page_title: John Rodgers Meigs
section_title: Burial
hierarchical_section_title: John Rodgers Meigs / Legacy / Burial
caption_attribution_description: English: Closeup of the bas-relief top of the grave marker of John Rodgers Meigs, adjacent to the tomb of Montgomery C. Meigs, founder of Arlington National Cemtery. The tomb is located in Section 1 of the cemetery, which is located in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. Montgomery Cunningham Meigs (May 3, 1816-January 2, 1892) was a Georgian who graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1836. He entered the Corps of Engineeers, and oversaw numerous civil engineering projects in and around Washington, D.C., (including the construction of the Capitol Dome). He was promoted to Brigadier General on May 15, 1861, and appointed Quartermaster General. Meigs successfully proposed that the grounds of Robert E. Lee's estate in Arlington, Virginia, be transformed into a cemetery for Civil War Dead. The first burial there was made on May 13, 1864. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton approved the establishment of a military cemetery on June 15, 1864. During his tenure as Superintendent of Arlington National Cemtery, Meigs erected the Memorial to Civil War Unknown Dead, the Old Amphitheater, enclosed the cemetery in a low sandstone wall, constructed roads and pathways, and erected the McClellan Gate (on which he had inscribed his own name). Meigs was forced to retire as Quartermaster General in 1882. Meigs picked out the plot for and designed his own tomb. It sits on a 2 foot, 6 inch high base of rough rectangular gray granite stones mortared together like bricks. The tomb itself is in the shape of a 3 feet high, 6 feet long white marble sarcophagus. It is oriented along an east-west axis. On the south side of the tomb is an inscription to Meigs' wife, Louisa. She was the daughter of U.S. Navy Commodote John Rodgers. However, before Meigs or his wife had died, another burial occurred alongside their plot. Their son, John Rodgers Meigs, was a lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He was killed near Harrisonburg, Virginia, in October 1864. Meigs designed a marker for his son's burial site. A 2 foot high base of green marble supports a bronze bas-relief image of the younger Meigs in full Union Army uniform and gear, lying dead in a muddy road. Discarded Confederate military gear lies alongside him. The prints of horses' hooves can be seen in the mud, implying that John Rodgers Meigs was trampled by fleeing Confederate troops. Meigs had his grandfather's remains moved to lie next to his own tomb. His grandfather, Samuel William Meigs, died in 1818 and was buried in Congressional Cemetery. The original tombstone, a 2 foot square stone block set on two rectangular bases, was moved as well. Buried with Samuel was his father and Montgomery C. Meigs' grandfather, Josiah Meigs. Josiah was president of the University of Georgia from 1800 to 1811. Bronze plaques on the tombstone commemorate both me. Buried northwest adjacent to the Meigs tomb are Montgomery Meigs Macomb and his wife, Caroline. Macomb was Montgomery C. Meig's nephew (son of his wife Lousia's sister, Ann Minerva Rodgers Macomb). He served as Montgomery C. Meigs' aide-de-camp from 1875 to 1876. He himself rose to be a brigadier general, served in the Spanish-American War and World War I, and was military governor of Hawaii after it was forcibly annexed by the U.S.
context_page_description: John Rodgers Meigs was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was the son of Brigadier General Montgomery C. Meigs, the Quartermaster General of the United States Army. He participated in the First Battle of Bull Run, and later testified in the court-martial trial of an officer involved in the retreat from the battle. He attended the United States Military Academy, where he was an acting assistant professor of mathematics and graduated first in his class in June 1863. He was lauded by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton for strengthening the defenses of Baltimore, Maryland; was an engineer and acting aide-de-camp on the staff of Brigadier General William W. Averell; was Chief Engineer of the Shenandoah Valley for the Department of West Virginia; and was Chief Engineer of the Middle Military Division and aide-de-camp to General Phillip Sheridan. The circumstances under which Meigs died led to the burning of Dayton, Virginia, in retaliation. His funeral was a public event attended by President Abraham Lincoln, Stanton, and numerous government dignitaries.
context_section_description: Although the death of John Rodgers Meigs was similar to that of thousands of others who died during the Civil War, his death received national wide attention because of his father's status as Quartermaster General of the United States Army.
  John Rodgers Meigs was originally buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C. President Abraham Lincoln, Secretary of State William H. Seward, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Army Chief-of-Staff Lieutenant General Henry Halleck, and numerous other dignitaries attended his funeral. Stanton eulogized him as "One of the youngest and brightest of the military profession, he has fallen an early victim to murderous rebel warfare".
  Montgomery Meigs later had his son's body moved to Arlington National Cemetery, where it rests in a tomb next to his own and many others of the Meigs family. John Rodgers Meigs' tomb is covered by a distinctive bronze gisant by Theophilus Fisk Mills. The high relief sculpture depicts a two-thirds life-size John Rodgers Meigs, in his first lieutenant's engineer uniform, lying on his back in the mud. The hooves of the Confederate cavalrymen have trampled on the body and left imprints in the mud.
  A marble column at West Point, erected in the memory of all graduates who fought for the Union cause, also bears his name.
  A book of Meigs' letters were published in 2006 under the title A Civil War Soldier of Christ and Country: The Selected Correspondence of John Rodgers Meigs, 1859-64.
caption: Detail of the cover of the tomb of John Rodgers Meigs at Arlington National Cemetery.
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