Last updated: April 5, 2024
Place
McLean House
NPS/Parnicza
Quick Facts
Location:
Appomattox, VA
Significance:
Where surrender sparked the beginning of the end of the Civil War and advanced emancipation.
Amenities
2 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Information - Ranger/Staff Member Present
As the smoke of battle cleared on the morning of April 9, 1865, Wilmer and Virginia McLean's home became the setting for a meeting between opposing commanders, General Ulysses S. Grant and General Robert E. Lee. Grant's Federal forces had surrounded Lee's Confederates, and after one last attempted breakthrough, Lee asked for terms of surrender.
The commanders met in the parlor of the McLean home for about an hour and a half. Grant accepted Lee's surrender with generous terms designed to pacify the white southern population. Nearby, nine enslaved people realized that they were now free to live independently of the McLean family, with all of freedom's challenges and opportunities.
In 1890, a Federal veteran from New York named Myron Dunlap purchased the McLean House for $10,000. When plans to move the house to Chicago for the World’s Columbian Exposition fell through, Dunlap made detailed plans of the house and dismantled it in 1893 with the intent of rebuilding it in Washington, D.C. The financial panic of 1893 bankrupted the primary stakeholder in Dunlap’s company, depriving the company of the capital needed to move the dismantled materials to Washington. For the next 47 years, the materials remained on site, left exposed to the elements and souvenir hunters, and when the National Park Service acquired the property in 1940, only the foundation and about 5,500 bricks remained. Surviving bricks were incorporated into the front wall on either side of the door. Although the building has been reconstructed, it provides an excellent representation of the structure that witnessed the surrender meeting between Lee and Grant in the spring of 1865.
The reconstructed McLean House is open daily for visitors.
The commanders met in the parlor of the McLean home for about an hour and a half. Grant accepted Lee's surrender with generous terms designed to pacify the white southern population. Nearby, nine enslaved people realized that they were now free to live independently of the McLean family, with all of freedom's challenges and opportunities.
In 1890, a Federal veteran from New York named Myron Dunlap purchased the McLean House for $10,000. When plans to move the house to Chicago for the World’s Columbian Exposition fell through, Dunlap made detailed plans of the house and dismantled it in 1893 with the intent of rebuilding it in Washington, D.C. The financial panic of 1893 bankrupted the primary stakeholder in Dunlap’s company, depriving the company of the capital needed to move the dismantled materials to Washington. For the next 47 years, the materials remained on site, left exposed to the elements and souvenir hunters, and when the National Park Service acquired the property in 1940, only the foundation and about 5,500 bricks remained. Surviving bricks were incorporated into the front wall on either side of the door. Although the building has been reconstructed, it provides an excellent representation of the structure that witnessed the surrender meeting between Lee and Grant in the spring of 1865.
The reconstructed McLean House is open daily for visitors.