Life and Early Career
Cadwalader Ringgold was born August 20, 1802 in Washington County, Maryland, at "Fountain Rock", the 18,000-acre (7,300 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 Weazel in action against West Indies pirates during the late 1820s. He became a lieutenant on May 17, 1828 and that year served on Vandalia in the Pacific Ocean. He went on to serve on the Adams in the Mediterranean.
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