Arlington Land Case 10

Arlington National Cemetery is comprised of land that once belonged to George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of Martha Washington and step-grandson of George Washington. Custis spent his life commemorating Washington and built Arlington House on the 1,100-acre plantation as a memorial to the first president. In 1857, Custis willed the property to his daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis, who in 1831 had married U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Robert E. Lee.
After the Lee family vacated the property at the onset of the Civil War in 1861, federal troops used the land as a camp and headquarters - beginning on May 24, 1861. Throughout the war, three forts were constructed on the grounds as part of the overall defenses of Washington, D.C. In 1863, the government …show more content…
A property tax dispute, amounting to just over $92.07 cost the Lee family their home and in January 1864, the U.S. government purchased the property for $26,800 at public auction. After Mary Lee's death, her son, George Washington Custis Lee sued in 1882 for the return of the property, winning his case in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. Lee then sold the property, which by this time contained the graves of over 6,000 Union soldiers, to the federal government for $150,000.
By the third year of the Civil War, the increasing number of fatalities was outpacing the burial capacity of Washington, D.C. cemeteries. To meet this demand, 200 acres of Arlington plantation was set aside as a military cemetery. The first military burial took place on May 13, 1864, for Private William Christman of Pennsylvania. On June 15, the War Department officially designated this burial space a national cemetery, thus creating Arlington National Cemetery. By the end of the war, burials included thousands of service members as well as African-American …show more content…
Robert E. Lee and his wife Mary vacated the premise knowing Union troops would come to the Arlington property because it was a strategic high ground overlooking all of Washington D.C. Within six hours of Virginia’s declaration, about 3,500 Union troops marched from Washington DC, across the river, to capture the Arlington House. The U.S. Army used the house and land as a camp and headquarters for the remainder of the war and they surrounded the grounds with military forts. In May of 1861, Virginia declared their secession to the Confederacy. Robert E. Lee and his wife Mary vacated the premise knowing Union troops would come to the Arlington property because it was a strategic high ground overlooking all of Washington D.C. Within six hours of Virginia’s declaration, about 3,500 Union troops marched from Washington DC, across the river, to capture the Arlington House. The U.S. Army used the house and land as a camp and headquarters for the remainder of the war and they surrounded the grounds with military

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