By the time Lee: Nevins, Emergence of Lincoln, vol. 2, 81–85.
This was too much: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 116.
His views would change: McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 203.
Floyd wanted to replace: Meigs, Shorthand Journals, vol. 6, March 29–April 1, 1859; New York Tribune, September 21, in Meigs, The Shorthand Journals, vol. 6, appendix.
Floyd insisted that Meigs: New York Times, September 27, 1860.
Meigs’s meaning was clear: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 98.
On November 2, 1859: Floyd letter to Meigs in Meigs, Shorthand Journals, vol. 6, November 2, 1859.
Floyd claimed he sacked: Brown, Glenn Brown’s History, 372–73.
To Meigs and others: New York Times, September 27, 1860; Meigs, Shorthand Journals, vol. 6, November 9, 1859.
“I have for the last”: Meigs, Shorthand Journals, vol. 6, November 6, 1859.
The dome was not: Ibid., October 27, 1859.
Meigs gathered his foremen: Farewell statement by Meigs on November 2, 1858, in Wolff, Capitol Builder, 807.
He was convinced: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 99.
He kept: Mark A. Snell, From First to Last: The Life of Major General William B. Franklin (New York: Fordham University Press, 2002), 42–48.
The Senate demanded: Nevins, Emergence of Lincoln, vol. 2, 1859–1861, 196.
Floyd stood out among: Ibid., 199.
CHAPTER 13: “ETERNAL BLOT”
The Meigses generally considered: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 117.
In a backlash: Brown, Glenn Brown’s History, 507–8.
In February 1860: Documentary History, February 22, 1860, 744–49.
Nobody really cared: Wolanin, “Meigs the Art Patron,” 163–64; Brown, Glenn Brown’s History, 507.
Now his idea was: Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service, HAER No. DC-21, http://cdn.loc.gov.
The lawmakers proposed: Evening Star (Washington, DC), The Special Message of the President on the Civil Appropriations Bill, June 28, 1860.
To ensure that Meigs: Congressional Globe, Senate, 36th Congress, 1st Session, June 12, 1860.
“I deemed it impossible”: Evening Star, Washington, DC, “The Special Message of the President on the Civil Appropriations Bill,” June 28, 1860.
He said Meigs: Papers of Jefferson Davis, vol. 6, 360.
“I do not permit myself”: Jeremiah S. Black in East, Banishment of Captain Meigs, 129.
He told Buchanan: Meigs, Annual Report for 1861, Report of Operations on the Washington Aqueduct.
The New York Times wrote: “Affairs at Washington: The Dismissal of Capt. Meigs—The Reasons Secretary Floyd Not Able to Get the Money Political Affairs, New York Times, September 27, 1860, published October 6, 1860.
CHAPTER 14: TALL AND AWKWARD CANDIDATE
People packed into: Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Union Address, February 27, 1860, in New York Times, www.nytimes.com.
Lincoln’s chief opponent: Miller Center, University of Virginia, The Campaign and Election of 1860, http://millercenter.org.
In that session: Nevins, Emergence of Lincoln, vol. 2, 1859–1861, 282–86.
Douglas was the only: Miller Center, Campaign and Election of 1860; Nevins, Emergence of Lincoln, vol. 2, 1859–1861, 276.
Just before the election: Meigs Pocket Diary, October 20, 1860, Meigs Papers, LOC, shelf 18,202, reel 2.
He assumed Floyd: Meigs letter to John Meigs, October 9, 1860, in Giunta, Civil War Soldier, 77.
He didn’t care: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 109.
It was a final: East, Banishment of Captain Meigs, 132–33.
He planned on: Meigs letter to John Meigs, October 9, 1860, in Giunta, Civil War Soldier, 77.
From Knoxville: Meigs Pocket Diary, October 25, 1860.
“We cannot tell yet”: Strong, Diary of the Civil War, 59.
Meigs, a Democrat: Meigs Pocket Diary, November 15, 1860.
“Dear Sir: As the”: Meigs to Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, November 10, 1860, in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, ser. 1, vol. 52, pt. 1 (Washington, DC: US GPO), 3, at Cornell University Library, http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu (hereafter cited as Official Records).
He said, “the temper”: Ibid., 4.
“At present both this”: Ibid.
“My Dear John”: Giunta, Civil War Soldier, 84.
CHAPTER 15: FLOYD RESIGNS
Events soon handed Meigs: East, Banishment of Captain Meigs, 42.
Floyd’s reputation slid: Nevins, Emergence of Lincoln, vol. 2, 347.
In the following days: Robert Anderson, Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 1, 105–6.
In fact, Anderson’s: Nevins, Emergence of Lincoln, vol. 2, 368–69.
Then he endorsed: The Supreme Court, The Floyd Acceptances, 64 US 7 Wall. 666 666 (1868), www.justia.com.
The scheme surfaced: Nevins, Emergence of Lincoln, vol. 2, 373.
Northerners became further: Penny Press (Cincinnati), January 24, 1860.
“I desire to get”: S. Adams, Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 1, 8–9.
Near the end of: William Wilkins et al., ser. 3, vol. 1, 15.
They wrote to the: Sarah Hutchins Killikelly, The History of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh: B. C. Gordon Montgomery, 1906), 205.
Buchanan did so: Nevins, Emergence of Lincoln, vol. 2, 374–75.
In early 1862: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 7, 254.
Floyd’s health soon failed: John B. Floyd, Miller Center, http://millercenter.org.
Years later, Ulysses: Ulysses S. Grant, Grant Memoirs and Selected Letters (New York: Library of America, 1990), 206.
Everywhere Meigs looked: Meigs letters to John Meigs, November 17–25, 1860, in Giunta, Civil War Soldier, 80–84.
After more than: National Park Service, Fort Jefferson, www.nps.gov/drto/learn/historyculture/fort-jefferson.htm.
They had already: Meigs letter to John Meigs, December 17, 1860, in Giunta, Civil War Soldier, 85.
He urged a unit: Meigs Pocket Diary, November 22, 1860.
Meigs also convinced two: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 123–24.
In January a steamship: Meigs, Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 52, pt. 1, 1–3.
In addition to: Ibid., 5–6.
Meigs was grateful: Meigs letter to John Meigs, February 6, 1861, in Giunta, Civil War Soldier, 96.
He shared his view: Meigs, Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 52, pt. 1, 5.
On February 13, 1861: Meigs Pocket Diary, February 13, 1861; Washington Aqueduct annual report for fiscal 1861, 2.
CHAPTER 16: HE PLUCKED A LAUREL
When Meigs returned: Meigs, Shorthand Journals, vol. 6, February 20, 1861.
“Meigs has been summoned”: National Republican (Washington, DC), July 4, 1861.
Holt recounted with glee: Meigs, Shorthand Journals, vol. 6, February 21, 1861.
He walked with Louisa: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 129.
It was regarded: Daily Dispatch (Richmond, VA), July 22, 1861.
Rumors of plots: Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865 (New York: New York Review Books, 1941), 40.
The president-elect was: Carl Schurz, “Reminiscences of a Long Life,” March 1907, in McClure’s Magazine 28 (New York: S.S. McClure, 1907), 461.
Meigs cast it as: Copy of Meigs letter to Captain William B. Franklin, February 25, 1861, in Meigs letter to father, February 27, 1861, Meigs Papers, shelf 18,202.1, reel 5; Allen, United States Capitol, 310.
Judging from the prints: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 131.
“Exciting times, these”: Meigs, Shorthand Journals, vol. 6, March 3.
The inaugural procession: Carl Schurz, “Reminiscences of a Long Life,” McClure’s, 461.
“No time was wasted”: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 132.
quickly resumed: Washington Aque
duct annual report for fiscal 1861, 6.
CHAPTER 17: A SECRET MISSION
It was widely: Stahr, Seward, 223.
When Meigs arrived: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, March 29, 1861, in John G. Nicolay Papers, LOC, Manuscript Division.
Lincoln and Seward: Montgomery Meigs, General M. C. Meigs on the Conduct of the Civil War (Chicago: American History Review, 1921), 300.
The president asked Meigs: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, March 29, 1861.
Lincoln asked if Meigs: Ibid.
General Scott felt that: E. D. Keyes, Fifty Years’ Observation of Men and Events (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1884), 282–84.
They made lists: Meigs, Conduct of the Civil War, 300.
They found Lincoln sprawled: Keyes, Fifty Years’ Observation, 284.
“I depend on you”: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, March 31, 1861.
Whenever possible: Copy of Gideon Welles Diary (extract), in John G. Nicolay Papers, LOC, Manuscript Division, 16; Meigs letter to Seward, April 6, 1861, Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 1, 368.
Seward, who understood: Meigs, Shorthand Journals, vol. 6, April 1, 1861.
Meigs assured Seward: Ibid.
A veteran of the: New York Times, July 14, 1863.
Lincoln signed something: Abraham Lincoln, April 1, 1861, Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 4.
Over the next several: Erna Risch, Quartermaster Support of the Army (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1989), 336.
Organizers gathered nearly: Meigs, Conduct of the Civil War, 301.
After Seward told: Welles Diary (extract), 17.
When Secretary of War: Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, vol. 1 (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1911), 64.
Meigs sailed before: Meigs, Shorthand Journals, vol. 6, April 1, 1861, April 7–9, 1861.
During the voyage: Meigs, letter to Seward, April 6, 1861.
The trip south was: Meigs, letter to Seward, April 10, 1861, Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 1, 368–70.
The government would: Meigs, letter to Seward, April 10, 1861, 369.
“The dispatch and”: Ibid.
“This loyalty and”: Ibid.
On April 16: Meigs, Shorthand Journals, vol. 6, April 16, 1861.
“I see a bright”: Ibid., April 25, 1861.
CHAPTER 18: A SOUL ON FIRE
Meigs arrived back: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, April 1, 1861.
It was a chaotic: Senate history, Soldiers occupy the Senate Chamber, www.senate.gov.
Enemy forces also: Meigs, Conduct of the Civil War, 288.
Panic had spread: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 2, 602; Nevins, War for the Union, vol. 1 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1959), 86–87.
The president was in: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, May 3, 1861.
“The extraordinary powers”: Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, vol. 1, 38.
He told Montgomery Blair: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, May 4, 1861.
He accounted for: Ibid., May 10, 1861.
Better to remain: Ibid.
Meigs thought his: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 336.
“The only possible reason”: William T. Sherman letter to John Sherman, The Sherman Letters (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1894), 122.
He decided to decline: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, May 14, 1861.
Filled with pent-up: Ibid., May 15, 1861.
In the coming weeks: Smithsonian Institution, Memorial Record of M.C. Meigs, January 27, 1892, LOC, 18,202.1, roll 23.
A drizzle was falling: Copy of Private Journal, May 19, 1861.
“His soul seems on fire”: Louisa Meigs to Minerva Rodgers, May 26, 1861, Meigs Papers, LOC, shelf 18,202.1, reel 3.
In a letter to: Robert E. Lee letter, August 6, 1861, reprinted in New York Times, www.nytimes.com/1861/08/06/news/the-rebel-gen-lee.html.
As the story goes: James Albert Woodburn, The Life of Thaddeus Stevens (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1913), 600.
Lincoln was insistent: Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2005), xvi.
“My dear sir”: Lincoln letter to Scott, June 5, 1861, The Lincoln Papers at the LOC, General Correspondence, http://memory.loc.gov.
Finally, the president: Lincoln to Simon Cameron, June 10, 1861, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, University of Michigan, http://quod.lib.umich.edu.
After the meeting, Meigs: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, June 13, 1861.
CHAPTER 19: BUILDING AN ARMY
Only two months: Cameron, Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 1, 301–310; Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 2, 802.
This outpouring triggered: Lincoln, Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 1, 311–21.
“On, to Richmond!”: New-York Daily Tribune, June 29, 1861.
The army quickly: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 2, 802.
To create that system: James A. Huston, The Sinews of War (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1966), viii.
Meigs was occupied by: Letters Sent by the Office of the Quartermaster General, June 9–December 31, 1861, M745, Main Series, 1818–1870 (National Archives Microfilm Publication), roll 36.
Secretary Cameron did not: Risch, Quartermaster Support, 340.
Meigs asserted himself: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, June 21–24, 1861.
Like all the leading: Baron Jomini in Martin Van Creveld, Supplying War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1977), 1.
Near the end of: Meigs testimony, July 14, 1862, Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, pt. 1 (Washington, DC: US GPO, 1863), 292–93.
Lincoln wanted to: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, June 25, 1861.
“I did not think”: Ibid., June 29, 1861.
The capital hummed: Leech, Reveille in Washington, 103.
Overhead, a balloon aeronaut: Evening Star (Washington, DC), June 25, 1861.
On Independence Day: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, July 4, 1861.
That same day: Abraham Lincoln, address to Congress, July 4, 1861, Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 1, 311–21.
Lincoln said secessionists: Lincoln, address to Congress, July 4, 1861.
Everything seemed to go: Official Records. ser. 1, vol. 2, 305–9.
In truth, poor planning: Nevins, War for the Union, vol. 1, 216–20.
Meigs and his son: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 2, 376.
Before John left: Louisa Meigs letter to mother, July 25, 1861, Meigs Papers, LOC, shelf 18,202.1, reel 3.
He decided to “go”: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, July 21, 1861; Louisa Meigs letter to mother, July 25, 1861, Meigs Papers, LOC, 18,202.1, reel 3.
Along the way: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 2, 300.
Men around him: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, July 21, 1861.
Meigs saw evidence: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 2, 321.
One bright moment came: Ibid., 376.
On July 23: Ibid., 356.
CHAPTER 20: SHODDY
The men of the: Nevins, War for the Union, vol. 1, 342.
Many contractors operated: Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 29 (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1864), 227–31.
They sold sand: Congressional Globe, House, 37th Congress, 2nd Session, 710–11.
A muckraking reporter: “The Fortunes of War: How They Are Made and Spent,” Harper’s New Monthly 29 (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1864), 227–31.
A satirical song: Vanity Fair, September 21, 1861.
Government employees enabled: “The Frauds on Government,” Cleveland Morning Leader, February 10, 1862.
In St. Louis: Nevins, War for the Union, vol. 1, 309–10.
Frémont leased a: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, September 18, 1861.
Meigs permitted McKinstry: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 221, 187–88.
He wrote Frank Blair: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 3, 463–65.
Despite Frémont: Strong, Diary of the Civil War, 173.
While making their: Weigle
y, Quartermaster General, 187.
Those reviews provided: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 3, 540–49.
All the spending seemed to do: Ibid., 73–78.
The White House resolved: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, September 10–18, 1861.
Montgomery Blair sent: Montgomery Blair to Lincoln, September 14, 1861, www.loc.gov.
Meigs described Frémont: Meigs, Copy of Private Journal, September 18, 1861.
Frémont knew trouble: Official Records, ser. 1, vol. 3, 549.
Congressional overseers, along: “A Near Fatal Attack on Representative Charles H. Van Wyck of New York,” House of Representatives Office of History, history.house.gov.
His committee’s mandate: Journal of the House of Representatives, July 8, 1861, memory.loc.gov.
They collected two thousand: Congressional Globe, House, 37th Congress, 3rd Session, 1550–51.
In the rush to: House of Representatives, Report No. 49, 37th Cong., 3rd Session, 1–170.
Lincoln himself dismissed: Lincoln order, January 28, 1863, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, http://quod.lib.umich.edu.
The contracting committee: Weigley, Quartermaster General, 198, 238.
Van Wyck gave: Congressional Globe, House, 37th Congress, 2nd Session, 710–11.
With his encouragement: Ibid., 3rd Session, 952.
CHAPTER 21: “HARD WORK AND COLD CALCULATION”
The challenges facing: Quartermaster Department Annual Report, fiscal 1862, Official Records, ser. 3, vol., 2, pt. 1, 786–809; Wilson, Business of Civil War, 2–15.
Much has been written: Creveld, Supplying War, 1.
“The great part of”: Meigs letter to John Meigs, November 8, 1861, in Giunta, Civil War Soldier, 122–23.
Regulations mandated that: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 2, 806.
The department had changed: Risch, Quartermaster Support, 332–34.
New recruits learned: Official Records, ser. 3, vol. 1, 682.
Meigs often complained: Wilson, Business of Civil War, 70.
Congress saw that something: The Military Laws of the United States, 5th ed. (Washington, DC: US GPO, 1917), 276–77.
He even pushed back: Meigs letter to Lincoln, December 21, 1861, Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov; Meigs letter to Mary Lincoln, October 4, 1861, Letters Sent by the Office of the Quartermaster General, June 9–December 31, 1861, roll 36; Wilson, Business of Civil War, 65.