1 70 
PARK AND CEMETERY, 
NATIONAL CEMETERY, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA. 
It gave me much pleasure one beautiful day last 
autumn to re-visit Arlington National Cemetery, 
lovely Arlington, a place so beautiful and interest- 
ing that one can hardly tear himself away from it. 
And it happened, too, that the month of my visit 
was the same one as that in 1862, when a youngster, 
I had tramped about the same ground, one of 
thousands of others who were preparing tor war’s 
“magnificently stern array.” Fort Myer, which 
adjoins the cemetery, stands, as it seems to me now, 
on the very ground on which my tent was pitched. 
Traversing again the grounds and the cemetery, 
now more thickly peopled with dead heroes than it 
was then with living aspirants for fame, how the 
past came rushing to my mind. The daily drills, 
teries. There are certain portions used for inter- 
ments, such as the beautiful one shown in the 
illustration, then there are acres of ground of park 
land, splendidly kept and with drives through 
them, permitting the examination of every part of 
it. Arlington, as is generally understood, occupies 
an elevated site on the opposite side of the Potomac 
from Washington. From near the mansion, Gen. 
Lee’s late residence, a splendid view of Washington 
and the Potomac is had, and to the left, George- 
town, and the beautiful buildings in the vicinity of 
Rock Creek greet the vision. Though so near to 
the capitol of the Nation it seems far away from it, 
as the calm waters of the broad Potomac flow be- 
tween, and on the Virginia side there are no dwell- 
ings near it, near to Washington as it .is. It is 
VIEW IN ARLINGTON CEMETERY, ARLINGTON, VA. 
the smell of the pennyroyal which we disturbed in 
our evolutions, the camp-fire at night, and, lastly, 
the bugle call early one morning to pack up and 
march. 
“ And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed, 
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car, 
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed, 
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war;” 
And soon the identity of the regiment was almost 
lost in the vast throng of fifty thousand men who 
were en route to what proved to be the battlefield 
of Antietam. 
Arlington of today is far more beautiful than it 
was in those days, though ’midst the general de- 
struction of trees which occurred in the days referred 
to, many of the finest of those of Arlington were 
preserved. The cemetery is today one vast park, 
lovely in its solitude. There is far less of what is 
artificial about it than is common in most ceme- 
quickly reached from Washington. The Mt. Vernon 
Electric Road has a branch running to it, which 
brings one in on the southern side of the cemetery. 
Another road runs by way of Georgetown and Fort 
Myer, approaching the cemetery on the opposite 
side. 
The grounds are so large that much more room 
is give'n to each grave than is usually seen. There 
are two sections, in one of which the privates are 
interred, in the other, officers. The illustration 
shows a portion allotted to privates. Between each 
stone are six feet, with alleys of fifteen feet. As 
the dead were gathered from no one field, but from 
the many which stretched between Washington and 
Richmond, their remains are not interred by states, 
but promiscuously, as it seemed to me. The little 
tablet seen at the head of each one contains the 
number, as per record book, the name of the sol- 
dier and the state from which he came. For ex- 
