Background
Isaac Peace Rodman was an American brigadier general of the Union Army who took part in the American Civil War and etc. He was Rhode Island banker and politician as well.
banker politician brigadier general
Isaac Peace Rodman was an American brigadier general of the Union Army who took part in the American Civil War and etc. He was Rhode Island banker and politician as well.
Rodman received a common-school education.
Rodman entered business as an associate of his father at an early age.
For several years he was president of the town council of South Kingstown and director of the Wakefield Bank. He entered state politics, serving in both branches of the legislature. When the Civil War was imminent, Rodman, true to his religious training, was strongly on the side of peace, but when war was declared, he was a member of the state Senate and strongly supported the government, giving proof of his loyalty by accepting a captaincy in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry on June 6, 1861. For his gallantry at the first battle of Bull Run he was later commissioned lieutenant-colonel. He was assigned to command the 4th Rhode Island Volunteers and was commissioned colonel on October 30. He spent the winter of 1861-62 at Alexandria, Virginia. , training his regiment. In the early spring of 1862 Rodman joined Burnside in North Carolina, his regiment being in General Parke's 3rd Brigade, and took a distinguished part in the capture of Roanoke Island on February 8, 1862. At this battle his troops being the only ones wearing blue overcoats, were mistaken by the enemy for regulars, and consequently received the heaviest fire. Rodman himself believed this to be his hottest engagement. At the battle of New Bern on March 14, at his own suggestion, he was permitted to charge a weak point in the enemy trenches with the bayonet. His regiment pierced the defenses, captured cannon and colors, and turned the tide of battle. Burnside gave him full credit for his perspicacity and bravery, and for this and his gallantry at the capture of Fort Macon in April he was advanced to the rank of brigadier-general on April 28, 1862. Rodman's campaigning in the swamps of North Carolina undermined his health, and, ill with typhoid, he was sent home to South Kingstown to recuperate until August. Still weak from fever, he joined Reno's IX Corps for the Maryland Campaign at Frederick and was given the 4th Division. On the morning of September 13 he was ordered to support Pleasanton's cavalry reconnaissance in the mountains, but missed the road and supported other forces. The following day he took active part in the battle of South Mountain and advanced across a ford against heavy hostile fire towards Sharpsburg. At the battle of Antietam on September 17, he was wounded in the chest while leading his troops and died twelve days later.
Still weak from fever, he joined Reno's IX Corps for the Maryland Campaign at Frederick and was given the 4th Division.
When the Civil War was imminent, Rodman, true to his religious training, was strongly on the side of peace, but when war was declared, he was a member of the state Senate and strongly supported the government, giving proof of his loyalty by accepting a captaincy in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry on June 6, 1861.
Quotes from others about the person
"Patient, laborious, courageous, wholly devoted to his duties, he filled each place so well that his advancement to the next was a matter of course, and the promotion which he did not seek sought him. He was one of the best type of the American citizen; of thorough business training, of high integrity, with an abiding sense of the justice due to all, and influenced by deep religious convictions. " (Senator Henry B. Anthony; in a funeral oration)
On June 17, 1847, he was married to Sally Lyman Arnold, the daughter of Governer Lemuel N. Arnold. They had seven children.