Mark’s Improbable People

I teach American history at Orinda Intermediate School one day a week. I have been doing this for a long time. I like to tell stories to my students about improbable people and unlikely historical events. These stories get and keep their attention.

 
Wilmer McLean. Wilmer McLean was a very improbable person. He was born in 1814 McLeanand died in 1882. McLean was fond of telling his friends and dinner guests that: “The war (The Civil War) started in my backyard and ended in my parlor.” He was telling the truth.The first battle of the Civil War was the First Battle of Bull Run. The battle was fought on July 21, 1861  in Manassas, Virginia on Wilmer McLean’s farm. McLean’s house was commandeered by the Confederate army just before the battle and became the headquarters of their commanding officer, General Beauregard. The first canon shot fired in the first battle of the war blew up McLean’s rose garden. While General Beauregard and his staff were eating lunch in Wilmer McLean’s kitchen, a Union canon ball fell down the kitchen fireplace chimney, blowing soot all over the food, the general, and his staff. When the battle was over, there were thousands of dead and dying men all around McLean’s house. After the battle, McLean decided to move. His house was situated at a strategically important location. Several railroads intersected in Manassas, and the main railroad line that connected Richmond, Virgina and Washington, D.C. went right past McLean’s farm. It seemed obvious to McLean that the 2 sides would fight over his farm again, which they did. The Second Battle of Bull Run, fought a year later in 1862, was even bloodier than the first.

Wilmer McLean went looking for another place to live, someplace where the war would never find him. After traveling around, he settled on a small town about 100 miles to the south called Appomattox Court House. There was nothing there that would attract an army. There were no railroads, no navigable rivers, and no factories. He lived in Appomattox peacefully until the war was almost over. Then on the morning of April 9, 1865; 2 Union officers rode up to his house. They told McLean that Generals Grant and Lee had agreed to meet, and they were looking for a suitable place for the meeting to take place. McLean had the finest house in town, and they wanted it. McLean said No. He wanted nothing to do with the war and said so, but the Union officers would not take No for an answer and threatened to commandeer the house if McLean would not let them to use it. McLean had no choice, so he agreed to let Grant and Lee meet in his living room. That afternoon, Lee surrendered to Grant in Wilmer McLean’s living room, effectively ending the war. Among the many notable people present in Wilmer McLean’s living room that afternoon were Generals Philip Sheridan and George Armstrong Custer and Captain Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of President Lincoln.After the war was over, McLean moved back to his house in Manassas, abandoning his house in Appomattox. However, McLean’s house in Appomattox  is still standing, and it and looks exactly as it did in 1865. It is part of the Appomattox Court House National Historical Monument and is operated by the National Park Service.So Wilmer McLean was telling the truth. The Civil War really did begin in his back yard, and it ended in his living room. What are the odds of that happening?