General Grant, after the battle, General Hooker and his command were the subject of special mention.

In person, General Hooker is tall, finely proportioned, and of commanding presence. His bold and fearless nature amounts almost to recklessness in the indifferent exposure of his own life on the field of battle. His appearance among his troops is electrifying in its effect, stimulating their ardor and courage, and winning by his gracious manner their attachment and fidelity.

CAPT

JOHN RODGERS.

APTAIN JOHN RODGERS is a native of Maryland, and is the son of Commodore Rodgers, so well known in connection with the distinguished deeds of the American navy during its early existence. John Rodgers, the son, had all the taste of his father for the sea, and, in 1828, when very young, entered the navy, where he was soon noticed for his ability and zeal. He passed through the usual grades of Midshipman and Lieutenant with great credit to himself, and, for two years, was employed on the Coast Survey, and in boat service against the Seminole Indians.

In 1852, he was appointed second in command of the Exploring Expedition sent to Behring Strait, under Captain (now Commodore) Ringgold, and when that officer was invalided home, Lieutenant Rodgers took his post, carrying the Vincennes farther into the Arctic Regions in that direction, than any vessel had gone before.

In 1856, he returned, and having been appointed a Commander during his absence, now occupied himself in preparing the charts and report of his expedition. He was thus engaged, with the exception of a short interval in 1858, when he commanded the Water Witch in the Gulf, until the rebellion broke out, when he immediately applied for active service, and was sent with other officers to Norfolk Navy-Yard, where he was assigned to the difficult and dangerous duty of blowing up the dry dock. This was done with extreme hazard to himself and Captain (now General) Wright of the Engineers, who, with only one sailor in attendance, remained to perform the work. They were not, however, fortunate enough to escape. They had reached the harbor, and were in a small boat pulling away, when a fire of musketry from the shore compelled them to surrender, and they were taken prisoners, but soon afterward released.

His next appointment was to superintend the creating a naval force on the Western rivers, and here his zeal and activity were displayed to the highest degree. A flotilla of gunboats, and several iron-clads were soon in readiness, and ultimately proved of great service in the naval operations that took place. But, owing to some misunderstanding with General Fremont, then in military command of that department, Commander Rodgers was relieved by Captain (afterward Admiral) Foote.

On the return of Commander Rodgers, he was appointed to one of the vessels attached to the Port Royal Expedition, and sailed in the Flag-ship Wabash which left Hampton Roads on the twenty-ninth of October, 1861, and, after a severe storm, anchored off the bar of Port Royal Harbor on the fourth of November. Commander Rodgers was then despatched in the gunboat Octorara to make a reconnoissance, which was successfully done; and, when, on the seventh, Fort Walker on Hilton Head was attacked by the Wabash and other ships of the fleet, he went on shore after the enemy's guns were silenced, and, finding the place vacated, he hoisted the Union flag, the first time it was waved on the rebel soil of South-Carolina. In the modest report of this action given by Commander Rodgers in a letter, he says: "Commodore Du Pont had kindly made me his aid. I stood by him, and I did little things which I suppose gained me credit. So when a boat was sent on shore to ask whether they had surrendered, I was sent. I carried the Stars and Stripes. I found the ramparts utterly desolate, and I planted the American flag on those ramparts with my own hands-first to take possession, in the majesty of the United States, of the rebel soil of SouthCarolina."

After this, Commander Rodgers took command of the "Flag" steamer, and proceeded to Savannah River for the purpose of examining it, and ascertaining the condition of affairs on Tybee Island. In this he was highly successful. The enemy had abandoned the place, and here, also for the first time, the Union flag was hoisted in rebel Georgia. Many night and boat expeditions, on reconnoissance, followed, under Commander Rodgers's personal inspection, and the information he gained was of material assistance to General Gillmore in the after reduction of Fort Pulaski.

The Flag, needing some repairs, was now ordered North, but Commander Rodgers, desiring active service, requested and obtained an appointment to command the gunboat flotilla on James River, Va., during General McClellan's Peninsula campaign. On May the fifteenth, on board his flag-ship the Galena, and in company with others of his fleet, he attacked Fort Darling, without success, but his whole operations were so serviceable to the Union cause, that General McClellan in his despatches gave him especial credit.

Commander Rodgers was, after this, appointed to the Weehawken, and being desirous of testing her qualities at sea, he boldly stood out during a heavy gale, and safely brought his vessel to an anchor in Hampton Roads. He thence proceeded to join the iron-clad fleet in Charleston Roads, and on the seventh of April, 1863, led the van in the attack upon Fort Sumter. At half-past twelve the fleet began to move, the Weehawken having a pioneer raft attached to her bows for the purpose of exploding torpedoes and clearing away obstructions, but it soon got deranged and caused some delay. Finally, progress was made, and Fort Morris