Camp Dodge is a major military installation located near the capital city of Des Moines, Iowa, and within the city of Johnston, Iowa. Camp Dodge has served our nation for over one hundred years. Camp Dodge has been the historic location for national guard training, processing of new military men and women, basic training, home of two African American brigades known as the “Buffalo Soldiers Division,” home of the sustainment training center, home of the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum, and much more.

The most viewed and shared photograph from Camp Dodge is the dramatic patriotic photograph taken by Chicago photographers Arthur Mole and John Thomas in August of 1918. The setup took days, the temperatures were in the 90s and the soldiers were dressed in their woolen uniforms. 18,000 soldiers were lined up to form the Statue of Liberty. This photograph will serve as a strong and visual reminder to the members of the new DAR chapter of the history of Camp Dodge, the men and women who have served there for over 100 years, and the remarkable stories of service to America.

General Dodge

Camp Dodge was named after General Grenville M. Dodge. Dodge organized Iowa’s first national guard unit in 1856. He is considered a war hero for his service as a Union Army officer. He was a pioneering figure in the military intelligence during the Civil War. He served as Ulysses S. Grant’s intelligence chief and in several other notable responsibilities including command of the XVI Corps during the Atlanta Campaign. Later, he served as a U.S. Congressman from Iowa.

Dodge's most notable achievement was his leadership of the Transcontinental Railroad. President Lincoln summoned Dodge to Washington, D.C., in 1863, where the President, who was interested in Dodge’s civil engineering expertise, asked him to find a location along the Missouri River where the Union Pacific Railroad’s transcontinental railroad would begin. The location was Council Bluffs, Iowa.

He played the important role in the nation’s history after the Civil War as the key leader in the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. A famous painting exists at the Transcontinental Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs of President Lincoln and Grenville Dodge plotting the beginning of the Transcontinental Railroad.