History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Augustus C. Dodge
AUGUSTUS C. DODGE, son of General Henry Dodge, was born at St. Genevieve, then in the Territory of Louisiana, January 2, 1812. In 1827 the family removed to Galena, Illinois, where General Dodge was placed in command of a military force and caused block-houses to be erected to protect the settlers against the hostile Winnebago Indians. Augustus grew up amid the stirring events of frontier life and while a youth joined a military expedition against the Indians. He there made the acquaintance of a young man, George W. Jones and the two became warm friends. As they camped and campaigned together over the wild prairies there was nothing to indicate that in the near future they were destined to work together in founding a new State of which they were to become the first United States Senators. At the beginning of the Black Hawk War, Augustus C. Dodge was chosen lieutenant of a military company and served as an aid to his father. In 1838 Mr. Dodge was appointed Register of the United States Land Office at Burlington in the new Territory of Iowa, making that place his permanent home. In 1839 he was commissioned Brigadier-General of militia by Governor Lucas. In 1840 he was nominated by the Democrats for Delegate in Congress and waa elected over Alfred Rich, the Whig candidate. He was twice reëlected, serving until Iowa became a State in 1846. In December, 1848, Augustus C. Dodge and his friend, George W. Jones, were elected to represent Iowa in the United States Senate. Seven years before, Mr. Dodge and his father sat together in the House as Delegates from Iowa and Wisconsin; now they met as Senators from the same States; the only instance of the kind in the history of the country. During the long conflict over slavery, General A. C. Dodge supported the “Compromise of 1850,” and followed the lead of Stephen A. Douglas in voting for the famous doctrine of “Squatter Sovereignty.” He remained in the Senate until 1855 when the Democratic party lost control of the State and by a union of all of the “Free Soil” elements in the Fifth General Assembly he was succeeded by James Harlan. Thereupon President Pierce appointed General Dodge Minister to Spain where he served until 1859, when he resigned and returned home. The Democratic State Convention in June nominated him for Governor, and he made a vigorous canvass of the State but was defeated by Samuel J. Kirkwood. In 1860 the Democratic members of the Eighth General Assembly gave him their votes for United States Senator. During his long public career General Dodge gave his State faithful and valuable service in every position intrusted to him. He won the respect and esteem of its citizens of both political parties. He died on the 20th of November, 1883.