george washington parke custis was the grandson of martha washington, and grew up with martha and george washington. he got the land that now is arlington national cemetery in 1802. he began building arlington house, where he lived with his wife mary lee fitzhugh custis. the land and house was given to their only child that lived to be an adult, mary anna custis lee. she was married to robert e. lee, a west point graduate and united states army officer. when fort sumter was forced to surrender at the beginning of the american civil war, president abraham lincoln asked lee to be the general of the federal army. lee did not give an answer right away, but waited to see if his home state of virginia would leave the union.