only hospital operating at Arlington when Meigs and Lincoln
are supposed to have visited was Abbott’s Hospital, a fifty-bed facility that treated the residents of Freedman’s Village—not
white soldiers such as Christman, Blatt, and others in Arlington’s first colony of burials. 13 The most likely explanation is that Meigs and his fellow officers hit upon the Arlington idea, put it into practice under
the exigencies of war, and sought bureaucratic approval after the fact—not the first time a military officer would request
authorization for something he had already done. 14
Private Christman had been in the ground for barely a month when Meigs moved to make official what was already a matter of
practice at Arlington. “I recommend that … the land surrounding the Arlington Mansion, now understood to be the property
of the United States, be appropriated as a National Military Cemetery, to be properly enclosed, laid out, and carefully preserved
for that purpose,” Meigs wrote to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton on June 15, 1864. Meigs proposed carving a two hundred–acre
parcel out of the property—more than a fifth of the plantation—for the new graveyard. He also suggested that Christman and
others recently interred in the Lower Cemetery be separated from the contrabands and slaves and reburied closer to Lee’s hilltop
home. “The grounds about the Mansion are admirably adapted to such a use,” he wrote. 15
Edwin Stanton, whose disdain for Lee matched Meigs’s, endorsed his quartermaster’s recommendation on the day it was put forward.
“The Arlington Mansion and the grounds immediately surrounding it are appropriated for a Military Cemetery,” Stanton ordered.
“The bodies of all soldiers dying in the Hospitals of the vicinity of Washington and Alexandria will be interred in this Cemetery. The Quartermaster General is charged with the execution of this order.
He will cause the grounds, not exceeding two hundred acres, to be immediately surveyed, laid out, and enclosed for this purpose,
not interfering with the grounds occupied by the Freedmans [sic] camps.” 16
Then Stanton signed the historic order in his bold, back-slanting hand.
Loyalist newspapers applauded his action. “This and the contraband establishment there are righteous uses of the estate of
the rebel General Lee,” the Washington Morning Chronicle reported.“The grounds are undulating, handsomely adorned, and in every respect admirably fitted for the sacred purpose to
which they have been dedicated. The people of the entire nation will one day, not very far distant, heartily thank the initiators
of this movement.” 17
Meigs visited the new cemetery on the morning of its creation, touring the place with Edward Clark, the engineer and architect
he assigned to survey the property. On that tour of Arlington, Meigs was incensed to find that his orders to cluster graves
around the Lee mansion had been ignored: most of the new burials were still being placed in the Lower Cemetery. “When the
season permits it the bodies lately interred there … will be removed to the National Cemetery at Arlington,” he told Brig.
Gen. D. H. Rucker, the officer in charge of the quartermaster’s Washington Department. 18 It is clear that he meant for Private Christman and others to be reburied closer to the mansion. Yet it was an order Meigs
found devilishly hard to enforce. “My plans for the cemetery had been in some degree thwarted,” he recalled later.
It was my intention to have begun the interments nearer the mansion, but opposition on the part of officers stationed at Arlington,
some of whom used the mansion and who did not like to have the dead buried near them caused the interments to be begun in
the Northeastern quarter of the grounds near the Alexandria road.
On discovering this by a visit I gave special instructions to make the burials near the mansion. They were then driven off
by the same influence to the
are supposed to have visited was Abbott’s Hospital, a fifty-bed facility that treated the residents of Freedman’s Village—not
white soldiers such as Christman, Blatt, and others in Arlington’s first colony of burials. 13 The most likely explanation is that Meigs and his fellow officers hit upon the Arlington idea, put it into practice under
the exigencies of war, and sought bureaucratic approval after the fact—not the first time a military officer would request
authorization for something he had already done. 14
Private Christman had been in the ground for barely a month when Meigs moved to make official what was already a matter of
practice at Arlington. “I recommend that … the land surrounding the Arlington Mansion, now understood to be the property
of the United States, be appropriated as a National Military Cemetery, to be properly enclosed, laid out, and carefully preserved
for that purpose,” Meigs wrote to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton on June 15, 1864. Meigs proposed carving a two hundred–acre
parcel out of the property—more than a fifth of the plantation—for the new graveyard. He also suggested that Christman and
others recently interred in the Lower Cemetery be separated from the contrabands and slaves and reburied closer to Lee’s hilltop
home. “The grounds about the Mansion are admirably adapted to such a use,” he wrote. 15
Edwin Stanton, whose disdain for Lee matched Meigs’s, endorsed his quartermaster’s recommendation on the day it was put forward.
“The Arlington Mansion and the grounds immediately surrounding it are appropriated for a Military Cemetery,” Stanton ordered.
“The bodies of all soldiers dying in the Hospitals of the vicinity of Washington and Alexandria will be interred in this Cemetery. The Quartermaster General is charged with the execution of this order.
He will cause the grounds, not exceeding two hundred acres, to be immediately surveyed, laid out, and enclosed for this purpose,
not interfering with the grounds occupied by the Freedmans [sic] camps.” 16
Then Stanton signed the historic order in his bold, back-slanting hand.
Loyalist newspapers applauded his action. “This and the contraband establishment there are righteous uses of the estate of
the rebel General Lee,” the Washington Morning Chronicle reported.“The grounds are undulating, handsomely adorned, and in every respect admirably fitted for the sacred purpose to
which they have been dedicated. The people of the entire nation will one day, not very far distant, heartily thank the initiators
of this movement.” 17
Meigs visited the new cemetery on the morning of its creation, touring the place with Edward Clark, the engineer and architect
he assigned to survey the property. On that tour of Arlington, Meigs was incensed to find that his orders to cluster graves
around the Lee mansion had been ignored: most of the new burials were still being placed in the Lower Cemetery. “When the
season permits it the bodies lately interred there … will be removed to the National Cemetery at Arlington,” he told Brig.
Gen. D. H. Rucker, the officer in charge of the quartermaster’s Washington Department. 18 It is clear that he meant for Private Christman and others to be reburied closer to the mansion. Yet it was an order Meigs
found devilishly hard to enforce. “My plans for the cemetery had been in some degree thwarted,” he recalled later.
It was my intention to have begun the interments nearer the mansion, but opposition on the part of officers stationed at Arlington,
some of whom used the mansion and who did not like to have the dead buried near them caused the interments to be begun in
the Northeastern quarter of the grounds near the Alexandria road.
On discovering this by a visit I gave special instructions to make the burials near the mansion. They were then driven off
by the same influence to the
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