United States v. Lee (1882)
With local cemeteries in Alexandria County and Alexandria filling rapidly with war dead, Quartermaster General of the United States Army Montgomery C. Meigs proposed using of the Arlington estate as a cemetery. The first burial there was made on May 13, 1864. United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton approved the establishment of a military cemetery on June 15, 1864, creating Arlington National Cemetery. By the end of the war in April 1865, more than 16,000 people had been buried at Arlington. In September 1866, a memorial and a burial vault (containing the remains of 2,111 U.S. and Confederate soldiers who died at the First Battle of Bull Run, Second Battle of Bull Run, and along the Rappahannock River) were buried in Lee's former wildflower garden on the mansion's east side beneath the Civil War Unknowns Monument, a memorial to honor unknown soldiers who had died during the American Civil War.
Arlington National Cemetery mismanagement controversy
In September 2012, the US Army's Inspector General issued a report on Arlington cemetery and the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery which found that the Army's new management of the institutions had transformed both, "into premier institutions of excellence capable of setting the standards for federal cemeteries across the nation." The report stated that 96% of the 400,000 grave markers at Arlington had been verified for accuracy as of 17 September 2012. The report lauded a program at Arlington, implemented by new director Patrick Hallinan, which used geospatial technology to track cemetery operations. In response to the report, Senator Mark Warner stated, "Condon and her team deserve a lot of credit for implementing reforms to fix the problems at Arlington and begin restoring our trust."