Arlington House Thesis

In the year 1861, while President Abraham Lincoln was in office, shots were fired at Union troops at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Lincoln requested the help of 75,000 troops to protect the nation’s capital. At this time of the rebellion, the state of Virginia was assumed to be contributing to the revolt, however, had made no decision whether or not to secede. In 1861, General Irvin McDowell commanded his federal troops to surround Arlington House and became a headquarters for the Union Army. The construction of this property originally started in 1802 and took sixteen years to finally complete due to a financial dilemma caused by Custis being in a great amount of debt at the time of his death. The Arlington House was originally owned by George Washington and remained in his possession until he later on passed. The reason behind this estate being created was to serve as a living memorial to the first president of The United States. The house held the largest collection of Washington’s keepsakes such as portraits, clothing, papers and a command tent. In 1778 the estate was the purchased and
However, as the war went on, space for the burials was becoming limited to none. General Montgomery Meigs suggested the use of Arlington House for the continuation of burials and in June of 1864, he proposed his idea. May 13, 1864, Private William Christman was the first soldier to be buried in what is now known as Arlington National Cemetery. Christman’s grave is located in section 27 which is also where the casualties from the Civil War joined him. Arlington National Cemetery is now owned by the United States Army and was officially named and made into Arlington cemetery twenty-two years after the Union troops first occupied the estate. Home to more than250,000 military grave sites of men and women who served in the United States military, Arlington provides a picturesque view of Washington