McLean House
We had the pleasure of visiting the Appomattox Court House National Park a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been a civil war history buff for a long time and was glad we got to see this. We wandered around on our own for the most part and bypassed some of the tours they had as we didnt have too long to stay there, but the rangers were very glad to give us all the info we wanted at the various spots. The fees were really in our budget as well, 5 bucks for the both of us :) Can’t beat that for great day out! A few of the buildings are mostly original, but many have been restored or reconstructed including the McLean home where the surrender took place. Still they are done to perfection in representing the original.
Below is from the Appomattox National Park Service site.
On April 9, 1865 after four years of Civil War, approximately 630,000 deaths and over 1 million casualties, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, at the home of Wilmer and Virginia McLean in the rural town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. General Lee arrived at the McLean home shortly after 1:00 p.m. followed a half hour later by General Grant. The meeting lasted approximately an hour and a half. There are 16 people that are known to have attended at least part of the meeting as shown in Keith Rocco’s painting (shown above). The participants are:
CSA
Gen. Robert E. Lee
Lt. Col. Charles Marshall
USA
Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
Lt. Col. Ely Parker
Lt. Col. Orville E. Babcock
Maj. Gen. Edward O. C. Ord
Lt. Col. Horace Porter
Lt. Col. Theodore S. Bowers
Maj. Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan
Brig. Gen. John Rawlins
Brig. Gen. Rufus Ingalls
Lt. Col. Adam Badeau
Brig. Gen. George H. Sharpe
Brig. Gen. Michael Morgan
Brig. Gen. Seth Williams
The terms agreed to by General Lee and Grant and accepted by the Federal Government would become the model used for all the other surrenders which shortly followed. The surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia allowed the Federal Government to redistribute forces and bring increased pressure to bear in other parts of the south resulting in the surrender of the remaining field armies of the Confederacy over the next few months.
On April 26th General Joseph Johnston surrendered to Major General W. T. Sherman near Durham, North Carolina (now Bennett Place State Historical Park); on May 4th General Richard Taylor, the son of 12th President of the United States, Zachary Taylor, surrendered at Citronelle, Alabama; on June 2nd General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered the Confederate Department of the Trans Mississippi to Major General Canby; and on June 23rd General Stand Watie surrendered Confederate Cherokee Indian forces in Oklahoma.
Appomattox Court House
The first stop in the park is to the reconstructed courthouse itself, which also houses the visitors center/ museum. Nice exhibits as well as a small theater, and very informative park rangers. Living History programs are offered every day during the summer months, and occasionally on weekends in the spring and fall. Actors portray historical figures from the 1860s. We arrived there a bit early and nearly missed one of the actors. This fellow was portraying one of the union soldiers.
actor at courthouse in Appomattox
He was really “in the moment” and we had a rather lengthy talk with him. He also played a jaw harp and kindly took requests as well.
Inside the museum were many displays of artifacts from the site, as well as a wall of photos of some of the soldiers who were at the battle. There were also exhibits of some of the stories of the day and many artifacts from the McLean House. Among the more interesting things was the pencil used by Robert E Lee to make corrections to the original draft of the Surrender Terms
Another item we found of interest was The Silent Witness
On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his once formidable army of Northern Virginia to three Federal armies turgid with men and 
materiel under General Ulysses S. Grant. The terms of surrender were set during a one and a half hour meeting between the two generals in the parlor of the McLean Home.
The McLeans, an upper middle class family, had moved to Appomattox Court House as refugees during the war. Wilmer and Virginia McLean had five children – four daughters and a son. Sometime before Lee and Grant met that Palm Sunday afternoon, seven-year-old Lula McLean had left her favorite doll in the parlor. The little rag doll was apparently left on the horsehair sofa that her sister, Nanny McLean Spillman would later donate to the National Park Service.
“I have heard Mrs. McLean say frequently that the Union troops not only stole the tables and chairs besides other small furniture, but even took the childrens’ play things…” – H.E. Spillman, Wilmer McLean’s Son-In-Law-
While the generals met, and the room was packed tightly with the entourage that was Grant’s staff, the rag doll remained in the room where Lula had left it. When the meeting ended, Union officers – anxious to obtain souvenirs of the event – plundered the McLeans’ parlor appropriating items including Lula’s rag doll.
Colonel Horace Porter of General Grant’s staff, wrote: ” A child’s doll was found in the room, which the younger officers tossed from one to the other, and called the ‘Silent Witness’.”
One of the cavorting Federal staff officers was Captain Robert Todd Lincoln, son of the President of the United States. The doll was taken from the home by Capt. Thomas W.C. Moore, of Major General Sheridan’s staff. For well over a century, the Moore family kept the doll as a “war trophy” of sorts. Poor Lula never saw her beloved rag doll again.
Lula’s descendants remembered the doll as “…lovingly handmade by a doting mother”.
The body of the doll was made of coarse unbleached cotton and stuffed. Inked on the simple, round face were eyes and nothing more. Printed cotton fabric was stitched together to fashion a bodice, skirt and leggings.
The doll was donated to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in December 1992, and is now on permanent exhibit at the park.
More to come from the other areas of the park in the near future.
For a link to all our photos from the visit to Appomattox, check out Alison’s Picasa Album
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