McKee Grave

McKee Grave

Year	ca. 1890
Type	Marble
Dimensions	2.7 m × 2.1 m × 1.5 m (9 ft × 7 ft × 5 ft)
Location	Arlington, Virginia, United States
	38°52′49.93″N 77°4′29.08″W / 38.8805361°N 77.0747444°W
Owner	Arlington National Cemetery

McKee Grave is a public artwork by an unknown artist, located at the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, United States. It serves as the final resting place of First Lieutenant Thomas Hudson McKee and his wife.^[1]

Description

This grave marker is made of marble and has a figure of a robed angel as its centerpiece. The angel is mounted on a two-stepped base that has a large cross on the rear section of the base, behind the angel. The angel holds a bouquet of flowers in her proper left hand at waist length and her proper right arm is raised and bent upwards. She is missing her hand. The cross has a plaque that the angel stands next to. The grave is inscribed: MCKEE.^[1]

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Information

Thomas Hudson McKee served in the 1st West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment (3 Year) in the American Civil War. He was an aide to Brigadier General Benjamin Franklin Kelley who is buried behind McKee. Born in Washington County, Pennsylvania and working as a farmer, he enlisted in the Army September 12, 1861 in Independence, Pennsylvania. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant on November 1, 1862. On September 11, 1863 he was captured by the enemy at Moorefield, West Virginia.

His wife, Nancy Matilda Funk was born in Washington County on January 14, 1851 and died in 1927. The couple married on October 14, 1868 in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania.

Next to the McKee grave is the gravesite of the McKees' daughter, Molly. Molly was not eligible to be buried in Arlington, however, Thomas McKee called on his friendship with President Theodore Roosevelt for special permission to bury Molly at the family plot.^[2]

Acquisition

This grave is located in Section 1 and is placed in front of the Kelley grave. Rumors of the time state that when McKee died in 1924, his wife, Nancy Matilda Funk McKee, had the large memorial built to intentionally block the view of General Kelley's grave.^[2]

Condition

This sculpture was surveyed in 1995 as part of the Save Outdoor Sculpture! program and was described as needing treatment urgently. The proper right hand of the angel is missing.^[1]

References

1. Save Outdoor Sculpture! (1995). "McKee Grave". SOS. Smithsonian. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
2. M.R. Patterson (2003). "Thomas Hudson Mckee". Arlington National Cemetery Website. Retrieved 28 December 2010.