Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers
Encyclopedia
Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers (4 November 1819 – 8 January 1892) was an officer in the United States Navy
. He served in the Mexican-American War, the American Civil War
, as Superintendent of the Naval Academy
, and Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Squadron
.
, and was the brother of Rear Admiral John Rodgers. They were the sons of Commodore John Rodgers
. Through his mother, Anna Maria Perry, his maternal grandfather was Captain Christopher Raymond Perry
, and his uncles were the Commodores Oliver Hazard
and Matthew C. Perry. With this kind of background it was inevitable that both Rodgers and his younger brother George Washington Rodgers
, Jr., would join the Navy.
Rodgers was appointed midshipman
on 5 October 1833, serving aboard the frigate in the Pacific, followed by duty on the sloop with the Brazil Squadron
.
Promoted to passed midshipman
on 8 July 1839, Rodgers commanded the 2-gun schooner
Phoenix during the Second Seminole War
, before joining the Africa Squadron
aboard the sloop , and then serving on the frigate , the flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron, receiving promotion to lieutenant
on 4 September 1844.
During the Mexican–American War
, Rodgers participated in the Siege of Veracruz
in March 1847, and in the capture of Tabasco and Tuxpan by his uncle Commodore Matthew C. Perry.
After the war Rodgers spent three years serving with the Coast Survey, before joining the screw sloop
on the Brazil Station, followed by duty on the with the Africa Squadron in 1853. He then spent another two years with the Coast Survey, before joining the screw frigate
, the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, in 1858-59.
at the United States Naval Academy
just before the start of the Civil War, seeing its relocation to Newport, Rhode Island
, for the duration of the war. He was promoted to commander
on 15 November 1861, and was succeeded in the post of Commandant by his brother George Washington Rodgers
.
He then served in Samuel F. Du Pont
's South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, in command of the flagship Wabash, and distinguished himself at the Battle of Port Royal
in 1861 and at the capture of Fort Pulaski
in 1862,
and then served as captain of the flagship, broadside ironclad , at Charleston
in 1863. Admiral Du Pont noted, "No language could overstate his services to his country and to myself."
In March 1864 he recommissioned the screw sloop
, on an independent assignment to capture Confederate raiders, which took him to the Mediterranean, and around South America and across the Pacific to Singapore
in pursuit of the commerce raider
.
in the European Squadron
in 1867-68.
Promoted to Commodore on 28 August 1870 he then served as Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks
from 1871-74.
Achieving flag rank as a rear admiral on 14 June 1874, Rodgers served as Superintendent of the Naval Academy
from September 1874 until July 1878, before a two-year tour as Commander of the Pacific Squadron
, returning to the Naval Academy to serve as Superintendent for a second time from June to November 1881.
Rodgers was put onto the Retired List on 14 November 1881. Rear Admiral Rodgers died in Washington, D.C.
on 8 January 1892, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery
. Several ships were named USS Rodgers after him and his son.
and Raymond Perry Rodgers
, both of whom achieved the rank of Rear Admiral.
Rodgers, Christopher R. Perry. Midshipman, 5 October, 1833. Passed Midshipman, 8 July, 1839. Lieutenant, 4 September, 1844. Commander, 15 November, 1861. Captain, 25 July, 1866. Commodore, 28 August, 1870. Rear Admiral, 14 June, 1874. Retired List, 14 November, 1881. Died 8 January, 1892.
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. He served in the Mexican-American War, the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, as Superintendent of the Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
, and Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Squadron
Pacific Squadron
The Pacific Squadron was part of the United States Navy squadron stationed in the Pacific Ocean in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Initially with no United States ports in the Pacific, they operated out of storeships which provided naval supplies and purchased food and obtained water from local...
.
Early career
Rodgers was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a naval family. His father, George Washington Rodgers, was a Navy captain, who had commanded the brig Firefly during the War of 1812War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, and was the brother of Rear Admiral John Rodgers. They were the sons of Commodore John Rodgers
John Rodgers (naval officer, War of 1812)
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 greater bulk of his adult life to his country...
. Through his mother, Anna Maria Perry, his maternal grandfather was Captain Christopher Raymond Perry
Christopher Raymond Perry
Christopher Raymond Perry was an officer in the United States Navy. He was the father of Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry.-Early life:...
, and his uncles were the Commodores Oliver Hazard
Oliver Hazard Perry
United States Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island , the son of USN Captain Christopher Raymond Perry and Sarah Wallace Alexander, a direct descendant of William Wallace...
and Matthew C. Perry. With this kind of background it was inevitable that both Rodgers and his younger brother George Washington Rodgers
George Washington Rodgers
George Washington Rodgers was a United States Navy officer.Rodgers was born in Brooklyn, the son of George Washington Rodgers and Anna Maria Perry...
, Jr., would join the Navy.
Rodgers was appointed midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
on 5 October 1833, serving aboard the frigate in the Pacific, followed by duty on the sloop with the Brazil Squadron
Brazil Squadron
The Brazil Squadron, the Brazil Station, or the South Atlantic Squadron was an overseas military station established by the United States in 1826 to protect American commerce in the South Atlantic during a war between Brazil and Argentina...
.
Promoted to passed midshipman
Passed midshipman
A Passed Midshipman, sometimes called as Midshipman, Passed, is an unused and historic term which describes a Midshipman who had passed the Lieutenant exam and was eligible for promotion to Lieutenant as soon as there was a vacancy in that grade....
on 8 July 1839, Rodgers commanded the 2-gun schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Phoenix during the Second Seminole War
Second Seminole War
The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between various groups of Native Americans collectively known as Seminoles and the United States, part of a series of conflicts called the Seminole Wars...
, before joining the Africa Squadron
Africa Squadron
The Africa Squadron was a unit of the United States Navy that operated from 1819 to 1861 to suppress the slave trade along the coast of West Africa...
aboard the sloop , and then serving on the frigate , the flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron, receiving promotion to lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
on 4 September 1844.
During the Mexican–American War
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known as the First American Intervention, the Mexican War, or the U.S.–Mexican War, was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S...
, Rodgers participated in the Siege of Veracruz
Siege of Veracruz
The Battle of Veracruz was a 20-day siege of the key Mexican beachhead seaport of Veracruz, during the Mexican-American War. Lasting from 9-29 March 1847, it began with the first large-scale amphibious assault conducted by United States military forces, and ended with the surrender and occupation...
in March 1847, and in the capture of Tabasco and Tuxpan by his uncle Commodore Matthew C. Perry.
After the war Rodgers spent three years serving with the Coast Survey, before joining the screw sloop
Screw sloop
A screw sloop is a propeller-driven sloop-of-war. In the 19th century, during the introduction of the steam engine, ships driven by propellers were differentiated from those driven by paddle-wheels by referring to the ship's screws...
on the Brazil Station, followed by duty on the with the Africa Squadron in 1853. He then spent another two years with the Coast Survey, before joining the screw frigate
Screw frigate
Steam frigates and the smaller steam corvettes were steam-powered warships.The first vessel that can be considered a steam frigate was the Demologos which was launched in 1815 for the United States Navy....
, the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, in 1858-59.
Civil war
Rodgers was appointed Commandant of MidshipmenCommandant of Midshipmen
The Commandant of Midshipmen is the second-in-command at the United States Naval Academy. According to the Naval Academy, the Commandant of Midshipmen is "responsible for the professional development and day-to-day activities of all 4,000 Midshipmen in the Brigade" and equates to a dean of students...
at the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
just before the start of the Civil War, seeing its relocation to Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
, for the duration of the war. He was promoted to commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
on 15 November 1861, and was succeeded in the post of Commandant by his brother George Washington Rodgers
George Washington Rodgers
George Washington Rodgers was a United States Navy officer.Rodgers was born in Brooklyn, the son of George Washington Rodgers and Anna Maria Perry...
.
He then served in Samuel F. Du Pont
Samuel Francis du Pont
Samuel Francis Du Pont was an American naval officer who achieved the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, and a member of the prominent Du Pont family; he was the only member of his generation to use a capital D...
's South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, in command of the flagship Wabash, and distinguished himself at the Battle of Port Royal
Battle of Port Royal
The Battle of Port Royal was one of the earliest amphibious operations of the American Civil War, in which a United States Navy fleet and United States Army expeditionary force captured Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, on November 7, 1861...
in 1861 and at the capture of Fort Pulaski
Fort Pulaski National Monument
Fort Pulaski National Monument is located between Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia. It preserves Fort Pulaski, notable as the place where, during the American Civil War, in 1862, the Union Army successfully tested a rifled cannon. The success of the test rendered brick fortifications obsolete....
in 1862,
and then served as captain of the flagship, broadside ironclad , at Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
in 1863. Admiral Du Pont noted, "No language could overstate his services to his country and to myself."
In March 1864 he recommissioned the screw sloop
Screw sloop
A screw sloop is a propeller-driven sloop-of-war. In the 19th century, during the introduction of the steam engine, ships driven by propellers were differentiated from those driven by paddle-wheels by referring to the ship's screws...
, on an independent assignment to capture Confederate raiders, which took him to the Mediterranean, and around South America and across the Pacific to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
in pursuit of the commerce raider
Commerce raiding
Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...
.
Post-war career
Rodgers was promoted to captain on 25 July 1866, and commanded the screw frigate as flagship of Admiral David FarragutDavid Farragut
David Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the...
in the European Squadron
European Squadron
The European Squadron, also known as the European Station, was a part of the United States Navy in the late 19th century and the early 1900s. The squadron was originally named the Mediterranean Squadron and renamed following the American Civil War...
in 1867-68.
Promoted to Commodore on 28 August 1870 he then served as Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks
Bureau of Yards and Docks
The Bureau of Yards and Docks was the branch of the United States Navy responsible from 1842 to 1966 for building and maintaining navy yards, drydocks, and other facilities relating to ship construction, maintenance, and repair....
from 1871-74.
Achieving flag rank as a rear admiral on 14 June 1874, Rodgers served as Superintendent of the Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
from September 1874 until July 1878, before a two-year tour as Commander of the Pacific Squadron
Pacific Squadron
The Pacific Squadron was part of the United States Navy squadron stationed in the Pacific Ocean in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Initially with no United States ports in the Pacific, they operated out of storeships which provided naval supplies and purchased food and obtained water from local...
, returning to the Naval Academy to serve as Superintendent for a second time from June to November 1881.
Rodgers was put onto the Retired List on 14 November 1881. Rear Admiral Rodgers died in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
on 8 January 1892, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
. Several ships were named USS Rodgers after him and his son.
Personal life and career timeline
Rodgers married Julia Slidell, and had two sons follow him into Navy service, Thomas Slidell RodgersThomas S. Rodgers
Rear Admiral Thomas Slidell Rodgers was an officer in the United States Navy who served during the Spanish-American War and World War I.-Biography:...
and Raymond Perry Rodgers
Raymond P. Rodgers
Rear Admiral Raymond Perry Rodgers was an officer in the United States Navy. He succeeded Lt. Theodorus B.M. Mason as the second head of the Office of Naval Intelligence....
, both of whom achieved the rank of Rear Admiral.
Rodgers, Christopher R. Perry. Midshipman, 5 October, 1833. Passed Midshipman, 8 July, 1839. Lieutenant, 4 September, 1844. Commander, 15 November, 1861. Captain, 25 July, 1866. Commodore, 28 August, 1870. Rear Admiral, 14 June, 1874. Retired List, 14 November, 1881. Died 8 January, 1892.