Arlington National Cemetery History

Arlington National Cemetery history is long and remarkable. This military gravesite is the burial place for more than 250,000 brave soldiers who fought for the freedom Americans have today.

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George Washington Parke Custis was the adopted son of the first President of the United States, George Washington. Custis inherited land from his father and decided to name it Arlington after his ancestral estate in the tidewater area of Virginia.

Custis constructed the Arlington House as a living memorial to George Washington. Custis hired George Hadfield, an English architect to design the Greek revival structure of the mansion. Arlington House took 16 years to complete.

In 1802, the north wing of the mansion was complete and Curtis lived there. Two year later in 1804, the south wing was complete but the mansion looked like detached buildings until the central section joined both wings in 1818.

Custis and his wife, Mary Lee Fitzhugh, resided in the Arlington House until their deaths. In 1857, after the death of George Washington Parke Custis, the couple's only child, Mary Ann Randolph Custis inherited the estate.

Mary Ann Randolph Custis married Robert E. Lee. He served in the Mexican War and then became superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1852.

Following the death of George Washington Parke Custis, he returned to the Arlington House estate to be with his wife and become executor of the estate. Many people believe that Robert E. Lee owned the estate, but this is not true.

The Lees lived in the Arlington House until 1861. Lee became general for the Virginia military forces and troops put up military installments all around the estate. These military installments are what we know today as Fort Myer and Section 11 of the cemetery.

After Mary Ann Randolph Custis did not show up to pay estate tax on the estate, the Lees lost it. On January 11, 1864, the property went up for auction. The tax commissioner bought the estate and declared it for "government use, for war, military, charitable and education purposes" according to Arlington National Cemetery.org.

On June 15, 1864, Brig. Gen Montgomery C Meigs established the Arlington estate as a military cemetery. To ensure that the Lees would not return to the mansion, he made it unlivable. He also had a stone and masonry vault constructed in the rose garden for use as a burial place for 1800 casualties of Bull Run.

In 1870, after General Lee's death, his eldest son, went to Circuit Court in Alexandria County, Virginia, to petition for the estate. He claimed his family lost the property illegally and that in his grandfather's will states that the estate was legally his. The United State Supreme Court agreed with Custis Lee and awarded him the ownership of the property.

On March 3, 1883, General Lee's eldest son sold the estate to Congress. Congress paid $150,000 for the property. Congress declared it as a military reservation and Freedman's Village. The graves remained untouched.

Arlington National Cemetery history provides you with an appreciation for what the memorial is today. Our forefathers gave up their hopes and dreams for the United States so that we can live in a country of freedom. When you visit the Arlington National Cemetery, keep the people who made this memorial possible and special in your thoughts.

For more facts on Arlington National Cemetery, check out this article on facts about the national cemetery.

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