Arlington National Cemetery

History

19th century

In 1802, George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of George Washington's wife Martha through her first marriage, began building Arlington House on a property, Arlington Plantation, that he inherited from John Parke Custis, his natural father, following his death. Custis went to live at Mount Vernon where George Washington and Martha raised him as their own son.

In 1804, Custis married Mary Lee Fitzhugh. They had four children, but only one, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, survived into adulthood. On 30 June 1831, she married future Confederate States Army general Robert E. Lee.

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 14 December 1799, before construction began. 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. In 1826 Custis acknowledged Maria Carter Syphax as his daughter and freed her, along with her 10 children and provided them with 17 acres of the Arlington Plantation. 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 April 1861, following the Confederate States Army bombing of Fort Sumter in the Battle of Fort Sumter and the Union army's subsequent surrender of the fort, the American Civil War was launched, and Virginia promptly seceded from the Union. Virginia's secession left the national capital of Washington, D.C., directly across the Potomac River from Arlington Plantation in what was then Virginia's Alexandria County, highly vulnerable to Confederate attack and occupation. Realizing this, on 15 April, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers from around the Union to help defend the capital.

On 20 April, Robert E. Lee, embracing the cause of Virginia's separation from the Union, resigned his U.S. Army commission to lead Virginia's separatist armed forces. The following year, on 1 June 1862, Lee was appointed commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, the Confederate Army's primary military force.

When the Civil War commenced, American military personnel who died in battle near Washington, D.C., were buried at the United States Soldiers' Cemetery in Washington, D.C., or Alexandria Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia. By late 1863, however, both cemeteries were nearly full.

U.S. v. Lee

In 1874, George Washington Custis Lee sued the U.S. federal government, claiming ownership of the Arlington Cemetery grounds. On 9 December 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 3 March 1883, Custis Lee sold it back to the U.S. government for $150,000 (equivalent to $4,397,727 in 2025) at a signing ceremony with then Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln. The land then became a U.S. military reservation.

20th century

In 1900, the last remaining residents of the Freedman's village departed after the 56th United States Congress appropriated $75,000 (equivalent to $2,902,500 in 2025) 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 30 May 1929, U.S. President Herbert Hoover conducted the first national Memorial Day ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery.

In October 1991, John C. Metzler Jr., Arlington Cemetery's superintendent, implemented a $1.4 million plan to clear a former 13-acre (5.3 ha) parking lot to create additional space that would accommodate approximately 9,000 additional grave sites.

In 1992, the Worcester Wreath company in Harrington, Maine, had a surplus at the end of the Christmas holiday season. Recalling a boyhood trip to Arlington National Cemetery, company founder Morrill Worcester donated 5,000 wreaths to the cemetery to honor the cemetery's dead with the help of volunteers and a local trucking company. In 2005, after 13 years of similar donations, a photo of snowy gravestones covered with wreaths at the cemetery received widespread circulation on the internet. Thousands of people called Worcester Wreath Company, wanting to replicate the wreath-laying service at their own veteran cemeteries. In 2014, volunteers were able to place wreaths in all sections of the cemetery for the first time.

On 22 February 1995, officials of the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Department of the Army signed an agreement to transfer from Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, to the U.S. Army a part of Arlington Woods, which was located in Section 29 of the National Park Service at Arlington National Cemetery between Arlington House and Fort Myer. The property transfer, which involved 12 acres (4.9 ha) of NPS land, was intended to permit superintendent Metzler to start expanding the cemetery beyond its existing boundaries.

In September 1996, Arlington Cemetery received the authority to transfer 12 acres (4.9 ha) of woodland from the National Park Service-controlled Arlington House in 2001, 37 acres (15 ha) of land in 1999 from the DoD that was the site of the Navy Annex building, 8 acres (3.2 ha) of land in 1999 from the Department of the Army that was part of Fort Myer, 4 acres (1.6 ha) of land from Arlington County's Southgate Road right-of-way in 2004, and just under 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land from Fort Myer in 2005.

21st century

On 28 December 2001, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 107-107) repealed the "obsolete" part of Public Law 104-201 that had authorized the transfer of portions of Section 29 to the Secretary of the Army. The new legislation required the Secretary of the Interior to transfer to the Secretary of the Army within 30 days the approximately 12 acres (4.9 ha) Interment Zone. The transfer therefore involved the entire 12 acres (4.9 ha) of NPS land that the 1995 agreement and Alternative 3 in the 1999 EA had described.

The 2001 legislation required the Secretary of the Army to use the Interment Zone for in-ground burial sites and columbarium. In addition, the legislation required the Secretary of the Interior to manage the remainder of Section 29 "in perpetuity to provide a natural setting and visual buffer for Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial."

In 2007, Metzler implemented the Millennium Project, a $35 million expansion plan to begin utilizing the Arlington woodland, Fort Myer, and Navy Annex land. The project also included converting 40 acres (16 ha) of unused space and 4 acres (16,000 m2) of maintenance property on the cemetery grounds into burial space in 2006 and 2007 to allow an additional 26,000 graves and 5,000 inurnments. The Millennium Project expanded the cemetery's physical boundaries for the first time since the 1960s, and was the largest expansion of burial space at the site since the U.S. Civil War. Several environmental and historical preservation groups criticized Metzler's plans, as did the NPS and the manager of Arlington House.

On 9 June 2010, United States Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh reprimanded the cemetery's superintendent, John C. Metzler, Jr., and his deputy, Thurman Higgenbotham, after a DOD inspector general's report revealed that cemetery officials had placed the wrong headstones on tombs, buried coffins in shallow graves, and buried bodies on top of one another. Metzler, who had already announced his intention to retire, admitted some mistakes had been made but denied allegations of widespread or serious mismanagement. The investigation also found that cemetery employees were burdened in their day-to-day work by "dysfunctional management, lack of established policy and procedures, and an overall unhealthy organizational climate." Both Metzler and Higgenbotham retired soon after the investigation commenced.

In March 2011, as a result of the problems discovered, Kathryn Condon, the recently appointed executive director of the Army National Military Cemeteries, announced that the cemetery's staff had been increased from 102 to 159. She added that the cemetery was also acquiring additional equipment because, "They didn't have the proper equipment to do the job really to the standard they needed to do."

Management

On 2 March 2017, Katharine Kelley, a former U.S. Army officer and senior executive service civilian employee for the Department of the Army, was appointed superintendent of the cemetery. She moved to another Army position in March 2019.

Three years later, on 18 February 2020, Charles R. "Ray" Alexander, a former U.S. Army colonel and senior executive service civilian employee for the Department of the Army, was appointed superintendent of the cemetery.

Sections

The Cemetery is divided into 70 sections, with some sections in the southeast and western part 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 "war on terror" since 2001. Section 21, also known as the Nurses Section, is the burial site for many nurses, and the location of the Spanish–American War Nurses Memorial and the Nurses Memorial. Another section – Chaplains Hill – includes monuments to Jewish, Protestant, and Roman Catholic military chaplains.

In 1901, Confederate soldiers buried at the Soldiers' Home and various locations within Arlington were reinterred in a Confederate section that was authorized by Congress in 1900. On 4 June 1914, the United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated the Confederate Memorial designed by Moses Ezekiel. Upon his death in 1917, Ezekiel was buried at the base of the monument as he was a veteran of the Confederate army. All Confederate headstones in this section are peaked rather than rounded. The Naming Commission, appointed by Congress, has recommended removing the Confederate memorial down to its foundation.

More than 3,800 formerly enslaved people, called "Contrabands" during the Civil War, were buried in Section 27 between 1864 and 1867. Their headstones are designated with the word "Civilian" or "Citizen".

In early 2025, Arlington National Cemetery's website deleted its lists of "notable graves" of Black, Hispanic, and female service members, while continuing to showcase those of notable politicians, sportspeople and foreigners. Also during this interval histories of the Arlington Freedmen's Village and Section 27—among six other education modules—were removed from history link menus on the U.S. government website for Arlington. Those histories remain live and are linked from a historical narrative published on the website. A spokesperson for the cemetery stated that the changes were prompted by the Trump administration's orders requiring the removal of race and gender-related language and policies, and said that the academic modules would return after review and updating.

Grave markers, niches, and headstones

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 columbarium niche covers. As of March 2026, the Department of Veterans Affairs offers 98 authorized faith emblems for placement on markers to represent the deceased's faith. Over time this number grew as the result of legal challenges to policy.

Prior to 2007, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) did not allow the use of the pentacle as an "emblem of belief" on tombstones in military cemeteries. This policy was changed following an out-of-court settlement on 23 April following a series of lawsuits by the family of Patrick Stewart against the VA.

Between 1947 and 2001, privately purchased markers were permitted in the cemetery. The sections in which the cemetery permitted such markers are nearly filled and the cemetery generally does not allow new burials in these sections. Nevertheless, the older sections of the cemetery have a wide variety of private markers placed prior to 2001, including an artillery piece.

There are 32 British Commonwealth war dead burials, 12 from World War I and 20 from World War II and some headstones are Commonwealth War Graves Commission style.

Arlington Memorial Amphitheater

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is part of the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater. The Memorial Amphitheater has hosted state funerals and Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies. Ceremonies are also held for Easter. About 5,000 people attend these holiday ceremonies each year. The structure is mostly built of Imperial Danby marble from Vermont. The Memorial Display room, between the amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, uses Botticino stone, imported from Italy. The amphitheater was the result of a campaign by Ivory Kimball to construct a place to honor America's servicemen/women. Congress authorized the structure on 4 March 1913. Woodrow Wilson laid the cornerstone for the building on 15 October 1915. The cornerstone contained 15 items including a Bible and a copy of the Constitution.

Before the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater was completed in 1921, important ceremonies were held at what is now known as the "Old Amphitheater". This structure sits where Robert E. Lee once had his gardens. The amphitheater was built in 1868 under the direction of Civil War General John A. Logan. Gen. James A. Garfield was the featured speaker at the Decoration Day dedication ceremony, 30 May 1868, later being elected as President of the United States in 1880. The amphitheater has an encircling colonnade with a latticed roof that once supported a web of vines. The amphitheater has a marble dais, known as "the rostrum", which is inscribed with the U.S. national motto found on the Great Seal of the United States, E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one"). The rostrum was designed by General Montgomery C. Meigs, then Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army. The amphitheater seats 1,500 people and has hosted speakers such as William Jennings Bryan.

Memorials

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier stands on top of a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. One of the more well-attended 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 9 April 1932, at a cost of $48,000.

Other unknown servicemen were later placed in crypts there, and it also became known as the Tomb of the Unknowns, though it has never been officially named. The soldiers entombed there are:

Unknown Soldier of World War I, entombed 11 November 1921; President Warren G. Harding presided

Unknown Soldier of World War II, interred 30 May 1958; President Dwight D. Eisenhower presided

Unknown Soldier of the Korean War, also interred 30 May 1958; President Dwight Eisenhower presided again, Vice President Richard Nixon acted as next of kin

Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War, interred 28 May 1984; President Ronald Reagan presided. The remains of the Vietnam Unknown were disinterred, under the authority of President Bill Clinton, on 14 May 1998, and were identified as those of Air Force first Lt. Michael J. Blassie, whose family had them reinterred near their home in St. Louis, Missouri. It has been determined that the crypt at the Tomb of the Unknowns that contained the remains of the Vietnam Unknown will remain empty.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has been perpetually guarded since 2 July 1937, by the U.S. Army. The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment ("The Old Guard") began guarding the Tomb on 6 April 1948. There is a meticulous routine that the guard follows when watching over the graves. The Tomb Guard:

Marches 21 steps southward down the black mat behind the Tomb

Turns left, facing east for 21 seconds

Other memorials

There are several memorials on the grounds of the cemetery. However, due to the lack of space for burials and the large amount of space that memorials take up, the U.S. Army now requires a joint or concurrent resolution from Congress before it will place new memorials at Arlington.

Near the Tomb of the Unknowns stands the USS Maine Mast Memorial, which commemorates the 266 men who died aboard the USS Maine. The memorial is built around a mast salvaged from the ship's wreckage. The memorial served as the temporary resting place for two foreign heads of state or government who died in exile in the United States during World War II, Manuel L. Quezon of the Philippines and Ignacy Jan Paderewski of Poland.

The Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial was dedicated on 20 May 1986, in memory of the crew of flight STS-51-L, who died during launch on 28 January 1986. Transcribed on the back of the stone is the text of the John Gillespie Magee, Jr. poem "High Flight", which was quoted by then President Ronald Reagan when he addressed the disaster. Although many remains were identified and returned to the families for private burial, some were not, and were laid to rest under the marker. Two crew members, Dick Scobee and Michael Smith, are buried in Arlington. On 1 February 2004, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe dedicated a similar memorial to those who died when the Shuttle Columbia broke apart during reentry on 1 February 2003. Astronauts Laurel Clark, David Brown, and Michael Anderson, who were killed in the Columbia disaster, are also buried in Arlington.

The Lockerbie Cairn is a memorial to the 270 killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The memorial is constructed of 270 stones, one for each person killed in the disaster. In section 64, a memorial to the 184 victims of the 11 September attacks on the Pentagon was dedicated 11 September 2002. The memorial takes the shape of a pentagon, and lists the names of all the victims who were killed. Unidentified remains from the victims are buried beneath it.

On 25 June 1925, President Calvin Coolidge approved a request to erect a Commonwealth Cross of Sacrifice with the names of all the citizens of the United States who died fighting in the Canadian forces during World War I. The monument was dedicated 11 November 1927, and after the Korean War and World War II the names of US citizens who died in those conflicts were added.

Burial procedures

The flags in the cemetery are flown at half-staff from a half-hour before the first funeral until a half hour after the last funeral each day. Funerals are normally conducted five days a week, excluding weekends.

Funerals, including interments and inurnments, average between 27 and 30 per day. The cemetery conducts approximately 6,900 burials each year.

With more than 400,000 interments, the cemetery has the second-largest number of burials of any national cemetery in the United States. The largest of the 130 national cemeteries is Calverton National Cemetery, on Long Island, near Riverhead, New York, which conducts more than 7,000 burials annually.

In addition to in-ground burial, the cemetery also has one of the larger columbaria for cremated remains in the country. Four courts are currently in use, each with 5,000 niches. When construction is complete, there will be nine courts with a total of 50,000 niches; capacity for 100,000 remains. Any honorably discharged veteran is eligible for inurnment in the columbarium, if they served on active duty at some point in their career (other than for training).

Burial criteria

Part 553 (Army National Military Cemeteries) of Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) establishes regulations for the cemetery, including eligibility for interment (ground burial) and inurnment. Due to limited space, the criteria for ground burial eligibility are more restrictive than at other national cemeteries, as well as more restrictive than for inurnment in the columbarium.

The persons specified below are eligible for ground burial in the cemetery, unless otherwise prohibited. The last period of active duty of former members of the armed forces must have ended honorably. Interment may be of casketed or cremated remains.

Any active-duty member of the armed forces (except those members serving on active duty for training only)

Any veteran who is retired and eligible for retirement pay from service in the armed forces, including service members retired from a reserve component who served a period of active duty (other than for training)

Any former member of the armed forces separated honorably prior to 1 October 1949, for medical reasons and who was rated at 30% or greater disabled effective on the day of discharge

Any former member of the armed forces who has been awarded one of the following decorations:

Medal of Honor

Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, or Air Force Cross

Silver Star

Purple Heart

Any former member of the armed forces who served on active duty (other than for training) and who held any of the following positions:

An elective office of the U.S. Government (such as a term in Congress)

Inurnment criteria for columbarium

Due at least partly to the lack of space at the cemetery for ground burial, standards for inurnment (burial of cremated remains) in the columbarium are currently much less restrictive than for ground burial at the cemetery. In general, any former member of the armed forces who served on active duty (other than for training) and whose last service terminated honorably is eligible for inurnment. Eligibility for inurnment is described fully in 32 C.F.R. § 553.15a.

Prohibitions against interment or memorialization

Congress has from time to time created prohibited categories of persons who, even if otherwise eligible for burial, lose that eligibility. One such prohibition is against certain persons who are convicted of committing certain state or federal capital crimes, as defined in 38 U.S. Code § 2411. Capital crime is a specifically defined term in the statute, and for state offenses can include offenses that are eligible for a life sentence (with or without parole). The reasoning for this provision originally was to prevent Timothy McVeigh from being eligible for burial at Arlington National Cemetery, but it has since been amended to bar others.

Notable burials

The first soldier to be buried in Arlington was Private William Henry Christman of Pennsylvania on 13 May 1864. There are 396 Medal of Honor recipients buried in Arlington National Cemetery as of 2016.

Three state funerals have been held at Arlington: those of Presidents William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy, as well as General of the Armies John J. Pershing. Whether or not they were wartime service members, U.S. presidents are eligible to be buried at Arlington, since they oversaw the armed forces as commanders-in-chief.

Among the most frequently visited sites in the cemetery is the grave of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, who is buried nearby along with their son Patrick and their stillborn daughter Arabella. Kennedy's remains were interred there on 14 March 1967, a reinterment from his original Arlington burial site, some 20 feet (6.1 m) away, where he was buried in November 1963. The grave is marked with an "eternal flame". The remains of his brothers, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy along with Robert's wife Ethel Kennedy, are buried nearby. The latter two graves are marked with simple crosses and footstones. On 1 December 1971, Robert Kennedy's body was re-interred 100 feet (30 m) from its original June 1968 burial site.

Military figures from all backgrounds and walks of life are buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Among many African American veterans is General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen and the first Black brigadier general of the United States Air Force. American veterans with Spanish and Latin American roots are also laid to rest at Arlington. They include Hispanic Americans such as Rear Admiral Henry Gabriel Sanchez of the U.S. Navy, who commanded air squadrons during World War II. Women memorialized at Arlington National Cemetery span many decades of U.S. military history, from Anna Etheridge Hooks, a Civil War Army nurse awarded the Kearny Cross; to Master Sergeant Catherine Murray who enlisted in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve after the attack on Pearl Harbor; to Gulf War pilot Major Marie Therese Rossi, the first female Army commander to engage in active combat.

The Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, was buried at Arlington after he and 34 others died in the crash of a CT-43 in Croatia in 1996.

Visitor requirements

In 2016, the cemetery announced policies and procedures that limit visitor access to the cemetery's grounds, some of which were thought to possibly create delays for visitors.

Bicycle use

Pursuant to the Department of the Army final rule established in 2016, the cemetery's bicycle policy states bicycling presents a potential safety hazard, and is only allowed on its grounds with a family pass.

Security procedures

In September 2016, acting superintendent of the cemetery Patrick Hallinan announced that the cemetery was increasing security measures for its visitors. In addition to random identification checks and other security measures already in place, the cemetery would require pedestrians to enter at set access points: the main entrance on Memorial Avenue, the Ord and Weitzel gate, and the Old Post Chapel gate at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. Before entering the cemetery through its main entrance, all pedestrians are now screened through the cemetery's Welcome Center. All vehicle access requires presenting valid, government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license or passport, when entering the cemetery. Vehicles are also subject to random inspections. Hallinan stated that these processes could result in delays when entering the cemetery.