Arlington House is “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, but perhaps there is a key.” The key is slavery. The house belonged to the descendants of George Washington’s stepson, John P. Custis, and Robert E. Lee married John’s granddaughter. Lee was a veteran (Mexico) and West Point grad who put down John Brown’s abolitionist rebellion at Harper’s Ferry. Abraham Lincoln offered him command of the Union Army, but here Lee declined and chose treason.

While it would have been better if Lee had chosen morally, it was no surprise to his slaves here. When John Custis’ son G. W. P. Custis died, his will ordered his slaves freed, except that Lee didn’t free them and cracked down instead. Some slaves resisted, escaped, were caught, jailed and lashed.

Lee fought to dissolve the Union to preserve slavery and against those who fought to preserve the Union without slavery. The country split in half right near here, with Maryland staying with DC and the traitors set up their HQ nearby in Virginia. When Lee evacuated, his slaves were finally freed, and one, Selina Gray, personally handed the keys to the cellar over to the Union General in order to preserve George Washington’s personal relics (including his war tent now on display in the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia).

Periodically, slavery-supporting “lost cause mythology” believers try to rehabilitate Lee’s reputation. After the war, Lee supported disarmament and peaceful reconciliation, but that doesn’t excuse either his own slave owning or his treason on behalf of slave owners. Still, there have been periodic political attempts to elevate Lee, especially in times when white nationalism is in vogue or politicians feel that “reconciling his legacy” would be worth a few votes. This house, previously known as the Custis-Lee House, became known as “Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial”, but there’s legislation pending to remove his name again.

The site is educational, especially the slave quarters exhibits with audio. There’s a metro stop in front of Arlington National Cemetery, and it’s a healthy walk from there, through security, past the idling gas-polluting buses, past the Military Women’s Memorial and up the hill on a path between the graves to the park site. Be sure to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and watch the Sentinels of the Old Guard change the Tomb Guard every hour every day. The Old Guard is the name General Winfield Scott gave to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, and only their most elite volunteers may serve as Sentinels.

“You have made the greatest mistake of your life,
but I feared it would be so.”

General Scott’s response to Lee on his refusal to fight for the US