ARLINGTON HOUSE, an historic mansion situated in Virginia, on the heights overlooking the Potomac river, opposite Washington, D.C. The property once belonged to George Wash ington and descended to his adopted son, Parke Custis, who began his residence there in 1802. Later it became the home of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, who in 1831 married the daughter of Custis. Seized by the Federal forces early in the Civil War, but later purchased, the house was occupied as a headquarters by the Union army and the large adjacent estate was used as a camp for troops. Subsequently the property Was made into a national cemetery in which many distinguished generals and thousands of soldiers, both Union and Confederate, have been buried. The stately Lee mansion, with its noble portico, is one of the finest examples of colonial architecture.
See Karl Decker and Angus McSween, Historic Arlington (1892) ; John B. Osborne, The Story of Arlington (1899) ; and John T. Faris, Historic Shrines of America (1918).