Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers letter to Raymond Perry Rodgers

Rear Admiral Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers was born in 1819, the son of Commodore John Rodgers’ brother, Captain George Washington Rodgers, U.S. Navy, and Ann Maria (Perry) Rodgers whose brothers included Matthew Calbraith Perry and Oliver Hazard Perry. He was appointed midshipman in 1833, completing cruises on board the Brandywine in the Pacific and the Fairfield with the Brazil Squadron. Rodgers saw action during the Seminole War commanding the schooner Phoenix, before assignments in the anti-slave trade African Squadron on board Saratoga, and in the Mediterranean on board Cumberland. After three years with the Coast Survey he returned to the Brazil Station on board the frigate Congress, followed by duty on the Constitution with the African Squadron, and a tour on board the screw-frigate Wabash in the Mediterranean.

Rodgers was named Commandant of Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy as the Civil War loomed and was instrumental in the relocation of the Academy to Newport, R.I. for the duration of the war. He was then assigned command of Samuel DuPont’s South Atlantic Blockading Squadron flagships, Wabash and New Ironsides. During the last two years of the war, he commanded the screw-sloop Franklin in the Mediterranean and, promoted Commodore, assigned as the Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. Following promotion to Rear Admiral in 1874, he served twice as Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy sandwiched around a two-year tour as Commander of the Pacific Squadron. During his first term as Superintendent, he directed and approved the publication of a history of the Academy, specifically for the Department of Education at the 1876 International Exhibit. Rodgers died in Washington, D.C. in 1892.

Rear Admiral Raymond Perry Rodgers was born in 1849 to Rear Admiral Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers and Julia (Stidell) Rodgers. Rodgers completed several assignments aboard the U.S. Naval ships Guerriere, Franklin, Juniata, and Tennessee. and was an instructor for the U.S. Naval Academy. He served as the second Chief Intelligence Officer of the Office of Naval Intelligence from 1885-1889, then 1906-1909. Following this position, Rodgers was appointed the twelfth President of the Naval War College from 1909-1911, concurrently serving as Commandant of Naval Station Narragansett Bay, R.I. Rodgers died in Monte Carlo, Monaco, in 1925.