Cadwalader Ringgold - Life and Early Career

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.

Read more about this topic:  Cadwalader Ringgold

Famous quotes containing the words life, early and/or career:

    “Citizen’s Band radio renders one accessible to a wide variety of people from all walks of life. It should not be forgotten that all walks of life include conceptual artists, dry cleaners, and living poets.”
    —Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)

    “Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them. I suppose it’s an early form of participation in what goes on. Listening children know stories are there. When their elders sit and begin, children are just waiting and hoping for one to come out, like a mouse from its hole.”
    —Eudora Welty (b. 1909)

    “My ambition in life: to become successful enough to resume my career as a neurasthenic.”
    —Mason Cooley (b. 1927)