Milford chronicle., 1938-05-27
PLANS COMPLETE
FOR MEMORIAL
DAY OBSERVANCE
6contInusd from Firs. PAssD

called upon the nation ito care fol
him who shall have borne the battle
and for his widow and his orphan.
AS he spoke these words on Marcel
4. 1865, the tired President was
doubtless thinking OF the great cit,
Of the dead which a few shori
months before had come into being
on Arlington Heights across the Po-
tomac, the Arlington which we know
today as the last resting place Of the
Unknown Soldier Of the World War
II is a national cemetery in which
any veteran of the naval or military
service of the nation may find sane
tuary for the long sleep-the larg-
est and most notable Of the ninety
three national cemeteries maintain
ed by the United States.
There every Armistice Day and
Memorial Day, services In which the
American Legion has a leading part
dedicate the nation anew to the
ideals of democracy for which these
men fought and died on all our fam
ing battlefieIds from the Revolution
to the Meuse-ArgOnne. Veterans of
the Blue and the Gray lie here with
their comrades of other generations
who fought in our own West, in
Cuba, Mexico and the Philippines.
Most people know vaguely that the
name Of General Robert e. Lee, the
great military leader Of the COnfed-
eracy, is in some way linked with
Arlington, but most of us are a bit
confused as to just what is the con-
nectIon. The estate, with its beauti-
full pillared mansion on the hillside
across the Potomac from the capi-
tai, was owned by his wife, who was
Mary Ann Randolph Custis when
Lee, who had but recently graduated
from the United States Military
Academy at West Point, married her
in 1881. Miss Custis was the daugh-
ter of George Washington Parke
Custis, only grandson Of Martha
Washington. the nation First Lady.
As every school boy knows, Mar
tha was a widow when she was mar
ried TO Colonel George Washington
in 1853. General Lees father-in-law
was the boy the Father Of His Coun-
try dangled on his knee In the days
of retirement at Mount Vernon, be-
tween Yorktown and the Constitu-
tional Convention of 1887.
Il was in the beautiful home
which q. w. p. Custis built on the
heights, that Robert L. Lee, after
two or three DAYS of anxiols COM
muning with himself. decided IN the
spring of 1861 TO throw In his lot
with his native State of Virginia and
the South in the struggle which had
already begun. Through General
Winfield Scott, also a native Of Vir-
ginia, he had been offered the COM
mand of the Federal Army. Shortly
the home he had left was
seized for military purposes, since
Arlington Heights dominated the
capital. On the Lee property and
places adjacent to It ring OF forts
was established. Later In the war,
as the number of wounded mounted !
horribly and the capital could not
take care of them as they were
brought in from nearby battlefields, |
a military hospital was established /
at Arlington. In 1864 the disposal OF
the dead from this hospital and
from others about Washington be-
came a pressing matter, and the mil
itary authorities began burying some !
Of them a short distance from the
Custis-Lee mansion. The title had
passed to the government in January
Of that year at public sale because
Df unpaid taxes of some ninety-two
dollars. the purchase price being
$500.
War Secretary Stanton on June
Is, 1864, set aside 210 acres Of the
Arlington estate and by order estab-
ished Il as a national cemetery.
There was a sort of grim humOr In
his use of the estate of the COnfed-
rate leader as the last resting place
,f the men who we're fighting him.
When the war ended there were
nore than 5000 bodies in the ceme-
cry. BY 1870, with the conclusion
Il an intensive search OF batslefields
md camps within forty miles OF
the total had risen TO
5.585, of whom 4,076 we're uniden-
flied.
Under the will of @. W. p Custis
is daughter was to have the use OF
he estate for life. after which II was
o pass to her eldest son, George
Custis Lee. Mrs. Lee ,
led in 1873. three years after the
and in 1877 G.. w. c. Lee
rought suit for ejectment IN the (
'ederal courts. He won through to
he Supreme Court. where he was
AIRED. In 1888 Congress apprOpri- |
ted S150,0O0 to settle his claim and
Ir. Lee relinquished 20 the United /
tates all. his rights in the estate.
Arlington is not only the largest 4
| acreage OF our national cemeter- {
IS. but with $4,000 officers and men
T all our wars resting there II is 6
ie greatest in number Of burlals. /
fith it's beautiful landscaping, its
nposIng monuments. its paved 1
pads and sidewalks, the 408 acres
re a delight to the eye. Veterans '
re now being buried there on an I
Verage of about four day, and It '
probably safe 70 say that for I
ears to come the majority OF those !
Iterred there will be veterans Of B
Ie World War. q
In 1887. the actual count, 1.5e6.0S6 1
sitors viewed the Tomb Of the I'M n
lown Soldier of the World War. O
nd in that period various organiza- l
ons, and individuals representing $