War of 1812 In the
War of 1812, Dodge entered as a captain in the
Missouri State Volunteers. He was part of a
mounted company. He finished the war as a major general of the Missouri Militia. His crowning achievement was saving about 150 Miami Indians from certain massacre after their raid on the
Boone's Lick settlement in the summer of 1814. Dodge emigrated with his large family and slaves inherited from his father to the U.S. Mineral District in early July 1827. He served as a commander of militia during the
Red Bird uprising of that year, and in October settled a large tract in present-day downtown
Dodgeville, known then as "Dodge's Camp." He worked a large claim until around 1830, when he moved several miles south in a beautiful forested area known still as "Dodge's Grove." Here he began building what would become a large two-story frame house for his ever-growing extended family. It is worthy to note that, despite the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 banning slavery in the entire Northwest Territory, including Wisconsin, Dodge brought five black slaves from Missouri to work in his lead mines.
Black Hawk War sketch of Colonel Henry Dodge, commander of the
United States Mounted Rangers, 1833. Dodge rose to prominence during the
Black Hawk War of 1832. As
colonel of the western
Michigan Territory Militia, Dodge brought a credible fighting force into being in a very short time. More than fifteen forts, fortified homes and blockhouses sprang up almost overnight. From these forts, Dodge and the mounted volunteers, with four companies of Territorial militia and one of Illinois mounted rangers, took to the field as the "
Michigan Mounted Volunteers." Dodge and his men saw action at the battles of
Horseshoe Bend,
Wisconsin Heights, and
Bad Axe. In June 1832, he accepted a commission as
Major of the
Battalion of Mounted Rangers, commissioned by an Act of Congress. Apparently, he took no prisoners. None of the 12 or 13 shot at Horseshoe Bend survived. In the summer of 1832, he told a delegation of Ho-Chunk chiefs: "You will have your country taken from you, your annuity money will be forfeited, and the lives of your people lost." In the Battle of
Bad Axe in August 1832, Dodge and his militia massacred or contributed to the massacre of nearly 1000 Sauk men, women, and children as they attempted to cross the Mississippi River South of La Crosse, Wisconsin.
United States Regiment of Dragoons The ranger experiment lasted a year, and then, in 1833, was replaced by the
United States Regiment of Dragoons. Dodge served as colonel; one of his captains was Nathan Boone,
Daniel Boone's youngest son. The United States Regiment of Dragoons was the fourth mounted Regular Army unit in United States Army history, not including the American Revolution, Continental Light Dragoons. In the summer of 1834, Colonel Dodge engaged on
First Dragoon Expedition and made successful contact with the
Comanches. He was an
Indian fighter, most noted for his 1835 peace mission commissioned by President
Andrew Jackson, who had called out the U.S. Dragoons to assist.
Territorial governor Dodge was the first Territorial governor of
Wisconsin Territory from 1836 to 1841 and again from 1845 to 1848, an area which encompassed (before July 4, 1838, when
Iowa became a territory) what became the states of
Wisconsin,
Iowa and
Minnesota. In between his two terms as governor, Dodge was elected as a non-voting Democratic delegate to the
Twenty-seventh and
Twenty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1845) representing
Wisconsin Territory's at-large congressional district. As territorial governor, Dodge was also Superintendent of the Wisconsin Superintendency of the Indian Agency. Under pressure not from settlers but from developers and businessmen interested in logging, he negotiated a treaty with Ojibwe from east central Minnesota east of the Mississippi and west of the St. Croix River and Ojibwe from west central Wisconsin starting at the east side of the St. Croix including St. Croix Falls and including the northern section of the Chippewa River to Chippewa Falls in July 1837, sometimes dubbed "the Pine Tree Treaty." The U.S. would allow the Ojibwe to remain on the land and retain their rights to fish, hunt, and gather, but ironically the land would be surveyed and sold as well. Payments would only be for twenty years. The Ojibwe were told that they would have to move at an undetermined time in the future and could only stay "at the pleasure of the President." Dodge declined the opportunity to have his name put forward for the
Presidency of the United States at the
1844 Democratic National Convention. He was loyal to
Martin Van Buren and both men opposed the
annexation of Texas. Despite their efforts,
James K. Polk, the Democrat who favored annexation, became president. Upon
Wisconsin being admitted to the
Union in 1848, Dodge was elected one of its first two senators. He served two terms. He turned down the appointment of
Territorial Governor of Washington from
Franklin Pierce in 1857. ==Death==