Having just seen the cretin in chief desecrate the graves of our heroes buried there by his presence, I take comfort in recalling that it was desecration that the Cemetery was set up to effect.
The original grounds belonged to Mrs. Robert E. Lee, and the Custis-Lee mansion that now is the high point was her home. When Robert E. Lee became the General leading the Southern army in the Civil War, the mansion and grounds were confiscated by the Union. Soldiers were housed there, and later an infirmary set up. In command of the garrison there was a former West Point classmate of Robert E. Lee, who resented his leaving their country and helping in setting up a seceeded nation from its parts. That former classmate, Brig. Gen. Meigs, wanted to make sure that the beloved house would never be able to be occupied by the Robert E. Lee family again. Burying war dead on the grounds insured this end.
After the war, the Supreme Court declared the confiscation illegal and returned it to Custis Lee, the oldest son of the Robert E. Lee family, who in turn sold it back to the U.S. government for $150,000.
These honored dead, being dead, don't mind that they were laid there for revenge on one of this country's great generals, who probably made a bad choice in fighting for the South but did it out of loyalty, not for profit.
Perhaps a purification ceremony could be arranged for the great spirits that were polluted today by evil spirits.
Coincidentally, I roomed with an 'intern' who helped research a guide book to D.C., who passed this tale on to me.
(this post also at http://cabdrollery.blogspot.com/ )
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The first burial at Arlington
Ruth, this is a lovely piece (you knew anything even remotely Civil War related would drag me in, didn't you? :) I was thinking the story of the confiscation of the property was a little more complicated in rationale (something to do with back taxes not being paid?) but on the way to looking this up I ran across something else I found fascinating.
The NPS pamphlet on the Custis-Lee Mansion is excellent. Ownership history, floor plans, pictures, land usage...although somehow I think the word "slave" snuck in only once, in reference to field work. Indoor employees are always "servants." But I quibble.
This piece just jumped out at me:
"The Virginia Housewife" is still in print. New editions can be had from around ten bucks to an exhorbitant and inexplicable $89. Is that a literary immortality or what?
I have a copy in front of me as I write. I recommend the Dover reprint of the 1860 edition if you can find it, as it has an excellent introduction by culinary historian Jan Bluestein Longone. In honor of the first grave at Arlington, then, I offer the following:
As you can imagine a rather large rose garden is required to keep a product like this on hand. Which do doubt explains why rose water, rose brandy and related substances are even rarer in modern cookery books than they were in the old ones. And why they were most commonly used in households which included many...servants.
I Raise a Rose Brandy to You
Xan, yes, it was for nonpayment of taxes, which she was required to pay in person. Mrs. Lee could not pay in person because she would be 'detained', so forfeited the property. That became the grounds for declaring the seizure illegal.
I didn't get into as much detail as that, because I really didn't think there would be much interest. Just from memory, iirc, the soldiers were first begun to be buried in what had been the kitchen garden, right next to the house. Brig.Gen. Meigs knew Mary Custis Lee could not stand to stay in the house after that. They were pretty well acquainted.
Gen. Lee had been idolized by the young Meigs. He was pro'ly not only bitter, but needed to renounce their former closeness for his career.
I still am looking for some one to do a purification ceremony for Arlington Cemetery. It's such a lovely place.
Ruth
Ruth