it became so popular that in 1873, quartermaster general montgomery meigs designed a small amphitheater near the arlington house to hold the decoration day ceremonies. in time, that became such a small venue, because, every year, thousands of people would show up to arlington. one year, we found that 25,000 showed up to decorate the graves. so, in 1913, congress authorized this memorial we are standing 1915 -- we are standing in. in 1915, as part of laying the cornerstone, this memorabilia box was placed by woodrow wilson. he laid the first stone which now brings us to the memorabilia box and its history. ms. smith: when the memorial amphitheater began construction in 1915, construction dragged on for about five years. the amphitheater was actually dedicated in 1920. the building has largely been the same as it has been for 100 years, but there has been, over time, several modifications. one of the largest was in the 1970's, as the viewing of the chain being -- the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier became so popular. the steps in the plaza were expanded. when that

so after the dome was authorized in 1855, supervising engineer, montgomery meigs, wrote his favoriteawford, then living in rome, and he asked crawford to come up with an idea, and in his letter, he says, i don't think it should be a washington. we have had too many washington's. crawford replied with his idea that he thought a figure of freedom, triumphant in war and peace would be a suitable figure. that delighted meigs. so he authorized the sculptor to come up with a design which the secretary of war, jefferson davis, approved, but disapproved of one certain feature -- and that was the liberty cap that the statue was wearing. jefferson davis concluded that american freedom should not be represented by the badge for free slaves. so the design was sent back to the sculptor with a request to modify that particular part of the statue, which he did. and he substituted for the liberty cap a helmet composed of an eagle's head and feathers. certainly, december 2, 1863 would be one of the two or three greatest days in the history of the building, the day that the head and shoulders of crawf