Anthony Gale was commissioned in the Marine Corps on September 2, 1798. After the Death of Lieutenant Colonel Franklin Wharton on September 1, 1818, he became Lieutenant Colonel Commandant (4th Commandant) of the Marine Corps. On September 18, 1820 he was arrested and charged with offenses of alcoholic and related nature, and was subsequently found guilty. His tenure as Commandant ended on October 8, 1820 when he became the first and only Commandant of the Marine Corps to be fired. He spent the next fifteen years attempting to have his court martial decision reversed, and was partially cleard in 1835 and awarded a stipent of $15 a month which was later increased to $25 and continued until his death.