CartogiraffeMap · Streets · Places

Civil War Unknowns Monument in Arlington County, Virginia

Civil War Unknowns Monument in Arlington County is an attraction. Civil War Unknowns Monument is located near Humphreys Drive. Ⓦ.

Building Type
building
Tourism
attraction
Legend

Image

Civil War Unknowns Memorial E Side Arlington National Cemetery 2011
Closeup of the inscription on the west face of the Civil War Unknowns Monument, located in Section 26 on the grounds of Arlington House (the Robert E. Lee Memorial) at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. Robert E. Lee vacated Arlington House on on April 20, 1861. Mary Custis Lee vacated the property on May 14, and the armed forces of the United States occupied the house and grounds on May 24. On January 11, 1864, the estate was formally seized by the U.S. government for nonpayment of taxes. The first military burial on the grounds occurred on May 13, 1864. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton approved the establishment of a military cemetery on the grounds on June 15, 1864. Quartermaster General of the Army Montgomery C. Meigs was a native Georgian, but loyal to the United States. Once a close friend of Lee's, Meigs considered him a traitor for joining the armed forces of the Confederate States of America. Determined to desecrate the grounds of Lee's estate and render it uninhabitable, Meigs began burying large numbers of war dead on the grounds of the house and throughout the estate. Arlington House sits on a ridge that is in the form of a reverse capital letter "L", with the short leg running north-south and the long leg running northeast-southwest. Mrs. Lee's rose garden was at the intersection of these two legs. In 1865, Meigs decided to build a monument to Civil War dead in the center of this rose garden. His goal was to desecrate the rose garden, and make it politically impossible for the Lees to remove the mass grave. U.S. Army troops were dispatched to investigate every battlefield within a 35 mile radius from the city of Washington, D.C. The bodies of 2,111 Union and Confederate dead were collected, most of them from the battlefields of First and Second Bull Run as well as the Union army's retreat alone the Rappahanock River. Some of these had been interred on the battlefield, but most were full or partial remains discover – Tim1965, CC BY-SA 3.0 – Wikimedia Commons

Streets nearby

Crook Walk
250 ft
Lee Avenue
Paying Tribute, Evolving Vision, Platforms of Power, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Trophy of War, A Place of Division and Reunification
350 ft
Humphreys Drive
400 ft
Sheridan Drive
President John F. Kennedy Gravesite
500 ft
Wilson Drive
0.1 mi
Weeks Drive
0.2 mi
Roosevelt Drive
Sector 37 map, Arlington Cemetery Visitors Center / Women in Military Service for America Memorial
0.2 mi
Meigs Drive
0.2 mi
McClellan Avenue
McClellan Gate
0.2 mi
Gifford Drive
0.2 mi
Sigsbee Drive
USS Maine
0.3 mi
Lewis Drive
0.3 mi
McPherson Drive
Rough Riders Monument
0.3 mi
Sherman Drive
Arlington House, Arlington House Bookstore, Kingdom of my Childhood, The Gray Family, Long Haul
0.3 mi
Memorial Drive
Rock of the Marne, Challenger Space Shuttle Memorial, Iran Rescue Mission Memorial, Columbia Space Shuttle Memorial, Korean War Memorial Bench
0.3 mi
Eisenhower Drive
0.3 mi
Farragut Avenue
Selfridge Gate
0.3 mi
Garfield Avenue
0.3 mi
Schley Drive
0.3 mi
Mitchell Drive
0.4 mi
Lincoln Drive
0.4 mi
Arlington Avenue
Post Chapel Gate
0.4 mi
Biddle Lane
0.4 mi
Moore Lane
0.4 mi
Buffalo Soldier Avenue
0.4 mi
Grant Avenue
0.4 mi
L'Enfant Drive
0.4 mi
Marshall Drive
Sphinx, Wright Gate, Wright Gate Checkpoint, Wright Gate Pedestrian Checkpoint
0.4 mi
Memorial Avenue
Arlington Cemetery, Memorial Dr at Rte 110, To Largo, To Franconia-Springfield
0.4 mi
Stewart Road
0.5 mi
Sherman Road
0.5 mi
Johnson Lane
0.5 mi
Ord & Weitzel Drive
0.5 mi
Fenton Circle
0.5 mi
Custis Walk
Division and Reunification, Growing Season, Piecing the Past Together
0.5 mi
Washington Avenue
0.5 mi
North Meade Street
Rosslyn Map, Iwo Jima Memorial / Meade & 14th St N
0.5 mi
12th Street North
12th St N at Fort Myer Dr, 12th St N & N Pierce St
0.5 mi

Apartment buildings nearby

Gables 12 Twenty One
0.5 mi

Attractions nearby

Memorial Gate Fountain
0.3 mi

Buildings nearby

Women in Military Service for America Memorial
0.3 mi
Radnor Heights
0.6 mi

Government buildings nearby

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
350 ft

Industrial areas nearby

JBMHH Motor Pool Facility
0.3 mi

Industrial buildings nearby

JBMHH Transportation Motor Pool Facility
0.4 mi
JBMHH Vehicle Maintenance Facility
0.4 mi

Places of worship nearby

Old Post Chapel
0.3 mi

Recreation grounds nearby

Whipple Field
0.4 mi

Restaurants nearby

Quarterdeck
0.5 mi
Located in Arlington County
Country United States
Location Arlington National Cemetery