McLean House at Appomattox Court House

At the village of Appomattox Court House at the National Historic Park, one of the most important houses was the McLean House. This was the site chosen to sign the surrender papers where General Robert E. Lee sat down across from General Ulysses Grant.  This house was so famous that it was dismantled in 1893 to be taken to the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition and reassembled. Then it was to go on to become a Civil War Museum in Washington, DC. This never happened so the house was put back together at the original site in 1948 and the furniture replaced in the rooms as it was. General Lee understood that to end the war at this time on April 9th, 1865 would spare the rest of what was left of the confederate army. General Grant allowed the Southern Army to simply lay down their arms out in piles in the road out front and go home with pieces of paper to each soldier for safe passage.