On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery [Hardcover]

Robert M M. Poole (Author), Robert M Poole (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 2009

An intimate, behind-the-scenes chronicle of America’s most sacred ground.

“Along Eisenhower Drive, as far as the eye could see, the grave markers formed into bone-white brigades, climbed from the flats of the Potomac River, and scattered over the green Virginia hills in perfect order. They reached Arlington’s highest point, where they encircled an old cream-colored mansion with thick columns and a commanding view of the cemetery, the river, and the city beyond. The mansion’s flag, just lowered to half-staff, signaled that it was time to start another day of funerals, which would add more than twenty new conscripts to Arlington’s army of the dead.”

So does Robert Poole describe a day like so many others in the long and storied history of Arlington National Cemetery. Created towards the end of our greatest national crucible, the Civil War, its story—as revealed in On Hallowed Ground—reflects much of America’s own over the past century and a half. The mansion at its heart, and the rolling land on which it sits, had been the family plantation of Robert E. Lee before he joined the Confederacy; strategic to the defense of Washington, it became a Union headquarters, a haven for freedmen, and a burial ground for indigent soldiers before Secretary of War Edwin Stanton made it the latest in the newly established national cemetery system. It would become our nation’s most honored resting place.

No other country makes the effort the United States does to recover and pay tribute to its war dead—an effort Poole reveals in poignant details from the aftermaths of the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, and the conflicts in the Gulf and Afghanistan today. Every tombstone at Arlington tells a story: from Private William Christman, the first soldier buried at Arlington on May 13, 1864, to Union General Montgomery Meigs, whose idea Arlington was; from Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, the first casualty of powered flight, to Audie Murphy, America’s most decorated soldier; from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, so lovingly tended today, to John F. Kennedy’s eternal flame; from scientists and slaves to jurists and generals and tens of thousands of ordinary citizen-warriors, among the more than 300,000 interred on Arlington’s 624 acres. Their sagas, and the rites and rituals that have evolved at Arlington—the horse-drawn caissons, marble headstones, playing of taps, and rifle salutes—speak to us all.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Gracefully written, often deeply affecting history. like the nation itself, Arlington bears the scars of its history, as Robert Poole eloquently shows."—Fergus Bordewich, Washington Post.

"Engaging. Robert Poole is an adroit sketcher of historical events, but even more of character."—The Economist.

“Graceful and dignified…perhaps more than any other secular site in America, Arlington casts a religious spell. The effect is not accidental…there is ample evidence of sacramental need in the many Arlington rituals that Mr. Poole relates in such moving detail.”—Wall Street Journal.

 “Vivid, compelling, filled with rich and unexpected detail, On Hallowed Ground tells the little-understood story of Arlington National Cemetery and in the process chronicles how we have honored—and sometimes dishonored—those who gambled everything on our behalf. Robert M. Poole is a fine storyteller and this is a great story.”—Geoffrey C. Ward, author of The Civil War and The War: An Intimate History 1941-1945

“Improbably gripping and often deeply moving, On Hallowed Ground chronicles both the evolution of our national cemetery and the profound ways in which treatment of the war dead reflects a nation's soul. Readers interested in political, social or military history from the Civil War on will want to read this book.”—Caroline Alexander, author of The Endurance

“Most Americans, especially most historians, think they know all about Arlington Cemetery. They respect what it represents, and revere the heroes resting there. But only Robert Poole has brought to life all the historic figures, from privates to presidents, who made this national shrine and populate its rolling hills. On Hallowed Ground is a memorable combination of historical research, first-hand reporting and sensitive writing—a definitive work that should last as long as the eternal flame at John Kennedy's grave site.”—Ernest B. Furgurson, author of Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War

“In his stirring, evocative style, Robert Poole blends Arlington’s untold story with America’s own story, as Robert E. Lee’s home, a prize of war in a divided nation, evolves—through wars and peace—into America’s most hallowed ground.”—Thomas B. Allen, coauthor of The Bonus Army

“Robert M. Poole not only captures the history of a venerable American institution but with it the politics of commemoration and reconciliation.  Absolutely first rate.”—Paul Dickson, coauthor of The Bonus Army

“Robert Poole has coupled superb storytelling with meticulous research and produced a gem.  On Hallowed Ground is by turns illuminating, informative, and enormously readable.  In the future you will never think of Arlington Cemetery withut recalling the tales contained in this marvelous book.”—Robert Timberg, author of The Nightingale’s Song and State of Grace: A Memoir of Twilight Time

Review

"This engaging history of Arlington National Cemetery, America's most hallowed military burial ground and home to over 300,000 soldiers, officers and statesmen, is also the story of America's maturation through death and war .... An editor and journalist, [Poole] is an adroit sketcher of historical events, but even more of character."--"Hope Eternal" in The Economist.

"Mr. Poole recounts the somewhat shameful origins of what would become a national treasure, going on to tell the Arlington's story down to the present day .... Arlington's later history, as told by Mr. Poole in graceful and dignified prose, is ... inspiring .... War for Americans has become a sort of sacrament ... There is ample evidence of sacramental need in the many Arlington trituals that Mr. Poole relates in such moving detail."--"Grave Matters: The Surprising Origins and Enduring Importance of Arlington National Cemetery" in The Wall Street Journal

"Poole's book tells the stories of many of those buried in 70 sections across these rolling hills just across the Potomac from Washington, D.C. On Hallowed Ground is part history less, part tourist guide, part mystery novel."--"Arlington, alive with history: On Hallowed Ground tells stories of veterans from the Civil War to the fresh 'saddest acre in America'" in USA Today

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (October 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802715486
• ISBN-13: 978-0802715487
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,001 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert M. Poole is an editor and writer whose assignments for Smithsonian and National Geographic have taken him around the world. A native of North Carolina and a veteran journalist, his stories have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Smithsonian. In 2001 he retired as executive editor of National Geographic after a 21 year career. He is the author of Explorers House: National Geographic and the World It Made, published by the Penguin Press. He is a contributing editor at Smithsonian and lives in Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly engaging historical account of the physical representation of intangible beliefs and values, November 6, 2009

By 

G. Lee (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery (Hardcover)

This history of the Arlington National Cemetery kept me thoroughly completely engaged throughout. An chronological accounting of our nation's cemetery through individual stories of the people who were buried there, it made an great companion to the more thematically structured and excellent Civil War history by Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, which I had previously completed.

Poole's account details the complex political and bureaucratic processes around the selection of unknown soldiers, and the developing culture of memorial to war dead as well as the role of the cemetery in attempting to heal internal national divisions (Civil War, Vietnam "war"). His detailing of how Robert E Lee's wife's family plantation was slowly appropriated alone is well worth the reading time. I also greatly appreciated how Poole's highlighting the design--land use, vistas, monuments, tombstones, rituals etc--deftly demonstrates that attention to detail reinforces beliefs and values. Examples include the categorization--by war, race and sex--of people buried, to a soldier's description of the practice needed folding a flag apparent simplicity of folding the flag at a state funeral.

There many things and further questions (areas of inquiry) that came to my mind as I read this book. Overall areas that left me intrigued are: the discipline of architecture's relationship to war memorials (I know that Maya Lin, while at Yale, designed her winning design for an architecture class on war memorials); 2) any possible ramifications of the flattening of army hierarchy through the elimination of burial practice for enlisted men and officers; (as of 2009, all people, officer or enlisted, killed in action are granted full-honors ceremonies); and 4) the future of practice of the Unknowns and its relationship to accountability...

Fascinating book. Highly recommended for the content as well as the writing and as a way to approach history writing--not through the history of a single person or an organization, but around the changing, physical manifestation of intangible beliefs and values . I am going to seek out Robert Poole's other book, Explorers House: National Geographic and the World It Made, with great confidence that it will be as illuminating as this.

Note: I won this book in the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Garden of Stones, November 19, 2009

By 

wogan "the book reader" - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery (Hardcover)

Robert Poole comes closer to the heart and soul of Arlington than any other book that has been written. Much of the other information that has been published before is guidebook/history information. Unlike other superficial accounts that show pictures of the grandeur of the cemetery and the ceremony, there is much background, including how close our ceremonies are to those of the Grecian warrior's and how no other country goes to the extent the United States does to honor their common military men, including returning them to their home country.

I have been with the military all of my life. Arlington is a family and friend's cemetery, a very personal place and `On Hallowed Ground" comes the closest to touching the feelings that those of us that regard Arlington have as our personal hallowed remembrance as any book.

With that said I wish that there was more of the tales of the common military man here. Out of 267 pages more than 80 are devoted to the very detailed history of the Lees, the Civil War and the acquiring of the Lee land for this cemetery. I wish there was less of Lee, which has been previously covered by other books and more of the soul of the men and women of Arlington. The Old Guard is covered, but not to a great extent.

There is little of the expansion of the cemetery in and after the Vietnam era, which he attributes not to the war but to the popularity after Kennedy's burial, which he does a magnificent job of describing. But I remember an officer whose office suddenly overlooked the growing number of headstones as being insulted that, that was now the view from his office; and I of course could not reply what I was thinking, that maybe that is what he needed to see.

The days and effect of 9/11 are touched upon, but that was a tremendous effect with the coming of section 60 and the comfort and companionship of families together who have lost those buried together from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts instead of scattered around the grounds.

The constant noise of airplanes taking off from nearby National/Reagan Airport is again briefly mentioned, but not the eerie silence that followed in the many days that Reagan was shut down after 9/11 and having stood at my father's funeral in sight of the wounded Pentagon and with just the noise of the construction repair from across the highway we all knew that eerie silence brought a world forever changed.

This is a wonderful book, I wish it could have gone further into some of the changes that have occurred with honoring the military both in life and death, they are touched upon; and having been spit upon during Vietnam and called baby killers by Americans at home, to enter Arlington was a place we knew we would be honored...those are the stories that make Arlington part of the heart of America.

Poole points out that much could not be included, but even Pete Conrad is not listed among the astronauts buried there. There is one map of the Arlington today but a few of how the cemetery has expanded would have done much to show the changes. When I was very young, a family friend who was a member of the Old Guard called Arlington a garden of stones, a place of honor and remembrance, this is a magnificent story that has been well covered by Robert Poole.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars History and Overwhelming Awe, January 17, 2010

By 

Jim Muccio "Mooch" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery (Hardcover)

Millions of people come to Arlington Cemetery every year, some come as visitors and take the standard tour, some come to mourn and seek the grave of a loved one, and many come solemnly as a part of multiple daily funeral processions. Having done all three and having had the opportunity to drive by and around the National Cemetery on a daily commute for almost two decades I still found it to be a mysterious and, if given into, a mentally overwhelming place. "On Hallowed Ground, the Story of Arlington National Cemetery, by Robert Poole, takes out the mystery. But his work only pushes the mentally overwhelming nature of Arlington, and what it stands for, to new heights.

I received this book as Christmas gift this year from a disabled Iraqi vet making a new life for himself along the Space Coast with me here in Florida. We have become friends. In honesty my initial reaction to the gift, was of course gracious, but as I thought about the pile of unread books seeking priority, my gut told me, having lived in Northern Virginia most of my life, what more stories about the old cemetery did I need to hear? Well, for whatever reasons, I cracked the cover. Ironically on a flight from Orlando to Regan National I read about the history of the land once belonging to Robert E. Lee as my flight covered the whole of the Confederacy in just less than two hours. I was hooked on the story. I assume Mr. Poole chose the word "story" as opposed to history, because the history of the cemetery is more appropriately contained within the lives of the thousands upon thousands of individuals now resting eternally.

But it is indeed a history of the Cemetery itself, which was mired in controversy from its beginnings, belonging to the Lee family and acquired from the government in questionable fashion during the Civil War, a wrong that was later set right and continuing on to present day when the US Army finally realized in January 2009 that the practice of recognizing officers buried in the cemetery with more honors then those of enlisted men who were killed in combat was a latent form of elitism and class discrimination. This has also now been corrected. Along the way he discusses the evolution of the cemetery during each of our Nations conflicts including the War of 1812, WWI and WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and our current clashes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Conspicuously missing from his history is Desert Storm.

The mystery of the cemetery, its size, its look, how it operates, and the meaning of many of its icons have now been explained. What is also clear is that even the most somber and noble of our Nation's practice's to do what is right, when it comes to the Government; one can never escape the politics of a situation. With two sides to every argument and each side vying to use whatever influence they have to push their agenda. Nothing stands as a clearer indicator of this political maneuvering than the ill advised burial of the "Unknown" from the Vietnam conflict. Who was in fact known but whose burial was insisted upon to close an ugly page in our Nation's history. That episode has ironically demonstrated a decade after a war plagued with lies and cover-ups, that the highest echelons of our government were still not immune from a good one.

With a rich history of meaning, I will never walk the fields of Arlington with the same mystery of how they came to be. I will still be awed and overwhelmed by the sacrifice they represent.