On August 28, 1863: Meigs Pocket Diary, August 28, 1863.
On his return to: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 29, pt. 2, 154–55.
First, he was redirected: Ibid., vol. 30, pt. 3, 479.
In Louisville: Meigs Pocket Diary, September 20, 1863.
A ferocious battle: Nevins, War for the Union, vol. 3, 195–98.
Bragg’s men cut: W. S. Rosecrans, “The Campaign for Chattanooga,” Century Illustrated Monthly 34 (May 1887), 129–36; Bruce Catton, “The Miracle on Missionary Ridge,” American Heritage 20, no. 2 (February 1969), www.americanheritage.com.
Meigs saw that: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 4, 879.
For two days, Stanton: Hay, Inside Lincoln’s White House, 85–86.
Working through the night: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 29, pt. 1, 155–59.
For the answer, Stanton: Edwin A. Pratt, The Rise of Rail-Power (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1916), 23–24, 30–36.
He had already worked: E. G. Campbell, United States Military Railroads, 1862–1865, Journal of the American Military History Foundation, vol. 2, 1938, http://penelope.uchicago.edu.
His mission now involved: Pratt, The Rise of Rail-Power, 24; Benjamin, Recollections of Secretary Stanton, 767; Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 29, pt. 1, 155–59.
Meigs served as: Ibid., 150.
“A thousand thanks”: Ibid., 162.
Any shade disappeared: Rosecrans, Campaign for Chattanooga, 137.
It seemed inhuman: Ibid.
They joked with one: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 30, pt. 4, 101–2.
They dueled with songs: Joseph S. Fullerton, “The Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga,” in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. 3, ed. Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough (New York: Century, 1884), 719.
The army, with enough: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 4, 880.
“Your very interesting reports”: Ibid., ser. 1, vol. 30, pt. 4, 78.
“Hold Chattanooga at all”: Ibid., 479.
“We will hold the”: Ibid.
Meigs arranged for delivery: Ibid., ser. 3, vol. 4, 880.
“Their joy at seeing”: Risch, Quartermaster Support, 414.
“It was a surprise”: Montgomery C. Meigs, “The Battle of Chattanooga: Official Account by Quartermaster General Meigs,” The Indiana State Sentinel, December 7, 1863.
“At nightfall sky cleared”: Meigs, “Battle of Chattanooga.”
They feared if they: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 31, pt. 2, 201–3.
“What so often”: Ibid., 263–64.
“Total defeat; they”: Meigs Pocket Diary, November 25, 1863.
Meigs collected war: Peter Cozzens, The Shipwreck of Their Hopes: The Battles for Chattanooga (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996), 359.
Then he rode off: Meigs Pocket Diary, December 2, 1863.
CHAPTER 29: “A BEAUTEOUS BUBBLE”
The cold nights, daily: Miller, Second Only to Grant, 216.
The administrative demands: Lincoln to Edwin Stanton, February 1, 1864, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln.
In any event, the: Walt Whitman, The Uncollected Poetry and Prose of Walt Whitman, vol. 2 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page, 1921), 31–33.
Meigs also visited: Meigs Pocket Diary, February 13, 1864.
It would culminate: Grant, Grant Memoirs, 512.
The numbers associated: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 36, pt. 1, 276–79.
They deployed 4,300: Ibid., vol. 33, 853–56.
Grant later estimated: Grant, Grant Memoirs, 523.
Grant tells us in: Ibid.
He was in a: Nevins, War for the Union, vol. 4, 25; Royster, Destructive War, 325.
He requested 5 million: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 36, pt. 1, 3.
James McPherson, the great: McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 733; Hay, Inside Lincoln’s White House, 195.
At one rebel depot: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 36, pt. 1, 777.
Now there was rain, day: Ibid., 5.
“To give some idea”: Ibid., 1094.
Civilians on both sides: Strong, Diary of the Civil War, 453.
After a month, the: McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 733.
It enabled the crossing: Huston, The Sinews of War, 227.
In the first six: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 4, 889.
Meigs aimed to: Harper’s Weekly, June 11, 1864.
In Fredericksburg, men lay: Leech, Reveille in Washington, 401.
Stanton ordered Meigs: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 36, pt. 2, 829.
The ability to: Leech, Reveille in Washington, 401.
A stench drifted over: Robert M. Poole, On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery (New York: Walker, 2009), 57.
Care of the dead: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 1, 498.
That mandate was: Ibid., vol. 2, 2.
In July 1862: Michelle A. Krowl, “ ‘In the Spirit of Fraternity’: The United States Government and the Burial of Confederate Dead at Arlington National Cemetery,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 111, no. 2 (2003): 155, www.jstor.org/stable/4250101.
On May 13 a cemetery: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 4, 903.
Another 2,000 had: Ibid., 904, 892.
Meigs knew already: Poole, On Hallowed Ground, 58–63; “The Beginnings of Arlington National Cemetery,” National Park Service, www.nps.gov/arho/learn/historyculture/cemetery.htm.
The land was put: Poole, On Hallowed Ground, 55.
The burials at Arlington: Ibid., 59–60.
In a brief letter: Montgomery Meigs to Edwin Stanton, June 15, 1864, copy, Arlington National Cemetery archives.
With Stanton’s approval: Montgomery Meigs letter to D. H. Rucker, June 15, 1864, copy, Arlington National Cemetery archives.
As he wrote: Montgomery Meigs letter, April 11, 1865, Meigs Papers, LOC, shelf 18,202.1, reel 6; Poole, On Hallowed Ground, 65.
“How appropriate that”: “The Arlington Estate,” Big Blue Union (Marysville, KS), July 9, 1864.
The number of burials: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 4, 904.
Twenty-six graves soon: Joseph E. Stevens, “The North’s Secret Weapon,” American History, April 2002, 42–48; Beginnings of Arlington National Cemetery, National Park Service, www.nps.gov/arho/learn/historyculture/cemetery.htm.
CHAPTER 30: A VULNERABLE CAPITAL
In June, as Grant: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 27, pt. 1, 346.
Lincoln himself: Lincoln, Memorandum on Possibility of Not Being Reelected, Abraham Lincoln Papers at the LOC, http://memory.loc.gov.
On July 4 the: Leech, Reveille in Washington, 408.
More than 50 forts: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 21, 902–16.
Some of these men: Ibid., vol. 37, pt. 2, 98.
Early advanced north: Ibid., pt. 1, 347–49.
He delayed the: Ibid., 191–92.
On July 4, 1864: Ibid., ser. 3, vol. 4, 878.
On the same day: Meigs Pocket Diary, July 4, 1864.
Though pleased on both: Ibid.
The next day, Meigs: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 37, pt. 1, 254–55.
He argued that even: Montgomery Meigs letter, July 19, 1891, copy, Meigs family papers, courtesy of Louisa Watrous.
The officer accepted: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 37, pt. 2, 236.
By now, Early’s footsore: John G. Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History, vol. 9 (New York: Century, 1890), 169–72.
On July 11 they: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 37, pt. 1, 347–49.
Two houses smouldered: Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, vol. 2, 72.
Meigs admired the fields: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 37, pt. 1, 258–59.
As they cleared: Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, vol. 2, 72–73.
The president stood on: Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History, vol. 9, 169–73.
“Get down, you damn fool”: Oliver Wendell Holmes letter, June 14, 1922, at the Shapell Manuscript Foundation, www.shapell.org.
> The Union had: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 36, pt. 1, 28.
As of July 5: Ibid., vol. 37, pt. 1, 259; Meigs Pocket Diary, July 11, 1864.
In the war’s: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 38, pt. 1, 59–85.
The supply line began: Ibid., ser. 3, vol. 5, 987.
The supply line later: Ibid., 987.
When clergy and others: Royster, Destructive War, 270.
The mill enabled them: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 5, 234.
One of them, over: Ibid., vol. 4, 957.
They made an even: Ibid., ser. 1, vol. 52, pt. 1, 573.
Rail lines in the: Ibid., ser. 3, vol. 4, 883.
On September 2 Sherman took: Ibid., ser. 1, vol. 38, pt. 5, 777.
Sherman calculated that: Sherman, Memoirs of Gen. W. T. Sherman, 890.
“Bridges have been built”: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 38, pt. 1, 83.
More than a dozen: Ibid., 87.
Federals under Phil Sheridan: “Official War Bulletin,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), October 10, 1864; P. H. Sheridan; Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, vol. 1 (New York: Charles L. Webster, 1888), 464–68.
Though still green: Sheridan, Personal Memoirs, vol. 1, 467.
John and two aides: Giunta, Civil War Soldier, 249–56.
The exact details of: Sheridan, Personal Memoirs, vol. 2, 49–52.
“And so has perished”: Meigs Pocket Diary, October 3–7, 1864.
Sheridan ordered his men: Sheridan, Personal Memoirs, vol. 2, 51–52.
The next day, Lincoln: Meigs Pocket Diary, October 8, 1864; Lincoln Log, October 8, 1864, www.thelincolnlog.org.
“Dear Mont grieves for”: Louisa Meigs letter, November 27, 1864, Giunta, Civil War Soldier, 245–46.
Among those in his: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 336.
He thought of the: Montgomery Meigs letter, October 6, 1864, Meigs Papers, LOC, shelf 18,202, reel 16.
Decades later, Mosby disputed: “The Meigs Killing,” Baltimore Sun, October 7, 1895.
CHAPTER 31: THE REFIT AT SAVANNAH
As the story went: Sherman, Memoirs, 626.
Sherman would send all: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 34, pt. 1, 35–36.
He wanted to crush: Royster, Destructive War, 35.
Grant consented: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 34, pt. 1, 36.
Then his army, some: Nevins, War for the Union, vol. 4, 157.
Sherman encouraged his men: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 44, 13.
“This may seem”: Ibid.
It fell to Meigs: Ibid., 568.
“The handwriting of”: Scientific American, January 30, 1892, vol. 66 (New York: Munn, 1892), 71; East, Banishment of Captain Meigs, 118; Vincent Meigs, 268.
Meigs summoned a special: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 5, 215.
They had waded through: Nevins, War for the Union, vol. 4, 163.
They left friends along: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 38, pt. 1, 716.
And now they received: Ibid., vol. 44, 637; Ibid., ser. 3, vol. 5, 214–15.
He was especially taken: Ibid., ser. 1, vol. 44, 807.
“I beg to assure”: Ibid.
“To his admirers”: Royster, Destructive War, 366.
On January 5, 1865: Meigs Pocket Diary, January 5, 1865 (transcribed extracts courtesy of Louisa Watrous); Abbot, Memoir, April 1893.
Congress had formed: National Academy of Sciences, History, www.nasonline.org.
The next day, he: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 47, pt. 2, 18–19.
Meigs was most concerned: Ibid., vol. 42, pt. 3, 3.
Grant’s siege force: Ibid., ser. 3, vol. 5, 293.
The cost of shipping forage: Ibid., 216.
Those vessels comprised: Ibid., 229.
He urged Sherman: Ibid., ser. 1, vol. 47, pt. 2, 180.
Union leadership decided: Ibid., ser. 3, vol. 5, 215.
The army pushed on: Sherman, Memoirs, 778.
To help prepare for this refit: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 5, 227.
Every soldier received: Ibid.
With the Confederacy: Ibid., ser. 1, vol. 47, pt. 3, 4.
Meigs joined the army: Ibid., vol. 5, 227–28.
Then came word: Grant, Grant Memoirs, 697.
Lee declared that Five: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 46, pt. 1, 52.
Leaders fled as soldiers: “From Richmond,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), April 6, 1865.
Meigs boarded a boat: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 316.
In Washington, War Department: “Extra,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), April 3, 1865.
Meigs heard the best: Meigs Pocket Diary (transcribed extracts), April 11, 1865.
For the first time: Ibid., April 12, 1865.
He hoped that: Montgomery Meigs letter, April 11, 1865, Meigs Papers, LOC, shelf 18,202.1, reel 6.
He chose instead: Meigs Pocket Diary (transcribed extracts), April 12, 1865.
Meigs also visited: “The Accident to Secretary Seward,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), April 6, 1865.
He made the rest: Minerva Rodgers letter, April 17, 1865, Meigs Papers, LOC, hard copy.
“The country is drunk”: Meigs Pocket Diary (transcribed extracts), April 14, 1865.
That night, as Meigs: Minerva Rodgers letter, April 17, 1865.
Seward’s son Frederick: Meigs Pocket Diary (transcribed extracts), April 14, 1865; Leech, Reveille in Washington, 485–86.
Stanton asked Meigs: Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, vol. 2, 285–86.
Lincoln breathed slowly: Ibid., 287.
The eyes of everyone: McColloch, Men and Measures, 225.
A rainstorm: Illustrated Life, Services, Martyrdom, and Funeral of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States (Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson & Brothers, 1865), 209, http://quod.lib.umich.edu.
At midnight, on authority: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 46, pt. 3, 756.
“The murderers have”: “Meigs Pocket Diary (transcribed extracts), April 14, 1865.
On Tuesday, April 18: Illustrated Life, 216.
The next day, as: Meigs Pocket Diary (transcribed extracts), April 19, 1865.
Instead of demanding: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 47, pt. 3, 245.
The apparent presumption: Ibid., 263–64.
“No better officer”: Meigs Pocket Diary (transcribed extracts), April 22, 1865.
CHAPTER 32: THE JOURNEY HOME
To mark the North’s: Royster, Destructive War, 408; Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 46, pt. 3, 1171 and 1181–82.
Soldiers bivouacked in: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 5, 231.
The Army of the: Grant Memoirs, 768.
In forty days, some: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 5, 217.
Others passed through: Ibid., 231.
By winter, a second: Ibid., 233, 1033.
The government sent: Ibid., 233.
Not long after Grant: Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), 190–91.
On June 7, under Special: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 5, 317–23.
The next assignment: Ibid., 319.
“[A]ll of them candidly”: Ibid., 320.
With help from records secretly: National Park Service, Dorence Atwater, www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/DORENCE_ATWATER.htm.
News about the: Ibid., 321; “Clara Barton and Andersonville,” National Park Service, www.nps.gov.
“Nothing has been destroyed”: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 5, 322.
Commanders had not: Ibid., vol. 2, 2.
In the fall of: The Army Reunion: with Reports of the Meetings of the Army of the Cumberland; the Army of the Tennessee; the Army of the Ohio; and the Army of Georgia, Chicago, December 15 and 16, 1868 (Chicago: S. C. Griggs, 1869), 227.
“To ask”: Army Reunion, 241.
“It revealed the”: Ibid., 243.
By late 1866: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 5, 1037–38.
“I do not believe that”: Montgomery Meigs, Congressional Globe, May 8, 18
72, House, 42nd Congress, Second Session, 3220.
CHAPTER 33: “DOGS TO THEIR VOMIT”
“I must be permitted”: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 52, pt. 1, 692.
He had to move: Ibid., ser. 3, vol. 5, 1031–33, 1045.
“Poor woman she”: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 325.
Meigs spurned him: Ibid., 324.
“The emancipation of”: Ibid., 338–39.
In his frustration: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 341.
In early 1867 Meigs: Report of the Quartermaster General, October 20, 1868, in Message of the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress, 40th Congress, Third Session (Washington, DC: US GPO, 1869), 444.
“The prevailing opinion”: Seward letter, May 28, 1867, letter in Henry B. Meigs, Record of the Descendants.
Now he was responsible: Quartermaster General report, October 20, 1868, 445.
“As a measure of humanity”: Ibid., 456.
He eventually oversaw: Report of the Quartermaster General, October 19, 1871, in Report of the Secretary of War, Being Part of the Messages and Documents Communicated to the Two Houses of Congress, vol. 1, 42nd Congress, Second Session (Washington, DC: US GPO, 1871).
All through the postwar: Quartermaster General report, October 19, 1871, 135–37.
In the meantime: Ibid., 136.
The standard markers now: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Civil War Era National Cemeteries, August 31, 1994, E10–E13, copy, www.nationalregister.sc.gov/MPS/MPS045.pdf.
He let his imagination: Pamela Scott, “Montgomery C. Meigs and Victorian Architectural Traditions,” in Building of the Nation’s Capital, 64.
It had a simple: General Montgomery Meigs House, LOC, Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, Historic American Buildings Survey, Engineering Record, Landscape Survey, www.loc.gov; Weigley, Quartermaster General, 351.
The house became: Louisa Taylor oral history and memoirs, Meigs Papers, LOC, shelf 18,202.1, reel 20, 7.
In 1870 he sought: History and Development of the National Cemetery Administration, National Cemetery Administration, US Department of Veterans Affairs, www.cem.va.gov.
One of the first: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 5, 241; Battleground National Cemetery, Most Endangered Place for 2005, D.C. Preservation League, www.dcpreservation.org; Battleground National Cemetery, National Park Service, www.nps.gov; Civil War Defenses of Washington newsletter, National Park Service 1, no. 1, March 2010.
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