Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery is one of two cemeteries in the United States National Cemetery System that are maintained by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia.

"Arlington Cemetery" redirects here. For the cemetery in Pennsylvania, see Arlington Cemetery (Pennsylvania).

Arlington National Cemetery

May 13, 1864 (May 13, 1864)

Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.

United States

38°52′45″N 77°04′20″W / 38.87917°N 77.07222°W / 38.87917; -77.07222

National

U.S. Department of the Army

639 acres (259 ha)

~400,000^[1]

www.arlingtoncemetery.mil

Arlington National Cemetery was established on May 13, 1864, during the American Civil War after Arlington Estate, the land on which the cemetery was built, was confiscated by the U.S. federal government from the private ownership of Confederate States Army General Robert E. Lee's family following a tax dispute over the property. The cemetery is managed by the U.S. Department of the Army. As of 2024, it conducts approximately 27 to 30 funerals each weekday and between six and eight services on Saturday.^[2]

In April 2014, Arlington National Cemetery Historic District, including Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington House, Memorial Drive, the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, and Arlington Memorial Bridge, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[3]^[4]

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

World War I

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

World War II

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

Korean War

Unknown Soldier of the , interred May 28, 1984; President Ronald Reagan presided. The remains of the Vietnam Unknown were disinterred, under the authority of President Bill Clinton, on May 14, 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.

Vietnam War

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

armed forces

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 October 1, 1949, for medical reasons and who was rated at 30% or greater disabled effective on the day of discharge

Medal of Honor

Chief Justice of the United States

Any former prisoner of war who, while a prisoner of war, served honorably in the active military, naval, or air service, whose last period of military, naval or air service terminated honorably and who died on or after November 30, 1993

The spouse, widow or widower, minor child, or permanently dependent child, and certain unmarried adult children of any of the above eligible veterans

List of national cemeteries

McKee Grave

Theodore Wint Grave

United States Department of Veterans Affairs emblems for headstones and markers

the other cemetery administered by the United States Department of the Army

United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery

(PDF) (Report). United States Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District. December 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 19, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2012.

Arlington National Cemetery Millennium Project Environmental Assessment

(PDF) (Report). United States Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District. June 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.

Arlington National Cemetery Millennium Project Final Environmental Assessment

Atkinson, Rick (2007). Where Valor Rests: Arlington National Cemetery. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. 978-1426200892.

ISBN

Chase, Enoch Aquila (1930). "The Arlington Case: George Washington Custis Lee against the United States of America". Records of the Columbia Historical Society. 31 (32).

Dennee, Tim (2012). (PDF). FreedmensCemetery.org. Friends of Freedmen's Cemetery. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved July 9, 2012.

"African-American Civilians Interred in Section 27 of Arlington National Cemetery, 1864–1867"

Hanna, Jennifer (October 2001). (PDF) (Report). Vol. 1. Washington DC: U.S. Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Capital Region: Cultural History Program. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 5, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2016.

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial: Cultural Landscape Report: History

Hansen, Harry (2001). The Civil War: A History. New York: Signet.

McCaslin, Richard B. (2004). Lee in the Shadow of Washington. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. 0807126969.

ISBN

On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery

Schildt, Roberta (1984). (PDF). Arlington Historical Magazine. Vol. 7, no. 4. Arlington County, Virginia: Arlington Historical Society. pp. 11–21. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 15, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2016. Via "Arlington's Civil War Memorial Website". www.arlcivilwar.net. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017.

"Freedman's Village: Arlington, Virginia, 1863–1900"

Warner, Ezra J. (1959). . Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0807108239.

Generals in Gray

Bontrager, Shannon (2020). Death at the Edges of Empire: Fallen Soldiers, Cultural Memory, and the Making of an American Nation, 1863–1921. University of Nebraska Press. Memories of American war dead.

online summary by author

(2016). The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674737242. OCLC 1016134728.

McElya, Micki

Official website

Grave finding link (official)

Memorial Tree listing (official)

by National Park Service

History of Arlington Cemetery and Arlington House

a March 11, 2010 Life magazine article (archived copy)

Arlington Cemetery: Hallowed Ground

a 2014 WETA-TV video

Arlington National Cemetery

at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)

CWGC: Arlington National Cemetery

An unofficial website listing interments, has researched information from a civilian non-employee, current site no longer maintained.

Arlington National Cemetery