Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-06-25
RODE FOR LIBERTY |
LIKE PAUL REVERE
4
Caesar Rodney Is One of Amer
cas- independence Day Heroes.

and dramatic story of Caesar
Rodney's ride is one of the
mysteries which surround the Declare
ton of Independence.
Thomas Mexican, one of the three
signers of the Declaration from Della,
ware, has given unassailable proof OF
the essential facts in the case of Gaze.
sar Rodney and his ride. According
to letters written by him and particu-
larly one to Caesar Rodney's nephew,
Mexican sent word by a horseman to
Rodney, who was then Ill at Byfeld,
one of his farms near Dover, Del,
that his vote was absolutely necessary
If freedom was to be proclaimed. :
Pennsylvania and South Carolina had
voted against independence. New York
held aloof because her delegates had
not received instructions from the as
sembly of that colony. Congress was
in turmoil, the army panic stricken,
the sentiment for submission to Great
Britain growing stronger hourly in all
the colonies. 1t was necessary that
frmative if independence was to be
proclaimed.
In the vote that was taken in the
s%tatehouse (now Independence halD on
July 1 Delaware's vote was not cast,
there being two of the three delegates
present. Thomas Mexican voted for
freedom and George Read against 1t.
Caesar Rodney, as has been said, was
Ill In his home. His afaiction was a
cancer, that had attacked his face to
such an extent that he was compelled
to wear a veil to conceal the fearful
ravages of the disease. For this rea-
son he had never married. The malady
had progressed for four years at the
time of these occurrences.
Mexican, shrewdly calculating that
If Delaware's vote were cast for indie
pendence on the following day Penn
sylvania and South Carolina might be
induced to change their decisions, de-
termined upon the desperate ~expedient
of sending for his sick and cruelty dis
figured colleague. Estimating at Its
true worth the patriotism and determi-
nation of Rodney, he instructed the
messenger to Arrange at his (McKean's)
expense relays of horses to carry Rod
ney on his ride of seventy miles.
In spite of the terrific heat, the urg-
ing of relatives and the command of a
nurse and a physician, who warned
him the task might mean death, the
patriotic Delawarean arose from his
sickbed and set out for Philadelphia
with the messenger. So eager and de-
termined was he that his companion
was soon left behind, and Rodney rode
alone Though the torture of that bis
tering July weather.
Mexican relates that he met Rodney
at the statehouse door as he dismount-
ed and assisted him into the chamber.
There, with the remnant of his
strength, Caesar Rodney cast the vote
of Delaware for independence.
1t is Mexican again, c~orroborated by
Adams, Franklin and others, who re
lates that Edward Rutledge of South
Carolina %thereupon was deeply moved
and changed the vote of his colony.
After a stormy scene the Pennsylva-
mia delegates who were opposed to the
resolution declaring liberty removed
themselves from the congress, and the
patriotic faction, with Benjamin
Franklin at its head, promptly cast the
colony's ballot for independence.
The terrible strain of the ride told
severely for a time upon Caesar Rod
ney, but he rallied and lived a few
years longer, dying at Byfield in 1884 a
serene, courageous death in his forty
sixth year.
OF all the signers of the Declaration
Caesar Rodney is the only one of
whom there is no portrait. The late
Thomas +. Bayard of Delaware, Unit
ed States senator and secretary of
state, was one of those who held the
opinion that a portrait showing his
yelled face would appeal strongly to
the patriotism of the American people.
John Adams has given an excellent
description of Rodney in one of his let
tiers to his wife. He shows the patriot
as tall and excessively thin, due to the
malady that killed him. His head, ac-
cording to Adams, was abnormally
small, scarcely larger than two big ap-
pies. His manner was gentle and kind
ly, but deeply impressive when he was
aroused. He looked upon death cheer
fully, walking with it always. His
patriotism was of the highest quality
and his craftsmanship remarkable for
Its plain, homely sense.-Philadelphia
Press.
Nil. H..-g-- l. =.---..-