Wilmer McLean

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.

"[1] McLean was a retired major in the Virginia militia but, at age 47 he was too old to return to active duty at the outbreak of the Civil War.

"[3] Once the ceremony was over, members of the Army of the Potomac began taking the tables, chairs, and various other furnishings in the house — essentially, anything that was not tied down — as souvenirs.

[4] Major General Edward Ord paid $40 (equivalent to $796 in today's dollars)[5] for the table Lee had used to sign the surrender document, while Major General Philip Sheridan took the table on which Grant had drafted the document for $20 (equivalent to $398 in today's dollars) in gold.

McLean's first house, in Manassas
McLean residence in Appomattox Court House, photographed in 1865 by Timothy O'Sullivan
McLean House at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park (photographed 2011)