On this day in 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War. Now the irony . . . The surrender took place at the home of Wilmer McLean. Four years previously, McLean and his family lived 150 miles from this location, near Manassas, Virginia. The First Battle of Bull Run, fought in July 1861, took place near McLean’s house. McLean purportedly said: “The war began in my front yard and ended in my parlor”.
The Civil War Book 