The men of Iowa, who had not even been living in their state for twenty years, had to made a decision to either be brave and fight in the Civil War or stay at home with their families. One Iowa general (Grenville Dodge), along with two Iowa soldiers (Jacob Gantz and William Henry Harrison Clayton) all decided to go fight for the Union instead of staying at home with their families. All of these men, made an significant impact on Iowa’s participation in the war and contributed to the Union Victory.
Grenville M. Dodge a well known Iowa general was not born in Iowa on April 12, 1831, but was born in Danvers, Massachusetts. His parents names are Sylvanus and Julia Theresa Phillips Dodge. Grenville Dodge moved a lot around the United States until he got to age thirteen. Even though Dodge moved around a lot, he would help out his family even at a young age. “At three years old, Grenville was enlisted in the family business to drive the wagon while his father herded the cattle along the road” Even though Dodge would help his father out with the family business, he was more interested with engineering than anything else.…show more content… With those two interests, Dodge would go to college at Norwich University. Norwich University was a good place to go for Dodge, due to the fact that this university was founded by former commandant of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Dodge heard of Norwich University when he was fourteen years old from Frederick Lander. Lander is a family friend that had impacted Dodge future on becoming a civil engineer. Frederick was older than Dodge, who also graduated from Norwich University before Dodge was even at the univeristy. “Dodge was deeply impressed with his friend’s knowledge and talents, especially after witnessing Lander throw out ‘a hundred-foot steel measuring chain… its full length without touching the ground, a feat that very few could
