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My problem with these societies, is that most all of their stuff is highly suspect. What Rodney did is not exceptional in the context of what many of his peers did. They were average men in extraordinary times, who rose to exceptional demands and performed well. They were the right men, in the right place at the right time. To make too much more of it is to engage in childish myth building and idol worship.Caesar Rodney
This little known ride is in some estimations to have been more important than the so called Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.Caesar Rodney was in Delaware dealing with militia creation and Tory problems. The Delaware vote on independence was deadlocked with McKean “for” and Read “against”. A dramatic story began to unfold. McKean sent a courier to Caesar Rodney advising him of the deadlock and Caesar Rodney immediately left for Philadelphia, either on horseback (as depicted in the epic statue on Rodney Square in Wilmington Delaware) or by carriage, as his brother Thomas’s letter states. Riding all night in a torrential rainstorm, he arrived at Independence Hall on July 2, 1776 muddy, wet, and fatigued but “booted and spurred”, and also seriously ill. The eighty mile trip had consumed eighteen hours, and much of his vitality. He was strong enough to break the Delaware tie and vote for independence, adding Delaware to the successful vote that day, and the eventual unanimous vote later in July. Shortly thereafter all three Delaware delegates signed the Declaration of Independence.
As for him being ill;
He was tormented throughout his life by asthma, and that his adult years were plagued by a facial cancer. He experienced expensive, painful, and futile medical treatments on the cancer.
Caesar Rodney The Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence