Wilmer McLean
| Wilmer McLean | |
|---|---|
Wilmer McLean, c.1860.
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| Born |
May 3, 1814 Manassas, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | June 5, 1882 (aged 68) Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. |
| Resting place | St. Paul's Episcopal Cemetery |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Grocer |
Wilmer McLean (May 3, 1814 – June 5, 1882) was an American wholesale grocer from Virginia. His house near Manassas, Virginia was involved in the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. After the battle he moved to Appomattox, Virginia. In 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in McLean's house in Appomattox. His houses were, therefore, involved in one of the first and one of the last encounters of the American Civil War. He lived in his house with his wife, Virginia.
The initial engagement on July 21, 1861 of what would become the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) took place on McLean's farm, the Yorkshire Plantation, in Manassas, Prince William County, Virginia. Union Army artillery fired at McLean's house, which was being used as a headquarters for Confederate Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard, and a cannonball dropped through the kitchen fireplace. Beauregard wrote after the battle, "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."
McLean was a retired major in the Virginia militia but, at 47, he was too old to return to active duty at the outbreak of the Civil War. He made his living during the war as a sugar broker supplying the Confederate States Army. He decided to move because his commercial activities were centered mostly in southern Virginia and the Union army presence in his area of northern Virginia made his work difficult. He undoubtedly was also motivated by a desire to protect his family from a repetition of their combat experience. In the spring of 1863, he and his family moved about 120 miles (190 km) south to Appomattox County, Virginia, near a dusty, crossroads community called Appomattox Court House.
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