Robert E Lee was the genius Conferederate General who had kept 4 vastly superior Union Armies at bay and on the run during the 4 years of the Civil War. He had outwitted, ought-fought and embarrassed 7 diffent Union Generals.
Before the War he had been the countries best soldier, a West Point Graduate, and had turned down Lincolns offer to be Commander of all Union Forces, saying he could not draw his sword against his state, which happened to be Virginia.
Lee had married Mary Custis, Grandaughter of George Washington and they lived together in the Custis family mansion at Arlington Virginia.
The mansion was taken by Union Forces at the start of the War, with Mrs. Lee being moved to a hotel room.
In 1864, with 2000 dead and dying Union soldiers being sent to hospitals and graveyards every week, the Union had run out of cemetaries in which to put the bodies. The Quartermaster General, Montgomery Meigs, a Southerner and West Point Classmate of Lee's did not hesitate. Though he was a Southerner, he was a Unionist and considered Lee to be a Traitor. He picked the Custis Mansion and grounds at Arlinton, and began burying the dead on the grounds so that it might never be inhabited again.
He buried his own son right next to the house- in Mrs. Lees Rose Garden.
That Cemetary became Arlington National Cemetary, our countries most Hallowed Ground.
Before the War he had been the countries best soldier, a West Point Graduate, and had turned down Lincolns offer to be Commander of all Union Forces, saying he could not draw his sword against his state, which happened to be Virginia.
Lee had married Mary Custis, Grandaughter of George Washington and they lived together in the Custis family mansion at Arlington Virginia.
The mansion was taken by Union Forces at the start of the War, with Mrs. Lee being moved to a hotel room.
In 1864, with 2000 dead and dying Union soldiers being sent to hospitals and graveyards every week, the Union had run out of cemetaries in which to put the bodies. The Quartermaster General, Montgomery Meigs, a Southerner and West Point Classmate of Lee's did not hesitate. Though he was a Southerner, he was a Unionist and considered Lee to be a Traitor. He picked the Custis Mansion and grounds at Arlinton, and began burying the dead on the grounds so that it might never be inhabited again.
He buried his own son right next to the house- in Mrs. Lees Rose Garden.
That Cemetary became Arlington National Cemetary, our countries most Hallowed Ground.
Please do honor our country and those fallen, today, Memorial Day
3 comments:
I always feel so sad when I drive by Arlington Cemetery and see all those stones, all in straight rows, almost as far as the eye can see.
My parents are buried at Arlington. I find it a very peaceful place. Thanks for this post.
Barbara- Someday I will come to this area, DC and Maryland and Virginia and they will have to have a cart to carry me around in i'll be such a sop.
E!- I have been meaning to do this post for two years now and finally got around to it. How is it that your parents came to be buried at Arlington? I'd love to know the story if there is one, if you can tell it.
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