Why Robert E. Lee’s Estate Became Arlington National Cemetery
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 26 May 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, Arlington National Cemetery is the nation’s most iconic military burial ground, but its origins are more surprising than many Americans realize. Elliott Drago of the Jack Miller Center shares the little-known story behind the founding of Arlington Cemetery, from its roots on the former estate of Robert E. Lee and the Custis family to its transformation into a Union military cemetery during the American Civil War.
Along the way, Drago explains how Union leaders intentionally turned Lee’s former home into a burial ground for fallen soldiers and why Arlington remains one of America’s most enduring symbols of sacrifice, remembrance, and military service, especially each Memorial Day.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:14.4 | This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories, |
| 0:18.3 | the show where America is the star and the American people. |
| 0:22.5 | Coming to you from where the West begins in Fort Worth, Texas. |
| 0:26.3 | And all show long, we're celebrating Memorial Day. |
| 0:30.4 | The nation's most prominent military burial ground, Arlington National Cemetery, |
| 0:35.5 | has an unexpected beginning. |
| 0:37.9 | Here to tell the story is Elliot Drago from the Jack Miller Center. |
| 0:42.4 | Let's take a listen. |
| 0:48.2 | A long-dead Civil War soldier made news recently when an urn containing his ashes was discovered |
| 0:56.7 | sitting on a shelf in a Cincinnati cemetery. This man, Isaac C. Hart, enlisted in New Bedford, |
| 1:04.0 | Massachusetts as a private in 1861 and served in the infantry until 1864 when he was promoted |
| 1:10.7 | to captain of the second United States colored cavalry. |
| 1:14.6 | As a white officer leading black soldiers, Hart knew he might face torture from the Confederates if captured. |
| 1:21.1 | His men could face worse. |
| 1:23.0 | The Confederates had promised to execute on the spot or sell into slavery any captured black soldier. |
| 1:29.3 | Luckily, the second suffered light casualties. |
| 1:32.3 | Hart himself survived the war and afterward moved to Cincinnati, where he died in 1913. |
| 1:38.3 | For the past 110 years, his ashes went unclaimed until his great-great-niece received a phone call. |
| 1:45.2 | Captain Hart's remains had been rediscovered. |
| 1:49.8 | And so, on April 27, 2023, Isaac C. Hart was buried with full military honors at Arlington National |
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