GENERAL HISTORY ON ARLINGTON CEMETERY

    Arlington Cemetery is America’s “most revered” burial ground and was established when the Arlington House was confiscated by the Federal Government in 1863 from its owner, Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

    The real start of the cemetery was when Private William Christman (of the 67th Pennsylvania Infantry) was the first person to be buried on these grounds.

    A total of 2,111 Civil War Unknowns were buried in a memorial just outside of Arlington House in 1866. This tomb is now known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and is placed under a 24-hour honor guard in 1937.

    In 1882, the Supreme Court declared the United States Federal Government a trespasser on the Arlington grounds and ordered the lands returned to the Lee family. With over 10,000 grave sites already there, George Washington Custis Lee sold the land to the U.S. Government for $150,000.

    Many influential people from the Nation's Capital were buried at Arlington National Cemetery, such as the designer of the city, Pierre L'Enfant and Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of President Abraham Lincoln.

    William Howard Taft became the first of only two presidents to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

    Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for over 220,000 Americans.

 The Tomb of the Unknown soldier with guard.

SOURCES
http://www.visitingdc.com/virginia/arlington-cemetery-history.htm
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/historical_information/arlington_house.html