The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery

by Micki McElya

Arlington National Cemetery is America's most sacred shrine, a destination for four million visitors who each year tour its grounds and honor those buried there. For many, Arlington's symbolic importance places it beyond politics. Yet as Micki McElya shows, no site in the United States plays a more political role in shaping national identity.

Arlington commemorates sacrifices made in the nation's wars and armed conflicts. Yet it has always been a place of struggle over the boundaries of citizenship and the meaning of honor and love of country. A plantation built by slave labor overlooking Washington, D.C., Arlington was occupied by Union forces early in the Civil War. A portion was designated a federal cemetery in 1864. A camp for the formerly enslaved, Freedman's Village, had already been established there in 1863, and remained for three decades.

The cemetery was seen primarily as a memorial to the white Civil War dead until its most famous monument was erected in 1921: the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, symbolizing universal military sacrifice through the interment of a single World War I Unknown. As a century of wars abroad secured Arlington's centrality in the American imagination and more Unknowns joined the first at the tomb, inclusion within its gates became a prerequisite for broader claims to national belonging. In revealing how Arlington encompasses the most inspiring and the most shameful aspects of American history, McElya enriches the story of this landscape, demonstrating that remembering the past and reckoning with it must go hand in hand.

Genres: Nonfiction, Death, History, Politics, American History

416 pages, Hardcover

Published August 15, 2016

Reviews

[Kenneth Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book chronicles the history of Arlington National Cemetery from the time it was the Lee plantation until the present time. The narrative begins with a history of the plantation from the descendants of George Washington through the marriage of Robert E Lee to Mary Washington Curtiss. It tells of the slaves who lived there and stayed on when the Lees were forced to leave in 1861. Union forces occupied the plantation and the US government took it over for nonpayment of taxes. It was used for a military encampment at first. As freed and runaway slaves began to flood Washington, part of the plantation was used to house these former slaves who were labeled contrabands. They built their homes in Freedman’s Village and farmed the land.
As casualties mounted, the plantation began being used as a cemetery. This began the process of the cemetery becoming the national symbol it is today. The evolution was slow and didn’t really start to become an icon until the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated in 1921.
The most poignant part of the story was the racism and white supremacy that was a major element in the history. The Freedman’s Village was evicted twice from around the cemetery. Union Colored Troops were buried in a fat corner of the cemetery and not given the honors or headstones of the white dead. Confederate soldiers were buried in the main cemetery mixed in with Union dead. Other minorities were not buried there until the late twentieth century.
This book tells a fascinating story that is not always pretty but must be known.

[Gwendolyn Miner · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot of information in this book about the history of burials at Arlington National Cemetery that I was not aware of. It was fascinating to read the politics surround decisions and see how cultural issues affect the politics of burial.
This is a well researched book.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

In-depth and fascinating study of Arlington's history and its silent but powerful reflection of our national culture as it ebbs and flows.

[Henry McFarland · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting in depth history of Arlington National Cemetery. Particular areas of focus are the handling of the formerly enslaved during and immediately after the Civil War and the history of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The author did an impressive amount of research and provides a lot of interesting detail on subjects such as why the tomb of the unknown soldier now has no casualty from the Vietnam War. The writing can be verbose at times, but this book will be worth reading or anyone with an interest in American history.

[John Swanson]

This book really seems like it could have been an extended magazine article. While there is plenty to cover about the politics, racism, and sexism of who is permitted to be buried in Arlington Cemetery, I found myself reading a lot of history I already knew. There were some interesting stories I had never heard before (the one about Medgar Evers comes to mind.) For me, this wasn't enough new information to fill a book. For someone with a family member(s) buried at Arlington, I think this would be a fascinating read. Otherwise, little tidbits of information here and there don't make for a book of this density. (The Vietnam tomb of the unknown soldier is empty... who knew?)