Augustus Caesar Dodge was born in 1812 in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri to Henry Dodge. Augustus Caesar, a Delegate and a Senator from Iowa. He lived in Galena, Illinois, worked in his father’s lead mines and also served under Henry Dodge in the Black Hawk War, among others. He moved to Burlington, Iowa, in 1837, where he served as register of the land office 1838-1840. He was selected as a Democratic Delegate to the Twenty-sixth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the act of March 3, 1839; elected to the Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth, and Twenty-ninth Congresses and served from October 28, 1840, to December 28, 1846, when the Territory of Iowa was admitted as a State into the Union.
Dodge left the U.S. House and was then elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate from December 7, 1848, to February 22, 1855. He then accepted positions for a number of diplomatic posts:Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses), Committee on Pensions (Thirty-first Congress), Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Thirty-second Congress), Committee on Public Lands (Thirty-third Congress); appointed Minister to Spain 1855-1859; unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Iowa in 1859; mayor of Burlington 1874-1875; withdrew from political activities and engaged in lecturing at pioneer gatherings; died in Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa, November 20, 1883.
Augustus was not related to Grenville Dodge or Nathan P. Dodge.
Augustus was influential in Iowa politics as it transitioned from territory to state in 1846. It is important to point out that the platforms of the political parties have switched in the last 150 years. Indeed, both he and fellow democrat, Steven Douglas were pro-slavery, pro-state’s rights, and pro-business owner/landowner over workers and slaves. He was also eager to organize the territory west of Iowa into a territory to promote slavery in the north, repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1850 which banned slavery North of the Mason-Dixon Line, and help bring the coming transcontinental to Iowa.
Dodge introduced a bill into Congress to organize what would eventually become the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, authored by Stephen Douglas. The Act divided the entire country and led directly to the formation of the abolitionist Republican Party. “Neither the Missouri Compromise nor the Wilmot Proviso were ever intended for the benefit of the negro. These measures would tend to increase rather than to decrease slavery by exclusion from the newer Territories(sic) the blacks would become segregated in the southern States where the mild er climate the denser population and a greater number of marriages would result in a greater slavery population “ wrote Dodge.
By Troy Stolp. Mr. Stolp is a graduate of Lewis Central High School in Council Bluffs and holds degrees in Anthropology and Religious Studies from Iowa State University (BA) and History from Buena Vista University (BA) and University of Nebraska at Omaha (MA). Mr. Stolp serves on the board of directors of Preserve Council Bluffs and teaches at Lewis Central.
Dodge Street in Omaha was originally named after Augustus Caesar Dodge but in 2016 was renamed in honor of Grenville and Nathan P. Dodge. Though it has become commonplace to remove statues and names of buildings and streets associated with individuals that were pro-slavery— which would include A. C. Dodge— newspaper accounts suggest the move was more to support Grenville and Nathan Dodge rather than to eliminate Augustus Dodge.
On Sept. 27, 2016, Kori Nelson, then executive director of Council Bluffs’ Historic General Dodge Home, and Danette Hein-Snider, membership and special projects coordinator, presented their resolution to have the street name honor the Grenville and Nathan Dodge families in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of Grenville Dodge’s death to the Douglas County Board. The board voted 7-0 to ask Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts for his approval. The resolution put into city records that the street is dedicated to Grenville M. and Nathan P. Dodge and their families, but street signs would continue to state simply, “Dodge Street."
Nelson and Hein-Snider had talked about the effort for some time. The pair are frequently asked by Dodge House visitors whether the street is named after Gen. Grenville Dodge. They felt it would be more appropriate for the street to be named after Gen. Grenville Dodge – like many thought it already was.
“There’s not a street anywhere in Omaha or Council Bluffs that bears his name, so it’s high time,” Nelson said. “Currently, the only street that has any relation to Dodge at all is Grenville Court,” a one-block cul-de-sac near the Dodge House. The Interstate 480 Bridge is also dedicated to Grenville Dodge.
Jack Ruesch, chairman of the Dodge House Board, was pleased with the decision; “The Dodge House Board, we’re always pleased when there’s public recognition of one of Council Bluffs’ most prominent families of that time,” he said. “It was because of Grenville Dodge’s influence that Lincoln chose the Platte River Valley as the route for the Transcontinental Railroad. Grenville fought for the Union Army, while N.P. Dodge helped the war effort from home. Their father, Sylvanus Dodge, was elected to the Douglas County Commission in 1857.