John Rodgers was born on 11 July 1772 Maryland. He was a ranking naval officer in United States army, an active participant in Barbary Wars in North Africa and the War of 1812 with Britain.
Background
John Rodgers was born on a farm two miles from Lower Susquehanna Ferry (now Havre de Grace), Maryland, the son of Colonel John and Elizabeth (Reynolds) Rodgers. The father, founder of one of the most noted of American naval families, was born in Scotland, and came to America from Glasgow and settled in Harford County, Maryland, about 1760. He was an officer of the Maryland militia during the Revolution. The mother was the daughter of a Presbyterian clergyman of Delaware. John was one of the first of eight children.
Education
He acquired the rudiments of an education at the village school and through his reading of books about the sea received an impress that determined his career. At an early age his father bound him out as an apprentice to a Baltimore shipmaster trading with French and West Indian ports.
Career
He was a first mate before he was eighteen, and, after two years of service in that grade was made master of the ship Jane, sailing out of Baltimore for European ports. After spending eleven years in the merchant service, Rodgers found in the naval war with France an opportunity for a wider career. On March 8, 1798, President Adams appointed him second lieutenant on board the Constellation under Thomas Truxtun, then fitting for sea at Baltimore, and when the first lieutenant resigned soon afterwards Rodgers succeeded him, becoming executive officer of the ship. He participated in the capture of the frigate Insurgente, and received with the other officers of the Constellation the thanks of the secretary of the navy and the president. In further recognition of his services he was promoted captain on March 5, 1799, the first lieutenant in the navy under the Constitution to be advanced to this rank. After a cruise in command of the Insurgente, he was transferred to the Maryland and again sailed in the West Indies, part of the time as the senior officer on the Surinam station.
At the close of the war he had the honor to be selected to convey John Dawson, the bearer of the new French-American treaty, to France.
Under the peace establishment of 1801 it was for a time uncertain whether Rodgers should be retained in the navy. In the fall of that year he returned to the merchant service and sailed for Santo Domingo as master of the Nelly, with a cargo of American products.
Since the islanders were at war with France the cruise was not without stirring incidents.
On the night of the burning of Cape Francais, Rodgers was on shore leading a band of friendly Negroes in their work of rescue and succor. The American consul, Tobias Lear, bore witness that the young captain saved many lives and much property from destruction.
Later he was arrested and imprisoned by the French general, LeClerc, who confiscated his property and finally ordered him under penalty to leave the island. He took passage on the Pomona and arrived at Baltimore in May 1802.
He was recalled to the navy, and, with the exception of a brief visit to America, was in the Mediterranean from the fall of 1802 until the summer of 1806. He participated in the wars with the Barbary corsairs, playing a part exceeded in importance by that of no other naval officer. As senior officer under Commodores Morris and Barron he served as their chief of staff and as commander of the blockading fleet off Tripoli. Two of the largest cruisers of the Tripolitan navy and several smaller craft surrendered to him.
He was commander in chief of the squadron three times, the first time at the age of thirty, the office entitling him to the designation of "commodore. " In the negotiations for a treaty with Morocco he shared the honors with Commodore Preble, during the peace negotiations with Tripoli he commanded the squadron, and in an expedition to Tunis, he was the most prominent figure and the commanding officer.
As a result of a war-scare growing out of the affair of the Chesapeake and Leopard, he was placed in command of the New York flotilla and naval station in July 1807. This was the most important office at the disposal of the navy department, and in the following year the duty of enforcing the Embargo in the waters between the Delaware and the Passamaquoddy Bay fell to him.
When President Madison decided to follow a more active naval policy in 1810, Rodgers received orders to command the "northern division of ships for the protection of the American coast, " with the frigate President, 44 guns, as his flagship (Paullin, post, p. 210). Cruising under these orders, on May 16, 1811, he engaged off Cape Henry the British naval sloop Little Belt, 20 guns, for some fifteen minutes and inflicted on her a loss of thirteen men killed and nineteen wounded. His conduct was cordially approved by the secretary of the navy and the president and he was hailed and toasted as a popular hero. His request for a court of inquiry was at first refused by the federal government but it was later granted when it appeared that there were discrepancies between his account of the fight and that of the British captain. The court considered the details of the fight at great length and made a report confirming Rodgers' account in every essential particular.
In the War of 1812 Rodgers was the ranking officer in active service. Three days after the declaration of war he went to sea with a fleet of five vessels and two days later sighted the British frigate Belvidera. A long chase ensued and in a running fight the Belvidera escaped after a small loss on both sides. A gun of the President burst, fracturing one leg of the commodore, who, supported by his men, continued to direct the fight.
The cruise was extended as far eastward as the coast of Spain and ended at Boston after the capture of eight merchantmen.
Rodgers made three additional cruises, and during one captured the British schooner High Flyer.
In the spring of 1814 Rodgers was placed in command of the Delaware flotilla and the Guerriere, then under construction at Philadelphia. When the British made their expedition against Washington he was ordered to the capital with a detachment of sailors and marines, and arrived in time to harass the enemy's squadron in its retreat down the Potomac.
In 1821 Rodgers became the senior officer of the navy, and in 1823 he served for a time as secretary of the navy ad interim.
His service in Washington was interrupted in 1825-27 by a tour of duty in the Mediterranean, where once again he commanded the American Squadron, this time with the 74-gun ship North Carolina as his flagship. This duty, which proved to be his last sea service, was marked by an interview with the Turkish minister of marine respecting a treaty with Turkey, by a visit to the capital of the Greek revolutionists, and by an improvement in the discipline of the squadron. On May 1, 1837, Rodgers resigned his commissionership, owing to declining health, partly the result of an attack of cholera. He died at the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D. C
Achievements
Personality
Rodgers was of middle height, solid, compact, well-proportioned. He was grave in demeanor, rather bluff, independent and a stickler for the forms of his profession.
While his services were not as brilliant as those of some of his juniors in rank who fought the famous sea duels of the war, they were with a few exceptions the more useful. He understood best the principles of naval strategy (A. T. Mahan, From Sail to Steam, 1906, 1907, pp. 5-6).
Connections
On October 21, 1806, he had been married to Minerva Denison at Sion Hill, Maryland. She was a descendant of Captain George Denison, called the "Miles Standish of Connecticut. "
After 1815, they made their home in Washington, D. C.
Their last residence, an historic one in the annals of the capital, was built on the site of the present Belasco Theatre.
They had eleven children, one of the sons, John Rodgers, reaching the rank of rear admiral.
A daughter, Louisa, married Montgomery Cunningham Meigs.
Many of their descendants entered the army or the navy.
Rodgers was of middle height, solid, compact, well-proportioned.