At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Wilmer McLean (1814-1822) was a retired major in the Virginia militia. Too old to return to active duty, he made his living selling sugar to the Confederate Army. McLean’s misfortune was that his farm at Manassas, Virginia was located on the road between Richmond and Washington. McLean lived in the middle between the Confederate and Union capitals.
Needing a headquarters for himself and his staff, Confederate General P G T Beauregard decided to base himself in McLean’s cottage. In the first engagement of the war, Union artillery fired on the house, initiating what was to become the First Battle of Bull Run. One cannonball fell down the cottage chimney and exploded in the stewpot, requiring a revision of the General’s lunch plans The General weote 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.”
