Kingdom of My Childhood

Multiple Perspectives of One Place   

This scene is presented through Mildred Childe Lee’s eyes, while the other waysides on the property interpret scenes from the point of view of the enslaved people. A white child on the estate, she saw the beauty of the garden. The point of view she states echoes the impression of wealth that Lee and Custis families presented to visitors entering the house. The Custis and Lee women wrote with fondness and pride portraying the work they did in the garden. In reality, the majority of the work would have been done by enslaved people such as George Clark, George Parks, Ephraim Derricks, young Billy [Surname not recorded].

This garden played a significant role in the history of the site. Originally laid out by George Washington Parke Custis, the garden became a place to impress visitors and a place of refuge for the Custis and Lee families. Historian Karen Kinzey in the Arlington Historical Magazine described how “Mrs. Custis’ cultivation of heirloom flowers that had grown at relatives' homes, including Mount Vernon, Shirley, and Chatham, served not only to strengthen familial bonds but also to honor the memory of revered ancestors.” She continues that “Equally important was the role the garden played in Mrs. Custis' desire for the gradual emancipation of Arlington's enslaved population.” Clippings from this garden were sold to raise money for the American Colonization Society that sought to have formerly enslaved people sent to Africa to colonize the nation of Liberia. We know that some of the enslaved people from Arlington were among those emigrants. In November 1853, William and Rosabella Burke and their four children sailed to Liberia. They then corresponded with the Lee and Custises from Liberia. From the Lee and Custis families’ perspective the effort to send enslaved people to Liberia in coordination with the American Colonization Society was part of being benevolent Christian slave holders. From the point of view of abolitionists, this was a continuation of the race based chattel slavery system that removed African Americans from American society.

Maintained by the enslaved people of Arlington, the garden was designed to impress. Appearances were considered important by slaveholders who often referred to enslaved people as “servants,” although there were no paid servants at Arlington House. This word choice was designed to hide the cruelties of slavery.

The importance of this garden to the Custis and Lee families is precisely why in 1864, Union Gen. Montgomery Meigs ordered Union dead to be buried on the edges of the garden. Just behind the garden was buried almost 2,000 Union war dead in the Tomb of the Civil War Unknowns in 1866. This forever changed the purpose of the garden. In 1885 a Union war monument (the Temple of Fame) was built in the middle of the garden as a memorial to the Union heroes of the American Civil War, which was removed in 1969. Today, the garden has been restored to its pre-war appearance.

History preserved Mildred Childe Lee’s view of this garden. History does not record the impressions of George Clark, George Parks, Ephraim Derricks, young Billy [Surname not recorded], and others enslaved at the plantation. Ephraim Derricks and George Clark were enslaved and forced apart from their wives. In contrast, Robert E. Lee often collected flowers for the dining room table places of his wife and daughters. 

This was only one garden of many on the estate. While this garden grew flowers and displayed wealth to visitors, other gardens were for food and survival. Enslaved people tended garden plots after exhausting days of work to grow enough food to eat, finding ways to support themselves and their families.  The families were able to exhibit a form of agency that gave them the ability to reap the fruits of their labor and increased their ability to maneuver in the world outside of Arlington.