THE LEES LEAVE ARLINGTON. Monday morning, Lee said goodbye to his family and left for Richmond. Before him were the long, hard years of a bitter war from which he would gain unfading glory. But never again would he be sheltered by the friendly roof of his old home at Arlington, and only once would he have a glimpse of it, and then from a passing train, several years after the war. [Illustration: _A corner of the drawing room, 1956._] [Illustration: _General Robert E. Lee in 1862._ U. S. Army Signal Corps photograph.] In view of the strategic location of Arlington, Lee urged his wife to go to a place of safety, but no preparations had been made to leave when word reached Mrs. Lee, early in May, that the Federal forces were soon to move into Virginia. Then all was excitement as the family portraits were taken from their frames and, with the plate and the most valuable Washington relics, sent off for safekeeping. Curtains and carpets were packed away in the attic, books and engravings put in closets, and the china stored in boxes in the cellar. Most of the furniture had to be left behind, but this Mrs. Lee trusted she could recover later. When everything was in order, it was time to say farewell to the weeping servants, and to leave her home for what was to be the last time. [Illustration: THE ARLINGTON ESTATE IN 1860 March 1950 MEM LM 7000 High-resolution Map] LEGEND 1. “Arlington House” 2. Ice House 3. Stable 4. Outbuilding 5. Grave of Mary Randolph 6. Custis Graves 7. Gravel Pit 8. Slave Cabins 9. Chapel 10. Barn 11. Overseer’s House 12. Apple Orchard 13. Arlington Spring 14. Slave Cemetery 15. Road to Long Bridge _Arlington from 1861 to 1865_ ARLINGTON OCCUPIED BY THE FEDERAL ARMY. Mrs. Lee had been gone only a few days when the Federal Army crossed the river and occupied the heights opposite the National Capital. Overnight, what had been a quiet country estate was transformed into a vast military encampment. New roads were cut through the woods and much of it felled to open fields of fire for the earthen forts being built a short distance west of the house. Guards were posted to protect the house, and when the commanding general learned that many articles nevertheless were being stolen, he sent the Washington relics, which had been stored in the cellar, to the Patent Office for safekeeping, and then established his headquarters inside the mansion. Inevitably, the estate suffered greatly, though strong efforts were made to prevent wanton destruction, particularly of the fine old trees.