Grenville Dodge

[Jim in Wisconsin]

I just watched a documentary on public television about Grenville Dodge - his life, his experiences in the war, and his roles in the building of railroads. I never knew anything about him before this, quite a life he led! Hit in the head by a sniper - presumed dead but "came back" for one thing.
He should be better known than he is - or was I just uninformed (very possible).

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Hit in the head by a sniper - presumed dead but "came back" for one thing.

Interesting to read about Dodge's close call surviving a serious head wounding by a Confederate sharpshooter outside of Atlanta on Aug. 19, '64. At the time, Dodge was in command of XVI Corps.

Dodge was wounded by a sharpshooter as he placed his eye to a peephole to observe the field in front. The fired ball hit near the center of his frontal bone, glanced upward, and fractured the external table of the bone. He was also knocked unconscious with a severe concussion of the brain. ('Medical Histories of Union Generals' by Jack Welsh, @ p. 100).

Remarkably, Dodge later returned to duty to command the Dept. of Missouri on Dec. 9, '64, and would not resign from the army until May, '66.

Arguably, Dodge's greatest accomplishments occurred in the postwar period following his serious head injury, while he was a leading railroad executive.

 

[J. Stanley]

Grenville Dodge is definitely one of the most unique generals of the war and certainly not very well known. He had combat command, spymaster and railroad builder under his belt all at once.

Dodge was a regimental and brigade commander in 1861-62, getting wounded at Pea Ridge where he performed well. He missed out on action in 1862-63 and then found himself commanding the Left Wing, XVI Corps. His best combat performance was his repulse of W.H.T. Walker and William B. Bate's Divisions during the Battle of Atlanta (July 22) with his three brigades. He personally rallied men, gave orders in person and was a real team player in that fight.

For 1862-63, he spent much of it as Grant's spymaster and as Grant's "Herman Haupt". During the Vicksburg Campaign, his scouts had so thoroughly infiltrated Mississippi that Grant had accurate reports on Confederate strength, with even a spy in Joe Johnston's headquarters providing Grant the exact orders Johnston had for Pemberton. He also worked on lots of railroads, rebuilding the Ohio and Mobile Railroad between Columbus, KY, to Corinth, MS, in 1862 and later the Nashville and Decatur Railroad during the Chattanooga Campaign. He also deserved a lot of credit for setting up the blockhouses system to defend the railroads, being among the first to set up such a system to defend the railroads.

 

[Pollaco]

Isn't he the one who got into a fist fight with the one armed Gen. Sweeny?

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Isn't he the one who got into a fist fight with the one armed Gen. Sweeny?

Yes.

Apparently, the one-armed Sweeny had held a long-forming resentment of Dodge and despised him as a presumptuous amateur who got his rank due to political connections.

While outside Atlanta on Jul. 22, Sweeny felt insulted when Dodge by-passed him and issued orders directly to some of the regiments in his division. Three days later B-G Sweeny invited B-G Dodge (and B-G Fuller) into his tent and the two got into an intense verbal altercation, involving the frequent use of expletives. Next, as Albert Castel wrote ('Decisions in the West' @ p. 419), ..."Then suddenly Sweeny strikes Dodge in the chest, Dodge swings back, and Fuller wrestles Sweeny to the ground and chokes him until he is pulled away by some staff officers. Dodge thereupon places Sweeny under arrest"...

Sounds like Sweeny and Dodge were a couple of hotheads.

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

Yes.

Apparently, the one-armed Sweeny had held a long-forming resentment of Dodge and despised him as a presumptuous amateur who got his rank due to political connections.

While outside Atlanta on Jul. 22, Sweeny felt insulted when Dodge by-passed him and issued orders directly to some of the regiments in his division. Three days later B-G Sweeny invited B-G Dodge (and B-G Fuller) into his tent and the two got into an intense verbal altercation, involving the frequent use of expletives. Next, as Albert Castel wrote ('Decisions in the West' @ p. 419), ..."Then suddenly Sweeny strikes Dodge in the chest, Dodge swings back, and Fuller wrestles Sweeny to the ground and chokes him until he is pulled away by some staff officers. Dodge thereupon places Sweeny under arrest"...

Sounds like Sweeny and Dodge were a couple of hotheads.

Hotheads weren't exactly thin on the ground in the Civil War. But yes, Sweeny and Dodge seem to have been exceptionally hot-headed, even for the period.

 

[NFB22]

Wasn't Dodge portrayed on the show Hell on Wheels on AMC? I know one of the show's main characters, Thomas Durant, was involved with Dodge in reality when he smuggled captured cotton out of the Confederacy and later employed Dodge.

 

[Library Lady]

Wasn't Dodge portrayed on the show Hell on Wheels on AMC? I know one of the show's main characters, Thomas Durant, was involved with Dodge in reality when he smuggled captured cotton out of the Confederacy and later employed Dodge.

Here's what the Union Pacific itself says about both Durant and Dodge:

Dr. Thomas C. Durant (1820-1885)

Formerly associated with the construction of other railroads, notably the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad across Iowa with engineer Henry Farnam, Durant came to the Union Pacific Railroad as vice president and general manager to extend a number of his own interests that would benefit from its construction. Durant, instrumental in marshaling support and financing for construction, worked at every level within the enterprise, from lobbying President Lincoln and maneuvering in Congress to intervening in the business of track-laying itself, seizing many an opportunity to bolster his own venture capital. An associate later called him "the most extravagant man I ever knew in my life."

Sidney Dillon, president of the Union Pacific in the 1870s and '80s, described Durant as "a fast man ... he was a man who, when he undertook to help to build a railroad didn't stop at trifles in accomplishing the end." Associated with virtually every accusation of bribery, fraud and scandal during and after construction, Durant outlived many of his enemies, dying at home at the age of 65.

General Grenville M. Dodge (1831-1916)

Civil War general and Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad during construction. No other man would be more important or more closely identified with the history of the Union Pacific and all western railroading than General Dodge. Trained as a civil engineer, Dodge would influence the Union Pacific's destiny from the first survey to its reorganization 30 years later.

What the UP doesn't directly say is that Durant set up the Credit Mobilier which was one of the biggest financial scandals of Gilded Age America.

 

[jackt62]

Dodge is mostly remembered for his role in building the Trans-Continental RR. But he is also one of the more interesting CW commanders for his role in RR logistics during the war. Even less well recognized is his role as a Union spymaster in the western arena.

 

[J. Stanley]

Sounds like Sweeny and Dodge were a couple of hotheads.

Hotheads weren't exactly thin on the ground in the Civil War. But yes, Sweeny and Dodge seem to have been exceptionally hot-headed, even for the period.

I wouldn't exactly call Dodge hotheaded; he was a man with a very strong will and inclined to have things done his way. While it is true that certain testimonies state that Dodge struck the first blow with an open-handed slap, I can frankly sympathize with Dodge. I can't imagine being stuck with an intemperate and disrespectful subordinate like Sweeny, especially in a warzone.

Sweeny frequently carried out Dodge's orders carelessly or outright ignored them, Dodge would ask why the order was not carried out to the letter and Sweeny would stew about it. Sweeny's subordinates also complained to Dodge that Sweeny was reckless with their lives, something which Dodge brought to Sweeny's attention, which caused even more tension.

15 days before they came to blows, things almost came to a boiling point. Sweeny had a run-in with the XVI Corps medical director, Dr. Norman Gay, who wanted an ambulance returned to him. Despite an order from the War Department in April 1864 preventing generals from appropriating ambulances for their personal needs, Sweeny had kept an ambulance for himself and harangued Dr. Norman for trying to take the ambulance back. Sweeny was apparently drunk and had threatened to horsewhip the doctor and then threatened to shoot him dead if they met again.

Fed up with Sweeny, Dodge asked McPherson to replace Sweeny with John M. Corse, a skilled general stuck on Sherman's staff who was desperate to return to the field. McPherson was not inclined to change division commanders mid-campaign and told Dodge that if Dodge really wanted to do it, he ought to arrest Sweeny and formally court martial him. Dodge was unwilling to go that far and thus tried to persuade Sweeny to knock off the drinking and to get along with him until the campaign ended. Evidently, that didn't happen. I should also note that other people didn't seem to hold a high opinion of him - Lt. Col. William T. Clark, the assistant adjutant general of the Army of the Tennessee, called Sweeny "the Dog" and asssured Dodge that Sweeny would be "placed where he can do no more harm".

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Hotheads weren't exactly thin on the ground in the Civil War. But yes, Sweeny and Dodge seem to have been exceptionally hot-headed, even for the period.

Agree - Maybe not desirable personal qualities for division or brigade commanders to have, who were required to make sound field command decisions and were entrusted with the lives of their men.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

I wouldn't exactly call Dodge hotheaded;

Maybe Dodge was not bad-tempered, but it did not sound like it took much to rile him. (Seems he may have been a very intense individual.)

 

[rpkennedy]

Spoiler alert everybody! I haven't read that far in Powell's Atlanta books.

Ryan

 

[gjpratt]

Hmmm. What is your opinion of Dodge in Northern Alabama, @lelliott19 , @Diane123 , and @Norman Dasinger Jr ? There needs to be some counterbalancing in this thread.

 

[lelliott19]

He missed out on action in 1862-63

Grenville Dodge commanded the force that came into NW Alabama from Corinth, Mississippi to screen for Streight's Raid in late April 1863.

Dodge didn't really do much - other than allowing his guys to burn everthing in sight. Houses, barns, food, forage, corncribs, smokehouses, a tannery, a mill, the LaGrange College, and a whole bunch of slave cabins. More on that later.

On arriving in AL, Abel D. Streight met up with Grenville Dodge at the bridge across Big Bear Creek, just across the State line into AL. Streight was intent on Rome, GA but he needed some help to elude Forrest. So he hooked up with Dodge and hatched a plan. Dodge would act as a decoy - to draw Forrest and Roddey's cavalry away from Streight's mule brigade. Dodge would distract them and Streight would sneak off to the southeast, unnoticed, and high tail it to Rome. It worked -- but only momentarily.

On April 28, Streight headed southeast through Russelville intent on Rome, GA. Dodge and his men engaged Nathan Bedford Forrest and Phillip Dale Roddey's (with an "e") Confederate Cavalry at the Battle of Town Creek. Dodge hoped this diversion would give Streight a head start. The diversion did not delay Forrest as long as was hoped, but it marked the end of Grenville Dodge's screening activity. Dodge was done with diversion and headed back to Iuka, MS.

Back to the burning. Dodge's guys weren't content with just going back to MS.

On the way they burned everything in sight. They burned the LaGrange College - including the libraries, consisting of about four thousand volumes, the chemical and philosophical apparatus, a cabinet of minerals, and all the furniture. It was a beautiful campus. Especially for such a rural area.

Dodge's guys also burned at least NINE homes - including my 2xgreat grandparents' dwelling house, barns, milkhouse, corncribs, smokehouse, root cellar, and everything in them - plus FOURTEEN slave cabins. Can you imagine? The UNION army burnng the houses of slaves? Yep. They did.

The above map shows the approximate locations of the burnings - LaGrange College and two of the homes that were burned. I already knew where the Cross home was located - it was my 2x great grandparents' place. I also marked the location of the Newsome home. Mrs. Newsome (a widow) was my 2x great grandparents' neighbor. Other homes that were burned included R. King, Philip King, Hartwell King, ____ King, Emmet Vinson, Richard Pruit and one located in Tuscumbia (unidentified owner) with an associated tanyard.

Confederate nurse, Kate Cumming, included an account of the burning of the Cross place (my 2x great grandparents) in her recollections of hospital life. She served in many of the same hospitals where by 2x gg was a Surgeon.

Dr. Cross was a man of wealth, and when he joined the army left his family well provided for. They lived near Tuscumbia, in the northern portion of Alabama. When the enemy went there they took every thing that Mrs. Cross had: upward of seventy negroes, twenty five thousand pounds of meat, all her livestock, and a large amount of grain and a large supply of groceries for family use. After they took all of these things, they politely asked Mrs. Cross to leave the house, as they intended to burn it. They would not give her time to get a change of clothes for her children. Her old father was an invalid, and had to hobble out on crutches. After getting through with her house, they went to a neighbors and did the same. The officer in charge made a great fuss talking; but as usual did nothing to restore what was lost. I have been intimate with this amiable family for some time, and their uncomplaining endurance of their wrongs has excited my unbounded admiration. I have never heard a complaint from any of them. Mrs. C (sic) tells me that, since she has lost everything nothing annoys her.
[A Journal of Hospital Life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee, Kate Cumming, page 156.]​

Captain Oscar L. Jackson, Co. H, 63rd Ohio Infantry had this to say about the burnings:

Our rear guard has this day laid waste with fire and sword, the country through which we passed. Houses, barns, cribs, mills, etc., all share one fate. At any time during the march, you could see two or three buildings burning. A great amount of corn was destroyed. On the railroad, near Town's Creek in particular, heavy amounts were collected for Bragg's army but the fire devoured it. The country is among the most beautiful I have seen anywhere and highly improved and cultivated, yet now it is a desert. The negroes follow us. We take everything in the shape of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, hogs and so on, eating what we need and driving a vast herd ahead of us....

I was over to General Dodge's headquarters this evening and talking to him of the way his rear guard served property. He said they thought a crib meant anything that would burn. The orders had been to burn any building containing grain (in order to destroy the supplies for the Confederate army). I asked one of the 7th Kansas "Jayhawkers" how they could burn all buildings under that order. "Well," said he, "if a building has no grain in it, just put in a little."
[Oscar L Jackson, The Colonel's Diary, Page 92.]​

To be fair to the Jayhawkers, I think my ancestors' place was burned by Frances Cornyn's 10th Missouri Cavalry aka the "Avenging Angels" - not the 7th KS. Not that it makes any difference who burned it. They were all under General Dodge. I'm sure you can understand why I do not hold a positive opinion of Grenville Dodge. In fact, I would not spit on him if he was alive today and caught on fire.

 

[gjpratt]

 

[DanSBHawk]

I think Dodge was competent, and I have a generally positive opinion of him. Here is how he summed up the northern AL raid in his report:

Dodge had reported some of the atrocities against unionists in Alabama some months before the raid, so it's somewhat understandable that he wasn't in a mood to go easy:

 

[lelliott19]

I think Dodge was competent, and I have a generally positive opinion of him. Here is how he summed up the northern AL raid in his report:

View attachment 591564


Dodge had reported some of the atrocities against unionists in Alabama some months before the raid, so it's somewhat understandable that he wasn't in a mood to go easy:

View attachment 591565

Thnaks Dan. I'm guessing Dodge was a competent military commander and I'm sure he was an extremely intelligent businessman. At the time, I'm sure you are correct that he was plenty angry about the attrocities committed against Unionists in the region.

You know I harbor no ill will against Sheridan, Grant, or any other Union general. I feel so bad for Abel Streight's predicament and I actually like Custer. My beef with Dodge, Cornyn, and whoever was commanding the Jayhawkers then (?) - is purely personal.

 

[DanSBHawk]

Thnaks Dan. I'm guessing Dodge was a competent military commander and I'm sure he was an extremely intelligent businessman. At the time, I'm sure you are correct that he was plenty angry about the attrocities committed against Unionists in the region.

You know I harbor no ill will against Sheridan, Grant, or any other Union general. I feel so bad for Abel Streight's predicament and I actually like Custer. My beef with Dodge, Cornyn, and whoever was commanding the Jayhawkers then (?) - is purely personal.

That is understandable.

 

[Norman Dasinger Jr]

he was a slick politician ruthless businessman unfeeling general but is considered to be a very successful person