In 1861 Wilmer McLean, merchant and sugar importer, lived with his family along a stream near a sleepy Virginia community.  The town was Manassas Junction, the stream was Bull Run, and the first battle of the War Between the States was fought there.  General Beauregard used McLean's home as his headquarters.  Town folks say that a Yankee cannonball went through the McLean's outside kitchen during the general’s stay spoiling his dinner.  A year later the armies of the North and South clashed once more on the hills and fields around McLean's home.  He decided Manassas wasn't safe and moved his family to Appomattox Court House, an obscure county seat in the central Piedmont region.  It is one of the ironies of history that the war which began in Wilmer McLean's front yard ended in his parlor!

There are 27 restored or reconstructed buildings at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park.  Your first stop should be the visitor center where a 15-minute chronological slide program will acquaint you with the dramatic events from April 1 through 12, 1865, leading up to the final surrender.  A second program, Honor Answers Honor, uses first person accounts to recapture the emotions felt by those on both sides of the surrender field.

After this slide program you'll walk the quiet country lanes to the area where the stacking of arms ceremony took place.  Imagine the emotions of the battle-weary Confederates as they marched between the Union soldiers and discovered that their former enemies were presenting arms.  When you tour the Clover Hill Tavern  you'll see some of the paroles printed for the surrendering army.  The presses had to turn out 28,231 passes for the Confederates who laid down their arms.

At the reconstructed McLean House you'll learn that only a few of the furnishings are original. Not only did the surrender take place in Wilmer McLean's parlor, but Federal officers took some of his furniture when they left.  Some purchased pieces and others, it is said, stole them; all wanted souvenirs of Lee's surrender to Grant.