The Florida star. (Titusville, Fla.) 1880-1917, 1900-02-16


THE ARLINGTON MANSION.
ment OF their places OF burial. In the
early days 1.-THE dead buried its dead"
indeed. There was no easy communi-
cation as nowadays between fighting
line and hearthstOne. and bodies were
buried IN trenches or graves on battle
fields or In convenient cemeteries, and
no comprehensive records were kept
or made Coming down 10 the civil
war. the records. so far as the Federal
army Is concerned. are far from COM
plete, and in many OF the cemeteries
the graves marked unknown greatly
outnumber the known.
Arlington. the best known of nation
al cemeteries and the subject of this
letter, has al interesting history, be-
ginning long before il was used as a
cemetery and interviewer with the
story OF one or the best known families
OF the nation. IL was originally the
Arlington estate, but has sometimes
been spoken of as the Lee homestead.
In the back counties there is Il hay
belief that il once belonged To George
Washington. This error is due To the
fact that on the death Of John Parke
Gusts, the owner Of Arlington. Wash
ingtOn adopted two OF the children Of
the deceased. one of these. George
Washington parkc GUSTS. 10y the law
Of primOgcniturr then in force, inherit
ell the estate. ami upon the death Of
his grandmother. Mrs. Washington. in
lSQ2, in whose family he had until
then resided he built Arlington House.
Here lac spent long AMI interesting
life, and upon his death in 1857, he left
a will dcYislng the estate tcNccpt l5la
acres left his colurcd servant, Maria
Syphaxl To his only daughter. Mary
Randolph GUSTS. the wife of General
Robert l.. Lee. AMI Ut her death Ia her
eldest son. George Washington Custis
Lee The estate WAS cOnliScatcd 10y
the government in January. 1864. The
legal complications and actions 1T
court which followed the close of The
civil war make too long AMI complex
4 story To tell here. Suffice il To say
that soon after the death Of Mrs. Lee,
which occurred in 1873. suit WAS begun
tu eject the representatives of the
United States government who were IN
possession Of the estate. The cemetery
had been laid out in lS,r; ana thou
sands OF soldiers had already hccn
buried there hy the government, so
that when George Washington Gusts
Lee won his suit lie found himself
owner i'm fee uf very large buryin@
ground. His only redress would hc
long ana expensive suit. and he accept
81 the offer of the United States ami
for SlIn.OOu surrendered the home "I
his fathers To the myriad children "i
the pale rider.
Arlington. which consists of about
]. loo acres. il situated in Fairfax coun-
". Va. on the south bank Of the fot"-
mae. Just across The river from The
White House. The ground i high. AMI
the view from the high points takes IN
all the prominent features of the city
OF Washington.
one of the most attractive features
at Arlington Is the old mansion which
stands upon the highest point in the
cemetery. The mansion Is modelled
after the Temple Of Fame ami bears
upon its fricZc the names of Washing
ton. Grant. Farragut ana Lincoln AMI
upon its columns Garfield, Thomas
Meade, Mcpherson. ScdEWivk. Scyn-
by Is the monument 10 the unknown
by is the monument to Tile Unknown
and just beyond il the beautiful amphi-
theatcr, 100 feet in diameter, with
chaSte Corlnthian roStrum and colon
made. \ little way from the house 10
the south are the graves of George
Washington Custis ami his wife. In
gloomy place under the h.ll is the rest
ing place OF Mrs. Mary Randolph.
II was in this beautiful and pictur-
esoue mansion that Robert l.. Lee WAS