The whole thing belonged to Lee. Maybe we should dig up all the heroes in Arlington and rebury them in Atlanta at the MLK Memorial site.
Actually, no it didn’t. At the death of Lee’s father-in-law, the Arlington house passed to Lee’s oldest son - George Washington Curtis Lee. Robert E. Lee was the executor of the will.
The Feds bought it from his son, fair and square, after the Supreme Court found in Custis Lee's favor.