Third time on this thread. The decision to put a national cemetery at Arlington was the province of the Quartermaster General of the United States Army. that man, Maj. Gen. Montgomery Meigs, was a SOUTHERNER [Alabaman, I believe.]. . He did it, in large part, because the North needed another cemetery, and also because his son had been killed in the Shenandoah by Confederate troops [Guess whose troops]. Meigs already detested Lee.
So while it may have been spite, it was SOUTHERN spite, and I don’t believe Meigs considered it self righteous.
And remember the courteousies extended to Lee’s family by Union troops during the war. McClellan conveyed Mrs. Lee through Union lines, twice. Grant put a guard on her house in Richmond. So spare me the bile.
Maj. Gen. Montgomery Meigs, was a SOUTHERNER [Alabaman, I believe.]False. Though born in Augusta, Ga., Meigs grew up in Pennsylvania, and attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia before his appointment to West Point.
Ever hear of something called "Google," Mr. Know-It-All?