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There is no biography
of Thomas Dodamead in the National Archives since he was not in the
Confederate Army. Below is my biography
of the man.
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The 1860 Census shows Thomas
Dodamead as having been born in Pennsylvania in about 1818 (ie he
was 42 years old). He lived in Richmond with a wife (Martha,
1813-1903) and had
Real Estate of $6,000 and Personal Estate of $2,000. The couple had
at least six children, 3 of whom were already dead (ages 3, 18 and
22 years at death). The family had moved to Virginia in 1843.
Dodamead learned the trade of locomotive building (probably in
Philadelphia) and is reported to have delivered a locomotive to the
Richmond & Petersburg RR in 1845 and the railroad asked him to stay
in charge of their machine shop. Regardless of this story, he worked
for the Richmond & Danville RR and the Richmond & Petersburg RR
(according to the 1850 and 1853-4 annual reports of those
companies). He was the Superintendent of the Virginia Central RR
from 1855 to 1861. Dodamead's war career is below. |
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As the war ended, Dodamead
communicated with the approaching Union commanders and facilitated
the maintenance of his road and the surrender of Danville, Va. In
June, 1865, the Virginia Board of Public Works appointed him General
Superintendent of all railroads in Virginia, a job that was in
addition to his Richmond to Piedmont railroad job and probably only
lasted until the Army turned the railroads over to their companies
later in the year. In early 1869, Dodamead was elected President of
the Richmond & York River RR, but was listed as Superintendent of
that road, with Algeron S. Buford being listed as President. |
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In October 1873, he took over as
Superintendent of the Greenville & Columbia RR in South Carolina. He
left that job in 1882 and returned to Richmond to live until he
died in 1885. |
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Dodamead is not known to have
held any military rank. His "rank" as aide to the Governor of
Virginia was to indicate pay and allowances, not uniform rank. He
always signed as "Superintendent" or "Military Superintendent." |
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Record of Employment |
| ? -
1845 |
? |
Locomotive maker |
| 1850 |
Richmond & Danville RR |
Superintendent |
|
1853-1855 |
Richmond & Petersburg
RR |
Superintendent |
| 1855 -
1861 |
Virginia Central RR |
Superintendent |
| May -
August 1861 |
Aide to Governor of
Virginia |
Military
Superintendent of Virginia Central RR and Orange &
Alexandria RR (and others?) |
| August
- October 1861 |
Richmond & York River
RR |
Superintendent |
| October
1861 - March 1862 |
Memphis & Ohio RR |
Superintendent |
| March
1862 - April 1864 |
Virginia & Tennessee
RR |
Superintendent |
| January
- April 1864 |
East Tennessee &
Virginia RR |
Military
Superintendent |
|
September 1864 - January 1865 |
RR Bureau? |
Assistant to Sims? |
| January
1865 - 1872? |
Piedmont RR and
Richmond & Danville RR |
Superintendent |
| June
1865 |
Virginia Board of
Public Works |
General Superintendent
of Virginia RRs |
| 1868 |
Richmond, York River &
Baltimore RR |
Superintendent |
| 1873 -
1882 |
Greenville & Columbia
RR |
Superintendent |
| 1885 |
Danville & New River
RR |
Superintendent |
|
| January 1, 1861 |
Started the war as
Superintendent of the Virginia Central RR
|
| May 28, 1861 |
Appointed Volunteer Aide to the Governor, with the rank of
Lieutenant of Cavalry in the Virginia Forces
in order to speed the movement of troops
|
| June 25-26, 1861 |
Served as Secretary of
Virginia RR convention
|
| July 5, 1861 |
Addressed by Gen. Lee as
Superintendent of Transportation of the Virginia Central RR
and Orange & Alexandria RR (and probably the Manassas Gap
RR)
|
| August 3, 1861 |
Appointed Superintendent
of the Richmond & York River RR
|
| October 14, 1861 |
Was appointed
Superintendent of the Memphis & Ohio RR
|
| October 23, 1861 |
Asks Gen. Polk for
clarification of shipping rules for food
|
| November 18, 1861 |
Announced a new schedule
for his RR
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| January 25, 1862 |
Issued a schedule change
for the Memphis & Ohio RR
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| February 1, 1862 |
Explains minor collision
on his RR
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| February 9,1862 |
Checks the status of a
Tennessee River bridge
|
| March 31, 1862 |
S. B. Jones signs as
Superintendent of the Memphis & Ohio RR
|
| About March 1, 1862 |
Hired as Superintendent
of the Virginia & Tennessee RR |
| April 7, 1862 |
Advertised for Negro
clothing for the RR hands
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| June 11, 1862 |
Advertised for 50 hands
for the rest of the year
|
| September 4, 1862 |
Announced schedule
change
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| November 14, 1862 |
Advertised for 500 hand
for the following year
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| December 15, 1862 |
Provided transportation
for several regiments to Richmond
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| December 18, 1862 |
Announced that the road
will accept no private freight for 20 days
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| December 30, 1862 |
Wrote QM General
relative to a salt shipment
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| Provided trains to move
troops against Union cavalry raid on his road
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| January 18, 1863 |
Requested to ship flour
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| January 25, 1863 |
Robinson asked him to
prepare to repair his bridges
|
| March 24, 1863 |
Arranged to allow other RRs' rolling stock at the Salt Works
|
| August 8, 1863 |
Sims requested cars to
move some iron
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| September 5, 1863 |
Sims asked what
assistance Dodamead would need to move a body of troops
|
| September 11, 1863 |
Ordered to prepare
trains to meet a raid
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| September 24, 1863 |
Reported on damage by
Union force
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| October 28,
1863 |
Robinson outlined salt
shipment needs
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| His annual report
covered by a newspaper
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| November 7, 1863 |
His success in restoring
the RR is commended
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| December 14, 1863 |
Georgia salt engine was
too weak; arrangements made with Dodamead
|
| January 19, 1864 |
Began to serve as
Military Superintendent for the East Tennessee & Virginia RR
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| March 4, 1864 |
Wrote requesting a train
for iron from Rogersville & Jefferson RR for the Piedmont RR
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| March 8, 1864 |
Asked for details for the
East Tennessee & Virginia RR and signed as Military
Superintendent of that RR
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| March 29, 1864 |
Responded to Sims
regarding a project regarding cars and Dodamead's
participation in the project
|
| April 4, 1864 |
Virginia & Tennessee RR
elected a new Superintendent
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| May 1, 1864 |
Paid for services as
Military Superintendent of the East Tennessee & Virginia RR
since January 19
|
| May ?, 1864 |
Asked Sims if he has made
a decision -- Dodamead is anxious to get started
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| September 1, 1864 |
Sims asked QM General to
appoint Dodamead an Agent and assign him to assist
Sims
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| January 3, 1865 |
Sims commented that
Dodamead would be on the Piedmont RR in a short time
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| January 6, 1865 |
QMG told Sims he had
met Dodamead who was now en route to Sims at Greensboro
|
| January 9, 1865 |
Made Superintendent of
Piedmont RR
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| January 19, 1865 |
Asked for details
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| January 20, 1865 |
Lee complimented the new
Piedmont RR superintendent
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| January 23,
1865 |
Sims stated Piedmont RR
president would respond to plan to lease the RR after
receiving
a report from his Superintendent
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| Requested details
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| January 30,
1865 |
Sims asked Dodamead's
opinions
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| Sims asked if he still
wanted a locomotive
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| February 7, 1865 |
Sims wrote regarding
his needs commanding the Piedmont RR and the Richmond &
Danville RR
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| March 23, 1865 |
Ordnance Department,
Richmond requests permission to build store house on
Richmond & Danville RR property at South Boston, Va.
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| August 14, 1885 |
Died
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