In , on Tue, 1 Dec 2009
15:39:35 -0800, John R. Carroll, copy'n'pasted:

Almost as quickly and the Lee family departed the estate they loved and
called home, the Union Army moved across the Potomac and began using the
rolling hills around Arlington House. By 1862 the Lee family owed $92.07 in
taxes on their former estate. To settle the tax matter, either General
Robert E. Lee, or his wife...the great-granddaughter of George Washington,
would have leave their Southern sanctuary to pay the debt in person. It was
an unwinnable situation. Under the "Act for the Collection of Direct Taxes
in the Insurrectionary Districts within the United States", the federal
government in Washington, D.C. confiscated the land once part of George
Washington's own family.

Under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, the 1,100-acre plot became a buffer
zone on the border between the Capitol City and the "Insurrectionists". It
was the ideal location for a hospital, and two military forts were erected
to defend it (Fort Whipple which later became Fort Myer and Fort McPherson).
On January 11, 1865 the federal government offered Arlington House and its
land for sale at public auction. It was purchased by a tax commissioner
"for government use, for war, military, charitable and educational
purposes." It was the open door for the man who now commanded the garrison
at Arlington House to vent his hatred for Robert E. Lee.

Brigadier General Montgomery Meigs jealousy for Robert E. Lee predated the
beginning of the Civil War, and General Lee's defection to the Confederacy
only fueled the fire. By the Spring of 1864 a Nation wearied by three years
of Civil War, tragic battles at places like Shiloh, Antietam, Gettysburg,
Chickamauga and others, waited desperately for an end to war. General Meigs
was determined to insure that Robert E. Lee would never return to Arlington.
On May 13, 1864 Union Private William Christman became the first American to
be buried on the grounds at Arlington. Meigs excavated the once-beautiful
rose garden to create a 10-foot-deep stone and masonry vault to inter the
remains of 1,800 soldiers killed in 1862 Battle of Bull Run near Manassas,
Virginia. By the time the Civil War ended, more than 16,000 Union soldiers
were interred on the grounds of Robert and Mary Anna Lee's estate. General
Meigs vendetta proved a success, Robert E. Lee never returned to claim the
now uninhabitable estate for his son, George Washington Custis Lee. In 1870
Robert E. Lee died and was buried in the chapel of Washington and Lee
University in Lexington, Virginia. In 1892 General Meigs died in
Washington, D.C. He was buried nearby in what was now a National
Cemetery...only 100 yards from Arlington House.

So nice of you to have engaged in copyright violation
and plagiarism. For those thanking you for the history,
it actually came from
http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/memory/arlington.html

So much for honor.