438 ADMIRAL JOHN RODGERS. 



service with the P]ia?nix Rifles, and was with fliat command at the 

 bombardment of Fort Sumter. Somewhat hiter he was assigned to duty 

 at Cohimhia. After the war he returned to Charleston, and upon the 

 discovery of the value of the phosphate deposits of South Carolina 

 for agricultural purposes he founded one of the phosphate companies, 

 and remained identified to the close of his life with various chemico- 

 agricultural companies in South Carolina. 



It was Dr. Ravenel who some years ago raised new hopes in the 

 whole low country of South Carolina by the explanation of means 

 by which large crops of small grain and hay could be made on the 

 light sandy lands on the coast, and he had so demonstrated the practi- 

 cability of his views that a company is in progress of formation with 

 the object of commencing operations on the delta of the Santee River. 



Dr. Ravenel took great interest in the effort to secure to Charleston 

 an abundant supply of pure water. He closely watched the boring 

 of the first artesian well, and one effect of his observations was the 

 boring of artesian wells of moderate depth for the use of mills 

 and factories. 



When the yellow fever ravaged Norfolk, he was one of the band 

 of volunteers who went from Charleston to the relief of that unfor- 

 tunate city. As surgeon-in-chief of the large Confederate hospital 

 in Columbia, he won the admiration of the citizens not more by his 

 skill than by his kindness. 



By the death of Dr. Ravenel Charleston loses one of her most de- 

 voted and eminent sons, who has perhaps done more to develop the 

 native resources of South Carolina than any other single individual. 



ADMIRAL JOHN RODGERS. 



John Rodgers, U. S. Navy, was born in Hartford County, Mary- 

 land, Aug. 8, 1812. His paternal grandfather was a lieutenant- 

 colonel in the Revolutionary War, and served with credit in command 

 of Maryland troops. His father was Commodore John Rodgers, the 

 well-known naval commander of the early part of the present cen- 

 tury. The subject of the present sketch was appointed a midshipman 

 in the Navy iu 1828, and found his first duty in the Mediterranean 

 squadron on board the ship Constellation. After passing his exami- 

 nation in 1834, he desired to obtain a better education than was practi- 

 cable on board ship, and therefore secured a year's leave of absence, 

 which he spent at the University of Virginia. During the five years 

 following, his life was the usual one of the naval midshipman of the 



