Class Year
2019
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
9-7-2018
Department 1
Civil War Institute
Abstract
“I would not stir from this house even if the whole Northern Army were to surround it,” wrote Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee, to her daughter, Eleanor Agnes Lee on May 5, 1861. The Civil War was still in its infancy when Mary Lee wrote this letter, having begun a month earlier on April 12, 1861. Her husband had already sided with the Confederacy but there had not been much fighting yet. Even still, Mary Lee’s life was changing and would continue to change irrevocably throughout the war, especially in relation to Arlington House. Arlington House was the only home Mary Lee had ever known. It had been her childhood home, built by her father George Washington Parke Custis in 1802, and was the home where she raised her own children. Little did she know that by the end of the month, she would be gone from Arlington House. [excerpt]
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Labbe, Savannah, "Trampling Mrs. Lee’s Roses: Union Soldiers at Arlington" (2018). The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History. 291.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/291
Comments
This blog post originally appeared in The Gettysburg Compiler and was created by students at Gettysburg College.