Two Union Army units were established in Fort Dodge.

The first was a cavalry unit that was formed in August 1861. It was accepted into federal military service that fall and went east, all the way to Washington, D.C.

There, it became part of Harlan’s Independent Regiment of Light Cavalry. But the Army did not want any independent unit that did not comply with its organization of units, which was based on the states that supplied the troops. So the independent regiment had to become something else.

Because the majority of the men were from Pennsylvania, the unit became the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry. The men who came from Fort Dodge became Company A of that unit.

-Messenger file photo
A group of Civil War reenactors participate in a grave marker dedication in Oakland Cemetery. The flag around the grave marker of Civil War veteran Carmi Walker is an old tradition. During the ceremony, it is removed and properly folded. Walker and fellow Civil War veteran George Pierson had headstones, but they were badly deteriorated. The late Jerry Rowe, a Fort Dodge historian, who had previously obtained government headstones for 12 other Civil War veterans buried at Oakland Cemetery, secured replacement markers for Pierson and Walker.

The cavalry soldiers spent most of their time on outpost duty, guarding the countryside around Washington, D.C.

The second unit to come out of Fort Dodge was Company I of the 32nd Iowa Infantry.

It was organized in August 1862. The company consisted mostly of men from Webster County, with a few from Boone and Humboldt counties.

Company I left Fort Dodge on Sept. 24, 1862. That unit fought in Missouri, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee.