Temporary record

John Rodgers' naval career began with his commission as 2nd Lieutenant aboard the U.S.S. Constellation in March, 1798. Within a little more than a year, he had risen to the rank Captain, commanding the Insurgente and later, the Maryland. Rodgers left the Navy briefly in 1801, only to return to participate in the first Barbary Wars, 1802-1806, acting as senior officer in the blockading fleet off Tripoli under the command of Comm. Morris and Barton. The U.S. Naval commanders during this operation were delegated the authority to negotiate a treaty with the four Barbary states and end their "piratical" activities, and Rodgers played one of the key roles. After commanding the Northern Division of coast defence in 1810-11, Rodgers became the ranking officer in the Navy during the War of 1812, and is noted for taking an active role in disrupting British shipping and commerce, as well as his role in harassing British forces as they retreated from the sack of Washington. Later in his career, Rodgers became senior officer in the Navy (after 1821) and served briefly as Secretary of the Navy (1823).

Scope and contents:

The Rodgers Papers contain the incoming, professional correspondence of John Rodgers from shortly before his first Naval Commission to the end of his career. The collection contains a wealth of information on nearly every aspect of Rodgers' career, from his blockading and diplomatic activities during the Barbary Wars through his brief tenure as Secretary of the Navy. The Barbary War materials contain some important information on the activities of the U.S. fleet off Tripoli and on the attitudes of the U.S. officers toward the Barbary states, as well as some intelligence used during the operations and treaty negotiations. During the War of 1812, Rodgers operated largely against British shipping in the North Atlantic, a fact reflected in this collection, but the collection contains a few important accounts of engagements with British warships in the Atlantic, including one, in 1812, in which Rodgers himself was wounded, approximately 30 reports of ships boarded by U.S. gunboats in the Atlantic, intelligence on British naval activity, and one or two items relating to the British operations on Washington and Baltimore. The post-War of 1812 portion of the collection provides documentation for the peace-time operations of the U.S. Navy, ship building, harbor maintenance, regulations and military discipline, and information on various officers. At the end of the collection are about 30 letters from Rodgers descendants, mostly of genealogical or provenential interest.

Supplied in photocopy are several letters relating to discussions of the development of steam-powered vessels for the Navy, information on the defences of New York Harbor, and material relating to the Marine Corps.

M-2770

Subjects

Barbary Wars, 1802-1806
United States--History--War of 1812
United States. Navy

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