Historic Research

Teacher's Packet Oral Histories Articles Historic Research Students
Grenville M. Dodge Not only directed the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad but made over 100,000 miles of railroad surveys and ultimately built more than any other American. Served as president of 7 railroads and 9 railway construction companies and as board member of several others. His career in railroad endeavor spanned 60 years, advising President Lincoln, working under Grant, T.R. Roosevelt and Taft. Wrote the book, "How We Built the Union Pacific Railway." Began his military career as a cadet at Norwich University in Vermont, where Dodge Hall stands on its campus as a tribute to his achievements. He organized the first military defense guard in Council Bluffs in 1856, led the Fourth Iowa Infantry into the Civil War and was wounded at Pea Ridge and in the Vicksburg Campaign. He contributed substantially toward Union Victory by constructing and repairing railroad lines and bridges to keep the armies supplied. He created the first body of Federal Scouts organized west of the Mississippi, a spy system invaluable to Grant and other Union commanders. He commanded the Department of Missouri late in the war, and led campaigns against harassing Indians in the west immediately after the war. He was respectfully named "Long Eye" by the Indians. Discovered Lone Tree Pass over the Wyoming Black Hills during an Indian pursuit, using it later as part of the Union Pacific route to Promontory. He is credited with naming the towns of Rawlins and Cheyenne, Wyoming, Sherman Hill and Fort McPherson in Nebraska. He was elected to Congress after the war by grateful Iowans even though he had no time for speeches or campaigning. He regretfully refused the post of Secretary of War in Grant's cabinet. He felt that his greatest honor was serving as Grand Marshal at the dedication of Grant's tomb in 1897. He headed the Military Grand Division as Chief Marshal at the inauguration of President McKinley in 1897. He directed a 12-man committee investigating the conduct of the War Department during the Spanish-American War, at President McKinley's request. He served on Theodore Roosevelt's advisory committee in 1904. He came in contact with the most of the powerful men of his time and had a hand in the major events of the 19th century. (Presidents Lincoln, Grant, Johnson, Hayes, McKinley, Taft, Theodore Roosevelt. Civil War Generals Sherman, Sheidan and others. Railroad Builders and Financiers Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Scott, Jay Gould, Ames, Huntington, Harriman, and Hill.) He conducted correspondence with the outstanding political, military, and industrial personages from a date as early as 1856 until his death in 1916, which now illuminates many phases of national history. He laid the foundations, in partnership with John Baldwin, for the banking venture which has become the Council Bluffs Savings Bank. He made his home in Council Bluffs from 1854 until 1916, and even though his extensive business and career activities kept him in the East for years, he returned to spend the latter years of his life in the mansion on Third Street. BACK