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<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 65892 ***</div>
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<img id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Lee Mansion National Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery" width="1000" height="1431" />
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<h1>Lee Mansion
<br /><span class="smaller">NATIONAL MEMORIAL</span>
<br /><i>Arlington National Cemetery</i></h1>
<p class="center">VIRGINIA</p>
</div>
<div class="img">
<img src="images/p00a.jpg" id="ncfig1" alt="NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR" width="800" height="442" />
</div>
<p class="center">DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
<br />March 3, 1849</p>
<p class="center">UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
<br />Douglas McKay, <i>Secretary</i></p>
<p class="center">NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
<br />Conrad L. Wirth, <i>Director</i></p>
<p class="jr1"><span class="smallest"><span class="ssn">Reprint 1953<span class="hst"> 16—52238-7</span><span class="hst"> U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE</span></span></span></p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_1">1</div>
<h1 title=""><i class="smaller">Lee Mansion National Memorial</i></h1>
<blockquote>
<p class="b smaller">In this Mansion, which became his home when he married Mary
Custis, Robert E. Lee wrote his resignation from the United States
Army in April 1861, to join the cause of Virginia and the South.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Lee Mansion National Memorial,
or Arlington House, as it was formerly
known, distinctive through its associations
with the families of Custis, Washington,
and Lee, stands within the Nation’s most
famous cemetery on the Virginia side of
the Potomac opposite Washington. This
house of the foster son of the First President
was for years the treasury of both the
Washington heirlooms and the Washington
tradition. Here Robert E. Lee, a
young lieutenant in the U. S. Army, and
Mary Custis, the great-granddaughter of
Martha Washington, were married and
reared a family. Here, also, Col. Robert E.
Lee, torn between devotion to his country
and to his native State, made his fateful
decision, the substance of which he had
written to his son a few months before: “It
is the principle I contend for.... But I
can anticipate no greater calamity for the
country than a dissolution of the Union....
Still, a Union that can only be maintained
by swords and bayonets ... has no charm
for me. I shall mourn for my country and
for the welfare and progress of mankind.
If the Union is dissolved ... I shall return
to my native State ... and save in
defence will draw my sword on none.”
Today Arlington House, furnished with
appointments of its early period, preserves
for posterity the atmosphere of gracious
living, typical of a romantic age of American
history.</p>
<h2 id="c1"><span class="small"><i>Early History</i></span></h2>
<p>George Washington Parke Custis, builder
of Arlington House, was the grandson of
Martha Washington and the foster son of
George Washington. When Martha Dandridge
Custis became the wife of Col.
George Washington she was a widow with
two children, Martha Parke Custis and
John Parke Custis. Martha Parke Custis
died in her teens without having been
married, but John Parke Custis married
Eleanor Calvert of Maryland in 1774, and
upon his death at the close of the Revolutionary
War left four children. The death
of John Parke Custis was a shock, not only
to his mother, Mrs. Washington, but to
General Washington as well, as he is reported
to have remarked to the grieving
mother at the deathbed, “I adopt the two
youngest children as my own.” Their
names were Eleanor Parke Custis (Nellie)
and George Washington Parke Custis.
They were reared at Mount Vernon and
are often referred to as the “Children of
Mount Vernon.”</p>
<p>In 1802, the year his grandmother, Mrs.
Washington, died, George Washington
Parke Custis began building Arlington
House on the estate of 1,100 acres which
his father had purchased from the Alexander
family in 1778. He named the
estate “Arlington” and the home “Arlington
House” in honor of the ancestral homestead
of the Custis family on the Eastern
<span class="pb" id="Page_2">2</span>
Shore of Virginia. The house was to receive
the legacy of his grandmother—furniture
and pictures, plate and china
from Mount Vernon, and more precious
still, personal effects of Washington. Two
years later, at the age of 23, he was married
to Mary Lee Fitzhugh of Chatham.</p>
<div class="img" id="fig1">
<img src="images/p02.jpg" alt="" width="719" height="800" />
<p class="pcap">Portrait of Robert E. Lee, about 1850
<br />(G. Louvrie)</p>
</div>
<p>It is believed that Mr. Custis designed
and supervised the original building and
that its remodeling about 1820 was under
the direction of the architect, George Hadfield.
The foundation stone and timber
came from the estate. The bricks with
which the house was built were burned
from native clay by slaves.</p>
<h2 id="c2"><span class="small"><i>Arlington</i></span></h2>
<p>The extent of the front of the Mansion,
with its two wings, is 140 feet. The wings
are identical, except that in the north wing
the space corresponding to the state dining
room in the south wing was divided into
small rooms for the temporary accommodation
of Mr. and Mrs. Custis while the
house was being built and was never
changed. The central portion is divided
by a wide central hall. A large formal
drawing room with two fine marble fireplaces
lies south of this hall, while to the
north of it can be seen the family dining
room and family parlor separated by a
north and south partition broken by three
graceful arches. The second story is also
divided by a central hall on either side of
which there are two bedrooms and accompanying
dressing rooms. A small room
used as a linen closet is at the end of this
hall. The third floor was used only for
storage purposes and remained an unfinished
attic. The grand portico facing the
Potomac, with its eight massive Doric columns,
was modeled after the Temple of
Theseus at Athens. At the rear, two outhouses
used as servants’ quarters, smokehouse,
workroom, and summer kitchen
form a courtyard.</p>
<div class="img" id="fig2">
<img src="images/p02a.jpg" alt="" width="1148" height="800" />
<p class="pcap">The family dining room</p>
</div>
<h2 id="c3"><span class="small"><i>General Lafayette Visits Arlington</i></span></h2>
<p>One of the most pleasant incidents in the
history of Arlington House was the visit in
1824 of General Lafayette, whose reverence
for the memory of Washington
matched that of his host. It is related that
on entering he commented on the iron lantern
in the hall, which he remembered at
<span class="pb" id="Page_3">3</span>
Mount Vernon. The view from the portico
he pronounced unrivaled, entreating
Mrs. Custis never to sacrifice any of the
fine trees. General Lafayette returned
again to Arlington House in 1825 as the
guest of the Custises for several weeks.</p>
<h2 id="c4"><span class="small"><i>Lt. Robert E. Lee’s Marriage</i></span></h2>
<p>On June 30, 1831, Mary Ann Randolph
Custis, only child of the Custis family at
Arlington, became the wife of Robert E.
Lee, a young lieutenant in the U. S. Army,
just 2 years out of West Point. The ceremony
took place under a floral bell hung
in the archway between the family dining
room and parlor. The wedding party remained
at Arlington in festivity and merriment
until July 5, when the groom’s fellow
officers, their leaves ending, were forced to
say good-by. Some of the bridesmaids
lingered until the end of the week.</p>
<h2 id="c5"><span class="small"><i>Mrs. Lee Inherits Arlington</i></span></h2>
<p>Much of Mrs. Lee’s married life was
spent at the home of her girlhood, sometimes
with her husband, sometimes awaiting
his return from the Mexican War, or
other distant tours of duty. Six of the
seven Lee children were born here. By
the will of George Washington Parke Custis,
who died in 1857, the estate of Arlington
was bequeathed to his daughter for
her lifetime, and afterward to his eldest
grandson and namesake, George Washington
Custis Lee.</p>
<div class="img" id="fig3">
<img src="images/p02c.jpg" alt="" width="1138" height="800" />
<p class="pcap">The state drawing room</p>
</div>
<p>Never a thrifty farmer and an easygoing
master, requiring little of his slaves, Mr.
Custis’ death found the Arlington plantation
sadly run down. Robert E. Lee as
executor felt that his presence at Arlington
was necessary if he was to give proper
attention to the estate. He, therefore, obtained
extended leave and settled down to
the life of a farmer. Three years elapsed
before he rejoined his regiment. During
this period, the traditions of Arlington
House were maintained. Situated on the
main-traveled road from the South, Arlington
was a favorite stopping place for relatives
and friends. Its hospitable doors
were always open to such guests.</p>
<h2 id="c6"><span class="small"><i>The Lees Leave Arlington</i></span></h2>
<p>Following the news of the secession of
Virginia, news which he had hoped never
to hear, Colonel Lee, on April 20, 1861,
<span class="pb" id="Page_4">4</span>
resigned his commission in the U. S. Army.
Monday morning, April 22, at the request
of the Governor of Virginia, he departed
for Richmond. Mrs. Lee remained at
Arlington engaged in the work of dismantling
her home and sending family possessions
to a place of safety. She had not
completed this task, when, on May 24, the
seizure of lands between Washington and
Alexandria by Federal troops caused her
to abandon everything. The remaining
family possessions were later taken from
Arlington and locked up in the old Patent
Office in Washington, but not before many
things, including some of the Mount Vernon
heirlooms, had been carried away.</p>
<h2 id="c7"><span class="small"><i>The United States Acquires Arlington</i></span></h2>
<p>Situated on the line of fortifications
guarding Washington, Arlington estate
soon became an armed camp, and, after
the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861,
was used as a field hospital. In 1864, at a
tax sale, the United States acquired title to
Arlington for $26,800. Upon the death of
Mrs. Lee in 1873—General Lee having
died in 1870—Custis Lee took steps to recover
his property, as under the will of his
grandfather, George Washington Parke
Custis, he became entitled to Arlington.
His case was carried to the United States
Supreme Court, where a decision favorable
to Mr. Lee was obtained. He then consented
to give the United States a clear
title to the property for $150,000, and Congress
in 1883 appropriated the necessary
funds.</p>
<h2 id="c8"><span class="small"><i>Arlington House Restored</i></span></h2>
<p>For years after the war, the Mansion
stood an empty shell—an office for the
superintendent of the cemetery and a place
for his tools. By act of Congress, approved
March 4, 1925, the Secretary of
War was empowered to undertake the
restoration of Arlington House to the condition
in which it existed prior to the War
Between the States and to procure for it,
when possible, furniture known to have
been in the Mansion, replicas of that furniture,
or other pieces of a style suitable to
the first half of the nineteenth century.
Some of the historical originals have been
returned, and for those that could not be
obtained similar period pieces and a few
copies have been substituted. In 1933
Arlington House was transferred from the
War Department to the Department of the
Interior.</p>
<h2 id="c9"><span class="small"><i>Visitor Service and Facilities</i></span></h2>
<p>Lee Mansion National Memorial is located
in Arlington National Cemetery.
Bus service is available via Arlington
Memorial Bridge to the main cemetery
gates. Automobiles use the same approach
but may drive the short distance through
the cemetery to parking facilities near the
Mansion. Visiting hours are as follows:
October through March, 9 a. m. to 4:30
p. m.; April through September, 9 a. m.
to 6 p. m. There is a small admission
charge, which is waived for children and
educational groups.</p>
<h2 id="c10"><span class="small"><i>Administration</i></span></h2>
<p>Lee Mansion National Memorial is administered
by the National Capital Parks
of the National Park Service, United
States Department of the Interior. Other
national memorials administered by the
National Capital Parks are: The Lincoln
Memorial, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial,
the Washington Monument, the
Lincoln Museum, and the House Where
Lincoln Died. Communications should be
addressed to Edward J. Kelly, Superintendent,
National Capital Parks, Interior
Building, Washington 25, D. C.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_5">5</div>
<div class="img" id="fig4">
<img src="images/p10.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="1348" />
<p class="pcap">Lee Mansion overlooks the city of Washington</p>
</div>
<h2 id="trnotes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2>
<ul>
<li>Silently corrected a few typos.</li>
<li>Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.</li>
<li>In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.</li>
</ul>
<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 65892 ***</div>
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