In 1778, John Parke Custis purchased an 1,100-acre (4,500,000 m2) tract of forested land on the Potomac River north of the town of Alexandria, Virginia, in 1778.

[3] He named his new estate "Mount Washington" after his foster grandfather,[4] and put 57 African slaves to work building log cabins for themselves, clearing land, and farming.

"Mount Washington" was too small to be self-supporting as a working farm, so Custis sought to make Arlington into a family seat — complete with a large park, a forest, and gardens.

could experiment in land management techniques and animal husbandry, and to enhance the diets of his family, farm hands, and slaves.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Robert E. Lee resigned his commission and joined the army of the Confederate States of America.

[15] South of the estate, north of what is now Overlook Park, Fort Albany was built on the side of Arlington Ridge Road.

[16] Extensive horse and mule corrals were built east of the road (near the current Visitors Center and parking lots and the area just south of them).

[18] Freedmen's Village, a housing development for escaped slaves ("contraband") and free blacks, was constructed in May 1863 the very southern part of the estate immediately west of Arlington Ridge Road.

[19] East across Arlington Ridge Road from Freedmen's Village was Hell's Bottom,[20] a 37.5-acre (152,000 m2) site at the foot of the Long Bridge.

[26] The remaining 500 acres (2,000,000 m2) was either not in use or was used by the U.S. Army for growing fruits, vegetables, hay, and grain for consumption at nearby Fort Whipple.

[39] The McClellan Gate was to be constructed of red sandstone from the famed Seneca Quarry in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Although Flannery was hired during fiscal year 1871 (which ran from July 1, 1870, to June 30, 1871), construction proceeded slowly due to delays in obtaining suitable stone, and it was not complete as of December 1871.

[48][49] This gate stood adjacent to the intersection of what is now Custis Walk and Schley Drive,[50][51] and across the street from the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Railway streetcar station.

[35] The upper portion of the cornice of the arch is inscribed with the name "MCCLELLAN" in gilt capital letters.

[38][53] The lower portion of the cornice is inscribed with the following words in gilt letters: "Here Rest 15,585 of the 315,555 Citizens Who Died in the Defense of Our Country From 1861 to 1865".

[54] On the south column on the east side is inscribed the name "MEIGS" in capital gilt letters.

[38] Both sides of the McClellan Gate are inscribed with lines from Theodore O'Hara's poem, Bivouac of the Dead.

[56] A native of Kentucky, O'Hara served in U.S. Army in the Mexican–American War of 1846-1848, and mustered out as a brevet major in October 1848.

[57] In 1850, he joined the private army being raised by Narciso López to overthrow the Spanish colonial rule of Cuba.

During the American Civil War, O'Hara fought for the Confederacy in the 12th Regiment Alabama Infantry as a lieutenant colonel.

On the east side architrave is written: "On Fame's Eternal Camping Ground Their Silent Tents Are Spread and Glory Guards With Solemn Round the Bivouac of the Dead".

[38] On the west side architrave is written: "Rest on Embalmed and Sainted Dead, Dear as the Blood Ye Gave; No Impious Footsteps Here Shall Tread on the Herbage of Your Grave".

[53] O'Hara was apparently unaware that his poem was being used to commemorate Civil War dead at Arlington National Cemetery.

But with burial space at Arlington becoming scarce, Congress approved the expansion of the cemetery eastward into the South Post of Fort Myer.