Commodore Rogers died at his residence in Philadelphia on Wednesday evening. He was buried on Thursday with naval and military honors of which we copy the following particulars as given in the Phila. Gazette:—
“Brigadier General Prevost had called upon the uniformed companies of the city to aid in doing honors to the deceased, and many of them paraded at an early hour on Washington Square. They then formed the procession, the city military first, attended by the band from the navy yard, and the German band. The flags and the side arms were dressed in black. To these succeeded a detachment of marines; the clergy followed these, and then the body, borne on a hearse and the coffin covered with the national flag. The pall was sustained by six officers, chiefly of the navy among them were Commodore Stewart and Biddle. Eight United States seaman followed; the mourners succeeded these, and then the officers of the navy and army, foreign minister, Judges of the United States Court, and United States officers, the sheriff and citizens. When the military reached the entrance of the burial place, they formed a line, and the body was taken from the hearse and borne by the seamen, the marines preceding and the volunteers presenting arms. The solemn funeral service of the Episcopal Church was read by the Rev. Dr. Tyng. After which, the marines fired a volley over the grave. During the movement of the procession, minute guns were fired at the navy yard.”
The Philadelphia Spirit of the Times says—”Commodore Rogers was up to his death the head of the American navy—the oldest commander in the service—but for the last fifteen months has been a resident of the naval asylum in this city, and the greater part of that time in close confinement, a certified lunatic. He was made as comfortable as his unhappy situation would permit. His was not a continued madness, but a kind of childishness, with a strong passion for destruction upon slighter imaginary provocation.
He had gradually grown weaker and weaker for several months past, and died yesterday morning about 2 o’clock, without any particular disease, but from excessive weakness.
By his death Commodore Barron becomes the head of the Navy, with a salary increased from $2,500 to $3,500 a year. Commodore Stewart, now in command at our Nary yard, is second upon the list of officers, having been forty years in the service.”
The Rhode-Island Republican, Newport, RI, August 8, 1838