Rodney, Thomas

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Rodney, Thomas

RODNEY, THOMAS. (1744–1811). Continental Congressman. Delaware. Born in Sussex County, Delaware, on 4 June, 1744, Rodney was named justice of the peace in 1770 and reappointed in 1774. In the following year he became a member of the state assembly, the Council of Safety, the Committee of Observations, and a captain in the state militia. During General George Washington's retreat across New Jersey in 1776, Rodney and his company joined General John Cadwalader at Bristol, Pennsylvania, on Christmas Day. They fought in the second battle of Trenton and at Princeton. In 1777, when the British invaded Delaware, Rodney joined his brother, Caesar, as adjutant. He was the Delaware Judge of the Admiralty from 1778 to 1785, and from 1781 to 1788 was sent to the Continental Congress five times. In 1786 and 1787 he was also in the state assembly, and served as speaker of that body in 1787. In 1803 he was named U.S. judge for the Missouri territory. The town of Rodney, Mississippi, where he owned a great deal of land, was named for him. He died there on 2 January 1811.

SEE ALSO Rodney, Caesar.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rodney, Thomas. Diary of Captain Thomas Rodney, 1776–1777. New York: Da Capo Press, 1974.

                         revised by Michael Bellesiles

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