Equestrian statue of Caesar Rodney

Statue of Caesar Rodney
The statue in 2016
ArtistJames E. Kelly
Year1923 (1923)
SubjectCaesar Rodney
Location

A statue of Founding Father Caesar Rodney, in Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., was initially installed in Wilmington, Delaware, in Rodney Square on July 4, 1923. It was designed by New York sculptor James Edward Kelly. The Gorham Company in Rhode Island cast the statue and its two bronze plaques.[1] The statue was removed from public view during the George Floyd protests in 2020. In May 2026, the statue was relocated to Freedom Plaza.

Description

Bronze plaques are affixed to the northwest and southeast sides of the statue's pedestal. One depicts Thomas McKean greeting Rodney in Philadelphia; the other, Rodney casting the deciding vote of the Lee Resolution in favor of American independence.[1] On top of the pedestal Rodney sits astride his horse, which is in full gallop with its front feet in the air, the majority of the statue's weight on the horse's hind legs.[2] To balance the statue, Kelly heavily weighted the horse's tail and positioned Rodney upright and toward the rear of the horse.[3]

History

Pedestal after the statue was removed for safe keeping
Postcard of the statue

Funds for the statue were raised by the Caesar Rodney Equestrian Statue Executive Committee to commemorate the ride of Rodney from Kent County, Delaware to Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 1 and 2, 1776.[4]

The statue was unveiled in Rodney Square in Wilmington, Delaware on July 4, 1923.[5]

It was removed from public display on June 12, 2020, along with the statue of Christopher Columbus in Wilmington, Delaware in the wake of the protests following the murder of George Floyd. Both statues were temporarily removed after a Dover, Delaware statue honoring law enforcement was vandalized with an axe and urine-soaked Delaware state flags.[6] The cost of removal was $33,561.80 and the statue was placed in a private storage facility in Swedesboro, NJ, at a cost of $100 per month.[7]

Internal Interior Department documents made public in February 2026 stated that the Trump administration sought to give the sculpture a "position of honor" in Washington, DC, at least temporarily in Freedom Plaza, as part of the nation’s 250th birthday.[8]

The statue was placed in Freedom Plaza in May 2026, surrounded by twelve other statues of Revolutionary War leaders.[9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 McNinch, Marjorie G. (2000). Wilmington in Vintage Postcards. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-0647-0.
  2. ↑ DiUlio, Nick (September 10, 2010). "The Shapes of Things That Are". Delaware Today. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  3. ↑ Williams, Dennis (2015), A Guide to Rodney Square, pp. 1–16 – via City of Wilmington
  4. ↑ Delaware (1921). At a General Assembly Begun at Dover, in the Delaware State, ... the Following Acts Were Passed ... J. Adams.
  5. ↑ Friedman, Dan; Vesoulis, Abby (June 18, 2026). "Trump resurrected the statue of a slave owner. Its pedestal cost taxpayers $527K". Mother Jones. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  6. ↑ Barrish, Cris (June 12, 2020). "Wilmington removing, at least for now, Columbus and Caesar Rodney statues". WHYY. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  7. ↑ "City News | Wilmington, DE". www.wilmingtonde.gov.
  8. ↑ Friedman, Lisa. "Park Service to Revive Statue of Founding Father Who Enslaved Hundreds". nytimes.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved March 8, 2026.
  9. ↑ Richards, Heather (May 26, 2026). "NPS sets statues of Revolutionary War soldiers in DC's Freedom Plaza". E&E News by POLITICO. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  • The Historical Marker Database
  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Statue of Caesar Rodney (Wilmington, Delaware) at Wikimedia Commons
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.