John Rodgers, the late Senior Rear Admiral on the active list of the Navy, died at Washington, D. C., on the 5th day of May, 1882, in the 70th year of his age.
He had been 54 years in the Naval Service, and to it had given the enthusiasm of his youth, the strength of his middle age, the judgment of his riper years, and his single minded devotion and rare wisdom always.
After many perils by land and sea, in battle and in storm, he died peacefully, in his own home, full of years and honors, and was gently laid to rest by weeping friends in his native soil; completing a life well rounded in usefulness and without a flaw. He reached the Scriptural measure of three score and ten, died in harness, worn out, but full of hope in the ceaseless struggle for something better.
He was President of the Naval Institute from January 1879 to January 1882, and this sad intelligence comes to us too late to give in this number anything more than this hasty expression of grief, but in a future number we hope to give a careful and extended sketch of his life.
The purpose of this Institute is to elevate the character of the Naval Service, and this cannot better be done than by lessons learned from a life so useful, so honorable, so grand in simplicity, and so complete.