Letter from John Dodge
Pittsburg 25 Jany 1779
Read Feby. 17th.--
Referred to the board of war--

This letter or statement was not received by Congress till December
13, 1781, nearly two years later, and the committee to which it was
referred, reported adversely to the suggestions contained in it, March
20, 1782.

Early in 1779, Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton was captured
by General George Rogers Clark at Vincennes and was carried to
Williamsburg, Virginia, as a prisoner of war. The letters and Narrative
of Dodge had been read by some members of the Council of Virginia and
the Council resolved, June 16, 1779, that because of the cruelties
inflicted by Great Britain on the American prisoners of war, it was
proper to begin a system of retaliation, and they conclude their
resolution as follows:--"this board has resolved to advise the governor
that the said Henry Hamilton, Philip Dejean and William LaMothe,
prisoners of war, be put in irons, confined in the dungeon of the public
jail, debarred the use of pen, ink and paper and excluded all converse
except with their keeper, and the governor orders accordingly." The
charges preferred by Dodge against Hamilton, were urged as an additional
reason for confining the latter in jail. Hamilton answered that the
statements of Dodge were mutual, and that the latter was "an
unprincipled and perjured renegade."[9]

Hamilton's excuses were not well received, and although no longer
confined in irons, he remained in prison for some time, but was finally
released and subsequently returned to Canada as Lieutenant Governor of
the province.

Dodge was appointed Indian Agent by Virginia and was located in
Kaskaskia from 1780 to 1788 and possibly until a later date.[10]

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.