Seen towering above the graves in Section 54, dusted with a fresh coating of snow is the Arlington House. Before Arlington National Cemetery ever existed, it was Lee’s Arlington estate. But after Lee resigned from the U.S. Army to lead the Confederate forces, the property was occupied by the Army and later purchased by the U.S government in 1864. As Washington area hospitals overflowed with Civil War casualties, the estate was designated a national cemetery. After the war, several Union leaders were concerned that Lee would try to reclaim his property and remove the graves and tombs. One of these people, Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs, decided that the best way to ensure the cemetery’s permanence was to bury soldiers as close to the main house as possible. He got his way in August of 1864, when 26 fallen soldiers were buried by the perimeter of Lee’s rose garden. This might seem like an extreme measure, but there is proof that the Lees had an interest in returning to their estate and dislocating soldiers’ graves in the process. Robert E. Lee’s brother, Smith Lee, is recorded to have said “the house could still be made a pleasant residence, by fencing off the Cemetery, and removing the officers buried around the garden.” However, the plan to move the graves even closer seemed to have worked. Robert E. Lee never returned to his Arlington estate. No one knows if it was because his front lawn became a graveyard or because he had just had enough with the Washington area, but Lee moved to Lexington, Virginia and died five years later. He is buried at Lee Chapel in Lexington, and not in Arlington Cemetery where he once lived.

Seen towering above the graves in Section 54, dusted with a fresh coating of snow is the Arlington House. Before Arlington National Cemetery ever existed, it was Lee’s Arlington estate. But after Lee resigned from the U.S. Army to lead the Confederate forces, the property was occupied by the Army and later purchased by the U.S government in 1864. As Washington area hospitals overflowed with Civil War casualties, the estate was designated a national cemetery. After the war, several Union leaders were concerned that Lee would try to reclaim his property and remove the graves and tombs. One of these people, Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs, decided that the best way to ensure the cemetery’s permanence was to bury soldiers as close to the main house as possible. He got his way in August of 1864, when 26 fallen soldiers were buried by the perimeter of Lee’s rose garden. This might seem like an extreme measure, but there is proof that the Lees had an interest in returning to their estate and dislocating soldiers’ graves in the process. Robert E. Lee’s brother, Smith Lee, is recorded to have said “the house could still be made a pleasant residence, by fencing off the Cemetery, and removing the officers buried around the garden.” However, the plan to move the graves even closer seemed to have worked. Robert E. Lee never returned to his Arlington estate. No one knows if it was because his front lawn became a graveyard or because he had just had enough with the Washington area, but Lee moved to Lexington, Virginia and died five years later. He is buried at Lee Chapel in Lexington, and not in Arlington Cemetery where he once lived.