The Lee family lost Arlington over a $92.07 tax, the Army buried soldiers on it, and the Supreme Court awarded $150,000

George Washington Parke Custis, Martha Washington's grandson, died in 1857. His 1855 will left Arlington to his daughter Mary Custis Lee for life, then to her son G.W. Custis Lee. The will also ordered the estate's enslaved people freed within five years. The executor, Robert E. Lee, asked Virginia to let him keep them working past that deadline. The state refused, and he signed a deed of manumission on 29 December 1862. Under the 1862 direct-tax act, Arlington owed $92.07 plus a 50 percent penalty. Mrs. Lee's agent offered to pay it. The commissioners said they could accept payment only from the owner in person. On 11 January 1864 the United States bought the property at auction for $26,800. It had been valued at $34,100. In June 1864 Secretary of War Edwin Stanton directed that a military cemetery be made on the grounds. By 1868, 15,000 soldiers were buried there. Custis Lee sued in 1874. On 4 December 1882 the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 for him in United States v. Lee, 106 U.S. 196. Justice Miller wrote: "No man in this country is so high that he is above the law." Custis Lee accepted $150,000 on 10 March 1883, and title passed to the United States on 31 March 1883. In 2026 the cemetery covers 639 acres and holds over 400,000 burials. In August 2025 the Pentagon said the Confederate Memorial, removed in 2023, would return after a $10 million restoration.