The last battle of the Civil War : United States versus Lee, 1861-1883 / Anthony J. Gaughan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gaughan, Anthony J., 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lee, George Washington Custis, 1832-1913--Trials, litigation, etc.

Lee, George Washington Custis.

Lee, George Washington Custis, 1832-1913.

Tax-sales.

History.

Possessory actions.

United States--Trials, litigation, etc.

United States.

Washington (D.C.).

Possessory actions--Washington (D.C.)--History.

Tax-sales--United States--History.

Tax-sales--Virginia--Arlington--History.

Virginia--Arlington.

Arlington National Cemetery (Arlington, Va.)--History.

Arlington National Cemetery (Arlington, Va.).

Genre:

Trials, litigation, etc.

Trial and arbitral proceedings.

Physical Description:

xiv, 248 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2011]

Summary:

Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, the US Army seized the estate of Mary Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee, situated on high ground overlooking Washington, DC, on land that would later become Arlington National Cemetery. The government would a few years later claim title to the land on the grounds that Lee had not paid federal property tax, in spite of the fact that relatives had offered to pay it for her (the tax commissioners insisted on payment in person by the wife of the Confederate general herself, a requirement not found in statute). In 1877, after the death of Robert E. and Mary Lee, their son, George Washington Custis Lee, brought suit to claim formal legal recognition of the estate in hopes of persuading Congress to pay compensation. The case eventually made it to the Supreme Court because the government, rather than contest the title issue, sought to claim that the principle of sovereign immunity extended to the War Department officials occupying the land and therefore Lee had no standing to sue under the Fifth Amendment's takings clause. In this work, attorney and historian Guaghan narrates the case and the issues involved as Lee successfully pursued his claim to Arlington's title. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

Introduction : creatures of the law

A party in interest

A shocking and abhorrent proposition

The privilege of paying by the hands of another

Ready again to meet the traitorous foe

The natural feebleness of the judiciary

A reproach to american jurisprudence

We are all union men now

No man is above the law

The passions of the war in a tribunal of justice.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780807137741

080713774X

OCLC:

667609425