Five volume typescript autobiography of Grenville Mellen Dodge (1831-1916), including a volume of paragraph descriptions and indexes. Correspondence is interspersed with the narrative.

Bio/History: Grenville M. Dodge of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was a Civil War general; prominent national railroad surveyor and engineer; and U.S. Representative. Dodge conducted surveys for the Illinois Central, Rock Island (Mississippi to Missouri line), and the Union Pacific railroads before the Civil War. He was commissioned as Colonel with the 4th Iowa Volunteer Infantry in 1861 and promoted to Brigadier General of the United States Volunteers in 1862 and then Major General in 1864. In addition to combat, he distinguished himself as overseer of railway construction and repair, and organized a spy network to monitor the Confederate army. Dodge was chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad, 1866-1870, during the building of the first transcontinental railroad. He also did survey work for the Texas and Pacific Railway and lines in the southwestern U.S., Mexico and Cuba. He served as Republican Congressman form Iowa, 1867-1869 and head of the commission investigating the War Department's conduct in the Spanish American War.