The Republican journal., 1921-11-10
HONOR TO THE UNKNOWN
WARRIOR

Arlington IS snort distance eOuLl Oh
WASHINGTON on the banks of the Poto-
ma river which mile wide lies before it.
Nature made it beautiful spot. Man
has made it historical and sacred. Col
John Parke Custs was the son of Mar
Cha Washington by her first husband
He was aid. de- camp to Washington at
at the age of % leaving two children,
George Washington Parke Custis and
Eleanor Parke Custis. A few years be-
fore his death he acquired an estate of
q 900 acres near Mount Vernon and this
estate is now known as darlington"
After the death of their father the two
children were members of the Washing
2on family. Young Mr.. Custis obtained
his education at St. Johns college and at
princ eton. He inherited the Arlington
estate from his father but remained
member of the Washington family until
1he death of Mrs Washington in 1902
Soon after he built darlington House
which was and is a genuine and substan-
Etial colonial structure. About that time
ne married Mary Lee Fitzhuph of Vir-
tginia. Mr. Gusts was an eloquent man
and an author of repute, his wife was a
Lady in every way fitted to Join with him
IN making their home a center of attrac-
Gion and the house contained many in
@eresting relics of the Revolutionary
War and of the Waslingtons. For many
years Arlington House was the Mecca to
which the cultured of Virginia made fire.
squent pilgrimages. A daughter of the
family married Gen. Robert E. Lee, who,
some years later, became Commander-in
Chief of the Confederate armies.
Soon after the death of Mr.. Custis,
W hich occurred in 1857, the Arlington
estate became the property Of. the Lee
IA anily and it was here that Lee wrote
his resignation as an officer in the United
States army and with sadness and fore
bod ing espoused the cause of the Confed-
eracy. The entire Arlington estate was
confiscated during the civil war and is
now held as national property, 408 acres
of the estate being set apart as nation
al cemetery. There are 83 of these ma
1ional cemeteries in the United States
and in these are buried 378, ,959 American
soldiers. Headstones tell US the names
of 225, 800 of these and the others, 1885,
l59, are our unknown dead. AS many
Amer lean soldiers lie in these hamed and
unna med graves as there are people liv-
ing today in Waldo, Knox, Lincoln, Han
cock, Ssgadahoc, Franklin, Piscataquis,
Washi ington, Oxford, Kennebec and
York counties in the State of Maine.
Arli ington is the largest of our national
cemeteries There are buried there &c.
216 of our soldiers, the most of whom
lost their lives during the Civil War.
The names of 4,73l of these are not
known.
Tnday, Thursday, the remains of an
unknown American soldier who fell
lighting in France, is lying in state in
Washington upon the same catafalque
upon which rested the remains of the
martyred Lincoln, of Garfield and
Nick inley. Tomorrow, Friday, at 9 A.
NJ, it will be borne to Arlington by an
escort representing every branch of the
ma tion's armed force. Eight general Off
GERS of the army and four admirals OF the
navy will act as honorary pall-bearers,
and eight non. commissioned officers of
the army and navy, all cited for gallan-
try in the great war, will act as body
bearers. The President of the United
Sta tes will walk in the funeral cortege,
and by his direction, the national flag
axill be displayed at half-mast upon all
1subiic buildings of the United States, on
sta tons of the army. navy and marine
-corps throughout all the world, and upon
all our foreign embassies, legations and
co nsuates, from sunrise to sunset Pa