Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
Vorlage:Infobox protected area Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, is located in Arlington, Virginia, and is surrounded by Arlington National Cemetery. The Greek revival style mansion is located on bluffs overlooking the Potomac River, directly across from the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
History
Arlington House was the home of Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), Confederate General during the American Civil War (1860-1865). The house was originally built between 1802 and 1818 by George Washington Parke Custis who was Robert E. Lee's father-in-law and a step grandson of George Washington on 1,100 acres (4.5 km²).
George Hadfield, an English architect who also worked on the design of the U.S. Capitol was the architect for the mansion. George Washington Parke Custis had intended the home to be a monument to George Washington and through inheritance and acquisition he was continuing to acquire George Washington's personal papers and other relative items of intrinsic value. After the completion of the main portico, the mansion was over 140 feet (43 m) long and had 8 massive columns each 5 feet in diameter.
Robert E. Lee married Mary Anna Randolph Custis in 1831 and for the next 30 years, Arlington House was their primary residence. At the outbreak of the civil war in 1861, the state of Virginia seceded from the Union. Robert E. Lee, who at that time had served in the U.S. Army for 35 years, was offered command of the Union forces. Lee, however, felt that he could not turn his back on the citizens of his native state of Virginia and decided to instead resign his commission in the army, which he did in writing while still residing in the home. After his resignation, Lee reported for duty in Richmond, Virginia as a military advisor to the Confederate Government. Lee was concerned for the safety of his wife who was still residing at the mansion and convinced her to vacate the property at least temporarily. Neither set foot on the property again. The federal forces occupied the land and built two defensive forts there. Not long after the First Battle of Manassas or Bull Run (1861), 1,800 federal dead were buried on the property. As the civil war dragged on, some graves were placed within a few yards of the mansion itself.
In 1864, the federal government confiscated the mansion property, claiming that property taxes had not been paid. Robert E. Lee and his wife never legally challenged the return of the home. In 1870, after his father's death, George Washington Custis Lee, the eldest son of Robert E. Lee, filed a lawsuit in the Alexandria Circuit Court which resulted in a later Supreme Court decision in 1882 returning the property to Custis Lee. In 1883 the U.S. Government purchased the mansion from Custis Lee for 150,000 dollars. Today, the mansion is managed by the National Park Service as a memorial to Robert E. Lee while the land surrounding the mansion, known as Arlington National Cemetery, is managed by the Department of the Army. There are over 250,000 graves on the property which once was a part of the plantation. Robert E. Lee, his wife and most of their children are buried 200 miles southwest, in the city of Lexington, Virginia.
Administration
Lee Mansion restoration authorized March 4, 1925; transferred from the War Department August 10, 1933; designated Custis-Lee Mansion by Congress June 29, 1955; renamed June 30, 1972. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Managed by the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
Reference
- The National Parks: Index 2001-2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.