Caesar Rodney’s Courageous Ride for Independence

Though not as well known or applauded as Paul Revere’s, this Founding Father’s own midnight ride is no less important.

Formerly in downtown Wilmington, the Caesar Rodney Statue was considered the city’s centerpiece. It was removed in 2020 and now stands at the Freedom Plaza in the nation's capital, in connection with America's 250th anniversary. Public Domain

The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow helped memorialize a famous midnight horseback ride in his classic poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride.” But there was another Founding Father who also made a dangerous nighttime ride of a much further distance and for, arguably, a more important reason.

Caesar Rodney was a delegate from Delaware who helped tip that state’s tie vote on the vote for independence. Rodney’s fellow delegates, Thomas McKean and George Read, were deadlocked on the vote to break from England; the former voting for and the latter against.