<P> At the outbreak of the Civil War , most military personnel who died in battle near Washington , D.C. , were buried at the United States Soldiers ' Cemetery in Washington , D.C. , or Alexandria Cemetery in Alexandria , Virginia , but by late 1863 both were nearly full . On July 16 , 1862 , Congress passed legislation authorizing the U.S. federal government to purchase land for national cemeteries for military dead , and put the U.S. Army Quartermaster General in charge of this program . In May 1864 , Union forces suffered large numbers of dead in the Battle of the Wilderness . Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs ordered that an examination of eligible sites be made for the establishment for a large new national military cemetery . Within weeks , his staff reported that Arlington Estate was the most suitable property in the area . The property was high and free from floods ( which might unearth graves ) , it had a view of the District of Columbia , and it was aesthetically pleasing . It was also the home of the leader of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America , and denying Robert E. Lee use of his home after the war was a valuable political consideration . The first military burial at Arlington , for William Henry Christman , was made on May 13 , 1864 , close to what is now the northeast gate in Section 27 . However , Meigs did not formally authorize establishment of burials until June 15 , 1864 . Arlington did not desegregate its burial practices until President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26 , 1948 . </P>
<P> At the outbreak of the Civil War , most military personnel who died in battle near Washington , D.C. , were buried at the United States Soldiers ' Cemetery in Washington , D.C. , or Alexandria Cemetery in Alexandria , Virginia , but by late 1863 both were nearly full . On July 16 , 1862 , Congress passed legislation authorizing the U.S. federal government to purchase land for national cemeteries for military dead , and put the U.S. Army Quartermaster General in charge of this program . In May 1864 , Union forces suffered large numbers of dead in the Battle of the Wilderness . Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs ordered that an examination of eligible sites be made for the establishment for a large new national military cemetery . Within weeks , his staff reported that Arlington Estate was the most suitable property in the area . The property was high and free from floods ( which might unearth graves ) , it had a view of the District of Columbia , and it was aesthetically pleasing . It was also the home of the leader of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America , and denying Robert E. Lee use of his home after the war was a valuable political consideration . The first military burial at Arlington , for William Henry Christman , was made on May 13 , 1864 , close to what is now the northeast gate in Section 27 . However , Meigs did not formally authorize establishment of burials until June 15 , 1864 . Arlington did not desegregate its burial practices until President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26 , 1948 . </P>
who was the first person to be buried at arlington national cemetery
who was the first person to be buried at arlington national cemetery
William Henry Christman
William Henry Christman