In 1778, John Parke Custis purchased an 1,100-acre (450 ha) tract of forested land on the Potomac River north of the town of Alexandria, Virginia.

[1] To the west of Arlington House, tall grass and low native plants led down a slope into a natural area of close-growing trees the Custises called "the Grove.

"[2] Located about 60 feet (18 m) west of the flower garden, "the Grove" contained tall elm and oak trees which formed a canopy.

's daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, married Robert E. Lee, an impoverished lieutenant in the United States Army, in June 1831.

[7] Aware that Union forces were likely to seize her home, Mary Custis Lee packed up most of her belongings and fled to her family estate at Ravensworth in Fairfax County, Virginia, on May 17.

[10] On July 16, 1862, the United States Congress passed legislation authorizing the U.S. federal government to purchase land for national cemeteries for military dead, and put the U.S. Army Quartermaster General in charge of this program.

Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs ordered that an examination of eligible sites be made for the establishment for a large new national military cemetery.

James A. Garfield, a former Major General in the Union Army (and future President of the United States), addressed a "large crowd" from the mansion's back steps.

[23][24] The following year, President Ulysses S. Grant closed the federal government for the holiday, and most businesses followed, which greatly contributed to attendance at the cemetery.

A dais seating 400 people was erected in what remained of "the Grove" at the rear of Arlington House[23][25] to accommodate speakers and dignitaries—which, for the first time, included President Grant.

The Civil War Unknowns Monument, which was located 180 feet (55 m) south-southwest of Arlington House, was covered by a canopy.

Several American flags hung from the canopy, red-white-and-blue bunting was draped along the monument's top, and numerous floral tributes were laid against it.

[33][34][c][29][35][36][37][38][39][40][35][32] The Arlington cemetery amphitheater was designed by Meigs, who in addition to being Quartermaster General was also an excellent engineer and architect.

"[43] Nonetheless, HABS argues, Meigs undoubtedly was influenced by garden cemetery movement, and the pergola fit with this design aesthetic.

[44] Rushed into construction,[45] a work group consisting of 23 carpenters, 12 bricklayers, and 30 general laborers built the amphitheater in just 28 days.

The Reverend Thomas De Witt Talmage, D.D., one of the great public orators of the day, addressed the crowd.

[34] That same year, Meigs hired trained landscape gardener David H. Rhodes to oversee the beautification of the cemetery with plants.

[50] Meigs intended for an awning of sorts to cover the amphitheater bowl to provide protection from hot sun or rain.

Canvas awnings (whose description, method of erection, and use are not known) were employed on Decoration Day in 1874, but came loose in the wind and were greatly disliked by people attending the ceremonies.

[47] The Rostrum was designed by prominent D.C. architect John L. Smithmeyer (who later co-designed the main building of the Library of Congress).

[43] The Rostrum was physically sculpted by the firm of William Struthers & Sons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,[47] and was delivered just before Decoration Day in May 1880.

Judge Ivory Kimball, Commander of the Department of the Potomac chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, believed that not only should a new and larger facility be built, but also that the new amphitheater memorialize the dead of all wars in which the nation had fought.

[56][57] Legislation authorizing the establishment of a memorial was finally enacted in 1908, but almost no funding was provided for the amphitheater's design and none for its construction.

[61] Construction proceeded swiftly despite the pressure on funding and resources imposed by World War I, and Memorial Amphitheater was dedicated on May 15, 1920.

He became a stenographer and clerk with the United States Department of War, and took down most of the eyewitness testimony during the early hours of the investigation into the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

The earliest plans for Tanner Amphitheater are those drawn by General Meigs in 1877 (apparently for the use of canopy-maker Charles Lawrence).

[47] Tanner Amphitheater consists of an elliptical wooden colonnade built on a 4-foot (1.2 m) high berm, with a bowl-shaped depression in the middle.

The floor of the colonnade between the outer and middle trellis columns consists of grey granite rectangular slabs set into the soil.

Its pergola design fits well with and enhances the setting in which it is situated, the organization says, while the Neoclassical style of the columns and Rostrum bring to mind the values of strength, simplicity, and democracy.

[42] As historian Peter Andrews put it, Arlington "ceased to be a pastoral, semiprivate resting ground for the career military and instead became a national shrine.