Delaware's Government
The Road to Independence
Over time the thirteen colonies in British North America grew more and more angry at the rules and taxes imposed upon them by England. Their frustration ultimately led to confrontation and war, but the road to independence was different for each colony.
Less radical than many of its larger neighbors, Delaware chose independence slowly and reluctantly. Delaware’s three delegates to the Second Continental Congress, which produced the Declaration of Independence, reflected some of the divisions in the small colony. Thomas McKean, an ardent radical, favored immediate independence. George Read, more cautious and conservative, thought independence premature in l776. Delaware’s deciding vote fell to Caesar Rodney. Head of Delaware’s militia, Rodney had been called back to Sussex County in June l776 to put down the resistance of those Delawareans fighting for King George III. Though desperately ill, Caesar Rodney rode nonstop "through thunder and rain" to Philadelphia to vote for independence, becoming Delaware’s first great patriot.
A year after Caesar Rodney made his famous ride to vote for independence, the new State of Delaware faced its greatest danger of the Revolutionary War: invasion by the British Army.In anticipation of the battle, General George Washington positioned his troops along Red Clay Creek near Newport, while he made his own headquarters in Wilmington. He ordered General Caesar Rodney to send some of Delaware's militia to help General William Maxwell and his company of rifleman shadow and harass the British army as it began to move from the Elk River in Maryland into northern Delaware.
Maxwell's sharpshooters opened fire on the British as they marched through a wooded area between Glasgow and Cooch's Bridge near Iron Hill on September 7, 1777. The skirmish lasted for several hours until the Americans retreated. Eight days later came the great Battle of the Brandywine, a decisive British victory that led to the occupation of both Wilmington and Philadelphia. British troops captured Delaware's governor, its state treasury, and all of its official papers. They also occupied Wilmington until mid October.
