How many of you, and there are quite a few of you, have been to the mcclain house at appomattox courthouse . That makes things rather easy for me. Its time for lunch i believe. One thing thats probably not generally known is that the first offer of surrender didnt come from a letter from general grant. It came from a group of officers that have gathered april 7th and these officers concluded that because the circumstances facing the army that it might be best to suggest to general lee that he opened negotiations with general grant. They selected him as their spokesman. William nelson for episcopalian. He approached general lee that day. He would not hear that suggestion. He said there were too many brave and good men. General grant and most of the federal forces moved in. General lee moved the army of Northern Virginia north of the appomattox river. General grant establishes his headquarters at the Prince Edward hotel also known as the ran randolph house which no longer stands. Last ni
Retirement community for Union Soldiers here at Appomattox Courthouse, and they buy up land west of the village. They are unsuccessful in selling off these lots to Union Veterans, and they decide theyre going to dismantle the house and move it to washington d. C. And create a museum out of it. The house is dismantled. And unfortunately there is a financial panic in 1893 and the firm goes bankrupt. And all the supplies or materials outside start to rot away or are taken as souvenirs. The park service, when it takes over the facility in 1940 determines the one thing theyre going to do is rebuild the mcclain house. Fortunately, the same company that took the house apart got the bid to rebuild the house, and they still had the plans so its been rebuilt on the exact location, using the original plans. There are a few bricks to the heart in the basement 5,500 original bricks are used on the front of the house. So when youre walking up to the house, you will pass through bricks that were here
Okay, our next speaker should be familiar to everybody here, thats patrick schroeder. Patrick, is as you know his story, in the courthouse in National Historic park. And hes worked with me one of our other speakers, the third speaker today ron wilson, is the person who helped get this seminar together for the first time in 1999, the e 20 0. And then when ron retired patrick took over with working with longwood on this seminar. Patrick has history degrees from Shepherd College and from virginia tech. Hes worked as a Seasonal Employee and probably, as many of you know patrick has written numerous books related to that campaign and other aspects of the war. Several pamphlets. The 30 millionths about lees surrender, cemetery at aplamatics. Probably his most important work is we came to fight, a history of the fifth new york volunteer infantry. He helped finish the vortex of hell. Thats a great book to have. Both of those. Patricks book and the one he helped brian finish. Hes very heavily i
Mcclaine house to discuss terms of surrender. University of richmond president ed airs provides the key note address and other speakers include decedents of key grant and lee aides who took part in that historic meeting. Also part of the program reenactments of grants arrival at the mcclaine house as well as lees departure following the surrender. This is about an hour and 45 minutes. My name is robin snyder and i am currently the acting superintendent at Appomattox Courthouse National Historical park. It is my distinct hopper on behalf of the National Parks service and the United States Postal Service to welcome each of you here today on this s hef historic day intr our nations history. This courthouse village stands not just as a symbol of wars end, but as a point of departurepart for aur transformed nation. The significance of what took place in mr. Mcclaines parlor settled the issue of who would be the victors of the american civil war, but many questions remained unanswered. Soldi
Patrick, is as you know his story, in the courthouse in National Historic park. And hes worked with me one of our other speakers, the third speaker today ron wilson, is the person who helped get this seminar together for the first time in 1999, the e 20 0. And then when ron retired patrick took over with working with longwood on this seminar. Patrick has history degrees from Shepherd College and from virginia tech. Hes worked as a Seasonal Employee and probably, as many of you know patrick has written numerous books related to that campaign and other aspects of the war. Several pamphlets. The 30 millionths about lees surrender, cemetery at aplamatics. Probably his most important work is we came to fight, a history of the fifth new york volunteer infantry. He helped finish the vortex of hell. Thats a great book to have. Both of those. Patricks book and the one he helped brian finish. Hes very heavily involved in battlefield preservation, set up the fund with the preservation trust. His