Near Arlington House, in what was once part of its famous rose garden, stands a monument dedicated to the unknown soldiers who died in the Civil War. The monument, dedicated in September 1866, stands atop a masonry vault containing the remains of 2,111 soldiers gathered from the fields of Bull Run and the route to the Rappahannock. The remains were found scattered across the battlefields or in trenches and brought here. This monument was the first memorial at Arlington to be dedicated to soldiers who had died in battle, and who later could not be identified. Because in some instances only a few bones or a skull were recovered, it is assumed that the vault contains the remains of Confederate soldiers as well as Union troops.

Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs ordered that these bodies be gathered and buried on this particular site, knowing that the presence of graves here would prevent the Lee family from inhabiting their house again.

[D]

Marks mass graves of about 2,111 unknowns gathered from U.S. Civil War battlefields.

Back to Monuments and Memorials main page