BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Arlington Natl Cemetery -- Robert E. Lee Memorial

VA -- Arlington Natl Cemetery -- Robert E. Lee Memorial:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. ARLLEE_221225_001.JPG: Beneath this stone repose the bones of two thousand, one hundred and eleven unknown soldiers gathered after the war from the fields of Bull Run and the route to the Rappahannock. Their remains could not be identified, but their names and deaths are recorded in the archives of their country. And its grateful citizens honor them as of their noble army of martyrs. May they rest in peace. September A.D. 1866.
2. ARLLEE_221225_012.JPG: The Path to Freedom Past the rose garden, about a 10-minute walk from here, rows of houses curved around the land once owned by the Lee family. This was Freedmen's Village, a temporary community of former slaves established in 1863. Most who lived here risked their lives to escape the chains of slavery. Their opportunity came as Union troops marched throughout Virginia and Maryland. Freedman's Village was home to more than 1,100 people including Sojourner Truth, who lived here for one year. Two families made a home under each roof, planting trees and vegetable gardens. A hospital cared for the sick, while churches and schools cultivated minds. Many worked in construction and some enlisted in the Union Army. Under segregation, villagers faced hardships and the threat of eviction. Nonetheless, a chance at a new life began.
3. ARLLEE_221225_021.JPG: Hallowed Ground Arlington National Cemetery began when the Civil War casualties overwhelmed area cemeteries. Three years after the Lees fled their home, Quartermaster Montgomery Meigs ordered the bodies of Union soldiers to be strategically buried around Mrs. Lee's garden. The tomb to your right contains over 2,000 unidentified Civil War soldiers. After the Civil War, presidents and families visited this space to honor the fallen. Today, Arlington National Cemetery stands as a memorial to service and sacrifice. "Coffins had been piled in long rows like cordwood." -- Jim Parks This 1869 Harper's Weekly illustration conveys the somber scene. The artistic license of this scene includes the addition of graves and the omission of slave quarters. Jim Parks helped shape Arlington National Cemetery. His life linked the plantation's past and present: born enslaved and buried at Arlington with full military honors in 1929. Parks was 18 when the war began. parks earned equal pay to white workers, and the Secretary of War granted special permission for his burial in appreciation for his service.
4. ARLLEE_221225_030.JPG: Cherish these forest trees… "Cherish these forest trees… " -- Marquis de Lafayette Towering groves of oak and chestnut treats once shaded the grounds of Arlington House. A dark, leafy backdrop made the pale-colored bricks pop in contrast. The Custis family admired the natural beauty of the forest, but war and burials transformed the landscape. Only 12 original acres of mature forest, known as Arlington Woods, survive today. "…Recollect, my dear, how much easier it is to cut a tree down than to make one grow." -- Marquis de Lafayette to Mary Custis, amid the cool breeze of the Arlington House portico, 1824 An acorn appears at the top of the Lee family crest, which declares in Latin, "Not Heedless of the Future." After the Union Army's occupation of Arlington House, the forest was cleared to improve sight lines on the hill. Union soldiers camped in the woods around Arlington House.
5. ARLLEE_221225_034.JPG: 1955: Arlington House officially designated The Robert E. Lee Memorial 1925: Congress authorizes the restoration of Arlington House 1863: Freedman's Village established at Arlington 1862: Custis slaves emancipated 1831: Mary Custis married Robert E. Lee
6. ARLLEE_221225_038.JPG: Division and Reunification Robert E. Lee, a soldier and scholar, once lived at Arlington House and managed the plantation on this land. After Lee took command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, the Union Army seized his home. Union soldiers buried their casualties of war on these grounds. Enslaved families endured their struggle for freedom here. A controversial figure today, Lee worked to reunify the country after the American Civil War. The National Park Service welcomes you to explore this place of peace and conflict.
7. ARLLEE_221225_042.JPG: Kingdom of my childhood -- Mildred Lee, the youngest of the Lee children, in her recollection of the flower gardens Through her bedroom window, Mary Custis gazed over a blooming acre of pinks, yellows, and reds. Gravel paths curved around geometric, orderly flower beds. The Custis and Lee women each had a spot to grow "the beauties of nature and art," including 11 types of roses. Within the white picket fence, enslaved workers did much of the work—tended and planting and picking bouquets for market. "My mother spent hours here, digging, weeding, and directing 'Old George,' little George, Uncle Ephraim, Billy and swarms of small Ethiopians." --Mildred Lee
8. ARLLEE_221225_047.JPG: A Place of Division and Reunification When the Civil War broke out, the Potomac River—to your right—became the dividing line between North and South. Shortly after Robert E. Lee resigned from the US Army in 1861, Union soldiers seized Arlington House. Sixty years later, a nation still healing from the Civil War between Arlington Memorial Bridge. This bridge connected the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington House. A Working Plantation What is now Arlington National Cemetery was once part of the 1,100-acre Arlington Plantation. Beginning in 1802, George Washington Parke Custis had this mansion built to memorialize his adoptive grandfather, George Washington. Prior to the Civil War, more than 200 enslaved people lived on this plantation. Cabins, workshops, fields, and even a slave cemetery dotted this land. Here, a community—black and white—built homes, raised families, and struggled with questions of loyalty and freedom. Arlington Plantation was a strategic defense for Washington, DC, and the mansion became headquarters for several Union officers. * 1778: Martha Washington's son, John Parke Custis, buys the land that will become Arlington Plantation. Custis later dies in the Revolutionary War, leaving the property to his son, George Washington Parke Custis. * 1802: G.W.P. Custis decides to build a home and memorial to George Washington on this property. Enslaved and free laborers begin construction of the mansion. * 1831: Mary Custis, G.W.P. Custis' daughter, marries Robert E. Lee in the family parlor. * 1861: As the Civil War breaks out, the Lees have Arlington House. Union soldiers occupy the estate. * 1864: The first military burials take place on the property, marking the beginning of Arlington National Cemetery. * 1925: A law authorize restoring Custis-Lee Mansion (Arlington House), then used a cemetery administrative building, to its historic appearance. * 1933: The National Park Service takes over management of Arlington House. * 1955: President Eisenhower signs legislation making Arlington House a permanent national memorial to Robert E. Lee. * 1975: President Gerald Ford pardons Robert E. Lee on August 5, 1975 after the discovery of Lee's amnesty oath signed by Lee in 1865.
9. ARLLEE_221225_053.JPG: Long Haul The yard behind the mansion churned with a flurry of daily chores and demanding labor. Enslaved people crossed dirt paths here, their arm is packed with garden produce and supplies for field workers toiling in the 1,100 plantation acres. Close lines saved with wet laundry – strong up wind from dust kept up by the wheels of visiting carriages. Enslaved domestic workers slept in cramped quarters on each side of the yard. While the structures exist today, the field slave cabins that died the south end of the state, close to the river, no longer remain. "Daniel hauled a good deal of manure with the cart and the carriage horse and we are wheeling off the old roots and brush…" -- G.W.P. Custis to his granddaughter, Agnes Lee, in 1853
10. ARLLEE_221225_059.JPG: The Gray Family Selena Gray was born into slavery in December 1823, the daughter of Leonard and Sallie Norris. She learned to read and write as a personal maid for Mary Lee. In the same parlor where the Lees wed, Selena married Thornton Gray, and enslaved stable hand. Together, Selena and Thornton raised eight children—Emma, Annice, Florence, Sarah, Ada, Selena, John, and Harry—in one cramped space of the south slave quarters. After the Lees left Arlington, the gray family cut through the walls to occupy this entire building until the US government forced them from their home. Years later, Selena wrote to Mary Lee after the family settled on a few acres in Alexandria. Selena posing with two of her daughters. This photograph is a rare glimpse into the lives of enslaved families, whose stories are often missing from the historical record. Thornton Gray tended the horses and carriages. After the Civil War, he lost his petition to Congress for some of the plantation land at Arlington.
11. ARLLEE_221225_060.JPG: Growing Season The kitchen garden put food on the table at Arlington House. As blackberries and tomatoes ripened in the summer heat, squash and artichokes branched out leafy and green. Here enslaved gardeners turned the soil, digging for turnips, carrots, and potatoes in fall. The Custis and Lee family, often joined by distinguished guests, ate produce fresh or canned for winter. To get enough to eat, enslaved workers also tended their own vegetable gardens near their cabins. They also fished and foraged in the forest. Enslaved workers walked to farm fields farther away from the house to harvest cash crops such as corn, rye, and oats.
12. ARLLEE_221225_062.JPG: Piecing the Past Together Archeology and oral history informs interpretation and historic preservation at Arlington House. Investigations in the 1980s and early 2000s revealed that the home's original cellar was used to store food. Surveys also revealed packed earth beneath the 1930s brick floors in the slave quarters. Workers removed these bricks to restore the quarters to their original state. Interviews with Selina Gray's children and enslaved worker Jim Parks helped inform the style of fence installed around the flower garden. Even pocket-sized objects from the site's wide variety of collections tell a personal story at Arlington House. Many artifacts, including ceramics, tools, and ammunition, have been found on site. A China doll hand found inside a fireplace correlated to the period (1850s-1870s) enslaved worker Selina Gray and her family lived in this room.
13. ARLLEE_221225_068.JPG: Plot Against Hunger
14. ARLLEE_221225_077.JPG: Paying Tribute George Washington Parke Custis was "land rich"—a man of 18,000 acres and 200 enslaved laborers inherited through his lineage to Martha Washington. Custis pooled these resources to build Arlington House in memory of his step-grandfather, his idol, George Washington. The Greek Revival Style mansion, designed by capitol architect George Hadfield, glorified the ideals of Washington. Construction began in 1802. Though Custis had access to land and labor, he could not afford real stone. Workers covered clay bricks with stucco and painted them to look like sandstone, a material used to build the White House. Enslaved laborers, free blacks, and indentured servants built the mansion in four phases.
15. ARLLEE_221225_080.JPG: Evolving Vision Through the dark of night, an enslaved worker named Jim Parks could see the Union Army advancing. "Like bees-a-coming," 14,000 troops moved across the Potomac River. They captured Arlington House on May 24, 1861. The Union Army occupied this key vantage point to prevent Confederate artillery from shelling the Capital. Forty-three years earlier, this same view inspired G.W.P. Custis to build Arlington House. High on the hilltop, within the original boundary of the District of Columbia, and overlooking architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant's grand vision for the nation's capital, Custis built a monument to Washington's legacy. * White House: G.W.P. Custis hosted prominent guests from the White House such as presidents and foreign leaders. * Capitol: G.W.P. Custis built his mansion in plain view of the lawmakers below. * Plantation Houses: Most enslaved laborers lived in dwellings like this one located at Mount Vernon. * Spring House: G.W.P. Custis made agriculture patriotic with annual sheep judging festivals. This lithograph shows a view of Arlington Plantation in 1838. Washington appointed L'Enfant (entombed at right) to lay out the streets of the capital city. The L'Enfant Plan of 1792, still evident today, features wide avenues, public spaces, and national memorials.
16. ARLLEE_221225_087.JPG: Pierre Charles L'Enfant
17. ARLLEE_221225_091.JPG: Platforms of Power Just as G.W.P. Custis chose the site for Arlington House high above the Potomac River, visibility was the core of architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant's design for Washington, DC. L'Enfant, entombed before you, envisioned forested hills as natural staging for symbols of prestige in the capital. The McMillan Plan expanded L'Enfant's vision in 1902. The new plan added parks around iconic memorials, wove pieces of a fragmented mall into a unified ceremonial space, and placed the Lincoln Memorial directly across the Potomac from Arlington House. * Arlington Memorial Bridge: A symbol of union connecting Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee. * Lincoln Memorial: Across the river from Arlington House, a contemplative memorial represents the strength and wisdom of the nation's 16th president. * Washington Monument: Custis died before construction of the elegant obelisk—which conveyed national admiration for his step-grandfather—was complete. * Capitol: Montgomery Meigs corresponded with Robert E. Lee in 1857 on the construction of wings that join the US House of Representatives and the US Senate * White House * Old Post Office Tower * Library of Congress * Thomas Jefferson Memorial * Women in Military Service for America Memorial * John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame Landscaping in the McMillan Plan linked the city's memorials long before Arlington Memorial Bridge was built.
18. ARLLEE_221225_095.JPG: Trophy of War As Union force threatened to occupy northern Virginia in 1861, the Lee Family evacuated Arlington House. Looking Across the river, you can see the vantage point it offered to protect the capital city. The hilltop swelled with tents, cannons, wagons and horses. Union officers moved into the house transforming it into a headquarters. The soldiers stole cherished family heirlooms from the shelves as souvenirs. "I grieve at the necessity that drives you from your home." -- Robert E. Lee to his wife, Mary May 8, 1861 A Union soldier penciled these words into a wood beam in the Arlington House attic, shown above at two times thickness.
19. ARLLEE_221225_097.JPG: John Chapman Co. R 28th Regn PV [?] 1862
20. ARLLEE_221225_106.JPG: Mary Randolph, wife of David Meade Randoph, and first person known to be buried at Arlington, was the eldest child of Thomas Mann and Ann Cary Randolph, of Tuckahoe. Her maternal grandfather was Archibald Cary, of Ampthill; Her paternal grandfather was William Randolph, of Tuckahoe. She was a direct descendant of Pocahontas; A Cousin of Thomas Jefferson; of Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis, wife of George Washington Parke Custis, the builder of Arlington House; and of Robert E. Lee. Her brother Thomas Mann Randolph, Governor of Virginia 1819-1821, married Martha Jefferson, daughter of Thomas Jefferson. Her eldest son was William Beverley Randolph, through whom alone her line was descended. Her youngest son, Burwell Starke Randolph, when a midshipman in the U.S. Navy, fell from a mast and was crippled. Her devoted care of that injured son is said to have hastened her death, and would seem to explain her epitaph.
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Wikipedia Description: Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arlington House (The Robert E. Lee Memorial), is a Greek revival style mansion located in Arlington, Virginia, USA and was once the home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It overlooks the Potomac River, directly across from the National Mall in Washington, D.C. During the American Civil War, the grounds of the mansion were selected as the site of Arlington National Cemetery, in part to ensure that General Lee would never again be able to return to his home. Yet the United States has since designated the mansion as a national memorial to its former opponent, a mark of widespread respect for Lee in both the North and South.

Construction and early history:

The mansion was built on the orders of George Washington Parke Custis, a step grandson of George Washington and the most prominent resident of what was then known as Alexandria County. The house was built on a 445-hectare (1,100 acre) estate that Custis' father, John Parke Custis, purchased in 1778. Custis named the house Arlington after the Custis family's homestead on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. George Hatfield, an English architect who also worked on the design of the United States Capitol designed the mansion. The north and south wings were completed between 1802 and 1804. The large center section and the portico, presenting an imposing front 43 meters (140 ft) long, were finished 13 years later. The most prominent features of the house are the 8 massive columns of the portico, each 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter.

In his day, Custis was the most prominent resident of what was then known as Alexandria County, and the house was host to many of the famous men of the era, including Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, who visited in 1824. At Arlington, Custis experimented with new methods of animal husbandry and other agriculture. The property also included Arlington Spring, a picnic ground on the banks of the Potomac that Custis originally built for private use but later opened to the public, eventually operating it as a commercial enterprise.

Custis' only child to survive to adulthood was Mary Anna Randolph Custis. Young Robert E. Lee, whose mother was a cousin of Mrs. Custis, frequently visited Arlington. Two years after graduating from West Point, Lieutenant Lee married Mary Custis at Arlington on June 30, 1831. For 30 years Arlington House was home to the Lees. They spent much of their married life traveling between U.S. Army duty stations and Arlington, where six of their seven children were born. They shared this home with Mary's parents, the Custises.

When George Washington Parke Custis died in 1857, he left the Arlington estate to Mrs. Lee for her lifetime and afterwards to the Lees' eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee. The estate needed much repair and reorganization, and Lee, as executor, took a leave of absence from the Army until 1860 to begin the necessary agricultural and financial improvements.

Civil War:

At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Virginia seceded from the Union. Colonel Robert E. Lee, who at that time had served in the U.S. Army for 35 years, was offered command of the Union Army. Lee, however, felt that he could not turn his back on the citizens of his native state of Virginia and decided to instead resign his commission in the army, which he did in writing while still residing in the home. After his resignation, Lee reported for duty in Richmond, as commander of the Virginia Provisional Army; he soon joined the Confederate States Army and was promoted to general. Lee was concerned for the safety of his wife who was still residing at the mansion and convinced her to vacate the property at least temporarily. She managed to send some of the family valuables off to safety.

Federal forces occupied Lee's property within a month after Fort Sumter and used it as a headquarters for officers supervising some of the forts that were part of the defenses of Washington. Many of the remaining family possessions were moved to the Patent Office for safekeeping. Some items, however, including a few of the Mount Vernon heirlooms, had already been looted and scattered.

By 1864, the military cemeteries of Washington and Alexandria were filled with Union dead, and Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs quickly selected Arlington as the site for a new cemetery. Meigs, a Georgian who had served under Lee in the U.S. Army and who hated his fellow Southerners who were fighting against the Union, ordered that graves be placed just outside the front door of the mansion, to prevent the Lees from ever returning. Meigs himself supervised the burial of 26 Union soldiers in Mrs. Lee's rose garden. In October, Meigs' own son was killed in the war, and he too was buried at Arlington.

Neither Robert E. Lee nor his wife were to ever set foot on the property again. Mary Custis Lee visited the grounds shortly before she died, but was overcome by emotion and unable to go inside.

Post-war:

The federal government had confiscated the mansion property, in 1864, claiming that property taxes had not been paid. Robert E. Lee and his wife never legally challenged the return of the home. In 1870, after his father's death, George Washington Custis Lee, the eldest son of Robert E. Lee, filed a lawsuit in the Alexandria Circuit Court which resulted in a later Supreme Court decision in 1882 awarding Custis Lee just compensation for the house and 1,100 acres (4 km�). Lee originally asked for $300,000, however, the court only awarded $150,000, considered the fair market value of the property.

In 1920, the Virginia General Assembly renamed Alexandria County as Arlington County, to honor Robert E. Lee and to end the ongoing confusion between Alexandria County and the independent city of Alexandria.

In 1925, the War Department began to restore the mansion, and control of the mansion was transferred to the National Park Service in 1933. Congress designated the mansion as a memorial to Lee in 1955, and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

Today, the mansion is managed by the National Park Service as a memorial to Robert E. Lee while the land surrounding the mansion, known as Arlington National Cemetery, is managed by the Department of the Army.
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