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Wilmer McLean owned the house in which General Lee and General Grant met at to discuss the surrender. The house had things taken from its parlor in which the generals had sat in. The furniture was considered memorabilia, and to the northerners, a trophy.
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How did Wilmer McLean become famous in civil war history?
basically the war followed him
Who is Wilmer McLean?
Wilmer McLean is a businessman who is connected to the U.S. Civil War in an interesting way. It is said that the U.S. Civil War started his his backyard and ended in his front parlor. The first main battle of the US Civil War started on McLean's property in Manansas, Virginia. Robert E. Lee formally surrendered to Ulysses Grant in McLean's house.
How did the civil war touch the life of Wilmer McLean?
Wilmer McLean had the Civil War start in his front yard and end in his parlor--NO JOKE!! The First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) took place on Wilmer McLean's farm on July 21, 1861. McLean moved his family from northern to central Virginia out of concern for their safety, settling eventually in a home near the Appomattox Court House. The Civil War ended in McLean's parlor in 1865 between Grant and Lee. It seems though this guy could not catch a break from the war. His home in 1861 became the headquarters for Confederate Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard. A cannonball dropped through the kitchen fireplace guring the engagement and Beauregard wrote after the battle that, "A comical effect of this artillery fight was the destruction of the dinner of myself and staff by a Federal shell that fell into the fire-place of my headquarters at the McLean House."
Is it true that the Civil War started on land owned by the Mclean family and that they also owned the land where the surrender was signed?
Yes. General Beauregard actually used Wilmer Mclean's farm house for his headquarters during the first battle of Bull Run. After that Mclean figured Northern Virginia was going to be a dangerous place during the war so he sold out and moved his family to Appomattox. In one of the great ironies of history his house was the meeting place for Grant and Lee. Michael Montagne
What Virginian said the Civil War began and ended at his house?
Wilmer McLean. McLean was a farmer near Manassas, Virginia. During the First Battle of Bull Run, in July 1861, a cannon ball passed through his kitchen and there was fighting on his land. McLean realized his neighborhood, about twenty-five miles west of Washington, was likely to see a lot of fighting. He sold his farm and took his large family and moved to what he thought would be a much quieter town farther south in Virginia, called Appomattox. Lee surrendered to Grant in McLean's front parlor in April, 1865.
