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The Unknown Zone © Forums => The Zone © (Moderated Open Forum) => Topic started by: Palehorse on August 27, 2011, 09:36:11 PM

Title: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 27, 2011, 09:36:11 PM
Who is Pvt. William Henry Christman?
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Sandy Eggo on August 27, 2011, 09:38:06 PM
Quote from: Palehorse on August 27, 2011, 09:36:11 PM
Who is Pvt. William Henry Christman?

I don't know, please share.
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 27, 2011, 09:42:41 PM
Quote from: Sandy Eggo on August 27, 2011, 09:38:06 PM
I don't know, please share.

Pvt. William Henry Christman; an Easton, Pa., native and Civil War soldier who was the first soldier buried at Arlington.
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 27, 2011, 09:44:25 PM
At last count, there were more than 330,000 individuals interred there.

What is the average number of funerals per day at Arlington?
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Anne on August 27, 2011, 09:53:22 PM
I think I read someplace it is around 25.
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 27, 2011, 09:55:56 PM
The current average number of funerals conducted at Arlington, each day, is 27.

What is the significance of section 27 at Arlington?
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Anne on August 27, 2011, 10:24:21 PM
Not unless it is something besides where the unknown soldiers are buried.
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 27, 2011, 10:38:05 PM
Section 27, where about 1,500 black soldiers from the Civil War were laid to rest.

(The hypocrisy began before the conflict had even ended).

There are more than 3,800 additional individuals buried in Section 27; do you know what distinction qualified them to be interred there?
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 28, 2011, 12:54:41 AM
(http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr111/hlovett_2008/310805_261350073889109_109701809053937_955928_5811689_n.jpg)

Tomb of the Unknowns - Arlington : Today as Irene rages. . .  :4th3:
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 28, 2011, 12:55:07 AM
Quote from: Palehorse on August 27, 2011, 10:38:05 PM
Section 27, where about 1,500 black soldiers from the Civil War were laid to rest.

(The hypocrisy began before the conflict had even ended).

There are more than 3,800 additional individuals buried in Section 27; do you know what distinction qualified them to be interred there?
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: followsthewolf on August 28, 2011, 07:44:52 AM
Slaves (who were not soldiers) who lived in the area are buried there.

(I've been there several times -- the first time while I was in the military.)
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Anne on August 28, 2011, 08:07:52 AM
Haven't been there yet, that is on the agenda for the next trip to VA in September.
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 28, 2011, 10:41:40 AM
Quote from: followsthewolf on August 28, 2011, 07:44:52 AM
Slaves (who were not soldiers) who lived in the area are buried there.

(I've been there several times -- the first time while I was in the military.)

More than 3,800 former slaves are buried at Arlington, mostly within Section 27. Their marker stones usually have an engraving of either "Civilian" or "Citizen" on them.

Who was the original owner of the Arlington Estate?
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: followsthewolf on August 28, 2011, 01:51:15 PM
Lee?
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 28, 2011, 02:48:32 PM
Quote from: followsthewolf on August 28, 2011, 01:51:15 PM
Lee?

Nope. . .
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 28, 2011, 03:39:00 PM
George Washington Parke Custis, who was the original owner of the Arlington estate, is interred with his wife in the cemetery; Section 13. He was the grandson of Martha Washington.

Mary Anna Randolph Custis inherited the property from her father. She was the wife of Lee.

GWP Custis was the one who constructed Arlington house, on the property he inherited from his own father upon reaching majority age. (He was raised by George and Martha Washington after his father's untimely death when he was a child).

Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 28, 2011, 03:43:51 PM
Arlington; was it confiscated by the Union or was it purchased?
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Anne on August 28, 2011, 03:47:29 PM
My guess would be confiscated.
Title: Re: Do you know the answer?
Post by: Palehorse on August 28, 2011, 03:55:16 PM
Actually, it is both!

Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs, proposed in 1864 that 200 acres of the "Robert E. Lee family property" at Arlington be confiscated for a cemetery.

The government acquired Arlington at tax sale in 1864 for $26,800. Mrs. Lee had not appeared in person, but had sent an agent, attempting to timely pay the $92.07 in taxes that were due.

The government turned away her agent, refusing to accept the tendered payment.

In 1874, Custis Lee, heir under his grandfather's will passing the estate in trust to his mother, sued the United States claiming ownership of Arlington. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Lee's favor in United States v. Lee, deciding that Arlington had been confiscated without due process, Congress returned the estate to him.

The next year, Custis Lee sold it back to the government for $150,000 at a signing ceremony with Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln.