American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1865-04-19
THE PAST AND THE PRESENT
IA True story of Great changc---Arl
ington and Its Proprietors.


4 visit to the Arlington Mansion and!
surrounding estate, few days since, fill!
ed us with oppressive and melancholy
] reflections. Four years ago Robert + !
Lee, then Lieutenant Colonel OF cavalry
Gin the Union army, and now Commander
Gin Chief of the rebel army, was with hisE
Efamily in the happy possession of thatl
magnificent inheritance More than one
shalf of the estate, consisting of thousand
sacres was covered with splendid forestE
sof oak and other timber, and the rich and,
sproductiye fields adorned with the hand
sof culture. To-day what a change. TheI
Venerable ancestral mansion, erected by|
sthe honored son, by adoption Of the Fa
lther of his Country, and for half a cen
I ury his cultivated and delightful home
1 is now in the center ola vast cemetery of
sthoso who have fallen in the service of
stheir country.
Two hundred and fifty acres of this
Scstate surrounding the mansion have been
permanently appropriated for burial pur-
opposes by the Government, and inelosed byI
Ia substantial and handsome fence. Nearly
give thousand soldiers have alfeady beenI
sthere buried. and the number is daily
sgrowng larger. In 1858, Mrs. Custis
athe mother of Mrs. General Lee, died inI
sthe Arlington Mansion, and was buried inI
ga sequestered and delightful grove near
stho mansion; and in 1857 Mr. Custis
sded, and his remains were deposited byI
Cher side, vast concourse of persons of
severy rank testifying their reverence forI
Sthe departed by their presence at the Oh
ssequics.
! That sequestercd grove, thus selected
sby its oyner as the last resting place folI
shimself and his wife, has been in the tenn
4pest of the times invaded the forest has
abeen transformed into field of the dead.
sand the two marble columns marking the
sremans Of George Washington, Parke
sCustis and Mary Lee Fitzhugh, his wife
Snow rise in the midst Of more than four
Thousand patriot soldiers graves. Near
sly the whole Of the timber and wood has
sbeen swept from the entire estate and
sused for war purposes. The Freedmen s
sVillagc is established upon one portion of
sthe land thus cleared, and it is all being
9put under cultivation by contraband negro
alabor
4 Mr.. Gusts inherited this estate FROM
5his father, who was the son OF Mrs. GEM
sWashingtou by a former husband. Soon
Safter his mother died, in 1902, he, then
sabout twenty-five years of age, came here
sfrom Mount Vernon, and with his young
Sand accomplished wife took up their res
lsidence in the Arlington Mansion, which
she had just then erected, and which ever
3more was their beautiful aud cultivated
Shome. The fruits of this union were four
Edaughtcrs, all of whom died in their in
sfancy, except Mary Gusts, the wife of
SGen. r. Il. Lee Mr. Gusts father, Jno.
aParke Gusts, was an aid-de-camp to Wash
yington, and died ola camp fever in 17Sl'
at the siege of Yorktown, at the
Gage of twenty-seveu years. He had mar
aried, at nineteen years of age, Eleanor
dCalvert, of Mount Airy, Md, a descend
Cant of the second Lord Baltimore,
3when but fifteen years of age, and
Eat twenty-three she was thus made a wild
Cow with four children. Gen. Washington
.hastened to Ethan, Nd, where the hus,
Sband was sick, only to SEQ him in his dying
smomcnts This was the only surviving
schild of Mrs. Washington, the daughter
8having died some years before. lie was
.sdecply affected, and, weeping, said to the
smothcr: II adopt the two younger child
Ercn as my own" These were Eleanor
SCustis, then two and half years of age.
auho died at seventeen, of consumption,
zand George Washington Parke Gusts,
sthen six months old Gen. Washington
#took unwearied pains in training his son
zofhis adoption, desiring to give him sol
:d and liberal education but his efforts
failed.
The son was averse to study, though
7possessed of good abilities, and at twenty
three years Of age married, and devoted
Shis life and very large fortune inherited
from his father and mother, to agriculture
sand pleasant literary pursuits lie was
4possessed of much natural eloquence, and
wrote With ready and cultivated pen, as
|zthe columns of the Mteitigencey, to which
zhe often contributed, bear testimony
lie was one of the first persons in this
zcountry to embark in the raising of Mer-
z&sar, Staau Ha hmm NJ, ,+a 4x.d IN opn,,al