RODGERS. 189 



all the small arms, he drove the mutinous men into the lower hold of the ship and 

 stationed at each hatchway a sentinel armed with a blunderbuss, a cutlas, and 

 pistols and gave him orders to fire should the men attempt to force a passage. 

 For two days and three nights Rodgers guarded the prisoners and navigated the 

 ship, being ably assisted by Midshipman Porter. Only by the presence of mind, 

 courage, and vigilance of the young commander were the prisoners held in sub- 

 jection." After the gale was over I/' Insurgents rejoined the Constellation. 



In 1802 he was at Santo Domingo which the French had planned to capture. 

 When the blacks burned Cristophe, Rodgers spent the whole night on shore in 

 rescue and succor. The American consul writes: he "displayed that dauntless 

 spirit which he is known to possess, and saved many lives. " 



At Tripoli between 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning, he went in a boat to 

 make soundings along shore and observe the position of the enemy's cruisers and 

 gunboats. He went close enough to the shore to hear people conversing with 

 each other. 



One spring, at Havre de Grace, when the ice of the river was breaking up 

 and moving clown the river with great force, an object was reported to him floating 

 on a block of ice. By means of a spyglass he discovered that it was a woman. 

 Rodgers offered one hundred dollars to any one who would go with him to her 

 rescue, but none accepted the offer. 



"Resolving to act alone, Rodgers seized two planks and, by laying them 

 alternately from one piece of ice to another, finally reached the middle of the 

 swollen stream where the frightened woman, now nearly overcome with cold and 

 terror, was still supported on her frail craft [an ice block]. Taking her under his 

 arm, he began his perilous return, which to the great astonishment of the spec- 

 tators he accomplished, reaching the shore a considerable distance below the town." 

 (Paullin, 1910, p. 173.) 



Such was the man who fought the Little Belt at night; who remained on deck 

 in the fight with the Belvidere, though his leg was broken, and who did more than 

 any other one man to cripple England's commerce during the War of 1812. 



Just how the hereditary basis of fearlessness passes through the generations 

 is not known. The father was active in the Revolutionary war, was commissioned 

 captain and possibly became colonel. The mother was a woman of "great energy 

 and strength of character." A brother, George W. Rodgers, received a medal 

 from Congress and a sword of honor from his State for gallantry shown as lieutenant 

 on the Wasp in her fight with and capture of the British brig Frolic, and was later 

 advanced to the rank of commodore. He died at the age of 45 years. 



John Rodgers, by his wife Minerva Denison, 1 had: Robert S. Rodgers, a 

 colonel in the Civil War; Frederick, a midshipman in the United States navy, who 

 was drowned at the age of 17 years while trying to rescue a companion; William 

 Pinkney, a lawyer in New York City; Henry, a lieutenant in the navy, who was 



1 Minerva Denison was the daughter of Gideon Denison (born in 1753), whose father's father's 

 father's father was George Denison (born in England in 1618), excepting Captain John 

 Mason the greatest Indian fighter of colonial days. Minerva Denison's mother was 

 Jerusha Butler (born in 1762), whose father, Benjamin Butler (1739-1787), was of a 

 hyperkinetic temperament, by occupation a blacksmith. He was witty, original (counted 

 "eccentric"), and a strong Tory, who in 1776 was imprisoned on the charge of "de- 

 faming the Honorable Continental Congress." His two sons were men of ability; 

 they were educated, but restless. 



