Cadwalader Ringgold
Encyclopedia
Cadwalader Ringgold was an officer in the United States Navy
who served in the United States Exploring Expedition
, later headed an expedition to the Northwest and, after initially retiring, returned to service during the Civil War
.
, at "Fountain Rock", the 18000 acres (7,284.3 ha) family estate.
His mother was Maria Cadwalader (1776–1811), daughter of John Cadwalader
(1742–1786), who was a general during the American Revolutionary War
. Some sources spell his first name with two "l"s.
His father was Samuel Ringgold, a Maryland politician who later served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
He had an older brother, Samuel Ringgold, an army officer called "the father of modern artillery" and who died in the Battle of Palo Alto
. Cadwalader was the sixth of 11 children, the youngest child of his mother, who then died. His father remarried and went on to have five more children by his second wife.
Cadwalader Ringgold entered the U.S. Navy in 1819 and commanded the schooner
in action against West Indies pirates during the late 1820s. He became a lieutenant on May 17, 1828 and that year served on in the Pacific Ocean
. He went on to serve on the in the Mediterranean
.
in the Pacific, commanding from 1840 at the invitation of the head of the project, Charles Wilkes
.
When the expedition visited Fiji
, they captured Vendoni, a chief on the islands who had inspired some Fijians to capture and eat 11 crewmen on a ship seven years before. Soon afterward, Fijians on the island of Malolo ambushed and killed two popular officers of the expedition, and the Americans took revenge. Wilkes' ship grounded on the north side of the island, but Ringgold led 80 men from the south side. Women and children were spared, but about 87 Fijians were killed before the rest surrendered. Two villages were destroyed.
The expedition visited California that summer. On August 19, 1841, Ringgold led a 60-man party exploring San Francisco Bay watershed for 20 days. The party got about as far as Colusa, California
. Ringgold, who returned to New York shortly after the rest of the expedition, had been gone three years and 11 months at sea. He and his crew had sailed 95000 miles (152,887.3 km) and lost only two men.
region, suddenly important because of the discovery of gold in the area. The survey began in August 1849, with Ringgold commanding the chartered brig Col. Fremont.
After the California surveys, Ringgold helped Navy officials pick a location for a dockyard for the Navy's Pacific station. It later became the Mare Island Navy Yard. Together with Commodore Matthew Perry and others, Ringgold served in August 1852 on the Board of Examination for midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.
It may have been around this time that Ringgold acquired a bust
of Whig
politician Henry Clay
, presumably out of admiration.
In 1853 he took command of the North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition
, also known as the Rodgers-Ringgold Expedition, but while on the expedition, in July 1854, he became sick with malaria and was sent home, according to at least one source.
Nathaniel Philbrick
, in his book Sea of Glory about the U.S. Exploring Expedition, writes that in the later expedition Ringgold "began to act strangely" once in China, keeping his ships in port "ceaselessly repairing his vessels". Commodore Perry, on his own expedition, sailed in and convened an official panel which relieved Ringgold from command of the expedition and sent him home. Philbrick quotes Perry as declaring Ringgold "insane." John Rodgers
was given full command of the expedition and completed it.
A board of naval doctors convened by Perry declared Ringgold unfit for active service, and he was put on the reserve list on September 13, 1855. Ringgold recovered within weeks, however, and soon petitioned Congress for his return. Unsuccessful there, he appealed to a Court of Inquiry, and eventually succeeded in returning to the active list on January 23, 1858, (retroactive to April 2, 1856), a campaign of more than two years.
For the next several years, he was in Washington, D.C., working on the North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition charts, some of which were later used by the U. S. Navy in World War II (charts from the United States Exploring Expedition were also used in that war).
on November 1, 1861, he effected the rescue of a battalion of 400 Marines
from Maryland whose transport steamer, Governor, was sinking during a severe storm near Port Royal, South Carolina
.
In February 1862, he was a part of the search and rescue of the ship of the line which had lost her rudder in a storm. For these rescues, Ringgold received commendations from the Maryland Legislature and the U.S. Congress, along with a gold medal from the Life Saving Benevolent Association.
Promoted to commodore
on July 16, 1862, he was sent (still on the Sabine), to cruise the Azores
, Cape Verde Islands, the coast of Brazil
and then back to New York in a fruitless search for the Confederate raider from November 1862 to February 1863. In mid-1863, Ringgold's assignment was to search (again unsuccessfully) in the vicinity of Bermuda and then the New England coast for the bark , another Confederate raider.
For reasons of age, he was retired on August 20, 1864, and placed on the rear admiral
(retired) list in 1866 (a promotion that was given to all commanders of squadrons). In retirement, he lived at 18 East Eighteenth Street (at Union Square) in New York City. Ringgold, who had never married, died of apoplexy
(stroke) in New York on April 29, 1867.
Days later, as the Marine band played the "Dead March" from Saul
, 400 Marines and carriages in the funeral cortege proceeded from Ringgold's residence down Broadway to Trinity Church. In attendance were Admirals Farragut
, Bell
, and Stringham
, along with a number of generals. Ringgold's remains were taken by train to Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, where he lies next to the grave of his brother, Major Samuel Ringgold
.
Ringgold Street in San Francisco, California
is named after him.
Another namesake was the writer Ring Lardner
. Rear Admiral James Lawrence Lardner, was a friend of Ringgold's. He named a son "Ringgold Wilmer Lardner", and James' brother gave exactly the same name to his son after the newborn's cousin. Ring Lardner disliked his name and shortened it but "lost the battle" when his son, Ring Lardner Jr.
was named after him.
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
who served in the United States Exploring Expedition
United States Exploring Expedition
The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones. The voyage was authorized by Congress in...
, later headed an expedition to the Northwest and, after initially retiring, returned to service during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Life and early career
Cadwalader Ringgold was born August 20, 1802 in Washington County, MarylandWashington County, Maryland
Washington County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Maryland, bordering southern Pennsylvania to the north, northern Virginia to the south, and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia to the south and west. As of the 2010 Census, its population is 147,430...
, at "Fountain Rock", the 18000 acres (7,284.3 ha) family estate.
His mother was Maria Cadwalader (1776–1811), daughter of John Cadwalader
John Cadwalader (general)
John Cadwalader was a commander of Pennsylvania troops during the American Revolutionary War.-Early life:...
(1742–1786), who was a general during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. Some sources spell his first name with two "l"s.
His father was Samuel Ringgold, a Maryland politician who later served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
He had an older brother, Samuel Ringgold, an army officer called "the father of modern artillery" and who died in the Battle of Palo Alto
Battle of Palo Alto
The Battle of Palo Alto was the first major battle of the Mexican-American War and was fought on May 8, 1846, on disputed ground five miles from the modern-day city of Brownsville, Texas...
. Cadwalader was the sixth of 11 children, the youngest child of his mother, who then died. His father remarried and went on to have five more children by his second wife.
Cadwalader Ringgold entered the U.S. Navy in 1819 and commanded the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
in action against West Indies pirates during the late 1820s. He became a lieutenant on May 17, 1828 and that year served on in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. He went on to serve on the in the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
.
United States Exploring Expedition
During 1838–42, he participated in the United States Exploring ExpeditionUnited States Exploring Expedition
The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones. The voyage was authorized by Congress in...
in the Pacific, commanding from 1840 at the invitation of the head of the project, Charles Wilkes
Charles Wilkes
Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 and commanded the ship in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War...
.
When the expedition visited Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, they captured Vendoni, a chief on the islands who had inspired some Fijians to capture and eat 11 crewmen on a ship seven years before. Soon afterward, Fijians on the island of Malolo ambushed and killed two popular officers of the expedition, and the Americans took revenge. Wilkes' ship grounded on the north side of the island, but Ringgold led 80 men from the south side. Women and children were spared, but about 87 Fijians were killed before the rest surrendered. Two villages were destroyed.
The expedition visited California that summer. On August 19, 1841, Ringgold led a 60-man party exploring San Francisco Bay watershed for 20 days. The party got about as far as Colusa, California
Colusa, California
Colusa is the county seat of Colusa County, California. The population was 5,971 at the 2010 census, up from 5,402 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
. Ringgold, who returned to New York shortly after the rest of the expedition, had been gone three years and 11 months at sea. He and his crew had sailed 95000 miles (152,887.3 km) and lost only two men.
Other expeditions
Ringgold was promoted to commander on July 16, 1849 and began the definitive survey of the San Francisco BaySan Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
region, suddenly important because of the discovery of gold in the area. The survey began in August 1849, with Ringgold commanding the chartered brig Col. Fremont.
After the California surveys, Ringgold helped Navy officials pick a location for a dockyard for the Navy's Pacific station. It later became the Mare Island Navy Yard. Together with Commodore Matthew Perry and others, Ringgold served in August 1852 on the Board of Examination for midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.
It may have been around this time that Ringgold acquired a bust
Bust (sculpture)
A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, as well as a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual...
of Whig
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
politician Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
, presumably out of admiration.
In 1853 he took command of the North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition
North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition
The North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition, also known as the Rodgers-Ringgold Expedition was a United States scientific and exploring project from 1853 to 1856....
, also known as the Rodgers-Ringgold Expedition, but while on the expedition, in July 1854, he became sick with malaria and was sent home, according to at least one source.
Nathaniel Philbrick
Nathaniel Philbrick
Nathaniel Philbrick is an American author and a winner of the National Book Award for his 2000 work of maritime history In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. He is member of the Philbrick literary family.-Life:...
, in his book Sea of Glory about the U.S. Exploring Expedition, writes that in the later expedition Ringgold "began to act strangely" once in China, keeping his ships in port "ceaselessly repairing his vessels". Commodore Perry, on his own expedition, sailed in and convened an official panel which relieved Ringgold from command of the expedition and sent him home. Philbrick quotes Perry as declaring Ringgold "insane." John Rodgers
John Rodgers (naval officer, Civil War)
John Rodgers was an admiral in the United States Navy.-Early life and career:Rodgers, a son of Commodore John Rodgers, was born near Havre de Grace, Maryland. He received his appointment as a Midshipman in the Navy on 18 April 1828...
was given full command of the expedition and completed it.
A board of naval doctors convened by Perry declared Ringgold unfit for active service, and he was put on the reserve list on September 13, 1855. Ringgold recovered within weeks, however, and soon petitioned Congress for his return. Unsuccessful there, he appealed to a Court of Inquiry, and eventually succeeded in returning to the active list on January 23, 1858, (retroactive to April 2, 1856), a campaign of more than two years.
For the next several years, he was in Washington, D.C., working on the North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition charts, some of which were later used by the U. S. Navy in World War II (charts from the United States Exploring Expedition were also used in that war).
Civil War and after
Ringgold returned to the fleet with the rank of captain during the Civil War. While in command of the frigate SabineUSS Sabine (1855)
The first USS Sabine was a sailing frigate built by the United States Navy in 1855. The ship was among the first ships to see action in the American Civil War. In 1862, a large portion of the crew were volunteers from the Sabine....
on November 1, 1861, he effected the rescue of a battalion of 400 Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
from Maryland whose transport steamer, Governor, was sinking during a severe storm near Port Royal, South Carolina
Port Royal, South Carolina
Port Royal is a town in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Largely because of annexation of surrounding areas , the population of Port Royal rose from 3,950 in 2000 to 10,678 in 2010, a 170% increase. As defined by the U.S...
.
In February 1862, he was a part of the search and rescue of the ship of the line which had lost her rudder in a storm. For these rescues, Ringgold received commendations from the Maryland Legislature and the U.S. Congress, along with a gold medal from the Life Saving Benevolent Association.
Promoted to commodore
Commodore (rank)
Commodore is a military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. Non-English-speaking nations often use the rank of flotilla admiral or counter admiral as an equivalent .It is often regarded as a one-star rank with a NATO code of OF-6, but is not always...
on July 16, 1862, he was sent (still on the Sabine), to cruise the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
, Cape Verde Islands, the coast of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and then back to New York in a fruitless search for the Confederate raider from November 1862 to February 1863. In mid-1863, Ringgold's assignment was to search (again unsuccessfully) in the vicinity of Bermuda and then the New England coast for the bark , another Confederate raider.
For reasons of age, he was retired on August 20, 1864, and placed on the rear admiral
Rear admiral (United States)
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. The uniformed services of the United States are unique in having two grades of rear admirals.- Rear admiral :...
(retired) list in 1866 (a promotion that was given to all commanders of squadrons). In retirement, he lived at 18 East Eighteenth Street (at Union Square) in New York City. Ringgold, who had never married, died of apoplexy
Apoplexy
Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...
(stroke) in New York on April 29, 1867.
Days later, as the Marine band played the "Dead March" from Saul
Saul (Handel)
Saul is an oratorio in three acts written by George Frideric Handel with a libretto by Charles Jennens. Taken from the 1st Book of Samuel, the story of Saul focuses on the first king of Israel’s relationship with his eventual successor, David; one which turns from admiration to envy and hatred,...
, 400 Marines and carriages in the funeral cortege proceeded from Ringgold's residence down Broadway to Trinity Church. In attendance were Admirals Farragut
David Farragut
David Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the...
, Bell
Henry H. Bell
Henry Haywood Bell was an admiral in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.-Biography:Bell was born in Orange County, North Carolina. Appointed a Midshipman on 4 August 1823, during the next two decades he served afloat in U.S...
, and Stringham
Silas Stringham
Silas Horton Stringham was an admiral in the United States Navy.-Biography:Born in Middletown, New York, Stringham served in the United States Navy from the War of 1812 through the American Civil War. During the War of 1812, he served in the frigate and took part in the engagements with the...
, along with a number of generals. Ringgold's remains were taken by train to Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, where he lies next to the grave of his brother, Major Samuel Ringgold
Samuel Ringgold (soldier)
Samuel B. Ringgold was an artillery officer in the United States Army who was noted for several military innovations which caused him to be called the "Father of Modern Artillery." He was also, according to some records, the first U.S...
.
Namesakes
Two ships have been named in his honor: and .Ringgold Street in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
is named after him.
Another namesake was the writer Ring Lardner
Ring Lardner
Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:...
. Rear Admiral James Lawrence Lardner, was a friend of Ringgold's. He named a son "Ringgold Wilmer Lardner", and James' brother gave exactly the same name to his son after the newborn's cousin. Ring Lardner disliked his name and shortened it but "lost the battle" when his son, Ring Lardner Jr.
Ring Lardner Jr.
Ringgold Wilmer "Ring" Lardner, Jr. was an American journalist and screenwriter blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios during the Red Scare of the late 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:...
was named after him.
External links
- Biographical article about Cadwalader Ringgold, by Alan Fraser Houston (subscription required)