Rodgers, JOHN

Rodgers, JOHN, American naval officer, was born in Maryland, 11th July 1771, the son of a Scotch colonel of militia. He was a captain in the merchant service by 1789, and in 1798 entered the navy. In 1805 he extorted from Tripoli and from Tunis treaties abolishing blackmail and forbidding the slavery of Christian captives. On 23d June 1812 he fired with his own hand the first shot in the war with Britain, and during the war he took twenty-three prizes. He died 1st August 1838.—His son, JOHN RODGERS (1812-82), a captain in the navy, captured a Confederate ironclad, and rose to be rear-admiral (1869), and superintendent of the United States naval observatory (1877).