Grenville M. Dodge
From Freepedia
Grenville Mullen Dodge[1] (April 12, 1831 – January 3, 1916) was a Union army officer on the frontier and during the Civil War, a U.S. Congressman, businessman, and railroad executive who helped construct the Transcontinental Railroad. He was one of the founders of the General Mills Corporation.
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Early life and career
Dodge was born in Putnamville, near Danville, Massachusetts. He graduated from Norwich University with a degree in civil engineering. For the next decade, he was involved in surveying for railroads, including the Union Pacific. He was also a partner in the Baldwin & Dodge Banking Firm.
Civil War
At the beginning of the war, Dodge was sent by the Governor of Iowa to Washington, D.C., where he secured 6,000 muskets to supply Iowa volunteers. In July of 1861, he was appointed Colonel of the 4th Iowa Volunteer Regiment. He commanded the 1st Brigade, 4th Division at the Battle of Pea Ridge, where he was wounded. For his services at the battle, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and placed in command of the District of the Mississippi, where he was involved in protecting and building railroads.
He was appointed major general in June of 1864 and commanded the XVI Corps during William T. Sherman's Atlanta campaign. At the Battle of Atlanta, the XVI Corps was held in reserve, but it happened to be placed in a position which directly intercepted John B. Hood's flank attack. Dodge also capably led the corps at the Battle of Ezra Church. During the following siege of Atlanta, he was struck in the knee by a Confederate sharpshooter in the Atlanta defenses. His wound left him unfit for field command, and he was placed in command of the Department of the Missouri.
Indian campaigns
As the Civil War was coming to a close, Dodge's Department of the Missouri was expanded to include the departments of Kansas, Nebraska and Utah. During the summer of 1865, Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians had been raiding the Bozeman Trail and overland mail routes. Dodge ordered a punitive campaign to quell these raids, which came to be known as the Powder River Expedition. Field command of the expedition was given to Brig. Gen. Patrick Edward Connor, who commanded the District of Utah. Connor's men inflicted a decisive defeat on the Arapaho Indians at the Battle of the Tongue River, but the expedition in general was inconclusive and eventually escalated into Red Cloud's War.
Railroads
Dodge was elected to the United States Congress and supported internal improvements to the West. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1868 and again at the 1876 convention in Cincinnati. After his term in office expired, he returned to railroad engineering. He received endorsements from Generals Grant and Sherman, and soon became the Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad. He became the leading figure in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. During the 1880s and 1890s, he served as president or chief engineer of dozens of railroad companies. Dodge went to New York City to manage his growing number of businesses he had developed.
He returned to his home state of Iowa and died in Council Bluffs.
The famed Western frontier town Dodge City, Kansas, was named in his honor.
Notes
- ^ Variations of his name include Greenville and Grenville Mellen.
References
Categories: 1831 births | 1916 deaths | American Civil War people | American Civil War Generals | Iowa history | U.S. Army officers
