One hundred fifty years ago, Arlington's first grave was tilled and hollowed, the first soldier was laid down, and the first headstone was planted. Private William Henry Christman of Monroe County, Pennsylvania was 20 years old on March 25, 1864 when he volunteered with the 67th Regiment in the Union Army. He was described in his enlistment papers as having sandy hair and gray eyes with a scar on the left side of his neck. On April 22, less than a month after enlisting and being sent to training camp, Christman contracted measles and was brought to the Lincoln General Hospital located on Capitol Hill in Washington. By early May, he was dead. On May 13, 1864, Christman made history as the first soldier buried at the new Arlington Cemetery.
Americans have many hallowed grounds, but Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place for over 400,000 service members, veterans, and their families, has long been among the most sacred. Covering more than 600 rolling acres of green Virginian grass, Arlington is the only national cemetery in the country that inters servicemen from every war in U.S. history, from the Revolution to contemporary wars in the Middle East. This year marks the 150th anniversary of burials at Arlington, and over the years, the cemetery has amassed many time-honored traditions, sacred places, and little known facts.
Although it was the bloodiest conflict in American history, two-thirds of Civil War deaths came not from wounds, but from diseases such as tuberculosis, scurvy, dysentery, typhoid fever, and measles. 'The Civil War was fought in the very last years of the medical middle ages,' wrote George Washington Adams, author of the book Doctors in the Blue: the Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War. Crowded battlefields and encampments made the outbreak of disease inevitable and death counts were exacerbated by the absence of antiseptics and modern medicine. Graveyards that were meant to handle combat dead now also had to account for the unexpected influx of disease casualties. As the toll began to rise and local internment capacity became overwhelmed, cemeteries like Arlington became a necessity.
Before it was used to inter America's war dead, the grounds of Arlington Cemetery comprised the 1,100-acre estate of George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of George Washington. Custis left the land to his only surviving daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, who married Robert E. Lee, the leader of the Confederate Army. At the start of the war, Lee and his family were forced to flee from Arlington House. Federal troops occupied it soon after to benefit from the home's strategic vantage point atop the lofty Virginian hills.
During the Civil War years, the Custis-Lee estate was used for myriad purposes, one of which was the building of Freedman's Village in 1863. As its name suggests, Freedman's Village was an expansive camp and community for former slaves, featuring churches, a hospital, a mess hall, and several schools. As the war raged on, existing facilities proved insufficient and the government sought more places to bury the growing number of fallen soldiers. Because of its high topographical position and low likelihood of flooding, the old Custis-Lee estate seemed like a good place to excavate and so Arlington National Cemetery was born. The estate remained in the custody of the War Department well past the Civil War's conclusion, but not without a great fight from the family. After a tremendous amount of legal maneuvering, the federal government bought the estate in 1883 from Mary and Robert Lee's son, Custis Lee, for $150,000.
Today, Arlington House, with its colossal columns and beautiful views, is still standing on the edge of a hill overlooking the capital. Guests can see a model of Freedman's Village inside-the original village was shut down in 1900-and visit the nearby gravesite of Pierre L'Enfant, the architect who designed the crisscrossed avenues and roundabouts of Washington, D.C. under the direction of George Washington.
Washington himself is not buried at Arlington, but two presidents have been laid to rest at the cemetery: John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, along with William H. Taft and his wife, Nellie. Kennedy's Eternal Flame remains one of the most-visited memorials on the grounds. Though his grave is overshadowed by the flame's popularity, Taft garnered many accomplishments in his own life: He was the only person to serve as both president and chief justice of the United States. When spring comes and the ephemeral blooms of the cherry blossoms begin to emerge, think of Nellie Taft: She was influential in orchestrating the delivery of the Japanese cherry blossom trees to the D.C. Tidal Basin.
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