The third charge was that Gale had signed a false certificate that said he had not used a Marine for personal services when in fact he had had a man assigned as waiter and coachman from October 17, 1819, until June 3, 1820.

[31][32] Armed with proof that he had been under the strain of temporary mental derangement while Commandant,[15] he spent fifteen years attempting to have his court-martial decision reversed.