The Navy's Godfather: John Rodgers

By Eileen F. Lebow

Ebook: A great naval victory always eluded John Rodgers, but he emerges in this account by Eileen Lebow as perhaps one of the most important persons in the establishment of the early navy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781300181767

Book preview

The Navy's Godfather: John Rodgers

The Navy’s Godfather: John Rodgers

By Eileen F. Lebow

Cover Portrait

by John W. Jarvis,

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Copyright

THE NAVY"S GODFATHER: JOHN RODGERS

Copyright 2012 by Eileen F. Lebow

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

For information address:

The Ocracoke Press

2821 29th Street NW

Washington, DC 20008

First Edition, September, 2012

ISBN 978-1-300-18176-7

Also in Hardcover, ISBN 978-1-300-18215-3

And in Paperback, ISBN 978-1-300-18218-4

1. John Rodgers   2. Barbary Pirates   3. Quasi War with French   4. War of 1812   5. Board of Navy Commissioners   6. Treaty With Ottomans

Also by Eileen F. Lebow

Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz: the First Transcontinental Flight

A Grandstand Seat: The American Balloon Corps in World War I

The Bright Boys: The History of Townsend Harris High School

Before Amelia: Women Pilots in the Early Days of Aviation

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Action between the Constellation and L’Insurgente, February 9, 1799

Figure 2. Minerva Dennison Rodgers

Figure 3. US Frigate Constitution

Figure 4 Lieutenant John Rodgers

Figure 5. The Little Belt, Sloop of War meets the Constitution, May 15, 1811

Figure 6. Battle with the Belvidera

Figure 7. Chesapeake Bay Map by Morgan I. Wilbur

Figure 8. Letter from Dolly Payne Madison to Minerva Rodgers

Figure 9. Rodger’s Bastion, September 12-14, 1814

Figure 10. US Mediterranean Squadron Departing Port Mahon, Minorca, 1825 by A. Carlotta

Figure 11. North Carolina

Figure 12. Robert Fulton’s Plans for the First Steam Warship

Figure 13. The Rodgers’ Third House on Lafayette Square

Figure 14. John Rodgers’ Tombstone at Washington, DC Congressional Cemetery showing year of birth as 1772

Acknowledgments

Many people have helped during the six years involved researching and writing this book.  Foremost is my husband Morton, who has encouraged, googled, and performed with good grace the multiple chores of research assistant.  This book is as much his endeavor as mine.

Michael J. Crawford and Christine F. Hughes at the Naval Historical Center pointed me in the right direction to find material on the Board of Naval Commissioners, the workings of the Board, and congressional legislation that affected their proceedings.

Living in Washington, the convenience of the Library of Congress and the National Archives made research blessedly easy.  For a while, I lived in the Manuscript Division and have a fond regard for the staff.  They are knowledgeable, adept at deciphering handwriting, and, good humored with all.  Edward J. Redmond of the Geography & Map Division spent time with me discussing possible maps.

Charles Johnson and the staff of the Navy Section of the National Archives guided me through Record Group 45 which contains letters, reports, contracts, the Journal of the Board of Naval Commissioners, and a wealth of informative documents from the early days of the navy to 1838, the end of my period of interest.  Mr. Johnson knows his material and where to find it in the ongoing changes at the Archives.  The staff of the Photo Division at Archives II was extremely helpful in providing the photo of the plan for Fulton I.

The National Archives of Great Britain was an important source because it has documents revealing that John Rodgers, though lacking a glorious victory, was a constant irritant to British naval actions in the War of 1812.  A diligent librarian called on a Saturday to tell me he had references to Rodgers if I wanted to see them.  Indeed I did.  Asked why he was working on Saturday, he explained that he preferred to have Monday off for his weekend.

The New York Historical Society Library was a pleasant place to read area newspapers with editorial comments on events and persons of the War of 1812.  Its letter and book collections were an extra plus.  James Fennimore Cooper’s London edition of his History of the United States Navy was a real treasure.  Among lovely illustrations was a letter to the secretary of the navy requesting an appointment as midshipman for Rodgers’ son Henry.  On the back, a short note written by Andrew Jackson approved the request for the old veteran.  Susan E. Kriete, Print Room Reference Librarian, showed me a fine collection of naval prints and helped make copies.

The U.S. Naval Academy Museum was the source of portraits of Minerva and John Rodgers.  Grant Walker, Education Specialist, arranged for my visit and enlightened my husband and myself on a variety of topics.  We learned that Capt. Charles Wilkes of the National Expedition was the inspiration for Capt. Ahab in Moby Dick.  The print division showed us prints from a special collection for possible use.  Everyone’s eagerness to share information was contagious. 

The Washington Navy Yard has a splendid Navy Art Collection with Pamela J. Overmann as curator.  There are paintings and prints of navy subjects from a variety of historical periods which Ms Overmann and her deputy are happy to show you – and make a digital copy.  The collection, a well-kept Washington secret, would benefit from more space for protection of the art and exhibits.  The collection has a Stuart portrait of John Rodgers as a young officer, revealing he was matinee-idol handsome.

Debra G. Scarborough, History Librarian and Archivist of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists helped find material on 19th Century childbirth practices. 

Michael Wangler, friend, neighbor, Nobel Peace Prize winner and physicist, has been technical adviser extraordinaire, solving multiple complications with the computer; also making a disk of prints for illustrations, and formatting the book for publication.  His generosity and good humor are greatly appreciated by one who is technically challenged.

Sarah Dillon Greenberg has generously shared her apartment in New York with us on research visits, providing comfort and encouragement.  I am also grateful to Marjorie Greene for her continued interest and support. 

Chapter One

The wind was easy from the southwest.  The sun was warming to its zenith as the full ship’s company assembled and waited.  Sailors were drawn up at the mainmast, marines stood at attention on the quarter-deck, and groups of young officers murmured to each other to hide their impatience.  No monarch was more keenly awaited than the commodore, Commander-in-chief of the American Mediterranean Squadron, who was about to go ashore.  At last, a Herculean figure stepped onto the broad deck.  Cheers went up, hats were raised, the marines presented arms, and the band, in picturesque Moorish dress, struck up a military air.

Here was the master-spirit that gave impulse and soul to the machine.  I thought I had never seen any array so soul-inspiring, so imposing.  The observer was young Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, a lieutenant on furlough who had been traveling about Spain.  If Mackenzie’s effusion seems excessive, there was little doubt about the scene he viewed.  Commodore John Rodgers, the senior officer of the United States Navy, was receiving the customary honors due a commander of his standing.  His ship North Carolina heralded American power on the seas; its commander was the embodiment of the American navy.  The year was 1825.  Tradition was already a key part of Navy life and no man had a keener sense of tradition than John Rodgers.  He wrapped it about him like a cape, together with a strong sense of duty.

He had come far from his place of birth at Susquehanna Lower Ferry, known now as Havre de Grace, in Harford County, Maryland.  The first white man on the scene, Captain John Smith, described the area as rich in natural bounty – ducks, deer, fish, and corn cultivated by the local Indians – with a climate as hot as Spain in summer.  He discovered the area in 1608 on his second voyage to explore the Chesapeake Bay.  The local Indians, calling themselves Susquehannocks, were said to be seven feet tall, a common description of native populations, possibly because they looked so different.  As members of the Iroquois or Five Nations tribe, the Susquehannocks claimed title to the land from the mouth of the Susquehanna to the Patuxent River, a claim that did little to keep newcomers away.

Through the years, English and Scotch-Irish colonists settled the area under succeeding Lords Baltimore.  On the death of the 6th Lord Baltimore in Italy in 1771, his natural son, Henry Harford, became Proprietary of Maryland. Three years later, Harford County was formed, the county seat was at Bush.  That same year, a John Rogers – the family name was frequently spelled without a D – was granted a license for a tavern. Born in Scotland about 1726, he had migrated to America in the 1760s and married Elizabeth Reynolds, a minister’s daughter of Irish descent, from nearby Delaware.  Elizabeth was described as a woman of an uncommonly vigorous and masculine character, qualities which she handed on to her son John, the fourth of eight children, born July 11, 1772.  There is some debate about the year as the years 1771 and 1773 are sometimes given.  I have used 1772, the date on his tombstone.  The following year the family established a tavern on the east shore of the river with a ferry connection to the west side, a location that grew in importance as a stopping place between Philadelphia and New York and the newly selected capital of Washington.  George Washington stopped there on journeys to the north, also the Marquis de Lafayette, who is said to have approved the naming of the small town on the west bank Havre de Grace for its resemblance to Le Havre in France.

During the Revolution, the senior Rodgers, now a prosperous member of the community, raised a company of militia drawn from freemen 15 to 60 years of age, which earned him an honorary title of Colonel in later years.  Militia companies like Rodgers’ were formed following the Provincial Convention held at Annapolis on the 26th day of July, 1775, to fight against whomsoever under orders of the Council of Safety of the province. With two lieutenants, a drummer and fifer, and weapons loaned by the county commissioners on Rodgers’ promise to return them or their full value, Company 5, led by their captain, had an almost martial appearance as they practiced drilling.  The small boy who watched them glowed with excitement, filled with a strong patriotic sentiment that lasted a lifetime.

There were other diversions for a growing boy:  hunting the teeming ducks along the river banks in mild weather or on the ice in winter; catching fish or scrambling for crabs; leading a troop of boys in daring battles; all were happy pastimes.  Begging rides in boats running across or up and down the river gave water an importance that, joined with tales of daring-do at sea, would carry him away eventually.  In 1786, his education at the local school in Havre finished, John decided it was time to pursue his passion, life at sea.

One morning, bidding his mother good-bye, he took off for Baltimore.  His father caught up with him, tried to dissuade him, and, when parental persuasion failed, signed him on as an apprentice and cabin boy on a ship commanded by Captain Folger, a respected merchantman in the commercial community of Baltimore, who was about to sail for northern Europe.  John’s father extracted one promise before saying goodbye:  never touch hard liquor, a promise Rodgers kept.  A family memoir suggests John’s promise was reinforced on seeing a captain he respected intoxicated, realizing that a drunken captain was a menace to himself, his crew, and his ship.  Whatever the reason, throughout Rodgers’ career drunkenness in the men under his command was a punishable offense, and he, himself, avoided ardent spirits.  However, this did not keep him from keeping a fine wine cellar.

Folger was an excellent choice to instruct John in a life at sea.  He had been a sea captain during the Revolution, first on privateers out of Baltimore serving as first officer on the schooner Antelope, then as captain of his own ships. When peace was established, Folger entered the merchant marine and was captain of the Maryland when young John joined him. The ship was owned by Folger together with Samuel and Robert Smith, prominent merchants in Baltimore who later exerted considerable political influence in the state.  They were good to have on your side in any situation.  The Maryland’s early voyages were to L’Orient and Bordeaux.  When the ship was sold, Folger, with young Rodgers on board, sailed to the West Indies as captain of the schooner Pilgrim.  In 1790 and 1791, he was master of the ship Harmony, sailing out of Baltimore for French and Dutch ports with Rodgers, just eighteen, as his first mate.

To become the responsible officer of a ship so young was no small accomplishment, but Rodgers had proved an apt student of all matters involved in sailing a ship.  His early days as cabin boy, at the beck and call of the captain, the first mate, or any passengers who might be on board, taught him obedience.  Whether it was emptying chamber pots, cleaning the captain’s cabin or delivering his dinner, he was a willing worker, despite the queasy feeling that sometimes accompanied the ship’s upward- downward motion as it cut through the waves.  Eventually he got his sea legs and, when there was spare time, he mingled with the crew and learned much about sailing ships.  Most important was the distinction in merchant ships which lay in their rigging, not their size.  A ship had three masts – fore, main, and mizzen –  brigs had two, and sloops and schooners had one.  Ships and brigs were square-rigged with several sails at right angles on each mast.  Schooners and sloops had fore-and-aft rig, with a single large sail in place of several smaller ones.

As time passed, the young man’s quick mind and zeal for all things nautical made an impression on Folger as did his willingness to accept responsibilities, his steady habits, and his knowledge of a ship’s working parts.  No longer a boy, Folger involved him in the technical skills needed to handle a ship and introduced him to the commercial role of shipping:  to carry cargo from one point to another, for sale.  The average ship owner of that day wanted a vessel roomy enough to carry about 300 tons to its destination.  Speed was a lesser concern if it meant losing the profit from several hundred tons of desirable cargo.  The average ship was nearly 100 feet in length and 30 feet or so in beam, with a hold 15 or 20 feet deep.  She could carry 250 plus tons which allowed about 25,000 cubic feet or, by present measure, an amazing eight railway box cars.  A vessel of this size cost $l5,000 to $20,000; its life expectancy was at least twenty years.  Brigs were a smaller edition with two masts and the same square-rigging – the Maryland was one of these.  It required a crew of at least twenty to handle the square rigging in addition to the captain and two mates.  The schooner which Folger had sailed during the Revolution was a uniquely American design developed in Baltimore.  It required fewer men to sail, having but one mast, and maneuvered quickly, qualities that made it ideal for the coasting trade and along the inland waterways.  Its ability to sneak past a blockading ship made it desirable during the Revolution for conversion into privateers; it was popular too for smuggling or slaving.

Under Folger’s watchful eye, it is doubtful Rodgers saw much of the seamier side of ship life.  The captain held strict standards and at the first sign of hostility, drunkenness, or bullying, he would certainly have squashed such behavior. Rodgers would learn soon enough the value of a strong fist to settle disputes and maintain order.

October 4, 1796, an advertisement appeared in the Federal Gazette and Baltimore Daily Advertiser announcing the ship Jane, Captain Rodgers, was about to sail for Hamburg.  Thanks to the recommendation of Folger, Rodgers took his first ship to sea in 1793 before he was 21 years of age.  The Jane, according to the ad, was in complete order, and will be ready to take in on Wednesday next.  For terms of freight, interested parties were directed to L. Tiernan or John Holmes, who had salt and earthen ware for sale, undoubtedly cargo from Rodgers’ last voyage. The Jane, 300 plus tons, was owned by Samuel and Robert Smith; experienced merchants, their trust in Rodgers was a measure of his ability.

His early voyages, beginning in 1793, took him to ports in England, France, Spain and Germany.  Advertisements in the local Baltimore papers reveal a healthy commercial business for his owners, including clothing items manufactured in Europe, bed ticks, blankets, materials for sewing, men and women’s gloves, as well as a variety of choice wines, brandy, vinegar, and condiments such as olives, anchovies and capers to enliven the American diet – all brought safely to American shores at a time when England and France were at war.  Occasional boarding by French or English ships served to emphasize that vessels were expendable in the war games of Europe.

These early voyages reveal traits in Rodgers’ character that, for better or worse, remained with him throughout life.  On one occasion, Rodgers was dining with friends in a tavern in Liverpool when a noisy electioneering crowd passed by, carrying the candidate for office, Sir Banastre Tarleton, on a chair.  A supporter held a banner showing Tarleton on horseback charging a fleeing band of Americans, their flag being trampled beneath the horse’s hoofs.  Regarding this as an insult to his flag, Rodgers rushed downstairs into the street and knocked down the stunned banner-carrier before returning to the tavern.  He wasn’t finished.  Arming himself with pistol and sword and with a friend in tow, he hurried to the campaign site to demand an explanation from General Tarleton, whose reputation for cruelty was well known in America during the Revolution.  The general professed no knowledge of the insult and offered to meet with Rodgers that evening.  At that meeting, the general and his campaigners voiced disapproval of the banner and promised to destroy it.  All was forgiven.  Reportedly, Rodgers was carried in triumph to his quarters by Tarleton supporters who admired the young American’s spirit and patriotism.

A similar incident, this time in Hamburg, involved the playing of a popular American tune, the Washington March.  Rodgers and some fellow countrymen requested the orchestra in a theater to play it, but outnumbered by the British in the audience the orchestra played God Save the King.  A brawl ensued when an American in the box with Rodgers failed to remove his hat and was knocked into the pit.  Rodgers managed to rescue his countryman from harm and get him to safety.  The following evening, returning to the theater and repeating their request, the orchestra played the Washington March, while the Americans enjoyed a surge of national pride.  Rodgers’ quick temper and his sensitivity to perceived insults to his flag never left him.  In the years before 1800 such incidents were frequent due to the stars and stripes’ newness on the international scene.

On one of the earliest voyages to Europe, Rodgers’ ship was carried into the North Sea in near disastrous conditions:  provisions were almost gone; three of his men froze to death in one night, the crew, sullen and despairing, refused to go aloft to secure the frozen rigging.  Their captain, indignant at their cowardice, stripped off his jacket and shirt to go aloft, wearing only trousers and shoes, telling the crew he would show them what a man could do.  After a moment’s hesitation, torn between fear and shame, they followed him up, and never afterwards showed any desire to disobey his orders.  As captain of his ship, Rodgers expected absolute obedience from his crew, enforced by a hard fist if need be.  Despite his youth, they learned early to fear and respect him; he asked no more than he would do himself.

In 1798, after twelve years in the merchant service, Rodgers secured a commission as a lieutenant in the newly formed United States Navy probably with help from his brother-in-law, William Pinkney, a well-known Marylander in legal and political affairs, and the influential Smith brothers.  On March 8, 1798, Rodgers received his appointment from President John Adams as second lieutenant on the Constellation, constructed at Baltimore and being readied for service against the French intrusions in the West Indies.  The years had seen him rise from cabin boy to command of his own ship, and along the way he had learned all that was essential for a life at sea.  He knew a ship from top to bottom, bow to stern, could scramble aloft with the best of any Jack, and was equally at home on deck.  In the uncertain years of early sailing, unchartered coast lines and unmarked shoals, a paucity of nautical instruments, and the frequent presence of pirates and warring ships made life at sea hazardous.  He could vouch for that having lost a ship in 1797 to a French privateer and the L’Orient prize court, an experience that colored his opinion of the French ever after.  The years of merchant experience had provided him with a solid foundation for a navy career.  His appointment coincided with Adams’ determination to build a navy to represent the newly independent United States and protect its commercial interests at sea from British and French deprivations coinciding with the wars of the French Revolution.

Chapter Two

Thanks to the persuasion of John Adams, who had a keen interest in maritime activities, a new American navy was established April, 30, 1798 by an act of Congress which provided for an independent Department of the Navy, separate from the Department of War, headed by a civilian secretary with direct responsibility for all naval matters and a voice in the cabinet.  The importance of this act cannot be understated; the navy was to have a solid, permanent foundation, rather than a secondary role in the Department of War.  It had not happened easily.  Debate was intense and acrimonious between the Federalists and Republicans, but the publication of the XYZ Papers had aroused such intense anger against the French that the Federalists won the day.  The United States would have a navy, primarily in response to external events.

Four years earlier, Congress had passed a law to build six frigates, of no less than 32 guns, in response to the seizure of American merchant ships in the Mediterranean by Algerian corsairs, who made a living preying on defenseless merchant ships.  As early as 1785, American ships were captured and held for ransom as was customary with the European powers.  The earliest victims, the Maria and Dauphin, when taken had their crews thrown into slavery to await the usual payment of tribute. The Dey of Algiers did not view the new interlopers in his sea with equanimity.  It was months before Congress learned of these events and addressed the problem, but despite public sentiment against paying tribute, the captured seamen were ransomed for $59,496 Spanish milled dollars and, on payment, such depredations ceased for a while.  Then in October, 1793, David Humphreys, United States Minister to Portugal issued a warning to government and military officials of the danger of capture in southern parts of Europe by the Algerians.  A truce for twelve months between Portugal and Algiers allowed a fleet of eight Algerian vessels to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Atlantic; its objective to cruise against the American flag.  This information finally forced Congress to take up the matter of protection for American merchant ships.  But the task of convincing members of Congress of the need for naval planning remained difficult, chiefly because many in Congress viewed with suspicion a standing army and navy as remnants of royal power.

William Maclay and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania expressed the opposition, Republican, view point:  It is the design of the Court party to have a fleet and an army.  This is but the entering wedge of a new monarchy in America, after all the bloodshed and sufferings of a seven years’ war to establish a republic.  At another point, Maclay complained: This thing of a fleet has been working among our members all the session. … It is another menace to our republican institutions.  In riposte Alexander Hamilton asserted in the Federalist Papers that the rights of neutrality would only be respected when they are defended by an adequate power.  Otherwise, our commerce would be prey to all nations at war with each other, having nothing to fear from us.The Federalists, representing the New England shipping interests, argued that the rising cost of insurance on transatlantic voyages was costing an additional two million dollars each year, which affected the farmer as well as the merchant.

It is hard to imagine in our day of routine naval budgets how heated the discussion was, how sharp the divide between the marine establishment of the northeast and the agrarian inland and southern states, before a resolution to establish a navy and build six frigates, four of 44 guns, two of 36 guns, passed.  In the House the vote was 50 -39.  Among the no votes was James Madison who led the Republican effort on the floor.  Had he rounded up another six votes, there would have been no navy which within twenty years would come to play an important role during his administration. Charles W. Goldsborough, chief clerk of the Navy Department from its earliest days, wrote of the act’s struggle:  Its adversaries, who were powerful in numbers and in talents, urged with force and eloquence that the force contemplated was inadequate; that the finances of the republic did not justify expensive fleets; that it was a sacred duty as well as a sound policy to discharge the public debt; that the older and more powerful nations bought the friendship of Algiers, and we might do the same, or that we might subsidize some of the European naval powers to protect our trade. The outnumbered Republicans still gained a partial victory with a stipulation that the purpose of the frigates was to protect American shipping in the Mediterranean; if a truce was reached with Algiers, the building program would cease, and the navy would no longer exist.  Construction began on the frigates, but when peace was declared in 1794 at a cost of nearly one million dollars, including ransom of American prisoners and construction of a 33-gun frigate for the Dey’s fleet, work on three frigates stopped despite President Washington’s urging Congress to continue. Years later, the arch Republican, Albert Gallatin, had to admit that his country had no national dignity abroad except what these frigates had conquered.

In the end, national pride and reality took a major leap forward in the face of political developments in Europe.  The newly appointed first Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin Stoddert, who assumed office in June of 1798, was immediately embroiled in the rising menace from French ships in the West Indies and called for speeded efforts to construct the six frigates whose construction had languished since 1794.  Once our allies during the Revolution, the French under Napoleon had become our enemy in a curious turnabout of which history has many examples.  The United States’ signing of the Jay Treaty with Great Britain, adjusting certain long standing claims and approving the rights of belligerents to interfere with neutral shipping, had infuriated the French, who regarded it as a violation of the Franco-American Alliance of 1778.  A clause of the Jay treaty permitted the British to search and seize American ships thought to be carrying non-contraband goods to France; France retaliated by seizing American ships in the Caribbean with devastating effect as insurance rates to Jamaica rose 40 per cent.  Faced with this situation, Stoddert began building a navy to meet the crisis.  One man-of-war had already put to sea, the Constellation, which sailed from Baltimore on June 24th.  The United States, Constitution and President would follow.  On July 9th 1798, Congress raised the stakes by authorizing American warships and armed merchantmen to seize, take, and bring to port armed French vessels, public or private, caught off the coast or anywhere upon the sea, and to retake captive American merchantmen, but were prohibited from preying upon enemy commerce.  While not an official declaration of war, it had that intent.  The Quasi War with France had begun.

In Congress, naval policy triggered heated discussion.  Secretary Stoddert presented his report to that body in December with a statement of Federalist naval objectives:  protection of our coast … safety of our important commerce; and our future peace when the maritime nations of Europe war with each other … To make the most powerful nations desire our friendship – the most unprincipled respect our neutrality.  These were reasonable goals but without the pressure of French seizures Congress would have discussed their worth through another session.

The previous year, on August 29, 1797, a notice in the Baltimore Telegraphe announced that after three long years of delays, changes, mistakes, hard work, and worry, the United States Frigate Constellation would be launched on September 7th, wind, weather and tide permitting.  The second of the original six frigates authorized in 1794 would be afloat.  President Washington, when the act authorizing the six frigates’ construction passed, insisted that the ships be built in six seaport towns, taking into consideration the wealth, and populousness of the states in which they were located.  The four 44-gun ships would be built in Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and Norfolk; the two 36’s in Baltimore and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  The result was increased expense for six separate construction sites, for six master builders, for six of everything, with six times as many mistakes a given.  No wonder that three years later only two ships were in the water.

Captain Thomas Truxtun was charged with overseeing the construction of the Constellation.  He was an experienced seaman with definite ideas about the kind of ship desired as well as the decision for dispersing the construction.  He told Secretary of War Knox in 1794 that the decision was going great lengths for the gratification of a few individuals, an observation that proved only too correct, but Washington was adamant that benefits from the ship building program be spread along the coast.

Early into the program, the builders made the acquaintance of live oak.  This heavy, dense, and durable wood was found growing in profusion along the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia.  It was highly desirable because when properly seasoned it would last much longer than the white oak used in Europe and the former colonies.  There was one catch: a sizable supply in the southern lowlands proved extremely difficult to cut and haul to where it was needed, causing significant delays.  One shipload was lost off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Captains as impatient as Truxtun finally requested white oak which grew in more northerly climes.  This was but one of the frustrating problems connected with the program.  At every step of the project, there were difficulties with ship design, labor, supplies, cannons, to name but a few, which caused multiple headaches.  In fact, the very existence of the program was suddenly up in the air when the United States signed a peace treaty with the Dey of Algiers in 1795.  The next spring, with passage of the Navy Act the president’s will was made known:  the frigates building in Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore would continue; the other three would end.

Captain Truxtun heaved a sigh of relief and rallied the yard’s workforce to ready the ship for launching.  Rising high in her stocks on the left bank of the Patapsco, her bottom sheathed in copper to the water line, the Constellation was heroic in size:  171 feet in length on deck and 40 feet broad; she reached her widest point ten feet below the deck, then curved upward to the railings.  The quantities of equipment – masts, blocks, water-casks, guns and boats - for her completion lay about the yard.  The carved work by William Rush, a noted Philadelphia ship carver, was in place – cat faces for the timbers called catheads, the elegant female figure representing Nature in pleasing extacy…her hair and drapery loose and flowing, her right hand elevated, her left arm lightly resting on a large sphere.  Visitors to the yard gazed in awe. 

Into this world came Lieutenant John Rodgers, commissioned March 8, 1798, as a lieutenant.  A communication from the Department of War on March 16, 1798, listed him as second lieutenant on the Constellation.  By April, he was appointed first lieutenant, when Simon Gross turned down the assignment, by the secretary of war, the Department of the Navy not yet in operation.  At twenty-five years of age, Rodgers made a striking impression:  of above medium height, his muscular frame radiated energy; dark eyes gleamed beneath bushy eyebrows in a strikingly handsome face topped with black curly hair.  Here was a forceful character.  He met all the requirements that secretaries looked for in new recruits:  A strong constitution of body and mind, a high love of character, and passion for glory.

His service under Truxtun was fortuitous.  He fitted easily into his superior’s scheme of organization on shipboard, perfected by Truxtun during years of command, and carried it with him in future command.  Both men had served in the merchant marine service where discipline was maintained by a strong fist, but the captain, now commanding an American frigate, had refined the system, preferring to send offenders to the masthead or put them on bread and water with a severe tongue lashing.  At the same time, Truxtun was a thoughtful man and the author of two books, Remarks, Instructions, and Examples relating to the Latitude and Longitude and Instructions, Signals, and Explanations offered for the United States Fleet, books which Rodgers read, delighted to find someone interested in his new profession. The young lieutenant was stimulated by meeting someone more knowledgeable than the usual captain on the details and philosophy of naval command, and respect for his captain grew appreciably.  Truxtun’s biographer, Eugene Ferguson, wrote of Rodgers:  His devotion to his captain was unalloyed.

The new first lieutenant’s first duty was to recruit as many men as possible at a rendezvous set up in Cloney’s Tavern at Fell’s Point in Baltimore, hopefully 130 able seamen.  The instructions were pure Truxtun:  offer able seamen fifteen dollars a month, ordinary seamen ten, with two months’ pay if a man could furnish good and Sufficient Security against running away before going on board ship.  Rodgers was allowed one dollar for every man signed on to cover costs of the rendezvous – fire, candle, Liquor, house rent, etc. – and he was to have a clear understanding with Mr. Cloney on this subject before opening the rendezvous. A reasonable allowance would be made to Rodgers for music to indulge and humour the Johns in a farewell frolic.  As soon as men were signed up they were put on the Pilot Boat and fed until ten or more were collected, upon which they were dispatched on the boat in charge of a midshipman or other trusty person to the Constellation.  Even though the surgeon and his mate examined the men, Truxtun insisted Rodgers pay particular attention in examining the men entered, So that none but hale hearty men compose the Crew of this Ship, and the more real natives you can procure the better.  He advised Rodgers to meet with the agents, Samuel and James Sterett and make some agreement for helping with the business, the compensation to be so much per man.  He warned that care must be taken not to pay two people for procuring one man, and throughout the whole business Rodgers should be very civil and good humour’d with everybody, and endeavour to attach them to the Service.  One wonders if this last injunction resulted from a quick assessment of Rodgers’ temperament.  At the end of his long letter, Truxtun added a short note advising, the more men you can enter and send down, without the aid of other parties will be a Saving of So much to the United States.  Be at the rendezvous night and day, until the mission was completed.  After five weeks, Rodgers had enlisted about 100 men; even with an increase to seventeen dollars a month for able seamen, enlistment was slow.  One reason was American merchant ships flourished during the Napoleonic war in spite of the British blockade; seamen were well paid, and the navy couldn’t match merchant pay.  Even when men already entered received the additional sum, more were needed for the ship’s required complement of 220.  William Cowper, second lieutenant, was sent to Norfolk and enlisted another hundred; James Triplett, who would act as lieutenant of marines (there was no Marine Corps at this time), secured additional seamen at Alexandria in addition to almost 40 marines with drummers and fifers.  Now the job of forming the new recruits into a disciplined fighting force began.

Truxtun posted the quarter bill and list of standing orders next to the Articles of War where all could read them; there would be no excuse for not knowing.  The quarter bill described the station each crew member was to take when the drum beat to quarters sounded in preparation for action at sea.  The standing orders explained in detail the routine to be followed in port and at sea.  Each officer received a copy for study, provoking a comment by one it would take a sea lawyer to learn them all.

Truxtun outlined his general policies to his executive officer, who took them to heart.  Proper subordination was expected from every officer and man on board; no opinions should be offered on an assigned duty without being asked, in deed all orders should be executed without hesitation or demur.  His officers were to be Civil and polite to every one… for Civility does not interfere with discipline.  He warned against tyrannical behavior, "too great a disposition to punish where we have power is not necessary to facilitate business, or to