Born near Raleigh, North Carolina in 1825, Rogers attended common schools in Wake County and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating in 1846.

During the American Civil War, he served in the Confederate States Army as a lieutenant in the Fourteenth Regiment of North Carolina State Troops in 1861; was commissioned colonel of the Forty-seventh North Carolina Infantry April 8, 1862, and resigned January 5, 1863, upon being elected attorney general of the State of North Carolina.

His election was contested, however, by his Republican opponent, and Rogers was disqualified to serve under section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

After the election contest was dropped and Congress voted to remove his disabilities, Rogers was sworn in on May 23, 1872.

He built the Rogers-Bagley-Daniels-Pegues House about 1855, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.