Capt. Henry Lafeyette Dodge

HENRY LAFAYETTE DODGE (Henry, Israel, John, John, Tristram), married 18435, Adele Bequette, b. St. Genevieve, Missouri, Nov. 14, 1814 (living in 1902), daughter of John Baptiste Bequette, born (Canada, d. 1825, and Mary Louise Mesplais, born New Orleans, Louisiana, 1781, died Dodgeville, Wisconsin, July 7, 1864. He was Sheriff of Iowa County, Wisconsin; Captain: Vol. Black Hawk war. His brother, Senator Augustus Caesar Dodge, speaks of his death as follows: "My own brother, Henry Lafayette Dodge, U. S. Indian Agent in New Mexico, by appointment of President Pierce, was captured by the Apaches and burned to death at the stake.

Before his sad fate became known, as it did through friendly Indians, large rewards of every kind were offered in vain for his ransom. Besides the tender of money, he might have successfully pleaded (for he could speak ten different dialects), before any tribunal other than the infuriated Apache, the preservation of the lives of two of their race, an Indian woman and her child, snatched by his own hands from the jaws of death in the heat of battle at Bad Axe, exposed as he was to the fire of friends and foes when he accomplished the deed.

"Or, if hereditary acts of mercy and favor of older date and greater magnitude could have availed aught to stay the slow consuming fire of the stake and its agonies, my brother might have pointed the demoniacal Apaches to the lives of five hundred men, women and children of the Miami tribe, not only spared by his father after they had become his prisoner, but protected from almost instant death by Colonel Dodge, who threw himself between the Miamis and the muzzles of a hundred and ten cocked rifles in the hands of Capt. Marshall Cooper's company, aimed at the Indians by brave but enraged Missourians, who had given way to the ignoble passion of revenge - the Indians having a short time before murdered a number of their kindred and friends."

The following letter was written by Mr. William F. Fox, who m. Captain Dodge's daughter Mary:

"6425 Monroe Ave., Chicago, August 23,1901.

"T. R. Woodward, Esq., Chicago.

"Dear Sir: I have looked over the report we have of the facts concerning the death of Capt. H. L. Dodge of the Volunteer service in New Mexico, while acting as Indian Agent for the government in that territory. It appears from the information received shortly after his death, that he was killed in that territory on Nov. 15, 1856, by a band of Apache Indians, who were hostile to the Navajos. I take it that a summary of the facts is all you desire. The circumstances of his death as reported are substantially these: Henry Lafayette Dodge, who was appointed Indian Agent by the government in 185-, was stationed in New Mexico. It appears that there was located at Fort Defiance, New Mexico, a military post, the officers of which were Major Kendrick of Co. 'B,' 2nd Artillery, commanding, and among other subordinate officers Henry L. Dodge, Captain. On or about the 10th of November 1850, a command under Major Kendrick left the fort for the purpose of laying out a road from Fort Defiance to Salt Lake. While en route, on the morning of Nov. 10th, Capt. H. L. Dodge, who accompanied them, left the command, and in advance sought to do some hunting. Not returning at the proper time, scouts were sent out to find him, thinking possibly he might have become lost. Not finding him, they returned to camp late at night, amid as a heavy fall of snow occurred that night, the immediate search for him was given up. In the following spring, when the snow had melted, Major Kendrick with twenty men started out from the post to renew the search for his body, or to get tidings of him. They searched faithfully, and found nothing but his skull, which had been placed between two projecting rocks, about thirty miles south of the Zuma and toward the Giles River. No traces of his body were found. His skull was brought to Fort Defiance, and interred with military honors.

"Captain Dodge was looked upon as the 'Great Father' of the Navajo tribe, who were at war with the Apaches, and hence their hostility to him, which accounts for their murdering him as they did. These are the substantial points of the tragedy as related by Charles W. Wentz of Co. 'G,' 1st Cavalry, New Mexico Volunteers. The writer adds, 'Captain Dodge was esteemed by the entire people of New Mexico, and his untimely end deeply deplored.' "Yours truly, "W. F. Fox."

Captain Dodge's children were as follows:

i. GEORGE WALLACE, b. Dodgeville, Wis., April 6, 1837, d. Chicago, 1884. Unmarried.

ii. MARY THERESA, b. Dodgeville, May 6, 1839; m. there Sept. 8, 1861, William Fletcher Fox of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, b. Aug. 13, 1836, son of Rev. Matthew A. Fox, b. County Longford, Ireland, Nov. 22, 1812, d. Oct. 23, 1883. and Elizabeth Jane Fletcher, b. Newry, Down County, Ireland, May 6, 1814, d. March 17, 1874. Res. Chicago. Children:

1.Mary Adele Fox, b. Dodgeville, Wisconsin, Oct. 13, 1862. Unmarried.

2. William Charles Fox b. Dodgevill, Wisconsin, Sept. 8, 1864. April 26, 1893, Lulu Chapman, and had Kenneth Laurence Fox, b. Sept. 6. 1895.

3. Virginia Theresa Fox, b. Cleveland, Ohio, April 29,1868, m. Sept. 21, 1897, Henry B. Black, and had Henry B.Black, Jr., b. July 21, 1898, and Rosse Creighton Black, b. Aug.. 7, 1901.

4. Clara Louisa Fox, b. Cleveland, Ohio, June 30, 1870. m. March 27, 1898, J. Rosse Fyfe of Chicago. Had Elizabeth Fyfe, b. Oct. 10, 1901.

iii. Christiana, b. Dodgeville, Wisconsin, March 7, 1843, m. there Feb. 16, 1862. Charles Ruxton of Buffalo, New York, b. 1828, d. 1887. Children:

1. Charles Ruxton, d. in infancy.

2. Mary Ruxton b. Aug., 1864. Unmarried

iv. Louis Linn, b. Dodgeville, Sept. 27, 1844, d. Chicago, Dec.,1887. Unmarried.

SOURCE: Find A Grave.com