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On this day, 149 years ago, the first military burial took place at Arlington National Cemetery. Private William Christman was buried in what is now in Section 27. He actually died of measles. Robert E. Lee resigned his commission in the US Army on April 20, 1861, and took command of the armed forces of the Commonwealth of Virginia. On May 3, General Winfield Scott ordered Brigadier General Irvin McDowell to clear Arlington and the city of Alexandria, Virginia, of all troops not loyal to the United States. On May 7, troops of the Virginia militia occupied Arlington and Arlington House -- from which they could launch artillery at the city. It was clear that the Union army had to remove them. Fearful of this, Mary Lee left on May 14, and McDowell occupied Arlington without opposition on May 24. At the outbreak of the Civil War, most military personnel who died in battle near Washington, DC, were buried at the US Soldiers' Cemetery in Washington, DC, or at Alexandria Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia, but by late 1863 both were nearly full. On July 16, 1862, Congress passed legislation authorizing the US federal government to purchase land for national cemeteries for military dead, and US Army Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs was put in charge of this program. In May 1864, Meigs ordered that an examination of eligible sites be made. Within weeks, his staff reported that Arlington Estate was the most suitable property in the area. The first military burial at Arlington (a white soldier, William Henry Christman) was made on May 13, 1864, close to what is now the northeast gate in Section 27. However, Meigs did not formally authorize establishment of burials until June 15, 1864. The date or name of the first African American burial cannot be precisely determined, but occurred on either July 2 or July 3, 1864, in Section 27. (Arlington did not desegregate its burial practices until President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948.)
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