Second Only to Grant: Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs
by David W. Miller
Category: History

"As quartermaster general, Montgomery C. Meigs fought on all fronts of the Civil War. His was the planning and direction that kept both eastern and western theater Union generals well supplied with all the clothing, equipment and accouterments, tents, and horses they needed. His responsibilities also included wagon, rail, and water transportation. Giving everyone a chance to participate in the enormous job of supplying the Union armies, he took full advantage of, and boosted the industrialization of the United States. His reorganizations improved military transportation and the structure of his quartermaster department staff." "Meigs used his skills continually. During the Gettysburg campaign, as Meade's Army of the Potomac moved rapidly north. Meigs kept Meade's supply line shifting along with his army. In the West, Meigs personally was involved with the "cracker line" that kept Chattanooga's defenders supplied. Meigs' supply bases at Fredericksburg and Belle Plain kept Grant moving against Lee. His resupply of Sherman at Savannah in 1865 was triumph of logistics that put the Yankee army back in the field, after a 250-mile march, in new uniforms supported by top quality equipment." "But Meigs accomplished even more. An architect, engineer, regent of the Smithsonian Institution, and member of the National Academy of Science, his contributions to the work of government at Washington kept him involved with the new dome and wings of the United States Capitol, the Pension Building, and other structures still in use today."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved