Civil War in 1861, and overseeing its relocation to Newport, Rhode Island, for the duration of the war. He was succeeded in the post 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 distinguishing himself at the Battle of Port Royal, receiving promotion to commander directly afterwards, on 15 November 1861. On March 11, 1862, Rodgers was sent into St. Augustine to accept the surrender of the city after the defending Confederate troops had left it unguarded. Rodgers also saw action at the capture of Fort Pulaski in April 1862, before serving as captain of the flagship, the 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 ships, which took him to the Mediterranean, and around South America and across the Pacific to Singapore in pursuit of the commerce raider . Post-war career Rodgers was promoted to captain on 25 July 1866, and in 1867–68 commanded the screw frigate , flagship of Admiral David Farragut in the European Squadron. Promoted to commodore on 28 August 1870, he then served as Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks from 1871 to 1874. 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 also served as president of the United States Naval Institute from 1875 to 1877. He was put onto the retired list on 14 November 1881. He again became president of the U.S. Naval Institute in 1882. Naval Academy accomplishments While at the Academy Rodgers fostered careful and concrete reforms to help restore the navy's professional and institutional credibility in an era when the service suffered from institutional decay, public indifference, and relied on an antiquated wooden navy sporting canvas and smoothbore guns. By upgrading and rationalizing the academy's curriculum, especially in regard to the new four-year course for engineers, introducing the first mechanical engineering course in the country, concentrating professional subjects in the first- and second-class years, and adding