before the civil war, the united states did not have large military-only cemeteries. important generals were buried in the congressional cemetery with other important leaders. american military cemeteries were needed on distant frontiers, and near battles and hospitals where many soldiers died. when dead civil war soldiers filled the burial grounds near washington, d.c., quartermaster general montgomery c. meigs proposed in 1864 that of the robert e. lee family property at arlington be taken for a cemetery.