{"id":104394,"date":"2022-03-24T09:55:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T13:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/?p=104394"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:11:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:11:46","slug":"object-17-meigs-plan-lodge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-17-meigs-plan-lodge\/","title":{"rendered":"Object 17: The\u00a0&#8220;Meigs Plan&#8221; Lodges"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kb-image104394_c4f0d1-fa.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image104394_c4f0d1-fa .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:600px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image104394_c4f0d1-fa.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image104394_c4f0d1-fa .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image104394_c4f0d1-fa figure{max-width:600px;}.kb-image104394_c4f0d1-fa .image-is-svg, .kb-image104394_c4f0d1-fa .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image104394_c4f0d1-fa .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image104394_c4f0d1-fa\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/017o_Lodge_floorplan_RS-scaled.jpg\" class=\"kb-advanced-image-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1802\" src=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/va-history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/017o_Lodge_floorplan_RS-scaled.jpg?resize=1400,985\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/va-history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/017o_Lodge_floorplan_RS-scaled.jpg?resize=1400,985\" alt=\"Elevation views and plans for the definitive superintendent lodges with signature of Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs, dated August 17, 1871. (NCA)\" class=\"lazyload kb-img wp-image-113303\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%272560%27%20height%3D%271802%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%202560%201802%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%272560%27%20height%3D%271802%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/017o_Lodge_floorplan_RS-scaled.jpg?resize=300,211 300w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/017o_Lodge_floorplan_RS-scaled.jpg?resize=600,422 600w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/017o_Lodge_floorplan_RS-scaled.jpg?resize=768,541 768w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/017o_Lodge_floorplan_RS-scaled.jpg?resize=1400,985 1400w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/017o_Lodge_floorplan_RS-scaled.jpg?resize=1536,1081 1536w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/017o_Lodge_floorplan_RS-scaled.jpg 2560w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Elevation views and plans for the definitive superintendent lodges with signature of Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs, dated August 17, 1871. (NCA)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">National cemeteries originated out of necessity during the American Civil War. In the summer of 1862, as <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/100-objects\/object-32-u-s-colored-troops-burial-petition\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"104486\">casualties <\/a>mounted at an alarming rate, Congress empowered <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/100-objects\/object-30-lincolns-second-inaugural-address\/\">President Abraham Lincoln<\/a> to purchase and enclose burial plots as national cemeteries to inter the growing number of Union dead. The National Cemetery Act of February 22, 1867, formalized details of the <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/100-objects\/object-61-edmund-whitman-report\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"113974\">system <\/a>and appropriated funds for temporary and then permanent features, including walls, <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/100-objects\/object-29-national-cemetery-general-headstone\/\">grave markers<\/a>, and \u201cat the <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/100-objects\/object-27-national-cemetery-gateway-arch\/\">principal entrance<\/a> of each of the national cemeteries\u2026a suitable building to be occupied as a porters lodge.\u201d The statute also funded the hiring of <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/100-objects\/object-63-disabled-union-veterans\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"114073\">disabled Civil War Veterans<\/a> as <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/100-objects\/object-45-disability-certificate\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"107519\">superintendents<\/a> to live and work in the lodges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first lodges\u2014small, inadequate, wood frame structures\u2014were temporary. In the 1870s, the U.S. Army\u2019s Office of the Quartermaster General, which was responsible for the cemeteries, began to replace the original lodges with standardized permanent lodges built in the French Second Empire style, popular from 1852 to 1870. The design represented federal authority in the South where many national cemeteries were located. Brigadier General <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/topics\/montgomery-meigs\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"111\">Montgomery C. Meigs<\/a>, the Quartermaster General from 1861 to 1882 and a brilliant engineer, oversaw this program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Edward Clark, who served under Meigs during the Civil War and afterwards became the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aoc.gov\/about-us\/history\" rel=\"noopener\">Architect of the U.S. Capitol<\/a>, designed them. Suggestions from superintendents led him to draft in 1869 a plan for an L-shaped building, one-and-a-half stories high, with six-rooms and a mansard roof. A prototype was erected in 1870 at the Richmond National Cemetery in Virginia.\u00a0The layout was unique among Army construction at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The L-shape segregated the superintendent\u2019s living quarters from his workspace, with separate entrances for each.\u00a0The mansard roof also subverted strict Army regulations about space allowances for lower ranks by creating unaccounted-for living space above the first floor. Thomas P. Chiffelle, a surveyor, engineer, quartermaster clerk, and West Point classmate of Meigs, drew the definitive version of the lodge in August 1871. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image104394_aa64b2-0a.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image104394_aa64b2-0a .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:700px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image104394_aa64b2-0a.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image104394_aa64b2-0a .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image104394_aa64b2-0a figure{max-width:700px;}.kb-image104394_aa64b2-0a .image-is-svg, .kb-image104394_aa64b2-0a .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image104394_aa64b2-0a .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image104394_aa64b2-0a\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/06\/2022032303-scaled-1.jpg\" class=\"kb-advanced-image-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27753%27%20height%3D%27768%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20753%20768%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27753%27%20height%3D%27768%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2022032303-scaled.jpg?resize=1004,1024\" alt=\"Above: Portraits (L-R) Chiffelle, Meigs, and Clark, c. 1875 (Freemason History, Library of Congress). Below: Superintendent\u2019s lodge at Finn\u2019s Point National Cemetery in Pennsville, New Jersey, c. 1933. (NCA)\" class=\"lazyload kb-img wp-image-104403\" width=\"753px\" height=\"768px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Above: Portraits (L-R) Chiffelle, Meigs, and Clark, c. 1875 (Freemason History, Library of Congress). Below: Superintendent\u2019s lodge at Finn\u2019s Point National Cemetery in Pennsville, New Jersey, c. 1933. (NCA)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Government contractors built fifty-five such lodges in brick or stone between 1871 and 1881. Since the Quartermaster General was the final approving authority, they were often described as \u201cMeigs\u2019 lodges\u201d or were said to be constructed according to the \u201cMeigs Plan.\u201d In the early twentieth century, the lodges were deemed antiquated and some were replaced; after 1950, the government stopped building new lodges.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) has preserved eighteen French Second Empire lodges. Designated as historic resources, some are used as offices by NCA staff and other tenants. Despite being updated with plumbing, electricity and other modern touches, these iconic structures still serve as historical touchstones, reminding visitors of the post-Civil War origins of the national cemetery system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cem.va.gov\/history\/lodges.asp\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>National Cemetery Lodges: Documented for the Historic American Landscapes Survey<\/strong><\/a> website for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National cemeteries originated out of necessity during the American Civil War. In the summer of 1862, as casualties mounted at an alarming rate, Congress empowered President Abraham Lincoln to purchase and enclose burial plots as national cemeteries to inter the growing number of Union dead. These cemeteries were managed by superintendents, some disabled Civil War Veterans. To house them, Brig. Gen. Montgomery Meigs came up with what was later named the &#8220;Meigs Plan,&#8221; the design for permanent lodges to house the superintendents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":117263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[112,27,111,10,20,125,83],"class_list":["post-104394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-100-objects","tag-building-history","tag-civil-war","tag-montgomery-meigs","tag-national-cemetery","tag-national-cemetery-administration","tag-national-cemetery-system","tag-president-abraham-lincoln"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-17-meigs-plan-lodge\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Object 17: The\u00a0&#8220;Meigs Plan&#8221; Lodges","url":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-17-meigs-plan-lodge\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-17-meigs-plan-lodge\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/03\/17_Lodge_1871_reduced-1-scaled.webp?w=300","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/03\/17_Lodge_1871_reduced-1-scaled.webp"},"articleSection":"History of VA in 100 Objects","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)"}],"creator":["Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"VA History","logo":""},"keywords":["building history","civil war","montgomery meigs","national cemetery","national cemetery administration","national cemetery system","president abraham lincoln"],"dateCreated":"2022-03-24T13:55:00Z","datePublished":"2022-03-24T13:55:00Z","dateModified":"2026-02-27T21:11:46Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Object 17: The\\u00a0&#8220;Meigs Plan&#8221; Lodges\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/department.va.gov\\\/history\\\/object-17-meigs-plan-lodge\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/department.va.gov\\\/history\\\/object-17-meigs-plan-lodge\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/department.va.gov\\\/history\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/10\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/17_Lodge_1871_reduced-1-scaled.webp?w=300\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/department.va.gov\\\/history\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/10\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/17_Lodge_1871_reduced-1-scaled.webp\"},\"articleSection\":\"History of VA in 100 Objects\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)\"}],\"creator\":[\"Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"VA History\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[\"building history\",\"civil war\",\"montgomery meigs\",\"national cemetery\",\"national cemetery administration\",\"national cemetery system\",\"president abraham lincoln\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2022-03-24T13:55:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-24T13:55:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-27T21:11:46Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/department.va.gov\/p.js"},"meta_box":{"external_links":"0","endorsement":"0","subheading":"","featured_image_alt_text":"Elevation views and plans for the definitive superintendent lodges with signature of Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs, dated August 17, 1871. (NCA)","byline":"Richard Hulver, PhD, Historian, National Cemetery Administration","author_title":"Historian, National Cemetery Administration","external_source":"","external_source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104394"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115434,"href":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104394\/revisions\/115434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}