The Virginia town of Appomattox Court House received its name like many other rural counties in the Southern States which had county seats whose names were formed by adding court house to the name of the county. The court house town contained the courthouse building as well as a number of other buildings. One of those other buildings was the McLean house, a former tavern. In 1865, this house became famous for the location of the official end of the Civil War.

On April 9th, 1865 the Civil War ended as General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate States of America surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant representing the Union. The McLean Home in Appomattox Court House, Virginia became the site for the birth of a new nation - one which later passed the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, ending slavery, providing citizenship to blacks and male suffrage. Yet it took four years of bitter warfare between the North and the South, during which brother fought against brother and families were torn apart due to irreconcilable differences over both slavery and the right to secede. The surrender by the south allowed Reconstruction - a period from 1865 - 1880 when the U.S. attempted to bind up its wounds, establish the rule of law in the Southern states and move forward.