President Trump honors legacy of forgotten Delaware hero for America250
The president highlighted the story of Caesar Rodney, a Revolutionary hero from the state of Delaware, who played a key role in delivering a deciding vote for moving ahead with the Declaration of Independence.
by Summer Lane | July 3, 2026
President Donald Trump honored the legacy of an often-forgotten Revolutionary-era hero this week, just in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“250 years ago, on the eve of America’s momentous vote for Independence, Caesar Rodney received word that he was urgently needed to break a deadlock among the Delegates to the Second Continental Congress,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Rodney was a member of the Continental Congress. According to the NPS, he was also a brigadier general of the Delaware militia and later went on to become the governor of the state.
When Rodney received word that Congress was deadlocked over the vote on independence, he took action.
“Although he suffered from asthma and facial cancer, Rodney immediately set forth on a 80-mile overnight journey by horseback from Dover, Delaware, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” President Trump stated. “Enduring a raging thunderstorm, he arrived 250 years ago this very day, July 2, 1776, to cast his decisive vote, and secure America’s glorious destiny of Freedom and Independence.”
According to a book written by William P. Frank in 1975, Rodney left the state as a commissioned military officer at one point in 1777, under the direct command of General George Washington. From the book:
“It turned out that Rodney’s chief function was to forward troops to Morristown as fast as they showed up at Trenton. Rodney was never happy with the situation, but a letter from Washington on February 18, 1777, salved his wounded feelings. The commander-in-chief wrote:
‘The readiness with which you took to the field at the period most critical to our affairs, the industry you used in bringing out the militia of the Delaware State and the alertness observed by you in forwarding on the troops from Trenton, reflect the highest honour on your character and place your allachment to the cause in a most distinguished point or view.’”
In his statement this week, President Trump revealed that an equestrian statue had been erected honoring Rodney’s courageous actions at the “Spirit of ’76 at Freedom Plaza,” a historic and temporary exhibition in D.C. on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Photo: Adobe Stock
