the St. Lawrence with 200 rangers, he visited Fort Pitt, had an interview with Pontiac, and received the submission of Detroit. lie visited England, and suffered from want until he borrowed money to print his journal, which he presented to the king, who in 1763 appointed him governor of Mackinaw. Mich.; but while holding this office he was accused of plotting to plunder his own fort and to deliver it to the French, and was consequent- ly sent to Montreal in irons and tried by court- martial. In 1769 he revisited England, but was soon imprisoned for debt. Afterward he returned to this country. Dr. John Wheelock, of Dart- mouth college, wrote at this period: "The famous Maj. Rogers came to my house from a tavern in the neighborhood, where lie called for refreshment. I had never before seen him. He was in but an ordi- nary habit for one of his character. He treated me with great respect ; said he came from London in July, and had spent twenty days with the congress in Philadelphia, and I forget how many at New York ; had been offered and urged to take a com- mission in favor of the colonies, but. as he was on half-pay from the crown, he thought it proper not to accept it " : and also " that he had got a pass, or license to travel, from the Continental congress." Maj. Rogers's accounts of himself were probably not accurate, but he had been a prisoner of con- gress, and was released on parole, promising thai he would bear no arms against the American colo- nies. Soon after leaving Dr. Wheelock he wrote to Gen. Washington : " I love America : it is my native country, and that of my family, and I in- tend to spend the evening of my days in it." It is believed that at this very moment, he was a spy. Being suspected by Washington, he was secured in 1776, and during his examination, pretending that he had business with congress, was sent to Phila- delphia under the care of an officer. Thai U.dy decided that he should be disposed of by the Pro- vincial congress of New Hampshire. Notwith- standing his parole, he accepted the commission of colonel in the British army, for which he raised the Queen's rangers, a corps that was celebrated throughout the contest. To encourage enlistments he issued a printea circular promising to the re- cruits "their proportion of all rebel lands." On 21 Oct., 1776, he escaped being taken prisoner by Lord Stirling at Mamaroneck. Soon afterward he went to England, and in 1778 he was proscribed and banished. His subsequent history is lost. Rogers was the author of " A Concise Account of North America" (London, 1765); "Journals," giv- ing an account of his early adventures as a ranger (1765 ; Dublin, 1770) ; and " Ponteaeh, or the Savages of America," a tragedy in verse (176G). This was printed anonymously, and is now very rare. His "Diary of the Siege of Detroit in the War with Pontiac " was published, with other nar- ratives and with notes, by Franklin B. Hough (Albany, 1860; new ed., 1883). The names of the officers of Rogers's rangers are given in the " Re- port of the Adjutant-General of New Hampshire," and his exploits are chronicled in Gen. John Wins- low's unpublished "Journal." and in manuscript letters in the Massachusetts archives. The " Jour- nals" mentioned above are condensed in "Remi- niscences of the French War," edited by Caleb Stark (Concord, 1831), and also appear in an abridged form in a " Memoir of John Stark " by the same author (1860). The best edition is that edited by Franklin B. Hough (Albany, 1883). ROGERS, Thomas J.~, congressman, b. in Waterford, Ireland, in 1781 ; d. in New York city, 7 Dec., 1832. He came to the United States in S4. learned printing, and for many years pub- lished and edited a political newspaper. lie was elected to congress from Pennsylvania as a Demo- crat, serving from -,'4 March, 1818, till 26 April. 1824. when he resigned, having been appointed recorder of deeds for Northampton county. Pa. He was the author of "A New American Bio- graphical Dictionary; or. Remembrancer of the Departed Heroes. Sages, and Statesmen of Ameri- ca " (Easton, Pa., isl:; : la>t ed., 1829).
ROGERS, William, clergyman and educator,
b. in Newport, R. I.. 22 July. i751 : d. in Philadel-
phia, Pa., 7 April, 1824. "He was graduated in
1769 at Rhode Island college (now Brown), where
he was the first and for several days the only stu-
dent. He afterward became principal of an "acad-
emy at Newport, and in 1772- "5 was pastor of the
1st Baptist church in Philadelphia. In April.
1776. he was chosen chaplain to Col. Samuel
Miles's Pennsylvania rifle regiment, and served
until June, 1778, when he was made brigade ehap-
lain in the Continental army, retiring from the
service in June, 1781. After quitting the army he
received calls from three churches, of different
denominations, to settle in the ministry. In 1789
he was chosen professor of oratory and English
literature in the College of Philadelphia, and in
1792 to the same post in its successor, the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, which place he resigned in
1811. He was chosen in 1790 vice-president of
the Pennsylvania society for the gradual abolition
of >lavery. in 1797 vice-president of the Philadel-
phia society for alleviating the miseries of public
prisons, in 1802 one of the correspondents and
editors of the London '"Evangelical Magazine." in
-oriel v of Philadelphia. He received the degree
of A. M. from the University of Pennsylvania in
1773, Yale in 1780, and Princeton in 1786, and in,
171)0. from the iir.-t named, the degree of D. D.
lie published " A Circular Letter on Justification "
(1785; reprinted in London, 1786); "An Introduc-
tory Prayer." at the request of the Pennsylvania
society of the Cincinnati (1789) ; " A Sermon on the
Death" of Rev. ( (liver Hart " (1796) ; " An Introduc-
tory Prayer, occasioned by the Death of General
Washington " (1800) ; " A Circular Letter on Chris-
tian Missions"; and various moral, religious, and
political articles in newspapers and magazines.
ROGERS, William Augustus, astronomer, b. in Waterford, Conn., 13 Nov., 1832 ; d. in Waterville, Me., 1 March, 1898. He was graduated at Brown in 1857, taught in Alfred academy, and in 1858 was given its chair in mathematics am! astronomy, which he held for thirteen years. Meanwhile, during leaves of absence, he passed a year at the Sheffield scientific school of Yale as a .-indent of theoretical and applied mechanics, one year as a special student of astronomy in the Harvard observatory, which was followed by six months' experience as an assistant, and spent fourteen months in the U. S. naval service during the civil war. The observatory at Alfred was built and equipped by him. In 1870 he was appointed assistant in the Harvard observatory, and he became in 1877 assistant professor of astronomy. In 1 SSI] he was called to the chair of astronomy and physics at Colby university. His special oik at the Harvard observatory consisted in observing and mapping all the stars down to the ninth : nitude in a narrow belt, a little north of our zenith. The observations on this work extended over a period of eleven years, and required fifteen
