Rodney
Rodney names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Rodney CÆSAR, an American patriot
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
CÆSAR, an American patriot; born in Dover, Del., Oct. 7, 1728. In 1755 he was made sheriff of Kent co., Del., and at the expiration of his term became justice of the peace and judge of all the lower courts. In 1765 he was a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress in New York. In 1767, when the tea act was proposed in the British Parliament, the Delaware Assembly appointed him to aid in the formulation of an address of remonstrance to the king. In 1775 he was elected for a second time to the Continental Congress, and in May of that year became Brigadier-General of the Delaware militia. He served with distinction during the Revolutionary War under Washington, becoming, in 1777, a Major-General. He was elected president of Delaware, in which office he served till 1782, when he was re-elected to Congress, but did not take his seat because of illness. As a public man he displayed great integrity and elevation of character. He died in Dover, Del., June 29, 1784.
Rodney GEORGE BRYDGES, LORD
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
GEORGE BRYDGES, LORD, an English naval officer; born in Walton-upon-Thames, England, Feb. 19, 1718. He was created rear-admiral in 1759, and distinguished himself in several expeditions. In 1780 he defeated the Spanish fleet and took several ships. This was followed soon after by a more splendid victory, and the capture of the Spanish admiral, Don Juan de Langara. But the most important achievement of this brave admiral was the defeat of the French fleet under Count de Grasse in the West Indies in 1782, when the French admiral and a number of his ships were taken. He died in London, May 24, 1792.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's 1921 sketch of Caesar Rodney is oddly missing the one thing he is now famous for: his overnight ride of some eighty miles from Dover to Philadelphia on 1-2 July 1776, ill and in a storm, to break Delaware's tie and swing the colony behind independence. That ride is now his defining image, stamped on the Delaware state quarter issued in 1999; at the same time his ownership of enslaved people has been weighed against it, and his equestrian statue was lifted out of Wilmington's Rodney Square in June 2020. Admiral Lord Rodney's record stands as described, though historians still argue over whether his celebrated breaking of the French line at the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April 1782 was his own design or an accident of the wind, and his enrichment from the plunder of Dutch St Eustatius in 1781 now colours his reputation as much as his victories do. The battleship HMS Rodney, named for him, helped bring down the Bismarck in May 1941.
Written for this edition, 2026.