Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna (Custis) Lee, a descendant of Martha Washington. The cemetery is situated directly across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and near The Pentagon. It is served by the Arlington Cemetery station on the Blue Line of the Washington Metro system.

In an area of 624 acres (2.53 km2), veterans and military casualties from each of the nation's wars are interred in the cemetery, ranging from the American Civil War through to the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pre-Civil War dead were reinterred after 1900.

Arlington National Cemetery and United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery are administered by the Department of the Army. The other National Cemeteries are administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs or by the National Park Service. Arlington House (Custis-Lee Mansion) and its grounds are administered by the National Park Service as a memorial to Lee
One of the more popular sites at the Cemetery, the tomb is made from Yule marble quarried in Colorado. It consists of seven pieces, with a total weight of 79 short tons (72 metric tons). The tomb was completed and opened to the public April 9, 1932, at a cost of $48,000.

The Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It stands on top of a hill overlooking Washington, D.C.

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs does not list any Ásatrú symbols as available emblems of belief for placement on government headstones and markers.According to federal guidelines, only approved religious symbols — of which there are 39 — can be placed on government headstones or memorial plaques. Ásatrú Folk Assembly have demanded such a symbol. However, per the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 38.632 “Headstone and Marker Application Process” which went into effect on July 1, 2009, a decedent’s next-of-kin can request that a new emblem of belief be added to the list.

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs oversees the National Cemetery Administration's orders for placement of inscriptions and faith emblems at no charge to the estate of the deceased, submitted with information provided by the next of kin that is placed on upright marble headstones or niche covers. There are 39 authorized faith emblems available for placementto represent the deceased's faith. See also, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs webpage Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers.

Section 21, also known as the Nurses Section, is the area of Arlington National Cemetery where many nurses are buried. The Nurses Memorial is located there.In the cemetery, there is a Confederate section with graves of soldiers of the Confederate States of America and a Confederate Memorial.In Section 27, there are buried more than 3,800 former slaves, called "Contrabands" during the Civil War. Their headstones are designated with the word "Civilian" or "Citizen".

Arlington National Cemetery is divided into 70 sections, with some sections in the southeast portion of the cemetery reserved for future expansion.Section 60, in the southeast part of the cemetery, is the burial ground for military personnel killed in the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan.In 2005, Arlington National Cemetery acquired 12 acres of additional land from the National Park Service, along with 17 acres from the Department of Defense that was part of Fort Myer and 44 acres that is the site of the Navy Annex.

The southern portion of the land now occupied by the cemetery was used during and after the Civil War as a settlement for freed slaves. More than 1,100 freed slaves were given land at Freedman's Village by the government, where they farmed and lived during and after the Civil War. They were turned out in 1890 when the estate was repurchased by the government and dedicated as a military installation.

The government had acquired Arlington at tax sale in 1864 for $26,800 . Mrs. Lee had not appeared in person, but rather had sent an agent, who attempting to timely pay the $92.07 in property taxes assessed the estate[5]. The government turned away her agent, refusing to accept the tendered payment. In 1877, Custis Lee, heir under his grandfather's will passing the estate in trust to his mother, sued the United States claiming ownership of Arlington. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Lee's favor in 1882, deciding that Arlington had been confiscated without due processCongress returned the estate to him. The next year Custis Lee sold it back to the government for $150,000 at a signing ceremony with Robert Todd Lincoln, Secretary of War.

When Virginia announced its decision, Lee resigned his commission and took command of the armed forces of the Commonwealth of Virginia, later becoming commander of the Army of Northern Virginia.He quickly established himself as an able commander, defeating a series of Union generals, until his final defeat and surrender at the McLean House. Because of this decision and subsequent performance, Lee was regarded as disloyal by most Union officers. The decision was made to appropriate a portion of Arlington as a graveyard for mostly Union dead.

George Washington Parke Custis acquired the land that now is Arlington National Cemetery in 1802, and began construction of Arlington House. The estate was passed down to Custis' only surviving child Mary Anna Custis Lee wife of Robert E. Lee, who was a West Point graduate and United States Army officer. When Fort Sumter was forced to surrender at the beginning of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln offered Lee the command of the Federal army. Lee demurred, because he wanted to see how Virginia would decide.