Arlington House

The Robert E. Lee Memorial

Robert E. Lee once wrote that at Arlington House "my affections and attachments are more strongly place than at any other place in the world." Lee considered Arlington his home and spent many of the happiest occasions of his life here. Today this house is preserved as a memorial to Lee in honor of his dedication to peace and reconciliation after the Civil War.

John Custis

Arlington House is the nation’s first memorial to President Washington. The home was built in stages between 1802 and 1818 by George Washington Parke Custis, his slaves, and hired craftsmen. Custis was the grandson of Martha Washington and her first husband, Daniel Custis. Following the death of his father, John Parke Custis, young Custis went to live at Mount Vernon where Martha Washington and her second husband, George Washington, raised him as their own son. Custis considered Washington a father figure.

At Arlington Custis pursued his greatest passion: perpetuating the memory and principles of President Washington. He intended his home to be a living memorial to the President and filled it with his "Washington Treasury," which included china, portraits, Washington’s bed, and other Mount Vernon heirlooms.

Arlington House was surrounded by an 1,100-acre plantation. Slaves grew crops, tended gardens, cared for livestock, and worked as cooks, maids, and valets. The enslaved community included several large, extended families. Custis emancipated a number of slaves, including the Burke family that immigrated to Liberia. Several slaves ran away from Arlington.

George Washington Custis

In 1804 George Washington Custis married Mary "Molly" Lee Fitzhugh. Mrs. Custis devoted herself to her family, home, and endeavors of the Episcopal Church. She worked to provide a rudimentary education for the slaves and to bring about their eventual freedom. The Custises had four children, but only their daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis survived infancy. In 1831 Mary and Lt. Robert E. Lee were married at Arlington. They spent much of their married life traveling between Army posts and the plantation. After Custis died in 1857 Lee took leave from active duty to administer the Arlington estate. Custis left Mrs. Lee a life interest in the estate, with the property to pass to her son, George Washington Custis Lee, upon her death.

Civil War

The Civil War forever altered Arlington and those who lived there. On April 19, 1861, Robert E. Lee learned that Virginia had adopted an Ordinance of Secession. That night Lee faced "the most difficult decision of his life." He criticized secession and believed in the eventual abolition of slavery. His loyalty to the Union was strong: two cousins had signed the Declaration of Independence, and his father was an American Revolutionary War hero. Yet Lee was devoted to his native Virginia, where his family had lived since the 1600s. Lee wrote, "Virginia is my country."

Early on April 20 Lee resigned his commission in the U.S. Army. He wrote to his sister, "With all my devotion to the Union and the feeling and loyalty and duty of an American Citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home." His decision would cost his family their beloved Arlington. Two days later Lee left Arlington never to return. After he became a Confederate officer, the family left Arlington. Mrs. Lee placed her home in the care of Selina Gray, the enslaved housekeeper. In May 1861 Union troops occupied Arlington and began looting the "Washington Treasury." Selina Gray confronted the soldiers – and through her bold efforts saved many priceless heirlooms

Arlington National Cemetary

The war brought vast changes to the estate. In 1864 Mrs. Lee was unable to comply with a wartime practice requiring property owners in areas occupied by U.S. troops to personally pay their taxes. The Federal Government confiscated Arlington, setting aside 200 acres as Arlington National Cemetery. Part of the estate included Freedman’s Village, a community established to house and educate former slaves. In 1882 Custis Lee won his suit against the government for the loss of his property, and he received $150,000 in compensation for Arlington.

After the Civil War Robert E. Lee served as president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. "I believe it is the duty of every one to unite in the restoration of the country, and the reestablishment of peace and harmony," he stated in 1865. Lee urged Southerners to rise above the bitterness of the war.

In recognition of Lee’s dedication to reuniting the country, Arlington House "Lee Mansion" was set aside as a memorial in 1925. "There was no man in the South who did more by his example to help bring about our reunited country," state Congressman Louis Cramton, the son of a Union veteran. Restoration was begun in 1927 by the War Department. In 1934 the National Park Service acquired the house and continued the preservation. In 1972 Congress designated Custis-Lee Mansion as Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial. Today the National Park Service continues to restore Arlington House to its pre-Civil War appearance and recreate the home so loved by the Lee family.