Narrative of Mr. John Dodge during his Captivity at Detroit

by John Dodge

When claims of the Revolutionary soldiers to the western lands were being considered Dodge laid claim to a section, as a refugee from Canada[11] and his heirs were awarded a tract containing 1280 acres in the year 1800. This indicates that Dodge died before May 8th of that year. Four patents were issued to the heirs of John Dodge for lands in town sixteen, range twenty, Ohio, July 12, 1802.

Henry L. Caldwell, a grandson of Israel Dodge, wrote as follows:—"I do not know the date of the death of Colonel John Dodge, neither can I locate his grave or that of my grandfather, Israel Dodge, but the remains of both are, beyond doubt, resting in the old grave yard in Ste. Genevieve, Mo., which adjoins the catholic grave yard."[12]

John Dodge, while living at Kaskaskia, held a commission of Colonel received from Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia. His brother Israel Dodge was a lieutenant under him at that place. Israel had married Ann Hunter at Carlisle, Pa., before he moved to the West, and at Vincennes, their son Henry, who afterwards became the first Governor of the Territory of Wisconsin, was born October 12, 1782. He was named after Moses Henry, who was in the fort at Vincennes when it was captured by Governor Hamilton in 1778, being the only private in the "Army" which held out against the British invader.

There is a letter from John Dodge from Kaskaskia, June 23, 1783, informing the Indians that Detroit had been captured by the Americans. A false report. Va. St. Pap. 3. 500.

A letter to Philip Boyle at Sandusky, July 13, 1779, in Farmer's Hist. of Detroit 1. 173. This letter was intercepted by the British. It enclosed the proceedings of the Virginia Council concerning Hamilton.

Dodge was a great traveler in his day. Born in Connecticut in 1751, he went to Sandusky, Ohio, in 1770, thence to Fort Pitt (Pittsburg), thence back to Sandusky, thence in succession to Detroit, Michillimackinac (Mackinac), Detroit, Quebec, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Fort Pitt, Vincennes (Indiana), Kaskaskia (Illinois), Ste. Genevieve (Missouri), and New Orleans. We find mention of the man at these places and it is very probable that his travels were much more extensive.[13]

In the Harman papers, as reported by the Missouri Historical Society, is the following reference to Dodge in a letter from John Rice Jones, dated October, 1789: "John Dodge and Michael Antanya, with a party of whites and armed Piankeshaw Indians, came over from the Spanish side and attempted to carry off some slaves of Mr. John Edgar, and otherwise were guilty of outlandish conduct, threatening to burn the village." Dodge and Edgar were old friends and fellow prisoners at Detroit. They were both arrested and confined in that place as being too friendly towards the American cause. Edgar was one of the witnesses relied upon to prove that Dodge was entitled to the land grant for which he had made application as a Canadian refugee.

James Wood[14] of Frederick County, Va., who is mentioned in the Narrative, was appointed to command an expedition against the Shawanese, and armed his company at his own expense. He was also deputed, by the House of Burgesses, in 1775, to go among the several tribes of Western Indians and invite them to a treaty at Fort Pitt. He set out on his errand June 25, 1775, and was gone two months. He "underwent the greatest fatigues, difficulties and dangers." He was ordered paid £250 for "the great service he hath done to this colony, by his diligent and faithful execution of the commission with which he was intrusted."

The meeting of the Indians, which is referred to in the Narrative, took place at Fort Pitt in October, 1775. One of the Indian chiefs who was present on the occasion, was Shegenaba, the son of the famous Pontiac. His father had recently been killed in a war between the Indians, and he refers to this event in his speech, a part of which is as follows:

Fathers: From the information I have had of the commandant of Detroit, with distrust I accepted your invitation, and measured my way to the council fire with trembling feet. Your reception of me convinces me of his falsehood, and the groundlessness of my fears. Truth and he has long been enemies. My father, and many of my chiefs, have lately tasted death. The remembrance of that misfortune almost unmans me, and fills my eyes with tears.