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Arlington National Cemetery; Civil War; Tomb of the Civil War Unknowns; Unknown Soldier; Korean War; George Washington Parke Custis; General Robert E. Lee

Not Just Any Old Cemetery

The 639 scenic, tranquil acres that comprise Arlington National Cemetery were once owned by George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted grandson of our nation’s first president and the father-in-law of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The Union army seized the property at the outset of the Civil War to defend the capital. Custis’s grandson, George Washington Custis Lee, pursued legal avenues to reclaim the land in 1870, which he argued were confiscated illegally. In 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed...
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