James Patrick Morgans - Grenville Mellen Dodge in the Civil War: Union Spymaster, Railroad Builder and Organizer of the Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry

Also by JAMES PATRICK MORGANS

The Underground Railroad on the Western Frontier: Escapes from Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa and the Territories of Kansas, Nebraska and the Indian Nations, 18401865 (McFarland, 2010)

John Todd and the Underground Railroad: Biography of an Iowa Abolitionist (McFarland, 2006)

James Patrick Morgans

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

e-ISBN: 978-1-4766-2142-5

2016 The Estate of James Patrick Morgans. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Front cover: inset Portrait of Maj. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge, officer of the Federal Army (Library of Congress); Central Pacific Transcontinental Railroad, Tunnel No. 39, Milepost 180.95, Cisco, Placer County, California (Library of Congress)

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com

To my
Grandson Benjamin Patrick Kuehler
and
Granddaughter Elizabeth Joy Kuehler

The joy and happiness you have given
your grandmother and me is immeasurable.

James Patrick Morgans,
December 25, 1946August 11, 2015.

I am grateful that Michael Irvin of Shenandoah, Iowa, read the manuscript and made suggestions. Thanks go to my wife, Judith A. Morgans, for her help on this project. I wish to acknowledge the help of my son, Patrick James Morgans, and daughter, Meredith Joy Kuehler, in finding research materials. I would additionally like to extend my gratitude to the staff at the State Historical Society of Iowa for their help in finding research materials. I am appreciative to the many people who encouraged me to write and research this book.

Major-General Grenville M. Dodge was the most famous Iowan to come out of the Civil War. In recognition of his contributions during the Civil War, the State of Iowa named the Iowa National Guard training site Camp Dodge in his honor. Dodge, besides being a skilled field commander, created the largest and most effective spy network in the Western Theater of operations in the Civil War. During the Civil War, Dodge had few equals in building railroads, and after the war, he became recognized as one of the worlds greatest railroad industrialists.

Dodge also organized the 4th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which became one of the best fighting Union regiments in the Civil War. This was an amazing feat. The 4th Iowa was recruited mostly over a sprawling 17-county area of southwest Iowa that covered almost 12,000 square miles. Most of the recruits had not been born in Iowa or had not gone to school in Iowa. Many were new arrivals to the state. They were strangers to each other. Some had arrived so near the start of the Civil War that they did not even know in what Iowa county they resided. The recruiter would take a guess at what congressional district the recruit lived in and write that down as his home residence. If you had asked many of the soldiers in the newly recruited 4th Iowa where they were from, many would have said Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania or some other state or foreign country. A number had not lived in the state long enough to consider themselves Hawkeyes. Dodge would soon change this. He created an atmosphere of camaraderie, trust, courage, sacrifice and unshakeable loyalty.

Right after the Civil War, Captain Addison A. Stuart wrote short biographies of most of the men who obtained the rank of colonel in Iowa regiments. He also wrote regimental histories of the various Iowa units. Probably no man knew more about Iowas efforts during the Civil War than Stuart. He wrote, During the present war, no officer, whether of the regular or volunteer service, has made a better record than Major-General Dodge. Stuart went on to write, If Iowa has been honored by her troops in the field, she has been equally honored by her general officers; and in this respect she is indebted to no one more than to General Dodge. Of the 4th Iowa Volunteer Infantry he wrote, To no Iowa regiment is the state more largely indebted for its military renown.

There have been two biographies written about Grenville Dodge; one was penned in 1929 and the other in 1967. While both biographies have their strengths, neither does Dodge justice for his service during the Civil War. The Civil War made Dodges reputation and made him not only a collogue of General Ulysses S. Grant, General William T. Sherman and General Philip Sheridan but also a confidant and friend. Abraham Lincoln looked upon Dodge as an expert on the transcontinental railroad. These men would go on to shape much of the history of the United States in the 19th century.

I felt it was necessary to revisit Dodges life and service during the Civil War. I also felt that a more detailed history of the 4th Iowa Volunteer Infantry was in order. After Dodges and the 4th Iowas heroic efforts at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas, Dodge was promoted from colonel to brigadier-general then eventually to major-general. Dodge went on to become a divisional, corps and department commander and did not have direct command over the 4th Iowa after the Battle at Pea Ridge. The regimental colonelcy of the 4th Iowa fell to Colonel James A. Williamson, who eventually through Dodges efforts became a brigadier-general. Williamson became one of Dodges closest friends, his protg and lifelong confidant.

This book begins with Chapter 1, War Comes to the Prairies, with an introduction to Grenville Mellen Dodge, who was a railroad-surveyor-turned-businessman from Council Bluffs, Iowa. Dodge, along with the other Iowa Republicans, backed Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1860. It was now February of 1861, and the Iowa delegation was going to Washington, D.C., to Lincolns inauguration. Most in the delegation wanted plum political jobs from the Lincoln administration. Dodge had a chance meeting with Lincoln in 1859, and they discussed the building of the transcontinental railroad. Dodges only interest in the Lincoln administration was in the building of this railroad or, if there was to be war, a high officer ranking in the Union army. The chapter goes on to discuss the Dodge family history and Dodges college years at Norwich University, where he received a top-notch military education. Norwich University would supply more Union officers than any other institution besides the military academy at West Point. Dodges business associates wanted him to keep out of the fight and make the enormous profits that were to be had by supplying the Union war machine. Dodges wife also wanted him to steer clear of the military. However, Dodge wanted to be in this fight. At first, his interest in high command was rebuffed by Iowa governor Kirkwood, who had many high-ranking politicians and important people in Iowa clamoring for the officers slots. However, by Dodges energy and pluck, he managed to secure a colonelcy and raised a regiment from southwestern Iowa, to be known as the 4th Iowa Volunteer Infantry.