Virginia, Arlington County, Fort Myer
![]()
The dead from three years of Civil War filled all burial spaces in the area. In 1864, President Lincoln charged General Montgomery Meigs with locating a site for a new national cemetery. Arlington's high elevation and aesthetic beauty made it ideal, the Lee's abandoned their home by May of 1861.
Lee and Meigs had much in common: both graduated from West Point; Meigs worked under Lee in 1834 in St. Louis. Meigs had even visited Arlington House on several occasions; he could not forgive Lee for joining the Confederacy.
On June 15, 1864, General Meigs ordered that 200 acres surrounding the mansion be set aside as a cemetery. He personally supervised the burial and placing of headstones of 22 soldiers in Mrs. Lee's flower garden.
(Cemeteries & Burial Sites • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
The dead from three years of Civil War filled all burial spaces in the area. In 1864, President Lincoln charged General Montgomery Meigs with locating a site for a new national cemetery. Arlington's high elevation and aesthetic beauty made it ideal, the Lee's abandoned their home by May of 1861.Lee and Meigs had much in common: both graduated from West Point; Meigs worked under Lee in 1834 in St. Louis. Meigs had even visited Arlington House on several occasions; he could not forgive Lee for joining the Confederacy.
On June 15, 1864, General Meigs ordered that 200 acres surrounding the mansion be set aside as a cemetery. He personally supervised the burial and placing of headstones of 22 soldiers in Mrs. Lee's flower garden.
(Cemeteries & Burial Sites • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.