Grenville Dodge—The Indispensable Man
Who was Grenville Dodge, and why was he indispensable? George Melrod will answer those questions—and more—in another of his engaging presentations. Briefly, you will learn about Dodge’s career as a railroad man before the Civil War. During the war, he fought at Pea Ridge in 1862, became chief of spies and intelligence for Grant, led an entire corps under Sherman, and was badly wounded at Atlanta. After the war, Dodge served as chief engineer for the Union Pacific and appears in the famous photo of the Golden Spike being driven in Utah, completing the transcontinental railroad in 1869. He also remained close friends with Grant and helped organize his monument and funeral after his death. By the end of George’s talk, you will understand why Grenville Dodge—little known today—was considered by many of his contemporaries to be the most successful and important Union general in the years following the war.

George Melrod
George Melrod graduated from Harvard University but has been a student of the Civil War all his life. Over the last 30 years, he has written screenplays and published extensively on visual art and culture. From 2006 to 2017, he served as editor of the largest contemporary art magazine in California and the western United States. As a fiction writer of the Civil War era, he remains fascinated by the lesser-known characters and human-interest stories of the conflict. His previous presentations have included John F. Reynolds and James B. McPherson and the Loves They Left Behind and John Gibbon: Iron Man of the Army of the Potomac.