Caesar Rodney

Caesar Rodney (October 7, 1728–June 29, 1784), was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Delaware.

Caesar Rodney was born on his family's farm near Dover, Delaware. He was educated at home. Rodney's father died when he was 17 years old; following his father's death he was placed under the guardianship of Nicholas Ridgely, under whose guidance he entered politics. Under the royal government, he became High Sheriff of Kent County, Pennsylvania (now Kent County, Delaware) in 1755, and later was appointed to a series of positions including registrar of wills, recorder of deeds, clerk of the orphan's court, and justice of the peace. He was elected to the colonial legislature in 1758, and served there from 1758-1770 and from 1771-1776, when it was dissolved. He was a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, a member of the Delaware Committee of Correspondence, and a leader in the militia, and served in the Continental Congress in from 1774-1777. He was President of the State of Delaware from 1778-1780, during which time he also served as Major-General of the Delaware Militia. Rodney was elected to the national Congress in 1782, but declined due to ill health. Rodney served as a member of the Upper House of the State Assembly from 1776-1784, in which office he died.

Rodney had asthma as well as skin cancer of the face, but did not allow these afflictions to interfere with his service to his state. When he received word from Thomas McKean that the Delaware delegation was deadlocked on the vote for Independence, Rodney rode eighty miles through a thunderstorm on the night of July 1, 1776 to break the tie and allow Delaware to vote in favor of the Declaration. McKean later remembered meeting Rodney at the door in "in his boots and spurs." John Adams described Rodney as "the oddest looking man in the world; he is tall, thin and slender as a reed, pale; his face is not bigger than a large apple, yet there is sense and fire, spirit, wit and humor in this countenance."

Rodney is said to have held more public offices than any other Delawarean, and the state is littered with schools, streets, squares and buildings named in his honor. Rodney's statue, along with that of John Middleton Clayton, represents Delaware in the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. Delaware chose to use the image of his famous ride on the back of the Delaware Statehood Quarter in 1999.

Rodney is buried on his family farm just south of Dover Air Force Base, Delaware and just north of John Dickinson's mansion, Poplar Hall. The exact location of his grave on the farm is unknown.

Rodney's nephew Caesar A. Rodney was also very involved in U.S. politics.

In that soft mid-land where the breezes bear
The North and South on the genial air,
Through the county of Kent on affairs of State,
Rode Caesar Rodney, the delegate.

Burley and big, and bold and bluff,
In his three-cornered hat and coat of snuff,
A foe to King George and the English State,
Was Caesar Rodney, the delegate.

Into Dover village he rode apace,
And his kinsfolk knew from his anxious face,
It was matter grave that brought him there,
To the counties three upon the Delaware.

"Money and men we must have," he said,
"Or the Congress fails and our cause is dead,
Give us both and the King shall not work his will,
We are men, since the battle of Bunker Hill."

Comes a rider swift on a panting bay;
"Ho, Rodney, ho! you must save the day,
For the Congress halts at a deed so great,
And your voice alone may decide its fate."

Answered Rodney then; "I will ride with speed;
It is Liberty's stress; it is Freedom's need."
"When stands it?" "To-night." "not a moment to spare,
But ride like the wind from Delaware."

"Ho, saddle the black! I've but half a day,
And the Congress sits eighty miles away —
But I'll be in time, if God grants me grace,
To shake my fist in King George's face."

He is up; he is off! and the black horse flies
On the northward road ere the "God-speed" dies,
It is gallop and spur, as the leagues they clear,
And the Clustering mile-stones move a-rear.

It is two of the clock; and the fleet hoofs fling
The Fieldsboro dust with a clang and a cling,
It is three; and he gallops with slack rein where
The road winds down to the Delaware.

Four; and he spurs into New Castle town,
From his panting steed he gets him down
"A fresh one quick! and not a moment's wait!"
And off speeds Rodney, the delegate.

It is five; and the beams of the western sun
Tinge the spires of Wilmington, gold and dun;
Six; and the dust of Chester street
Flies back in a cloud from his courser's feet.

It is seven; the horse-boat, broad of beam,
At the Schuylkill ferry crawls over the stream
And at seven fifteen by the Rittenhouse clock,
He flings his rein to the tavern jock.

The Congress is met; the debate's begun,
And Liberty lags for the vote of one
When into the hall, not a moment late,
Walks Caesar Rodney, the delegate.

Not a moment late! and that half day's ride
Forwards the world with a mighty stride;
For the act was passed; ere the midnight stroke
O'er the Quaker City its echoes woke.

At Tyranny's feet was the gauntlet flung;
"We are free!" all the bells through the colonies rung,
And the sons of the free may recall with pride,
The day of Delegate Rodney's ride.