Understanding Arlington Preview

Tour Overview

This tour contains two types of stops: HONOR stops mark the gravesites of specific individuals. REMEMBER stops commemorate events, ideas, or groups of people.

Introduction

Arlington National Cemetery was established during the Civil War to accommodate the sudden influx of military dead who could not be transported home. The original cemetery was 200 acres and has since grown to 639 acres (as of early 2020). Arlington was a segregated cemetery, just like all national cemeteries at the time, and it remained segregated by race and rank until 1948, when President Harry S Truman desegregated the military.Today, approximately 400,000 veterans and their eligible dependents are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Service members from every one of America’s major wars, from the Revolutionary War to today's conflicts, are interred at ANC. As a result, the history of our nation is reflected on the grounds of the cemetery.

1

Military Women's Memorial

Administered by the Women in Military Service for America Foundation (WIMSA), the Military Women’s Memorial honors the over three million women who have served in the U.S. military from the Revolutionary War to today. It is the only major national memorial in the United States to honor all women who have served this country.In 1985, WIMSA chose to create the memorial in the Hemicycle — a neoclassical building dedicated in 1932 and intended to serve as Arlington National Cemetery's original ceremonial entrance. The Memorial is privately run and not part of Arlington National Cemetery.

2

Section 27

Section 27 is one of the oldest sections of the cemetery and one of the few sections that were once segregated. After Arlington National Cemetery was established in June 1864, during the Civil War, the first burials took place in this area hidden from the view of Arlington House.Early burials included white U.S. soldiers, government employees and government dependents. Beginning in July 1864, African American civilians and soldiers in the United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.), the U.S. Army’s designation for Black regiments, were buried there as well.

Nearby Section 27

Section 27, Grave 19Christman, a 20-year-old farmer, enlisted in the U.S. Army in March 1864. Like many other Civil War soldiers, he soon succumbed to illness, dying from rubella in a Washington, D.C. hospital on May 11, 1864. Two days later, he became the first soldier interred at Arlington.

3

John F. Kennedy Gravesite

President John F. Kennedy visited Arlington National Cemetery in March 1963. After his visit, the New York Times and many other papers reported that Kennedy said, "I could stay here forever," while looking at the view of Washington, D.C. from Arlington House. Eight months later, he was assassinated.After his death, Kennedy’s family interred him at this spot. An eternal flame, lit by Jacqueline Kennedy, was added to the site in July 1967

Nearby JFK Gravesite

Other members of the Kennedy family are buried in graves nearby, including First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; two of the couple’s children who died in infancy; and JFK’s brothers Joseph P. Kennedy (a U.S. Navy pilot killed during World War II), Robert F. Kennedy (senator and U.S. Navy veteran) and Edward M. Kennedy (senator and U.S. Army veteran).

4

Arlington House

George Washington Parke Custis, stepgrandson of President George Washington, built Arlington House in the early 19th century. After Custis’ death, his daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, inherited the property — a working plantation that included the house, 1,100 acres of land and 196 enslaved men and women. She and her husband, Robert E. Lee, lived at Arlington House until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.

Nearby Arlington House

Section 1, Grave 1-EHAs quartermaster general of the Army during the Civil War, Meigs directed the establishment of Arlington National Cemetery. In May 1864, he designated part of Robert E. Lee and Mary Custis Lee's former estate, now occupied by U.S. troops, as an Army cemetery.

5

James R. Tanner Amphitheater

The James R. Tanner Amphitheater, or the “Old Amphitheater,” marks the site of the first national Memorial Day commemoration held at Arlington National Cemetery on May 30, 1868. Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day began as a day of remembrance for U.S. soldiers who had died in the Civil War. The ceremony became so popular that ANC decided to build an amphitheater to accommodate the crowds. It was dedicated in 1873, at the fifth Decoration Day ceremony.As part of Arlington’s 150th anniversary commemoration in 2014, it was renamed as the James R. Tanner Amphitheater, in honor of a wounded Civil War veteran who became a prominent advocate for veterans’ rights.

6

Space Shuttle Memorials

NASA is not a military organization, but it has many ties to the military. During NASA's first two decades, those selected to become astronauts tended to be current or former military pilots.The two memorials here commemorate the Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia disasters, which each claimed the lives of their entire crews.

7

USS Maine Memorial

On February 15, 1898, an explosion in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, ripped open the hull of the USS Maine, sinking the Navy battleship and killing more than 260 of the American sailors on board.The Maine had been sent to Cuba to protect American interests during the Cuban fight for independence from Spain. Fueled by concern for the condition of the Cuban rebels, general opposition to European colonization of the Americas, and public outrage over the destruction of the Maine, the U.S. declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898.

8

Nurses Memorial

Section 21, sometimes known as the “Nurses Section,” is the resting place of 653 nurses who heroically served in the U.S. armed forces. Against a background of evergreens, an 11-foot-tall white Tennessee marble statue designed by Frances Rich appears to gaze reverently upon the deceased nurses that lie before her.Representing "The Spirit of Nursing," the figure wears simple attire with her hair pinned up, a practical style many early twentieth-century nurses adopted while working. Unveiled in 1938, the statue initially honored nurses who died during their service in the Army or Navy. Its meaning has since expanded to include all nurses who served in the U.S. armed forces.

Nearby Nurses Memorial

Section 21, Grave 15999-A-1Namahyoke Curtis, known as Namah, was a prominent African American nurse in late-19th-century Washington, D.C. During the Spanish-American War (1898), the Surgeon General assigned her to recruit other Black women to serve as U.S. Army contract nurses. She recruited as many as 32 Black nurses for the war effort. Curtis was of African American, European and American Indian descent, and she married Dr. Austin Curtis, a leading Black physician and the superintendent of Freedmen's Hospital in D.C.

9

Memorial Amphitheater

By the early 1900s, Arlington National Cemetery's original amphitheater — now called the James R. Tanner Amphitheater — could no longer accommodate the large crowds that flocked to ceremonies held there. Since its dedication in 1920, Memorial Amphitheater has served as the site for the National Memorial Day Observance; after 1954, it has also hosted the National Veterans Day Observance.Additionally, Memorial Amphitheater has hosted memorial and funeral services for several notable Americans, including every Unknown Soldier, Colonel Charles Young (Section 3, Grave 1730-B) and General John J. Pershing (Section 34, Grave S-19).The construction of Memorial Amphitheater marked a new stage in Arlington National Cemetery’s significance as a national shrine and a monument to America’s service members.

Nearby Memorial Amphitheater

Section 46, Grave 366-11After altering his birth certificate to enlist in the Army before his 18th birthday, Audie Murphy became one of the nation's most-decorated soldiers in World War II, earning 28 medals (including three from France and one from Belgium). After the war, Murphy became a professional actor, starring in multiple popular movies.

10

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was built in 1921 to honor unknown soldiers from World War I. Initially the burial place of a single Unknown Soldier from World War I, it eventually became a national memorial to honor the military service and sacrifice of all unknown service members. Today, it holds the remains of unknown soldiers from both world wars and the Korean War, as well as an empty crypt to honor missing service members from the Vietnam War.

Conclusion

You've reached the end of the Understanding Arlington Tour. You can explore additional content and resources on the Arlington National Cemetery Education Program website, or find more tours through Arlington National Cemetery's STQRY.