Arlington
National Cemetery was not the first national cemetery in the U.S. created for
our fallen soldiers, nor is it the largest. It is one of the more well known
with over 400,000 honored men and women who fought in the Revolutionary War and
beyond. Arlington National Cemetery has the distinction of being the only
cemetery with a serviceman from every war the United States has fought in
buried on its grounds.
Before
it was a cemetery it was Arlington House.
As soon as
Virginia seceded from the Union, the US government took control of the grounds
on Arlington Heights to protect the capital city from enemy artillery. On
the far southern side of what is now the cemetery was a purpose built village
of homes, hospitals, and schools for recently freed slaves, Freedman’s Village.
It
was created in hopes to ease the transition from slavery to freedom. However,
as the cemeteries in the city began to fill, Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs
(stationed at
Arlington House) began to look for alternative locations. The wide expanse of
open land outside the Lee family’s former residence would be perfect.
Outside of Section 27, north of the cemetery, you can view the Marine Corps Memorial, often called Iwo Jima, after the event it depicts. Technically outside the cemetery, you can access it from the Ord--Weitzel Gate in Section 27. Between the Marine Corps Memorial and the Ord--Weitzel Gate is the skyscraping Netherlands Carillon.
There are many notable women and black Americans buried in Arlington National Cemetery both military and civilian. Arlington National Cemetery’s 624 acres has more than 150 years of history through the stories of the men and women buried here, and before them. Here are some interesting facts you may not know about Arlington National Cemetery:
1. The property used for Arlington National Cemetery was an estate that
was forcibly acquired from the family of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in
1864.
2. The first military burial at Arlington was William Henry Christman, who
died of non-combat related illness, on May 13, 1864.
3. The first African-American to be buried there was William H. Johnson,
an employee of President Lincoln.
4. In December 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the Lee family’s
favor that Arlington had been confiscated without due process. After that
decision, Congress returned the estate, and on March 3, 1883 Custis Lee (Robert
E. Lee’s eldest son) sold it back to the government for $150,000.
5. President Herbert Hoover conducted the first national Memorial Day
ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery, on May 30, 1929.
6. Arlington did not desegregate its burial practices until President
Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948.
7. Five state funerals have been held at Arlington: those of Presidents
William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy, his two brothers, Senator Robert F.
Kennedy and Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy, and General of the Armies John J.
Pershing.
8. U.S. presidents are eligible to be buried at Arlington whether or not they
served on active duty since they oversaw the armed forces as
commanders-in-chief.
9. The Tomb of the Unknowns has been perpetually guarded by the U.S. Army
since July 2, 1937.
10. Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War was interred on May 28, 1984.
President Ronald Reagan presided. The remains of the Vietnam Unknown were
disinterred, under the authority of President Bill Clinton, on May 14, 1998,
and were identified as those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, whose
family had them reinterred near their home in St. Louis, Missouri. Since that
time the crypt at the Tomb of the Unknowns that contained the remains of the
Vietnam Unknown has remained empty.
11. The Department of Veterans Affairs currently offers 57 authorized
faith emblems for placement on markers to represent the deceased’s faith.
12. Prior to 2007, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs did
not allow the use of the pentacle as an “emblem of belief” on tombstones in
military cemeteries. This policy was changed following an out-of-court
settlement in April of that year.
13. Arlington National Cemetery conducts approximately 6,900 burials each
year.
“Their sacrifice was great, but not in vain. All Americans and every
free nation on earth can trace their liberty to the white markers of places
like Arlington National Cemetery. And may God keep us ever grateful.” (George W. Bush) [i]
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| Arlington National Cemetary |
[i] Sources used:
·
“13 Little-Known Facts about Arlington National
Cemetery” by the Mighty
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