Major General Montgomery Meigs was one of the finest logisticians in US Army history. He was born in Augusta in 1816 and lived briefly in Athens, where his grandfather Josiah Meigs presided over the University of Georgia. He graduated from West Point in 1836. In 1861, the Army promoted him to brigadier general and appointed him Quartermaster General of the United States Army.
Meigs engineered the first modern military logistical system to support troops in combat during the Civil War. Personally, I find that Civil War buffs focus far too much on operations and fail to understand the importance of logistical support. I would argue that the United States' superior materiel, transport, and supply, combined with Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan, played the most decisive factor in the defeat of the confederacy.
Meigs intensely detested secessionists and confederates, and his feelings played a large role in the creation of Arlington Cemetery from Robert E. Lee's former estate. It was Meigs who ordered that United States Army officers be buried in the land adjacent to the Custis-Lee mansion, which later expanded to include enlisted personnel as well as confederate officers and men.
If you ever visit Arlington Cemetery, many of the structures were designed by Meigs including the cenotaph, the Tomb of the Civil War Unknowns, the McClellan Gate, and the Temple of Fame.
Meigs engineered the first modern military logistical system to support troops in combat during the Civil War. Personally, I find that Civil War buffs focus far too much on operations and fail to understand the importance of logistical support. I would argue that the United States' superior materiel, transport, and supply, combined with Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan, played the most decisive factor in the defeat of the confederacy.
Meigs intensely detested secessionists and confederates, and his feelings played a large role in the creation of Arlington Cemetery from Robert E. Lee's former estate. It was Meigs who ordered that United States Army officers be buried in the land adjacent to the Custis-Lee mansion, which later expanded to include enlisted personnel as well as confederate officers and men.
If you ever visit Arlington Cemetery, many of the structures were designed by Meigs including the cenotaph, the Tomb of the Civil War Unknowns, the McClellan Gate, and the Temple of Fame.
