For a time General Lee hoped to regain possession of Arlington for his wife, but he died in 1870 without having recovered it. Mrs. Lee died 3 years later, and her son Custis then took legal action to obtain his inheritance. In 1882, the case was finally decided in his favor by the Supreme Court of the United States, but since thousands of soldiers had been buried at Arlington, Custis Lee accepted the offer of the Government to buy the property for $150,000. ARLINGTON BECOMES FAMOUS AS THE FORMER HOME OF GENERAL LEE. Originally “Arlington House” had been famous for its associations with George Washington; but after the Civil War it became even more widely known as the former home of General Lee. Though its rooms were empty, thousands from all over the country came to see it each year because of the universal admiration for its former master. It was in response to this sentiment that Representative Louis C. Cramton, of Michigan, sponsored the legislation passed by Congress in 1925 which authorized the restoration of the mansion as a national memorial. RESTORATION OF THE MANSION. The project of restoring and refurnishing the mansion was begun by the War Department in 1928. Structural changes made since 1861 were removed and the house refurnished as nearly as possible as when occupied by the Lee and Custis families. The original furnishings having long since been scattered or lost, few could be returned to their old setting, but copies were made of furniture and portraits known to have been at Arlington and pieces appropriate to the period procured. By 1933, when the mansion was transferred to the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior, the major portion of the work had been finished. However, the work of restoring the mansion to its original condition is a continuing process, as structural changes based on historical research are made and more of the original furnishings are identified and acquired. [Illustration: _Robert E. Lee in 1869 when President of Washington College, Lexington, Va._ From the Brady photograph, U. S. Army Signal Corps.] _Guide to the House and Grounds_ THE OLD ARLINGTON ESTATE. Arlington was but one of several estates totaling more than 15,000 acres owned by George Washington Parke Custis, father-in-law of General Lee. Since the former’s income was largely derived from two large farms on the Pamunkey River in New Kent County, Va., he kept Arlington mainly as a gentleman’s country estate after the English fashion. The greater part of Arlington was taken up by “the Park,” a virgin woodland of ancient oaks and beautiful groves of walnut, chestnut, and elm trees, extending from the Georgetown and Alexandria Road at the foot of the hill clear to the western edge of the estate.