Custis became a prominent resident of an area that was then known as Alexandria County, at the time a part of the District of Columbia. Robert E. Lee, whose mother was a cousin of Mrs. Custis, frequently visited Arlington and knew Mary Anna as they grew up. 2791-2792)", "Finding of No Significant Impact Millennium Project, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia", "Appendix J: Comments on Revised Millennium EA: Public Comment Period 12 March 2013 to 12 April 2013", "Army Corps says go ahead with Arlington cemetery expansion", "Commission Action: Millennium Project, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA (NCPC File Number 7457)", "Executive Director's Recommendation: Commission Meeting: July 11, 2013: Millennium Project, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA (NCPC File Number 7457)", "Dig May Tell Story Of Arlington Slaves: A Project To Restore The Historic Mansion In Virginia Could Uncover Artifacts", "Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial: North Dependency: Historic Structure Report", "Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial: South Dependency: Historic Structure Report", "Arlington House Revisited: Prominent landmark to undergo renovations as a means to preserve its rich history", "Furniture Exhibit Unveiled at Friendship Hill NHS", "Arlington House Furnishings at Friendship Hill", "Historic Arlington House Damaged in Earthquake", "Robert E. Lee's Arlington Mansion Gets $12 Million Donation From David Rubenstein", "Cultural Landscape Report: History: Volume 1", Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial official Web site, Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial at Google Cultural Institute, "Virtual Museum Exhibit: Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial", PBS Interview with Matt Penrod, Education Programs Manager at Arlington House, U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arlington_House,_The_Robert_E._Lee_Memorial&oldid=1169241178, This page was last edited on 7 August 2023, at 23:14. Published by Walker & Company. Smith Lees appraisal obviously alarmed the Assistant Quartermaster and undoubtedly also Meigs himself. Who Was the Enslaved Child Painted Out of This 1837 Portrait? [45][46], Environmentalists expressed concerns that the agreement would result in the partial destruction of the 24 acres (9.7ha) remnant of a historically important stand of native trees. [51][52] The project would remove approximately 211 trees from a less than 2.63 acres (1.06ha) area containing a portion of a 145-year-old forest that stood within the property boundaries of a historic district that a National Register of Historic Places nomination form for Arlington House had described in 1966. [13] United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton approved the establishment of a military cemetery on June 15, 1864 and created Arlington National Cemetery. [13][25], Robert E. Lee did not visit Arlington after the war. In 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Custis Lees favor. Their graves, anchoring Row 1, Section 1 of the cemetery, far outnumbered those of any Lee relatives on the estate. When the sun rose that morning, the place was teeming with men in blue. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, who commanded the garrison at Arlington House and took over the grounds on June 15, 1864, for use as a military . At precisely 2 a.m. on May 24, some 14,000 troops began crossing the river into Virginia. Plan your trip to this national military cemetery in Arlington, Va. near Washington, . On November 11, 1921, President Warren G. Harding was on his way to Arlington National Cemetery for the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. January 31, 2023 Citizen Leadership Originally published at Townhall Why should Americans demand reversal of the decision by the now disbanded "Congressional Naming Commission" to remove the Moses Ezekiel Reconciliation Monument from Arlington Cemetery? An Iceberg Flipped Over, and Its Underside Is Breathtaking. [8] The mansion was built using materials on site, though the building was interrupted by the War of 1812, and material shortages after the British burned the American capital city. He urged that Lee as well as Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who also had resigned from the federal Army to join the enemy, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis "should be put formally out of the way if possible by sentence of death [and] executed if caught.". He argued that his mother's good-faith attempt to pay the "insurrectionary tax" of $92.07 on Arlington was the same as if she had paid it. [11] Instead, the former Confederate General and his family settled in Lexington, Virginia where he spent the last five years of his life as the President of tiny Washington College. In July 1877, the matter landed in the lap of Judge Robert W. Hughes of the U.S. His car got stuck in what the Associated Press called "the worst traffic jam the National Capital has seen in many years." . "The prospect does not look promising," he reported to Mary. More than 3,800 former slaves are buried in the cemetery. The Mansion was restored to the period of George Washington Parke Custis, and no furniture manufactured after 1830 was accepted. Albert H. Packard of the 31st Maine Infantry. Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial - Wikipedia United States of America. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, a fellow West Point graduate who had served amicably under Lee in the engineer corps but now considered him an insurgent. While the petition languished for months in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Meigs worried that it would "interfere with the United States' tenure of this National Cemeterya result to be avoided by all just means." After acquiring the property, Custis renamed it "Arlington" after the Custis family's homestead on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. For him, regaining the estate was a matter of both filial obligation and self-interest: he had no inheritance beyond the Arlington property. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. He was compensated $150,000 in exchange for the property, thereby ending any legal claim the Lees had on Arlington. Custis married Mary Lee Fitzhugh. Located on the antebellum plantation of George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of George Washington, the first president of the United States, the cemetery currently occupies 612 acres (248 hectares). This approach negated Lee's role and presence at Arlington. A severe illness lasting only ninety or a hundred days would subject the owner of land to the irreclaimable loss of its possession.". Meigs stayed on, too, serving as quartermaster general for two decades, shaping the look of the cemetery. His eye fell upon Arlington. In 1862 the government enacted legislation to collect property taxes (which property owners were required to pay in person) on lands held by the Confederacy. Memorial Bridge with the Arlington National Cemetery and Arlington House in the background Arlington Memorial Bridge from Washington, D.C. Freedmans Village, a community for more than 1,000 freed slaves, was constructed on part of the property in 1863 and continued to operate until 1890, when the land was rededicated as a military installation. Arlington Memorial Bridge - Wikipedia Meigs continued to push the issue and, after considerable effort, finally got his wish. It was established during the American Civil War on the grounds of the antebellum plantation of George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of the nation's first president. ", Her husband, however, kept his ambitions for Arlington hidden from all but a few advisers and family members. The large center section and the portico, presenting an imposing front 140 ft (43 m) long, were finished 13 years later. The cemetery conducts between 27 and 30 funerals every weekday. She took a final turn in the garden, entrusted the keys to Selina Gray, a slave, and followed her husband's path down the estate's long, winding driveway. The first soldier laid to rest there was Pvt. https://www.britannica.com/place/Arlington-National-Cemetery, Official Site of Arlington National Cemetery, National Park Service - Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, United States, United States History - Arlington National Cemetery, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs - Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, United States, U.S.Naval Institute - Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington National Cemetery - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Arlington National Cemetery - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). William H. McKinney and other soldiers too poor to be embalmed and sent home for burial. [14] In May 1864, Union forces suffered large numbers of dead in the Battle of the Wilderness. Avoiding her inflammatory suggestion that Arlington be cleared of graves, he asked instead for an admission that the property had been taken unlawfully and requested compensation for it. Edwin M. Stanton, June 15, 1864. Tomb of the Unknowns (foreground) and the Memorial Amphitheater, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. Once the war began, Arlington was easily won. [47] Nevertheless, Congress enacted legislation in September 1996 authorizing the transfer. After a six-day trial, a jury found for Lee on January 30, 1879: by requiring the "insurrectionary tax" to be paid in person, the government had deprived Custis Lee of his property without due process of law. Prominent soldiers and civilians buried at Arlington include General John J. Pershing, President William Howard Taft, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, General George C. Marshall, William Jennings Bryan, General Jimmy Doolittle, Major Pierre-Charles LEnfant, Robert Todd Lincoln, astronauts Dick Scobee and Michael Smith, President John F. Kennedy, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Robert F. Kennedy. More than 400,000 people have been buried on the grounds. Arlington National Cemetery is built on the house grounds of Arlington House, a 19th century mansion owned by His own mother conceded that the youthful Meigs had been "high tempered, unyielding, tyrannicaland very persevering in pursuit of anything he wants." Yet the Lees clung to the hope that Arlington might be returned to the familyif not to Mrs. Lee, then to one of their sons. [11] Peters, 28. The next month, Meigs moved to make official what was already a matter of practice: "I recommend thatthe land surrounding the Arlington Mansion, now understood to be the property of the United States, be appropriated as a National Military Cemetery, to be properly enclosed, laid out and carefully preserved for that purpose," he wrote Stanton on June 15, 1864. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Stanton endorsed the quartermaster's recommendation the same day. Author of. Touring the new national cemetery on the day that Stanton signed his order, Meigs was incensed to see where the graves were being dug. The same year the Supreme Court ruled in Custis Lee's favor, Montgomery Meigs, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 65, was forced out of the quartermaster's job. The Beginnings of Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery - Background, Graves & Location - HISTORY 2009 Robert M. Poole. Arlington National Cemetery was, initially, a big middle finger to Robert E. Lee. Arlington National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in Arlington, Virginia, near The Pentagon, and directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The house has two kitchens, a summer and a winter. According to Peters, the Lees decision not to pursue the title of the property was probably more influenced by Lees belief that to do so would heighten sectional hostilities and hamper the Reconstruction process, rather than concerns about the graves on the property. The Old Post Chapel at Fort Myer before a service at Arlington National "The Quartermaster Corps of the Army designed and constructed this chapel at Fort Myer and also built the new entrance gateway to the National Cemetery, completed in 1935. . Meigs added others as soon as conditions allowed. Cookie Policy You can email, fax, or mail them. 1. [7] In May 1864, large numbers of Union forces died in the Battle of the Wilderness, requiring a large new cemetery to be built near the District of Columbia. Like many others on both sides, she believed that the war would pass quickly. Reproduced with permission. On December 4, 1882, Associate Justice Samuel Freeman Miller, a Kentucky native appointed by President Lincoln, wrote for the 5 to 4 majority, holding that the 1864 tax sale had been unconstitutional and was therefore invalid. The name Arlington was chosen to reflect the presence of the Arlington House.[32]. [54], From 2003 to 2007, the National Park Service conducted an archeological excavation of two outbuildings that once held Arlington House's slave quarters. August 19, 2023 3:16 PM ET. The first soldier buried (May 13, 1864) on the Lee plantation was a Confederate prisoner who had died in a local hospital. Arlington National Cemetery is located on Confederate General Robert E. Lee's confiscated estate. It is located in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, United States. He need not have worried. Former Senator Makes Plea To Save Arlington Cemetery's Confederate The former general was quietly pursuing this objective when he met with his lawyers for the last time, in July 1870. Authorities levied a tax of $92.07 on the Lees' estate that year. In May 1864, one month prior to its establishment as a national cemetery, the first military burials took place at Arlington National Cemetery. The fact that the land had also been the plantation home of Robert E. Lee probably made it even more attractive to Meigs, who formally proposed Arlington as the site of the new cemetery in a letter to Secretary of War Stanton on June 15, 1864. Doing so, he felt, would make the house uninhabitable. Its design included elements similar to those of George Washington's house at Mount Vernon. Meigs cast about for a new graveyard to accommodate the rising tide of bodies. After you call you will be given a case number and asked to send copies of the veteran's DD-214, death certificate, and cremation certificate if applicable. Much of the steep slope to the east of the house became a cultivated English landscape park, while a large flower garden with an arbor was constructed and planted south of the house. Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial The attack never materialized, but the war's impact was seen, felt and heard at Arlington in a thousand ways. c/o Turkey Run Park [49][50] The final EA stated that, of the 905 trees to be removed, 771 trees were healthy native trees that had diameters between 6 and 41 inches. [1] "My visit produced one good effect," she wrote later that week. They established a tidy village of tents, stoked fires for breakfast and scuttled over the mansion's broad portico with telegrams from the War Office. Images . Tour Washington D.C.'s Arlington National Cemetery, Tomb of the Unknowns, and Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The building is 500 feet (150m) west of Arlington House. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
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