Overview

Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. Over 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. Arlington National Cemetery was established on May 13, 1864, during the American Civil War after Arlington Estate, the land on which the cemetery was built, was confiscated by the U.S. federal government from the private ownership of Confederate States Army General Robert E. Lee’s family following a tax dispute over the property. The cemetery is managed by the U.S. Department of the Army. As of 2024, it conducts approximately 27 to 30 funerals each weekday and between six and eight services on Saturday. In April 2014, Arlington National Cemetery Historic District, including Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington House, Memorial Drive, the Military Women’s Memorial, and Arlington Memorial Bridge, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1818, Arlington House was completed. Custis initially intended the house to serve as a home and memorial to George Washington, his foster father, but Washington died on December 14, 1799. Custis’ will granted a life inheritance of the house to his wife, allowing her to live at and run Arlington House for the rest of her life but prohibiting her from selling any portion of it. Following his wife’s death, Arlington House, then known as the Custis-Lee Mansion, was passed on to her eldest grandson, George Washington Custis Lee. In 1874, George Washington Custis Lee sued the U.S. federal government, claiming ownership of the Arlington Cemetery grounds. On December 9, 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in Lee’s favor in United States v. Lee, concluding that the U.S. government seized Arlington Cemetery and its surrounding grounds without affording Lee due process. Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Congress abided by the Supreme Court ruling, and returned the estate to Lee. By this time, however, Lee was less interested in obtaining the property than in receiving cash compensation for it. On March 3, 1883, Custis Lee sold it back to the U.S. government for $150,000 (equivalent to $4,161,818 in 2023) at a signing ceremony with then Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln. The land then became a U.S. military reservation. In 1900, the last remaining residents of the village departed after the 56th United States Congress appropriated $75,000 (equivalent to $2,746,800 in 2023) to settle the U.S. government’s debts to them. With limited space but large numbers of KIAs from World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, along with natural deaths from high-ranking military officials, the need for additional burial space at Arlington Cemetery became a challenge and priority to the U.S. government.  On May 30, 1929, U.S. President Herbert Hoover conducted the first national Memorial Day ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery.