Arlington

War History of Arlington

Indigenous Territory — Powhatan Confederacy and Algonquian Peoples

Long before European settlement, the land that became Arlington was the territory of the Powhatan Confederacy, a powerful alliance of Algonquian-speaking nations led by Chief Powhatan (Wahunsenacawh). The Nacotchtank (Anacostan) and Patawomeck (Potomac) peoples inhabited the Potomac River region, including the Arlington area. They established villages along the river, fishing for shad and sturgeon, hunting in the forests, and cultivating corn, beans, and squash. The Potomac River served as a vital transportation and trade route, connecting Indigenous communities from the Chesapeake Bay to the Appalachian Mountains. European contact beginning in the early 17th century brought catastrophic epidemics of smallpox, measles, and other diseases that killed up to 90% of the Indigenous population in the Chesapeake region. The Powhatan Confederacy was devastated, and the survivors were gradually dispossessed through treaty-making, warfare, and forced removal.

Colonial Era — The Dispossession of Indigenous Lands

The Virginia colony, established at Jamestown in 1607, expanded rapidly through the 17th and 18th centuries, systematically taking Indigenous lands. The region that became Arlington was originally part of a 5,000-acre land grant issued by the colonial government. The land was surveyed and divided into plantations worked by enslaved African labor. The Tobacco economy of colonial Virginia was built on the twin foundations of Indigenous land dispossession and chattel slavery. By the mid-18th century, the Indigenous peoples of the Potomac region had been largely eliminated through disease, warfare, and forced displacement to the west. The land was transformed from Indigenous territory into a landscape of plantations, with the wealth of the colony concentrated in the hands of a small planter aristocracy.

American Revolution — Arlington Plantation and the Custis Family

During the American Revolution (1775-1783), the land that became Arlington was owned by the Custis family, one of Virginia's wealthiest slaveholding dynasties. John Parke Custis, the stepson of George Washington, owned the estate that would later become Arlington National Cemetery. The Custis family profited enormously from the revolution, which preserved and expanded the system of slavery in the newly independent United States. The paradox of the American Revolution — a war for "liberty" fought by slaveholders — was starkly embodied in Arlington's history. The land was cultivated by enslaved Black people who worked the Custis family's plantations. The revolution brought no liberation to these enslaved workers; instead, it entrenched their bondage within the new nation's constitutional order.

Civil War — Arlington Fortifications and the Defense of Washington

During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Arlington played a critical strategic role in the defense of Washington, D.C. Immediately after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the Union Army established a ring of fortifications around Washington, with Arlington Heights as a key defensive position. The Arlington Line — a series of forts, batteries, trenches, and military roads — stretched across the county. Fort Myer, established in 1863, became a major Union Army headquarters, training ground, and cavalry base. The Custis-Lee Mansion (Arlington House), the home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, was seized by the Union Army and its grounds were used for a military cemetery — the origin of Arlington National Cemetery. The Civil War transformed Arlington from a rural plantation district into a heavily militarized zone that has remained a center of US military power to the present day.

20th Century Militarization — The Pentagon, Cold War, and War on Terror

Arlington's identity as a center of US military power intensified dramatically in the 20th century. The Pentagon, built in 1941-1943 during World War II, became the headquarters of the US Department of Defense — the largest office building in the world and the symbol of American military power. The Cold War brought additional military installations, intelligence agencies, and defense contractors to Arlington. On September 11, 2001, the Pentagon was attacked by al-Qaeda hijackers, with 184 people killed in the attack. The post-9/11 era saw the expansion of the US national security state, with Arlington at its center. The US military-industrial complex, with its massive budget and global reach, is headquartered in Arlington. The county has become the epicenter of US war-making, from the Vietnam War and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the ongoing global drone warfare program. Arlington's history is inseparable from the history of US imperialism and militarism.