All of these fundamental factors of historic change, and the elements each comprised, were in need of resolution on an unprecedented scale in Dodge's time. As Dodge witnessed first-hand, they needed mostly to be either somehow cobbled together, or fought out as a last resort. Just one of these challenges would be enough for most men, certainly much more than enough for myself. But for Dodge, his vision and capabilities were panoramic and in lock-step or dragging him along with the vanguard of US change and expansion of his time. Tracing Dodge's path through such a challenging course sees him mastering different skills at different times. As we will see, Dodge's course through all of this did have considerable reversals, but by taking the overview, it's clear that Dodge was usually lucky in that the challenges, and even sometimes the reversals, formed stepping stones along the path he took. This was true as well even with destructive skills, especially in war when such skills proved as invaluable next to his constructive ones-- the prime example being his actions in Tennessee, and Northern Mississippi and Alabama during the Civil War.

In acquiring such requisite skills, Dodge always seemed one-step ahead of the challenges. He ended up a consummate master in the areas that counted back then. Among others: an engineer able to function on his own, with limited local resources, turning out results of ever increasing scale; a seasoned, proven warrior and adversary; and a lobbyist and politician with connections at, and experience with the highest level.

Dodge was always on the move acquiring these skills. For this reason, I have chosen to track Dodge's role in the history of his period by way of a map. The map of the US you now see in the background was the same map he had in his office. By clicking the map below it, you will next see a Google map, with clickable land-marks describing Dodge's path. Once he left school at Norwich University in Vermont, our deconstruction of Dodge's professional career and skill acquisition should start out West in the 1850s, mostly centered around Council Bluffs. So, after clicking the map icon below, this should be our first stop.

Footnote for Introduction: Discovering Dodge-- One Descendant's Journey

For most of my early life Dodge was hardly even an afterthought. Quite candidly, on my side there has been little exposure to the panegyrics associated with the bigger-than-life characterizations of Dodge and the even more legendary icons of his age. As you will see in the below commentary, most of my early exposure to Dodge has been dilatory. The surprise here comes later on when it almost seemed one-on-one. No matter what, my encounter with my ancestor has been more of a random-walk interaction, bumping into Dodge only occasionally. Perhaps surprisingly, I feel even fortunate this has been advantageous for my foregoing commentary. All this will hopefully become clearer below.

For sure, my earliest exposure to Dodge was both minimal and feint. Growing up in Philadelphia and East Coast culture diverted attention away from goings-on in the West and mid-West. In my early life, focus was East and with the War then, which started at the year of birth, 1939. Was the War any different for cogenerationals in the West and mid-West? I doubt it. The railroad for me at that time was the Pennsylvania, especially impressive during the War, when its marshalling yards were going at fever pitch-- an early impression I still remember then when my mother used to backpack me and paint landscapes nearby.

My parents and their entire generation were scrambling through their second of two world wars. More than enough, thank you, without the need to divert to the US Civil War. And of course, for them and my generation as well there were plenty more wars to be preoccupied with. Ready or not, they seem to immediately follow, if not overlap each other. Most notably being: the Korean War, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War, in which I eventually had my first exposure to a war zone.

In my junior high-school, I did have a very dedicated teacher interested in Civil War history; but I never even had one occasion to bring up the name Dodge. Not that he would have immediately known him since his interest was in the Eastern theatre of that war. Instead, our discussions with each other mostly were about Socialism. I, being at the time interested studying the Socialist Labor Party. My teacher had interest also, but mostly for setting up historical debate for his class in US history. I remember quite willingly subscribing to the SLP newspaper; he being understandably reluctant to do so as a school teacher during the McCarthy Era. All heady stuff for a 9th grade student.

My arrival at University meant even further diversion from opportunity to check out Dodge. There was an historian there (think his last name was Fox), who concentrated his research in early railroading and its role in US national development and consolidation. While having discarded any interest in Socialism way before then, I now was interested in mathematics, physics, and close to both, the history of science. So, never met Fox, never even took any courses in US history, just European history as a background retrospective closer to the more-pressing Cold War politics, besides being a necessary degree prerequisite.

So, how come I am writing all this all now is the obvious question. Best answer I can come up with: I finally caught up with US history; and Dodge finally caught up with me. Switching interest and profession to economics and the social sciences is how the former happened.

The latter about Dodge himself is more difficult to explain. It has something to do with what I guess is a cloying habit I have to look up Dodge, only to find him most unexpectedly. For example, take the "Fistfight of the Generals" mentioned in the Atlanta campaign. This discovery occurred perusing the bookstore at the Gettysburg battle site while waiting for others to rejoin me. A decade later, I did a search on Dodge on the Amazon website during a boring period at my office, only to find out Dodge had just published a book sometime in the 1990s-- many decades after Dodge's death in 1916. I nearly fell off my chair. My later purchase of same proved this was a republication. Not that these two examples of Dodge appearing most unexpectedly exhaust a few others similar. These I welcome, and expect more others like them to come.