The National tribune., 1903-05-21

THE ARLINGTON MANsIoN-HG
half hundred a day, and It was neces-
sary to locate another cemetery at once.
On May 13, 1864. President Lincoln. Is
was his wont. left the White House in his
carriage to visit the hospitals where his
'boys" We're confined, and took with him
Gen. NJ. c. Meigs, who was then Quar-
termaster General of the United States
Army. Their last visit Of the afternoon
was to Arlington. Here they fou!d II
bodies waiting to be carried to the mil
itary cemetery at the Soldiers Home,
where there was no ground in which TO
bury them. On the spur of the moment,
Gen. Meigs ordered all the dead awaiting
burial to be inferred on the grounds at
once. and he designated the spot near the
gardens of the Mansion House, where the
| interment was to be made.
THE FIRST INTERMENTs.
Just as the sun was sinkina, in n red
glow which irradiated the great unfin-
ished dome across the Potomac and iilum-
mated the hundreds of windows. the II
black-painted coffins were placed beside
~ little mounds of clay, and a Chaplain
read the burial service over each. Then
the bodies were lowered into the graves,
and the first interments in Arlington Ma
tional Cemetery had been made. The first
| DOuy OIL Tile IL over WHICH TIE Duliil StiN-
| ice was read as shown by the records was
that of a rebel prisoner who died in Ar
lington Hospital. The next body was
that of New York soldier. There now
sleep beside him nearly 10000 wearers of
the blue.
In May, 1877, 12 years after the war
closed, George Washington Cnstis Lee,
who had never complied with the condi-
tons of his grandfather's will by which
he was to inherit Arlington, provided lie
took the name Gusts, dropping that of
Lee. and took also the Gusts arms,
brought suit in the courts to legalize his
title without this formaiity. and then
brought suit against the United States
for the value of the estate. After many
years of litigation, the United States Sc
cured a clear title to tie Arlington es-
tate of LOO acres by paying George
Washington Gusts Lee the sum of S1J0.-
O00 making $4,000 that had been paid
for an estate which one year before the
war had been valued by its owners at
$34 900.
THIS NATIONAL METROPOLIS
Is one of the famous places Of the world.
Nature has done her best for the beautiful
spot, and art has net attempted to paint
the lily. A stone wall, most of it hidden
under clinging vines, surrounds the ceme-
terry, and on the river side 1t is entered
by three historic gateways. The first is
the Ord and WeitZel gate. Two tall col
umns bearing the names are over-arched
and surmounted by n funeral urn. The
second gate has four great columns of
stone supporting n moulded cross piece
of granite. The name Sheridan in bold re-
lief on this cross piece gives the gate its
title. 1t has also four columns which
bear the names of Lincoln, Scott, Stanton.
and Grant. The third gate is named for
Mcclellan. The material of which these
gates are constructed was taken from the
old War Department, which was torn
down to make place for the present mag
nificent structure, and the columns were
among the adornments of that historic
structure. From these gates through prim
eval forests, over deep rayines and along
hills for nearly a mile, roadways wind up
to the Mansion, to the open ground about
the building and the smooth sward and
asphaltcd drives and walks.
No change has been made in the Man
sion since it was built nearly century
ago. One-half is occupied by the super
intendent of the grounds, and the other
half is given over TO bare floors and the
walls to official maps. Into the walls of
the great central hall are let large tab
lets of black marble bearing in letters Of
white, Lincoln's Gettysburg address, and
Ingersolfs famous Memorial Day Grafton.
The grounds about tho Mansion are
laid out in floral corps badges, and the
names of famous generals are formed in
growing plants. A small white Temple
Of Fame stands in the midst of these,
bearing upon its snow-wite columns the
names of Lincoln, Grant. David Porter,
Farragut, Mcpherson, Sedgwick, Rey-
nolds, Humphreys, Garfield, Mansfield,
Thomas, Meade, Washington. A short
distance away is the amphitheater where
Memorial Day exercises are held. Pic
turesquc and classic in outlines this vine
envOlved temple of oratory might have
been plucked from ancient Greece.
In between these, under stately trees
that lift their heads hundred feet into
known Dcad-iust grim pie of rough
hewn granite and marble, standing four
square TO the world. and housing tie re-
mains of 2111 dead, who ito fortune and
to fame unknown" their very names for
gotten, sleep the sleep of heroes. From
lCbantilly to the Rappahannock the bodies
were gathered. They were found in lone
ly fence corners. under tangled thickets,
by running streams, in the deep forest.
Sometimes there were only few bones
and a belt buckle left TO identify the
remains, but wherever they Were un-
earthed, the poor fragments were gath
cred in small plain boxes OF uniform size.
each skeleton to itself. A great vault. 80
feet deep and 200 feet square, was con-
structed of solid masonry where the mon
ument now stands. and here the 2,111
there was constructed, in 1876, the mas
sive memorial sarcophagus. 1t bears the
simple inscription:
"Here lie the bones of 2,111 unknown
soldiers. Their remains could not be iden-
titled, but their names and deaths are re-
corded in the archives of their country,