CAESAR RODNEY’S COURAGEOUS RIDE

In this year celebrating the 250^th anniversary of American Independence, let’s take a moment and celebrate one of our lesser-discussed founding fathers: Caesar Rodney of Delaware.

It was the summer of 1776, and the fate of American independence depended upon the unanimous vote of the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia. Richard Henry Lee proposed a resolution for the independence of the American Colonies from Great Britain, and the Congress desperately needed a unanimous vote to preserve the unity of the colonies in their struggle. Each delegation was made up of a group of men from their home colony, and these delegates had to agree among themselves to cast a vote either in favor of or opposed to Lee’s resolution.

The Delaware delegation was made up of three men: Thomas McKean, George Read, and Caesar Rodney. Rodney left the delegation in the Spring of 1776 to attend to his duties as a Brigadier General in the Delaware militia. This caused a stalemate as McKean was fiercely in favor of independence while Read was completely opposed. With the final vote on independence fast approaching, McKean sent a rider with an urgent message to Kent County, Delaware: Caesar Rodney must return immediately.

The message was received on the night of July 1 with the vote scheduled to take place the next day. Rodney was 80 miles away from Philadelphia and in poor health. The 47-year-old Rodney suffered not only from severe asthma, but a cancer on his face. Though doctors had attempted to remove it in 1768, the operation was unsuccessful leaving Rodney severely disfigured. He would die as a result of the cancer in 1784 – just eight years after the vote for independence. In spite of his health, Caesar Rodney immediately made preparations to go to Philadelphia.

He mounted his horse and rode through the darkness, braving torrential rains, a severe thunderstorm, and the muddy, washed-out colonial roads. Stopping only to change horses, Rodney made the 80-mile journey in around 18 hours, arriving at the State House on the afternoon of July 2, 1776 just as the members of Congress were assembling for the vote. Covered in mud and exhausted from the journey, Rodney cast the crucial tie-breaking vote for the Delaware delegation.

Were it not for his bravery, tenacity, and sense of duty, the resolution on independence may have failed, and the fragile unity of the colonies might have fractured – leaving the United States as nothing more than a dream of an oppressed people longing to be free from tyranny.