Lost Capitol Hill: William Henry Christman

Most of the people that I have written about in this space lived for a long time on Capitol Hill, long enough to become part of the the fabric of the community. I’m particularly partial to those who actually were born here. But some who become a part of the Hill lived here for much less time. The man who is the topic of today’s column only lived on the Hill for 10 days, but deserves to be remembered all the same.

William Henry Christman was born in 1843 in Pennsylvania, and was thus the perfect age to join the Union army in 1864. He had been born in Lehigh County, PA, but had moved to Easton, just outside of Allentown, where he had worked as a laborer. On March 25, 1864, for a $60 bounty, he joined the Union army, and was assigned to the 67th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment.

He was sent to Philadelphia for training, from where he sent a letter to his parents extolling the quality of the food he was being fed. The veterans of the 67^th Pennsylvania Infantry were at the time on furlough, and it wasn’t until April of that year that the regiment was reformed in Washington DC. General Grant had been placed in charge of the Army of the Potomac right around when Christman had joined the army, and it was now as a part of this army that Christman was ready for his first action.

Unfortunately, Christman, like many new recruits from rural areas, had never been exposed to measles before, and fell sick. This was hardly an unusual occurrence, and it was expected that he would soon recuperate.

Unfortunately, his condition worsened, and on May 1, 1864, he was sent to Lincoln United States Army General Hospital, located on Capitol Hill one mile due east of the Capitol. For 11 days, in spite of the best efforts of the doctors and nurses stationed there, he failed to improve. Meanwhile his regiment was fighting the Confederate army southwest of DC, near Fredericksburg VA in what was to become known as the Battle of the Wilderness.

On May 11, as the 67^th Pennsylvania was engaged in the battle of Spotsylvania, their erstwhile comrade Christman succumbed to Peritonitis, an infection of the abdominal cavity. Although the course of his disease was unusual, he was hardly the only person to die that day in DC, and the question came as to where to bury him.

Fortunately, Montgomery Meigs had already singled out the grounds of the Custis Mansion, across the Potomac from DC and already in use as a Union Headquarters, as a possible burial site. The fact that it had previously been the home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee strengthened his resolve to use this as a Union Cemetery, thereby making it unusable to General Lee after the war.

Although Meigs had not yet received official permission to use these grounds as a cemetery, and in fact would not do so for another month, Private William H. Christmas was buried in what became Arlington National Cemetery on May 13, 1864. He was the first person so interred, the first of the 300,000+ who have been laid to rest there.

William Christman's grave in Arlington Cemetery.

In contrast to later interments, Christman was not buried in Mrs. Lee’s rose garden, but rather in a section well away from the main house. Look for his grave in section 27, Lot 19, NNW of the visitor center, and close to the boundary of the cemetery.