Ashby, George Franklin. Major General Grenville M. Dodge (1831-1916) Maker of History in the Great West. New York: Newcomen Society of England, American Branch, 1947.
DODGE, Grenville Mellen
1831–1916
Biography
DODGE, Grenville Mellen, a Representative from Iowa; born in Danvers, Essex County, Mass., April 12, 1831; attended the Danvers public schools and Durham Academy, New Hampshire; was graduated as a civil engineer from Norwich University, Vermont, in 1851; moved to Iowa and settled in Council Bluffs; member of the city council of Council Bluffs in 1860; entered the Union Army as colonel of the Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry on July 6, 1861; promoted to brigadier general of Volunteers March 21, 1862, and major general June 7, 1864; resigned from the Army May 30, 1866; chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad 1866-1870; elected as a Republican to the Fortieth Congress (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1869); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1868; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1868, 1872, and 1876; settled in New York City; president of the commission to inquire into the management of the war with Spain; died in Council Bluffs, Iowa, January 3, 1916; interment in Walnut Hill Cemetery.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
[ Top ]External Research Collections
State Historical Society of Iowa
Des Moines, IA
Papers:
ca. 1850-1916, 119 linear feet.
The Grenville Dodge Papers include correspondence; diaries; addresses; military orders, reports and commissions; documentation related to the secret service in the Civil War; military and railroad maps and blueprints; financial and legal records; 23 volumes of compiled biographical material; scrapbooks; photographs (including William Henry Jackson prints related to the survey and construction of the Union Pacific railway); and ephemera.
Colorado Historical Society
Denver, CO
Papers:
In the Edward Lewis Berthoud Collection, 1851-1907, 2.5 linear feet.
Other authors include Grenville Mellen Dodge. A finding aid is available in the repository.
Papers:
In the Panhandle Construction Company Collection, 1886- 1887, 0.5 linear foot.
Other authors include Grenville Mellen Dodge.
Papers:
In the Texas and Colorado Railway Improvement Company Collection, 1881-1887, 1 linear foot.
Other authors include Grenville Mellen Dodge.
Dartmouth College Library
Rauner Special Collections Library
Hanover, NH
Papers:
In the Phineas Sanborn Conner Scrapbook, ca. 1861-1899, 30 leaves.
Persons represented include Grenville Dodge.
Denver Public Library
Western History Department
Denver, CO
Papers:
1850-1903. 618 items.
Personal and business correspondence and papers and battle reports. Index in library.
Free Public Library
Council Bluffs, IA
Papers:
1855-1916. ca. 70 items and 32 volumes.
Chiefly transcripts of originals in the State Historical Society of Iowa. Most relate to the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad and the history of Council Bluffs.
Historic General Dodge House
Council Bluffs, IA
Papers:
1869-1916. 51 items.
Includes business and personal correspondence, photographs, portraits, memorabilia, and a diary (1914). Restricted.
Oral History:
Mrs. Prasse, a servant/employee.
Restricted.
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Papers:
Correspondence in Uriah Hunt Painter papers, 1855-1936. 10,000 items and 75 volumes.
Huntington Library
Manuscripts Department
San Marino, CA
Papers:
In the Railroadiana (Western U.S.A.) Collection - Part 2, 1869-1901, 85 pieces.
Correspondents include Grenville Mellen Dodge. An unpublished finding aid is available in the repository.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers:
In the James Sullivan Clarkson Papers, 1851-1917, approximately 1,200 items.
Correspondents include Grenville Mellen Dodge. A finding aid is available in the library.
Papers:
In the Columbus Delano Family Papers, 1845-1889, 1.2 linear feet.
Correspondents include Grenville Mellen Dodge. A finding aid is available in the library.
Papers:
In the George Dewey Papers, 1805-1949, 46 linear feet.
Correspondents include Grenville Mellen Dodge. A finding aid is available in the library.
Papers:
In the Daniel O. Drennan Papers, 1861-1904, approximately 4,750 items.
Among the memoirs are those of General Grenville M. Dodge, concerning Sheridan.
Papers:
In the Ulysses S. Grant Papers, ca. 1843-1969, 100 linear feet.
Correspondents include Grenville Mellen Dodge. A finding aid is available in the library.
Papers:
In the John Alexander Logan Family Papers, ca. 1836-1925, 61.6 linear feet.
Correspondents include Grenville Mellen Dodge. A finding aid is available in the library.
Papers:
In the Elihu Root Papers, ca. 1863-1937, 87 linear feet.
Correspondents include Grenville Mellen Dodge. A finding aid is available in the library.
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Springfield, IL
Papers:
In the Frank Irving Herriott Papers, 1860-1913, 71 items.
Correspondents include Grenville Dodge.
Papers:
In the Richard J. Oglesby Papers, 1846-1924, 15.76 linear feet.
Other authors include Grenville Dodge. An inventory is available in the repository.
The Morgan Library
Department of Literary and Historical
Manuscripts
New York, NY
Papers:
1871, 1 item.
A letter from Grenville Mellen Dodge to William W. Belknap written on April 9, 1871. In the letter, Dodge writes concerning the President's trip West.
Papers:
1871, 1 item.
A letter from Grenville Mellen Dodge to William W. Belknap written on August 8, 1871. In the letter, Dodge writes concerning their friend "Scott" and the "Cincinnati Bridge."
Norwich University Library
Northfield, VT
Papers:
1870-1916. 2 feet.
Personal letters, correspondence concerning Norwich University, genealogical memoir (ca. 1902), pamphlets, and articles. Copies of originals in other repositories. Finding aid in repository.
Texas Tech University
Southwest Collection
Lubbock, TX
Papers:
In the Morgan Jones Papers, 1877-1944, approximately 8,659 leaves.
Other authors include Grenville Dodge. A finding aid is available in the repository.
University of Iowa Libraries
Special Collections Department
Iowa City, IA
Papers:
1863-1915, 21 items.
The papers of Grenville Mellen Dodge contain military requests and orders; concerning photographs, greetings and invitations.
University of Michigan
William L. Clements Library
Ann Arbor, MI
Papers:
Correspondence in Russell Alexander Alger papers, 1862-1907. 3 feet (ca. 4,600 items).
Described in published guide.
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Bibliography / Further Reading
Baldwin, John N. General Grenville M. Dodge. [Council Bluffs?: N.p., 1906].
Dodge, Grenville Mellen. Address to Army associations and miscellaneous papers relating to Civil and Spanish wars. New York: Unz & Company, 1904.
------. The Battle of Atlanta, and other campaigns, addresses, etc. Council Bluffs, Iowa: The Monarch Printing Company, 1910. Reprint, Earlysville, Va.: Old Books Pub., [1996].
------. Biographical sketch of James Bridger; mountaineer, trapper and guide. [Kansas City: R.M. Rigby Printing Co., 1904?]
------. A brief biographical sketch of the life of Major-General Grenville M. Dodge. New York: Press of Styles & Cash, 1893. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1981.
------. Colonel William H. Kinsman. Des Moines: N.p., 1902.
------. How We Built the Union Pacific Railway. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1910. Reprint, Ann Arbor, [Mich.]: University Microfilms, [1966].
------. The Indian campaign of winter of 1864-65. [Denver?: N.p., 1907?]
------. Map of the Union Pacific Rail Road and surveys of 1864, 65, 66, 67, 1868 from Missouri River to Humboldt Wells, G.M. Dodge, Chief Engineer. [N.p.], 1869.
------. Personal recollections of General William T. Sherman, by Major-General Grenville M. Dodge. Delivered at the 28th annual encampment, Department of Iowa, Grand Army of the Republic, May 21, 1902, Des Moines, Iowa.
------. Personal recollections of Lincoln: An address before the Young Men's Christian Association of Council Bluffs, Iowa, on February 12th, 1911. Council Bluffs, Iowa: Monarch Printing Co., 1911.
------. Personal Recollections of President Abraham Lincoln, General Ulysses S. Grant, and General William T. Sherman. Council Bluffs, Iowa: The Monarch Printing Company, 1914. Reprint, Denver: Sage Books, [1965].
------. Romantic realities. The story of the building of the Pacific roads ... A paper on the trans-continental railways, by General G. M. Dodge, read before the Society of the Army of the Tennessee at its 21st annual reunion at Toledo, Ohio, September 15, 1888. Compliments Passenger Department of the Union Pacific system. Omaha, Nebr.: N.p., 1891.
------. Sketch of the military service of Major General Wager Swayne. New York: Unz, [1903].
------. [Transcontinental railways] Paper read before the Society of the Army of the Tennessee at its 21st annual reunion at Toledo, O., Sept. 15, 1888. New York: Unz & Co., printers, 1899.
Farnham, Wallace D. "Grenville Dodge and the Union Pacific: A Study of Historical Legends." Journal of American History 51 (1965): 632-50.
Hirshon, Stanley P. Grenville M. Dodge: Politician Railroad Pioneer. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1967.
Mauck, Genevieve Powlison, and William J. Petersen. "Grenville Mellen Dodge, Soldier-Engineer." Palimpsest 47 (November 1966): 433-80.
Perkins, Jacob Randolph. Trails, rails and war; the life of General G. M. Dodge. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, [1929]. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1981