Grenville Mellen Dodge Manuscript
This manuscript contains copies of regimental and brigade general and special orders documenting the activities of the Second Division of the Army of Tennessee under the command of General Grenville Mellen Dodge from 1 January 1863 to 14 January 1864. It begins with Mellen and the troops near Corinth, Mississippi, and ends near Pulaski, Tennessee, where the manuscript was apparently captured by a Captain Jasper N. Chaffin of the Confederate Army.
The collection also contains a small hand-written card labeling the manuscript signed by A. H. Chastain and a page of hand-written notes.
Dates
- 1863-1864
Conditions Governing Access
Collections are stored offsite and must be requested in advance. See www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Conditions Governing Use
The UT Libraries claims only physical ownership of most material in the collections. Persons wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants on www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Extent
1.5 Linear Feet
Abstract
This manuscript contains copies of regimental and brigade general and special orders documenting the activities of the Second Division of the Army of Tennessee under the command of General Grenville Mellen Dodge from 1 January 1863 to 14 January 1864.
Biographical/Historical Note
Grenville Mellen Dodge was born to Sylvanus and Julia T. (Phillips) Dodge in Danvers, Massachusetts on 12 April 1831. He graduated from Norwich Military Academy in Vermont with a civil engineering degree in 1850 and settled in Council Bluffs, Iowa. During the 1850s, he worked as an engineer for the Illinois Central and Rock Island Railroad. When the Civil War broke out, Dodge raised a troop of volunteers in Iowa. He formally entered service as a Colonel on 17 June 1861 and commanded the 4th Iowa Infantry. Dodge was promoted to Brigadier General and put in command of the Central Division of the Army of Tennessee on 21 March 1862. In the fall of 1863, General Grant charged Dodge's troops with repairing and reopening the Nashville and Decatur Railway, which would greatly reduce logistical problems faced by Union forces in the South. Dodge was promoted to Major General on 7 June 1864 and resigned his commission on 30 May 1866.
After the War, Dodge returned to his career as a railroad engineer. As the Union Pacific Railroad's Chief Engineer (1866-1870), he was active in the construction of the transcontinental railroad. He went on to work as the Texas and Pacific Railway's Chief Engineer (1871-1881) and to serve a single term in Congress as a Representative from Iowa (1867-1869). Dodge died on 3 January 1916 in Council Bluffs, Iowa and is buried in Walnut Hills Cemetery.
Arrangement
This collection consists of two folders.
Acquisition Note
The University of Tennessee Libraries, Knoxville, Special Collections purchased this collection.
Repository Details
Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository