John Rodgers (July 11, 1772 – August 1, 1838) was a senior naval officer in the United States Navy during its formative years in the 1790s through the late 1830s. He served under six presidents for nearly four decades. His service took him through many military operations in the Quasi-War with France, both Barbary Wars in North Africa, and the War of 1812 with Britain. As a senior officer in the young American Navy, Rodgers played a major role in the development of the standards, customs and traditions that emerged during this time. Rodgers was, among other things, noted for commanding the largest American squadron in his day to sail the Mediterranean Sea. After serving with distinction as a lieutenant, he was soon promoted directly to the rank of captain (the rank of Master Commandant did not exist at that time). During his naval career he commanded a number of warships, including , the flagship of the fleet that defeated the Barbary states of North Africa. During the War of 1812 Rodgers fired the first shot of the war aboard his next flagship, , and also played a leading role in the recapture of Washington D.C. after the capital was burned by the British. He suffered having his own hometown and house burned and his family displaced. Later in his career he headed the Board of Navy Commissioners, and he served briefly as Secretary of the Navy. Following in his footsteps, Rodgers' son, and several grandsons and great-grandsons, also became commodores and admirals in the United States Navy. Early life Rodgers's parents were part of a large wave of Scottish immigrants from the British Isles in the years prior to the American Revolution. His father, John Rodgers, was born in Scotland in 1726. He emigrated to America and in 1760 married Elizabeth Reynolds (born 1742) from Delaware, who was also of Scots ancestry. They had eight children, four sons and four daughters; the younger John Rodgers was named for his father. Like many other Scots immigrants, his father became a proponent of the patriot cause and served as a colonel in the militia. Rodgers was born in 1772 on a farm in a village near the "Susquehanna Ferry", on the north shore of the Susquehanna River (near today's Perryville) in Cecil County. This was near its mouth at the Chesapeake BayHe was raised here for the first thirteen years of