Read On Hallowed Ground for Free Online

command in Richmond, the voters of Virginia were presented with a referendum for secession.
To nobody’s surprise, they ratified the ordinance by an overwhelming margin—more than five to one. 22
    Within hours of that mandate, on May 23, 1861, columns of Union forces streamed through Washington and made for the Potomac River. They gathered at major bridge crossings and boat landings as night descended. Then at precisely
two a.m. on May 24, some 14,000 troops began crossing the river into Virginia. 23 They advanced in steamers, on foot, and on horseback, and in swarms so thick that the slave James Parks, watching from Arlington,
thought they looked “like bees a-coming.” 24
    Col. Daniel Butterfield of New York, who would soon father a bugle tune known as Taps, rode at the head of his 12th New York
Infantry Regiment, the first column across the Long Bridge. 25 The moon lit their way, rippling the Potomac in opalescent streaks, flashing on new bayonets, shining on the silently marching
boys from Michigan and New Jersey who followed the New Yorkers across. Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth, commanding the 1st New York
Zouaves, piled onto a steamboat with his men and sailed toward Alexandria. This dandified regiment of firemen-soldiers was
hard to miss, decked out in their red pantaloons, tasseled caps, and white spats and brewing for a brawl. Up on the heights
of Arlington, Lee’s mansion brooded over this opening movement of the war, cast in cold silver light. 26
    It took most of the night for the soldiers to complete their crossing, whereupon they spread along the roads, established
cavalry pickets at the bridges, secured major railroad junctions, and began digging entrenchments. 27 A Union wave spilled into Alexandria to establish control over the port. Arlington changed hands without a whimper. The Union
soldiers who took the heights had instructions from General Scott to leave the Lee family alone if any were still in residence.
None was. Maj. Gen. Charles W. Sandford, commanding the combined New York militia, found the heights undefended and the family
vanished. A score of slaves remained, having nowhere else to go and bewildered about their sudden change of status, which
placed them somewhere between their promised freedom and their residual duty to old masters. To guarantee the mansion’s security,
Sandford moved into Arlington House and established his headquarters there. 28
    Despite the best efforts of General Sandford, nobody could shield Arlington from the vicissitudes of war, which began to transform
the plantation from its first day of occupation. Thousands of men in blue were already settling into the rhythms of camp life
when the sun rose over Arlington on May 25. Just behind the big house, a tidy village of tents sprouted; soldiers stoked breakfast
fires; messengers scuttled across the portico of the mansion with papers from the War Office. Junior officers lounged on the
mansion’s front steps, smoking, gossiping, and drinking in the incomparable sight of a springtime capital in full bloom. 29
    By early June, the Confederate capital was relocated to Richmond from Montgomery, Alabama, when Virginia formally joined the
Confederacy. This required Lee to transfer his command to the new government. He became a brigadier general and chief military
advisor to Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president. 30
    Meanwhile, the Arlington plantation was being made over into a citadel, with new roads carved into the hillsides and breastworks
burrowed into the heights. The air thumped to the sound of axes as some of Arlington’s massive oaks were tumbled, clearing
a field of fire for artillery. 31 “All that the best military skill could suggest to strengthen the position has been done,” a newspaper reported after several
days of Union occupation, “and the whole line of defenses on Arlington Heights may be said to be completed and capable of
being held against any attacking force.” 32
    The attack