Background
Dodge was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the second son of David Low Dodge, founder of the New York Peace Society, and his wife Sarah Cleveland, the daughter of minister Aaron Cleveland.
United States representative politician
Dodge was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the second son of David Low Dodge, founder of the New York Peace Society, and his wife Sarah Cleveland, the daughter of minister Aaron Cleveland.
Dodge saw slavery as an evil to be peaceably removed, but not to be interfered with where it existed. He was a Native American rights activist and served as the president of the National Temperance Society from 1865 to 1883. The couple had seven sons.
In 1833, Dodge and his father-in-law founded the mining firm Phelps, Dodge and Company, one of Americas largest mining companies.
Dodge is the namesake of Dodge County, Georgia. A consortium of businessmen led by Dodge purchased large tracts of timberland in this area following the Civil War.
The Dodge Land Company laid claim to over 300,000 acres (1,200 km2) of land through questionable land deeds. The consortium"s ownership of these lands led to land wars which resulted in nearly fifty years of court cases.
Dodge was the essence of what Southerners refer to as Carpetbaggers.
Dodge and his associates built the Macon and Brunswick Railroad, connecting Macon to what was then a remote area of the state. Dodge County was formed in 1870 and Eastman, the county seat, was established at the railroad"s Station Number 13. Dodge visited the area only once, to dedicate a two-story courthouse that he donated to the county.
Dodge"s sons later administered the timber businesses in this area.
Dodge was active in the post-Civil War Indian reform movement. He joined Peter Cooper in organizing the privately funded United States Indian Commission in 1868 and helped institute Ulysses South. Grant"s Peace Policy toward the Indians.
He met and discussed United States. Indian policy with representatives of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Kiowa. Dodge lobbied for the prosecution of the United States. cavalry commanders responsible for the 1870 Marias Massacre in Montana, which left 173 Blackfeet dead.
Dodge unsuccessfully campaigned to establish a cabinet-level department for Indian Affairs.
He also used his influence in Washington on behalf of Indian educational programs and the General Allotment Acting of 1887. A monument to William East. Dodge stands on the North side of Bryant Park. As Treasurer, he laid the cornerstone of College Hall, the first building on the present campus in Ras Beirut, on December 7, 1871.
Dodge represented New York"s 8th congressional district in the United States Congress for a portion of the 39th United States Congress in 1866-1867 and was a founding member of the Young Men"s Christian Association (Young Men’s Christian Association). In 1869, Dodge toured Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) and Kansas as a member of the government-sponsored Board of Indian Commissioners. Dodge was a founding member of the Board of Trustees for the Syrian Protestant College, later renamed the American University of Beirut.