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, to escape the war, thinking that it would be safe. Instead, 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.
What are some interesting facts around Wilmer McLean's residencies when it comes to the American Civil War?
He lived near Manassas, Virginia, where one for the first battles of the Civil War was fought, and then moved to Appomattox, also in Virginia, on this later home General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, near the end of the Civil War.