Ghosts of Arlington Podcast Jackson Irish

I'd love to hear your thoughts - send me a text hereThis week we talk a little about what Arlington National Cemetery looks like today, what the property started out as, and why a national cemetery was needed next to Washington, DC in the first place.This Week's Ghosts of Arlington are:George Washington Parke Custis (Section 13, Grave 6513)Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis (Section 13, Grave 6512)For more information, including links to stream the show, visit the GoA website: https://www.ghostso...

I'd love to hear your thoughts - send me a text hereThis week we discuss some of the firsts in Arlington's history - including the first burial, the first burial with family present, the first burial of a combat casualty, the first burial of a draftee, and the first officer burial. Included is also the history of arguably history's most famous bugle call, Taps. This Week's Ghosts of Arlington are:US Army Private William Henry Christman (Section 27, Grave 19)US Army Private William H. McK...

I'd love to hear your thoughts - send me a text hereFirst off, there is a partial retraction (or at least a semi-correction) of last week's story of the origin of Taps... that didn't take long! Then, after years of unsuccessful attempts to recover the property and buildings of the former Arlington plantation, the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Lee family. So, what is the US Government going to do with the 20,000 military members interred there?!This week's ghosts are some of the former s...

I'd love to hear your thoughts - send me a text hereAfter the Supreme Court ruled that Custis Lee was the legal owner of Arlington and the US Government was forced to give the property back, how did it end up back in government hands? This week's ghost of Arlington is: Army First Lieutenant John Meigs, the 22-year-old son of the father of Arlington National Cemetery, General Montgomery Meigs (Section 1, Grave 1-SH)For more information, including links to stream the show, visit the G...

I'd love to hear your thoughts - send me a text hereThis week's episode is the first of a two-part story about the life of Brevet Major General Montgomery C. Meigs,, covering his birth to just before the outbreak of the Civil War, with a major focus on his two most enduring pre-war engineering projects: The Capitol Expansion and Dome, and the Washington Aqueduct project.For more information, including links to stream the show and pictures from these two major construction projects, visit the ...

I'd love to hear your thoughts - send me a text hereThis is the second of our two-part story about the life of Montgomery Meigs. Many people with high-profile positions in the US Civil have praised Meigs as an unsung hero of the Civil War, saying without his expert management of Union logistics, the war could have had a very different outcome. He continued to leave his mark on Washington, DC after the war - overseeing the growth of Arlington National Cemetery, the expansion of the Smith...