John Rodgers was a senior naval officer in the United States Navy who served under six Presidents for nearly four decades during its formative years in the 1790s through the late 1830s, committing the bulk of his adult life to his country.
Background
John Rodgers was born on July 11, 1772 on a farm in a village near the "Susquehanna Ferry" on the north shore of the Susquehanna River (flowing into the northeastern Chesapeake Bay near today's Perryville in Cecil County, where the tavern house still exists) where he was raised for the first thirteen years of his childhood. While Rodgers was still a youth, the village on the south shore (in Harford County) was named "Havre de Grace" by the passing Marquis de Lafayette after a famous port of the same name in France. The young Rodgers was an unusually strong and vital boy who spent much of his time fishing in the waters of the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay near his home.
Education
He attended school in this locale and read many books about seafaring life, fostering his love of ships and the sea. He had often seen schooner-rigged ships berthed at Havre de Grace but longed to see the large square-rigged vessels he had always read about. With a strong desire to see such ships he decided to go to Baltimore and, not revealing this desire to anyone, made his way on foot to the city.
Career
At the age of seventeen Rodgers was made first mate of the merchant ship Harmony by Captain Folger. By the time Rodgers completed his five years of apprenticeship in 1793 Folger highly recommended him for command of a merchant ship named Jane that was regularly employed in the European trade and owned by the prominent Baltimore merchants Samuel and John Smith.
While in command of the Jane, Rodgers' strong and determined character was made evident during one of his voyages navigating the North Sea.
Rodgers' service in the United States Navy extended through the Quasi War with France, the First Barbary War and the Second Barbary War in North Africa and through the War of 1812. In 1815 he was appointed to the Board of Naval Commissioners, serving through the Second Barbary War until he retired in 1837.
Achievements
Connections
Rodgers was married in 1806 to Minerva Denison and had three sons, Robert, Frederick and John, and two daughters.