Montgomery C . Meigs Montgomery Cunningham Meigs ( ; May 3 , 1816 – January 2 , 1892 ) was a career United States Army officer , civil engineer , construction engineer for a number of facilities in Washington , D . C . , and Quartermaster General of the U . S . Army during and after the American Civil War . Early life and engineering projects . Meigs was born in Augusta , Georgia , in May 1816 . He was the son of Dr . Charles Delucena Meigs and Mary Montgomery Meigs . His father was a nationally known obstetrician and professor of obstetrics at Jefferson Medical College His grandfather , Josiah Meigs , graduated from Yale University ( where he was a classmate of future dictionary creator Noah Webster and American Revolutionary War general and politician Oliver Wolcott ) , and later was president of the University of Georgia . Montgomery Meig ' s mother , Mary , was the granddaughter of a Scottish family from Brigend ( with somewhat distant claims to a baronetcy ) which emigrated to America in 1701 . Meig ' s father apprenticed as a physician in Philadelphia until 1812 , at which time he moved to Athens , Georgia . He enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania in 1815 , the same year he began to practice medicine in Georgia . Charles Meigs received his M . D . from the University of Pennsylvania in 1817 , and that summer he moved his family — which now included one - year - old Montgomery — to Philadelphia and established a practice there . The Meigs family was wealthy and well - connected , and Charles Meigs was a strong supporter of the Democratic Party . Meigs had extremely good memory , and his father instilled in him a sense of duty and a desire to pursue honorable causes . Young Montgomery received schooling at the Franklin Institute ( a preparatory school for the University of Pennsylvania ) . Meigs learned French , German , and Latin , and studied art , literature , and poetry . He enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania when he was only 15 years old . A hard worker , he was one of the top students at the university . The Meigs family had extensive ties to the military and to West Point , the United States Military Academy . Montgomery Meigs , caught up in the nationalistic fervor of the time , wished to serve in the army . West Point was also the only engineering school in the United States at the time . Through family connections , Meigs won an appointment to West Point , entering in 1832 . He excelled in his studies at West Point , although he himself said he spent too much time at athletics and outdoor activities . He was among the top three students in French and mathematics , and did well in history . He graduated fifth out of a class of 49 in 1836 , and he had more good conduct merits than two - thirds of his classmates . He received a commission as a second lieutenant in the 1st U . S . Artillery , but most of his army service was with the Corps of Engineers , in which he worked on important engineering projects . In his early assignments , Meigs helped build Fort Mifflin and Fort Delaware , both on the Delaware River , and Fort Wayne on the Detroit River . He also served under the command of then - Lt . Robert E . Lee to make navigational improvements on the Mississippi River . Beginning in 1844 , Meigs also was involved with the construction of Fort Montgomery on Lake Champlain in upstate New York . His favorite prewar engineering project was the Washington Aqueduct , which he supervised from 1852 to 1860 . It involved the construction of the monumental Union Arch Bridge across Cabin John Creek , designed by Alfred Rives , which for 50 years remained the longest single - span masonry arch in the world . From 1853 to 1859 , he also supervised the building of the wings and dome of the United States Capitol and , from 1855 to 1859 , the extension of the General Post Office Building . In the fall of 1860 , as a result of a disagreement over procurement contracts , Meigs " incurred the ill will " of the Secretary of War , John B . Floyd , and was " banished to Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico to construct fortifications at that place and at Key West . " Upon the resignation of Floyd a few months later , Meigs was recalled to his work on the aqueduct at Washington . Civil War . Just before the outbreak of the Civil War , Meigs and Lt . Col . Erasmus D . Keyes were quietly charged by President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William H . Seward with drawing up a plan for the relief of Fort Pickens , Florida , by means of a secret expedition . In April 1861 , together with Lieutenant David D . Porter of the Navy , they carried out the expedition , embarking under orders from the President without the knowledge of either the Secretary of the Navy or the Secretary of War . On May 14 , 1861 , Meigs was appointed colonel , 11th U . S . Infantry , and on the following day , promoted to brigadier general and Quartermaster General of the Army . The previous Quartermaster General , Joseph Johnston , had resigned and become a general in the Confederate Army . Meigs established a reputation for being efficient , hard - driving , and scrupulously honest . He molded a large and somewhat diffuse department into a great tool of war . He was one of the first to fully appreciate the importance of logistical preparations in military planning , and under his leadership , supplies moved forward and troops were transported over long distances with ever - greater efficiency . Of his work in the quartermaster ' s office , James G . Blaine remarked : " Montgomery C . Meigs , one of the ablest graduates of the Military Academy , was kept from the command of troops by the inestimably important services he performed as Quartermaster General . Perhaps in the military history of the world there never was so large an amount of money disbursed upon the order of a single man . . . The aggregate sum could not have been less during the war than fifteen hundred million dollars , accurately vouched and accounted for to the last cent . " Secretary of State William H . Seward ' s estimate was " that without the services of this eminent soldier the national cause must have been lost or deeply imperiled . " Meigs ' services during the Civil War included command of Lietenant General Ulysses S . Grant ' s base of supplies at Fredericksburg and Belle Plain , Virginia ( 1864 ) ; command of a division of War Department employees in the defense of Washington at the time of Jubal A . Early ' s raid ( July 11 to 14 , 1864 ) ; personally supervising the refitting and supplying of Major General William T . Sherman ' s army at Savannah ( January 5 to 29 , 1865 ) , Goldsboro , and Raleigh , North Carolina and reopening Sherman ' s lines of supply ( March to April 1865 ) . He was brevetted to major general on July 5 , 1864 . A staunch Unionist despite his Southern roots , Meigs detested the Confederacy . His feelings led directly to the establishment of Arlington National Cemetery . On July 16 , 1862 , Congress passed legislation authorizing the U . S . federal government to purchase land for national cemeteries for military dead , and put the U . S . Army Quartermaster General in charge of this program . The Soldiers ' Home in Washington , D . C . , and the Alexandria Cemetery were the primary burying grounds for war dead in the D . C . area , but by late 1863 both cemeteries were full . In May 1864 , Union forces suffered large numbers of dead in the Battle of the Wilderness . Meigs ordered that an examination of eligible sites be made for the establishment for a large new national military cemetery . Within weeks , his staff reported that Arlington Estate was the most suitable property in the area . The property was high and free from floods ( which might unearth graves ) , it had a view of the District of Columbia , and it was aesthetically pleasing . It was also the home of the leader of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America , and denying Robert E . Lee use of his home after the war was a valuable political consideration . Although the first military burial at Arlington had been made on May 13 , Meigs did not authorize establishment of burials until June 15 , 1864 . Meigs ordered that the estate be surveyed and that be set aside for use as a cemetery . In October 1864 , his son , 1st Lieutenant John Rodgers Meigs , was killed at Swift Run Gap in Virginia and was buried at a Georgetown Cemetery . Lt . Meigs was part of a three - man patrol which ran into a three - man Confederate patrol . Lt . Meigs was killed , one man was captured , and one man escaped . To the end of his life , Meigs believed that his son had been murdered after being captured — despite evidence to the contrary . The younger Meigs was laid to rest in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown in Washington , D . C . Both Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M . Stanton attended the interment . Meigs was also present for Lincoln ' s death . At 10 : 00 P . M . on the evening of April 14 , 1865 , Meigs heard that William Seward had been attacked by a knife - wielding assailant . Meigs rushed to Rodgers House , Seward ' s home on Lafayette Square just across the street from the White House . Shortly after arriving at Seward ' s home , Meigs learned of the assassination of Lincoln . He rushed to the Petersen House across from Ford ' s Theatre , where Lincoln lay dying . Meigs stood at the front door of the house for the rest of the deathwatch . He alone decided who was admitted to the house . When Lincoln died at 7 : 22 A . M . on April 15 , Meigs moved into the parlor to sit with the president ' s body . During Lincoln ' s funeral procession in the city five days later , Meigs rode at the head of two battalions of quartermaster corps soldiers . Role in developing Arlington National Cemetery . Meigs played a critical role in developing Arlington National Cemetery , both during the Civil War and afterward . Although most burials initially occurred near the freedmen ' s cemetery in the estate ' s northeast corner , in mid - June 1864 Meigs ordered that burials commence immediately on the grounds of Arlington House . Brigadier General René Edward De Russy was living in Arlington House at the time and opposed the burial of bodies close to his quarters , forcing new interments to occur far to the west ( in what is now Section 1 of the cemetery ) . But Meigs still demanded that officers be buried on the grounds of the mansion , around the Lee ' s former flower garden . The first officer burial had occurred there on May 17 , but with Meigs ' order another 44 officers were buried along the southern and eastern sides within a month . By May 31 , more than 2 , 600 burials had occurred in the cemetery , and Meigs ordered that a white picket fence be constructed around the burial grounds . In December 1865 , Robert E . Lee ' s brother , Smith Lee , visited Arlington House and observed that the house could be made livable again if the graves around the flower garden were removed . Meigs hated Lee for betraying the Union , and ordered that more burials occur near the house in order to make it politically impossible for disinterment to occur . Meigs himself designed and implemented most of the changes at the cemetery in the 15 years after the war . In 1865 , for example , Meigs decided to build a monument to Civil War dead in the center of a grove of trees west of the Lee ' s flower garden . U . S . Army troops were dispatched to investigate every battlefield within a radius of the city of Washington , D . C . The bodies of 2 , 111 Union and Confederate dead were collected , most of them from the battlefields of First and Second Bull Run as well as the Union army ' s retreat alone the Rappahannock River ( which occurred after both battles ) . Although Meigs had not intended to collect the remains of Confederate war dead , the inability to identify remains meant that both Union and Confederate dead were interred below the cenotaph . U . S . Army engineers chopped down most the trees and dug a circular pit about wide and deep into the earth . The walls and floor were lined with brick , and it was segmented it into compartments with mortared brick walls . Into each compartment were placed a different body part : skulls , legs , arms , ribs , etc . The vault was half full by the time it was ready for sealing in September 1866 . Meigs designed a tall , long , wide grey granite and concrete cenotaph to rest on top of the burial vault . The Civil War Unknowns Monument consists of two long light grey granite slabs , with the shorter ends formed by sandwiching a smaller slab between the longer two . On the west face was an inscription describing the number of dead in the vault below , and honoring the " unknowns of the Civil War " . Originally , a Rodman gun was placed on each corner , and a pyramid of shot adorned the center of the lid . A circular walk , centered from the center of the memorial , provided access . A walk led east to the flower garden , and another west to the road . Sod was laid around the memorial , and planting beds filled with annual plant s emplaced . Meigs made additional major changes to the cemetery in the 1870s . In 1870 , he ordered that a " Sylvan Hall " — a series of three cruciform tree plantings , one inside the other — be planted in the " Field of the Dead " ( in what is now Section 13 ) . A year later , Meigs ordered the McClellan Gate constructed . Located just west of the intersection of what is today McClellan and Eisenhower Drives , this was originally Arlington National Cemetery ' s main gate . Built of red sandstone and red brick , the name " MCCLELLAN " tops the simple rectangular gate in gilt letters . But just below the name was inscribed the name " MEIGS " — a tribute to himself which Meigs could not help making . Due to the growing importance of the cemetery as well as the much larger crowds attending Memorial Day observances , Meigs also decided a formal meeting space at the cemetery was needed . A grove of trees southwest of Arlington House was cut down , and an amphitheater ( today known as the Old Amphitheater ) was constructed in 1874 . Meigs himself designed the rostrum for the amphitheater . Meigs continued to work to ensure that the Lee family could never take control of Arlington . In 1882 , the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in " United States v . Lee " that the seizure of the Arlington estate at a tax sale by the United States was illegal , and returned the estate to George Washington Custis Lee , General Lee ' s oldest son . He , in turn , sold the estate back to the U . S . government for $ 150 , 000 in 1883 . To commemorate the retention of the estate , in 1884 Meigs ordered that a Temple of Fame be erected in the Lee flower garden . The U . S . Patent Office building had suffered a massive fire in 1877 . It was torn down and rebuilt in 1879 , but the work went very slowly . Meigs ordered that stone columns , pediment s , and entablature s which had been saved from the Patent Office be used to construct the Temple of Fame . The Temple was a round , Greek Revival , temple - like structure with Doric columns supporting a central dome . Inscribed on the pediment supporting the dome were the names of great Americans such as George Washington , Ulysses S . Grant , Abraham Lincoln , and David Farragut . A year after it was built , the names of Union Civil War generals were carved into its columns . Since there wasn ' t enough marble to rebuild the dome , a tin dome ( molded and painted to look like marble ) was installed instead . Postbellum career and death . Meigs became a permanent resident of the District of Columbia after the war . He purchased a home located at 1239 Vermont Avenue NW ( at the corner of Vermont Avenue and N Street ) . As Quartermaster General after the Civil War , Meigs supervised plans for the new War Department building ( constructed between 1866 and 1867 ) , the National Museum ( constructed in 1876 ) , the extension of the Washington Aqueduct ( constructed in 1876 ) , and for a hall of records ( constructed in 1878 ) . Along with fellow Quartermaster Brigadier General Roeliff Brinkerhoff , Meigs edited a volume entitled , " The Volunteer Quartermaster " , a treatise which was considered the standard guide for the officers and employees of the quartermaster ' s department up until the World War I . From 1866 to 1868 , to recuperate from the strain of his war service , Meigs visited Europe , and from 1875 to 1876 made another visit to study the organization of European armies . After his retirement on February 6 , 1882 , he became architect of the Pension Office Building , now home to the National Building Museum . He was a regent of the Smithsonian Institution , a member of the American Philosophical Society , and one of the earliest members of the National Academy of Sciences . Pension Building ( 1882 to 1887 ) . Following the end of the Civil War , the United States Congress passed legislation that greatly extended the scope of pension coverage for both veterans and for their survivors and dependents , notably their widows and orphans . This greatly increased the number of staff needed to administer the new benefits system . More than 1 , 500 clerks were required , and a new building needed to house them . Meigs was chosen to design and construct the new building , now the National Building Museum . He broke away from the established Greco - Roman models that had been the basis of government buildings in Washington , D . C . , up until then , and was to continue following the completion of the Pension Building . Meigs based his design on Italian Renaissance precedents , notably Rome ' s Palazzo Farnese and Plazzo della Cancelleria . Included in his design was a long sculptured frieze executed by Caspar Buberl . Since creating a work of sculpture of that size was well out of Meigs ' s budget , he had Buberl create 28 different scenes ( totaling in length ) , which were then mixed and slightly modified to create the continuous long parade that includes over 1 , 300 figures . Because of the way that the 28 sections are modified and mixed up , it is only by somewhat careful examination that the frieze reveals itself to be the same figures repeated over and over . The sculpture includes infantry , navy , artillery , cavalry , and medical components as well as a good deal of the supply and quartermaster functions . Meigs ' s correspondence with Buberl reveals that Meigs insisted that one teamster , " must be a negro , a plantation slave , freed by war , " be included in the Quartermaster panel . This figure was ultimately to assume a position in the center , over the west entrance to the building . When Philip Sheridan was asked to comment on the building , his reply echoed the sentiment of much of the Washington establishment of the day , that the only thing that he could find wrong with the building was that it was fireproof . ( A similar quote is also attributed to William T . Sherman , so the story might well be apocryphal . ) The completed building , sometimes referred to as " Meigs ' s Old Red Barn " , was created by using more than 15 , 000 , 000 bricks , which , according to the wits of the day , were all counted by the parsimonious Meigs . Death . Meigs contracted a cold on December 27 , 1891 . Within a few days , it turned into pneumonia . Meigs died at home at 5 : 00 P . M . on January 2 , 1892 . His body was interred with high military honors in Arlington National Cemetery . General orders issued at the time of his death declared that " the Army has rarely possessed an officer . . . who was entrusted by the government with a great variety of weighty responsibilities , or who proved himself more worthy of confidence . "