Picture of the day - January 5, 2007

Historic McLean House

Photographer: Timothy H. O'Sullivan Today's picture features an old photograph of what appears to be just a typical 19th century home, but the historic event that took place within these brick walls changed the course of American history - and quite possibly the history of what we know today as the free world. After four long years of a bloody war that had pitted brothers against brothers and even fathers against sons, on April 9, 1865 General Robert E. Lee formally surrendered to his union counterpart Ulysses S. Grant in the Appomattox, Virginia home of Wilmer McLean. Ironically, although there were scores of photographers capturing the action on the battlefields for posterity, not one of them made it to McLean House that day to record the most important event of the war. Photographer Timothy H. O'Sullivan finally arrived on the scene a few days later and took this picture. The McLean family lost the estate to foreclosure in 1867. The house was eventually dismantled by its new owners with the intention of moving it to another location, but those plans never came to fruition and the resulting piles of building materials sat exposed to the elements, thieves and vandals for some 50 years. After several attempts at reconstruction, on April 9, 1948 (exactly 84 years to the day after Lee's surrender to Grant) the reconstructed McLean House was opened to the public by the National Park Service. Today, Appomattox Court House National Historic Park welcomes visitors from all around the world to come and see the place where one of the most important events in our nation's history took place.   Click here to comment on this picture.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"