List of memorials and monuments at Arlington National Cemetery

Memorials and monuments at Arlington National Cemetery include 28 major and 142 minor monuments and memorials. Arlington National Cemetery is a United States national cemetery located in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. It is managed by the United States Army, rather than the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

The first major memorial in the cemetery was completed in 1866. Entry gates in the cemetery were later dedicated to Union Army generals. The Spanish–American War and World War I led to the construction of several more major memorials. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was constructed in 1921, although the large sarcophagus above the burial vault was not dedicated until 1932. Almost a third of the cemetery's major memorials have been constructed since 1983.

It takes an act of Congress to place a stone or bronze memorial monument that is not a headstone at Arlington National Cemetery. Donations of memorial trees are accepted, but new, living memorials with memorial markers in memory of organizations has been suspended.

Memorials and monuments Arlington National Cemetery

There are over 300,000 headstones and hundreds of memorials at Arlington National Cemetery. Arlington House itself is a memorial to George Washington. The son of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, John Parke Custis purchased the tract of wooded land on the Potomac River north of Alexandria, Virginia in 1778.Silber, p. 125."Arlington National Cemetery," p. 77. When John Parke Custis died after the Battle of Yorktown, the final battle of the American Revolution, Arlington Estate was inherited by his son, then-six-month-old George Washington Parke Custis. John Parke Custis, his sister Martha (Patsy) Parke Custis, his son George (named after George Washington, the step-father of John). and his daughter Eleanor (Nelly) Parke Custis (later Lewis) grew up at Mount Vernon, the home of Martha and George Washington. George Washington Parke Custis built Arlington House as a memorial to George Washington. An Army veteran of the War of 1812, George W. P. Custis and his wife Mary Fitzhugh Custis were buried in a fenced-in area now located in section 13.

George W. P. Custis and his wife Mary Fitzhugh Custis who raised their daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis at Arlington, left the estate to her.Silber, p. 126. Custis stipulated that whomever owned his beloved Arlington must be named Custis. Therefore, Arlington would go to his daughter and then to his grandson, Custis Lee. Mary Anna Custis married her distant cousin, United States Army Lieutenant Robert E. Lee in June 1831. With the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War on April 12, 1861, Robert E. Lee resigned from the United States Army and took command of Virginia's confederate forces on April 23, 1861. Mary Custis Lee left Arlington on May 15, 1861 to join her daughters at Ravensworth, a nearby home owned by Custis relatives. When Mary Custis Lee did not pay her property taxes in person, the estate was legally confiscated. The United States would later return it, and then purchase the property from Custis Lee. Union troops occupied Arlington on May 24.Chase, p. 176.

On July 16, 1862, the United States Congress passed legislation authorizing the purchase of land for national cemeteries for military dead."Arlington," p. 77. In May 1864, large numbers of Union forces died in the Battle of the Wilderness, requiring a large new cemetery to be built near the District of Columbia.Cultural Landscape Program, p. 84. Accessed April 29, 2012. A study quickly determined that Arlington Estate was the most suitable property for this purpose. While Private William Henry Christmas became the first Union soldier buried at Arlington on May 13, 1864, formal authorization for burials did not occur until June 15, 1864.Atkinson, p. 25.McCaslin, p. 82.

First memorials and monuments

The first memorials at Arlington National Cemetery were built during and immediately after the Civil War. These first memorials were small, as the federal government (burdened by the cost of the war) expended little money on the cemetery.Cultural Landscape Program, p. 97. Accessed April 29, 2012.

The first memorial constructed was the Civil War Unknowns Monument. United States Army Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs ordered the construction of the monument in 1865.Cultural Landscape Program, p. 96. Accessed April 29, 2012. The bodies of 2,111 Union and Confederate dead were collected and placed in a vault beneath the monument, which was sealed in September 1866.

In 1867, Congress enacted legislation requiring that all military cemeteries be fenced. Meigs ordered the construction of a red Seneca sandstone wall around the cemetery. The construction of the wall (which would not be complete until 1897) necessitated the construction of gates as well.Cultural Landscape Program, p. 102. Accessed April 29, 2012. Construction began on a memorial to Major General George B. McClellan (the McClellan Gate) in 1870, but delays in obtaining high-quality red Seneca sandstone delayed its completion until 1879.Hughes and Ware, p. 72.

The Spanish–American War in 1898 led to the creation of several new memorials: The Spanish–American War Memorial in 1902, the Spanish–American War Nurses Memorial in 1905, and the Rough Riders Memorial in 1907. Two more major memorials were added prior to World War I: The Confederate Monument in 1914, and the USS Maine Memorial in 1915.

Another nine memorials, most of them commemorating World War I, were added in the 1920s and 1930s. This included the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was dedicated on November 11, 1921. The cenotaph above the tomb is a later addition, and was dedicated on November 11, 1932."Thousands at Arlington Cemetery Visit Shrine of the Unknown." Washington Post. November 14, 1921; Hull, Harris B. "Formal Dedication of Soldier Tomb is Planned On Friday." Washington Post. November 6, 1932; "Armistice Program Will Be Impressive." Washington Post. November 10, 1932. At the end of World War II, the cemetery had a total of 16 major memorials. Another 12 major memorials were added after 1949, with eight of these constructed after 1983.

Former memorials and monuments

Several memorials and monuments in Arlington National Cemetery no longer exist. One of the earliest memorials to be built in the cemetery was the Sheridan Gate, named for General Philip Sheridan. At The gate was constructed in 1879 of four Ionic columns salvaged from the demolition of the War Department Building (located at the site of the current Eisenhower Executive Office Building).Bigler, p. 32-33. Initially, there was no name inscribed on the gate's pediment, although the last names of Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Edwin M. Stanton, and Winfield Scott were chiseled into the front of each column.Decker and McSween, p. 86. After the death of Sheridan, his last name was added to the pediment and the gate became known as the Sheridan Gate.Historic American Buildings Survey, Arlington National Cemetery, Sheridan Gate, p. 3. Accessed July 15, 2012. Another early memorial was the Ord-Weitzel Gate, named for Major General Edward Ord and Major General Godfrey Weitzel. Also completed in 1879, it was constructed from two salvaged War Department Building columns.Goode, p. 334. Like the Sheridan Gate, this gate was initially not dedicated to anyone. But by 1902, with the passing of both Ord and Weitzel, their names were inscribed into left and right columns of the gate, respectively.Historic American Buildings Survey, Arlington National Cemetery, Ord-Weitzel Gate, p. 3. Accessed July 15, 2012.

Since 1864, Arlington National Cemetery's easternmost boundary was Arlington Ridge Road at present-day Eisenhower Drive. In 1971, however, the cemetery expanded eastward to its present boundary atJ efferson Davis Highway. At that time, the Sheridan and Ord-Weitzel gates were dismantled and the columns, marble pediments, and iron gates put into outdoor storage. Unfortunately, both gates were severely damaged during their dismantling. They were further damaged by inappropriate outdoor storage, and have been heavily vandalized.Historic American Buildings Survey, Arlington National Cemetery, Sheridan Gate, p. 19 , accessed July 15, 2012; Historic American Buildings Survey, Arlington National Cemetery, Ord-Weitzel Gate, p. 5, accessed 2012-07-15.

In 1884, a Temple of Fame was erected in the center of the flower garden on the south side of Arlington House. The U.S. Patent Office building had suffered a fire in 1877, and it was torn down and rebuilt in 1879.

In 1884, stone columns, pediments, and entablatures from this demolition were used to construct the Temple of Fame. The Temple was a round, Greek Revival, temple-like structure with Doric columns supporting a central dome. Inscribed on the pediment supporting the dome were the last names of great Americans such as George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and David Farragut.

A year after it was built, the last names of several Union Civil War generals (such as George Meade, James B. McPherson, and James A. Garfield) were carved into the columns.Cultural Landscape Program, p. 122. Accessed April 29, 2012. Since there wasn't enough marble to rebuild the dome, a tin dome (molded and painted to look like marble) was installed instead.Poole, p. 120. The Temple of Fame was demolished in 1967.Cultural Landscape Program, p. 164. Accessed April 29, 2012.

A Confederate States Army monument is scheduled to be removed by December 22, 2023 because it reportedly represents "sanitized depictions of slavery" and promotes the Lost Cause of the Confederacy myth.

New memorials and monuments In 1960, the United States Congress enacted "The Act of 2 September 1960" (74 Stat; 24 U.S.C. 295a). As codified in Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 553, a concurrent or joint resolution of Congress is needed before any new memorial or monument may be placed at Arlington."Commemorative Memorial Markers." Arlington National Cemetery. 2011, accessed 2012-07-015; , accessed July 15, 2012. This requirement does not apply to group burials, for which an aboveground marker may be erected without congressional approval.Watkins, Zina L. Memorials: Creating National, State, and Local Memorials. Congressional Research Service. Library of Congress. Order Code RS21080. September 1, 2006. Accessed August 7, 2012.

The rules were relaxed somewhat in 2012. On August 6, 2012, Congress enacted the "Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012" (P.L. 112–154; 126 Stat. 1165). Title VI, Section 604 of this legislation permits the Secretary of the Army to establish regulations for the erection at Arlington National Cemetery of memorials or monuments to an individual or military event if 25 years have passed. Such monuments may be placed only in areas designated by the Secretary of the Army, and must be paid for entirely by private donations. All alternative locations to Arlington National Cemetery must be ruled out, and the United States Commission of Fine Arts must be consulted on the memorial's appropriateness. The 25-year requirement may be waived if the event or service is ongoing, or if a "manifest injustice" would occur. In such cases, Congress may override the waiver by joint resolution within 60 days.Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012. Title VI. Section 604. August 6, 2012. Accessed May 5, 2013.