The quartermaster : Montgomery C. Meigs : Lincoln's general, master builder of the Union army / Robert O'Harrow, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Harrow, Robert, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Meigs, Montgomery C. (Montgomery Cunningham), 1816-1892.

Meigs, Montgomery C.

Quartermasters--United States--Biography.

Quartermasters.

History.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Biography.

United States.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Supplies and stores.

Military supplies.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

x, 304 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits, facsimile ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Simon & Schuster, 2016.

Summary:

"Born to a well to do, connected family in 1816, Montgomery C. Meigs graduated from West Point as an engineer. He helped build America's forts and served under Lt. Robert E. Lee to make navigation improvements on the Mississippi River. As a young man, he designed the Washington aqueducts in a city where people were dying from contaminated water. He built the spectacular wings and the massive dome of the brand new US Capitol. Introduced to President Lincoln by Secretary of State William Seward, Meigs became Lincoln's Quartermaster. It was during the Civil War that Meigs became a national hero. He commanded Ulysses S. Grant's base of supplies that made Union victories, including Gettysburg, possible. He sustained Sherman's army in Georgia, and the March to the Sea. After the war, Meigs built Arlington Cemetery (on land that had been Robert E. Lee's home). [The author] brings Meigs alive in [this book]. We get to know this major military figure that Lincoln and his Cabinet and Generals called the key to victory and learn how he fed, clothed, and armed the Union Army using his ingenuity and devotion"--Amazon.com.

Contents:

Rigid duty

Patience and perseverance

Wholesome water

An aqueduct worthy of the nation

A rival to the Parthenon

America's curse

The Saturday Club

The workload grows

Rowdy looking

Energetic, obliging, firm

An inscription for all time

"Everything into confusion"

"Eternal blot"

Tall and awkward candidate

Floyd resigns

He plucked a laurel

A secret mission

A soul on fire

Building an army

Shoddy

"Hard work and cold calculation"

"The war cannot be long"

Gunboats

"His best name is honesty"

"Vast in quantity"

Hope wanes

"Fret him and fret him"

"Exhaustion of men and money"

"A beauteous bubble"

A vulnerable capital

The refit at Savannah

The journey home

"Dogs to their vomit"

"Soldier, engineer, architect, scientist, patriot."

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-289) and index.

ISBN:

9781451671926

145167192X

OCLC:

951917282