The Meigs Family Afghan war planners operate in shadow of Civil
The military planners supplying America's Afghan War with troops
and arms probably haven't spared a thought for the Civil War
career of Montgomery C. Meigs. But they are operating in his
shadow. As the Union Army's quartermaster general, dispatching
men and equipment to the scattered battlefields of the war,
Meigs was one of the few Union generals who proved his
competence from beginning to end. Some said the war could not
have been won without him. His intensity was fueled by a growing
hatred of the Confederacy, an emotion that led him to place
Arlington National Cemetery on the Virginia estate of the
South's leading general, Robert E. Lee. Meigs saw to the army's
equipment and supplies as the force expanded from about 16,000
men to more than 700,000 in the first year alone. His office
moved and housed the troops and supplied the guns and gear
needed for battlefield success, all the while swatting at
dishonest contractors and purveyors of shoddy