Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs proposed that 200 acres of the Lee family property be taken for a cemetery in 1864.

It was Lee's disloyalty to the Union that led the North to confiscate his property.

Gen. Mieges had recently lost a son to southern bushwhackers, it was claimed that Lt. Miegs had be shot after surrendering. A very big scandal erupted over this news. This may have contributed to Mieges descision to place the cemetary at Arlington. He considered Lee a Traitor. Lt. Mieges was the first Union Soldier to be buried at Arlington, right in Mary Lees garden.