File:Portion of Sherman and Ord-Weitzel iron gate remains 03 - Arlington National Cemetery - 2012-08-14.jpg

English: A portion of the remains of the wrought-iron gates which once were part of the Sheridan Gate and the Ord-Weitzel Gate. Taken at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States, on August 14, 2012.

The sandstone columns for both gates were originally part of the War Department Building, located on the northwest grounds of the White House. When the building was dismantled in 1879, Montgomery Meigs, the Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army and the superintendent of the cemetery, had four of the columns and a marble entablature repurposed as the Sheridan Gate. Two stand-alone columns were repurposed as the Ord-Weitzel Gate.

Meigs consulted with local architect John L. Smithmeyer, who likely designed the wrought-iron portion of the gates. The local firm of Charles A. Schneider and Sons furnished the gates some time between 1879 and 1881.

In 1971, Arlington National Cemetery expanded eastward toward the Potomac River. The gates were no longer on the edge of the cemetery, but now deep inside it. The gates were dismantled, and placed in storage on the cemetery grounds. They suffered damage during dismantling as well as from exposure to the elements, vandalism, and neglect.

In 2012, the cemetery began working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine if the columns could be reassembled. The architectural team is surveying the columns, capitals, entablatures, and wrought-iron gates to make detailed drawings of them as well. 3D laser scanning equipment is used to assist with the reconstruction and drawings.