Notable People

• Benjamin Banneker
• George Washington Parke Custis
• Robert E. Lee

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker with George Washington Surveying the District of Columbia Image courtesy of National Capital Planning Commission

Born in 1731, Benjamin Banneker, was the free, self-taught mathematician and astronomer known as the “first black man of science” and part of Andrew Ellicott’s survey team that laid out the boundary of the District of Columbia, at the direction of George Washington. Banneker fixed the position of the first boundary stone by lying on his back to find the exact starting point for the survey of the District, and plotting six stars as they crossed his spot at a particular time of night. This first cornerstone was set on April 15, 1791, and marked the south corner stone of the District of Columbia. From that location, the surveyors advanced northwest into Virginia and then crossed the Potomac into Maryland. In 1847. Banneker’s boundaries define what is today Arlington County. Boundary Stone # 9 has been denoted a National Historic Landmark to honor Banneker, and is located today at Jones Point, Virginia.

George Washington Parke Custis

George Washington Parke Custis Image courtesy of the Arlington Historical Society

George Washington Parke Custis was considered the preeminent citizen of Arlington County from the beginning of the century until his death in 1857. His house, known today as the Arlington House, became a “treasury” of Washington family heirlooms. During its lengthy construction, Custis collected as much from the Mount Vernon Estate of his grandmother and foster father as his fortunes would allow. Arlington House, named after the Custis family’s homestead on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, was built on 1,100 acres and was designed by George Hadfield, a young English architect who also managed the construction of the Capitol Building. The north and south wings were completed between 1802 and 1804. The large center section and the portico were finished 14 years later.

Robert E. Lee

Within weeks of Abraham Lincoln’s arrival in Washington for his inauguration as the sixteenth president of the United States, Robert E. Lee departed his beloved Arlington House, never to return. The events of the next few days shaped the course of Lee’s life and the course of a nation as well.

Robert E. Lee Image courtesy of the Brady Collection, National Archives

On April 18, 1861 Colonel Robert E. Lee met with Francis Blair, a politician, soldier and union supporter from Missouri. Blair wanted to ascertain Colonel Lee’s intentions on the eve of the Civil War and to apprise him that the Secretary of War, Henry Cameron, wanted to offer him the command of the soon to be formed ”Army of the Potomac.” This was a critical moment in the life of Robert E. Lee. He was a solider for the United States of America, yet he was also a Virginian.

Virginia had not yet voted to leave the Union, and Lee hoped they would not. Yet if he took the assignment offered by Francis Blair and Virginia seceded, he would be forced to resign under orders, something no soldier, as a matter of pride, could do.

The next day, Virginia’s Assembly’s decided to join the Confederate States. At Arlington House, after a difficult evening of reflection, Lee penned his resignation to his old friend, Union Commander-in-Chief General Winfield Scott.

“General: . . . It would have been presented (my resignation) at once but for the struggle it has cost me to separate myself from a service to which I have devoted the best years of my life, and all the ability I possessed. . . . Save in defense of my native State, I never desire to again draw my sword. . .”    

Lee would later write of his resignation: “With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home.”

Arlington House during the Civil War Image Courtesy of the   Brady Collection, National Archives

On April 23, 1861, Lee accepted the position of commander of Virginia forces. From this point, Robert E. Lee became linked to the Confederate cause. However, unlike many Southerners, Lee did not believe in slavery and did not favor secession.

His career with the Confederate Army led to his position as General of “The Army of Northern Virginia” at the age of 55, on May 31, 1862. On February 6, 1865, his tenure in this position was cut short by his surrender to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865, thus ending the Civil War.

Lee’s decision ultimately cost him his beloved home. During the war, Arlington House was occupied by Union officers. In 1864, the estate was confiscated, and a 200-acre section was set aside as a military cemetery, known today as Arlington National Cemetery.

After the Civil War, Robert E. Lee became president of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.