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“From Front Yard To Front Parlor”
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“From Front Yard To Front Parlor”  -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- WELCOME TO THE SINNERS CLUB -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- “The (American Civil) War started in my front yard, and ended in my front parlor.” ~ Wilmer McLean ~ ..........Greetings and Salutations to All of You Wicked Little Sinners there in Blogville today,......I see a Whole Lot of Familiar Faces, and a few New Ones too!.......Ahhhhhh, But it does My heart Proud!.......And , it’s Already Saturday afternoon, and I’m Waaaaaay behind in light of recent Events here in Blogville,.......So what’s on the Agenda for this afternoon,.......How’s about some Historical psychobabble?.........Okay Then, let’s get Right Down to It,.......Pull up a Chair,.......Have a little smoke,.......And Allow Me to tell You the story about a man named Wilmer McLean,.........  ~ Wilmer McLean c. 1860 ..........On July the 21st 1861, The first major engagement of The American Civil War would be fought in Prince William County, Virginia. Just a few miles from the City of Manassas, a scant 25 miles from The United States Capital of Washington D.C. and directly across the property of a local resident named Wilmer McLean. ..........It would become known as “The Battle of First Bull Run” If you’re the Union type, or “The Battle of First Manassas” If you’re not. At the time, the overall opinion in The North was of a mind that this little war between the states would become the work of a few, in Not this one battle. ..........Much of the rich upper genteel population of Washington made it a point to ride in their buggy’s and carriage’s with picnic lunches to eat and champagne to drink while observing the spectacle of an almost certain quick and decisive Union victory against an army of poorly armed rebels.  ~ “First Battle of Bull Run” Chromolithograph by Kurz & Allison, 1889. ..........Irvin McDowell, Major General in command of the Union Army of the Potomac would end up squandering their initial advantage of superior numbers by being lethargic in getting his troops into position, allowing for Confederate reinforcements to be brought up by rail, another first in modern warfare. ..........Both sides, North and South brought around 18,000 untrained, inexperienced, poorly led troops to one another across the expanse of the McLean farm. The Overall battle would go on to be compared to one long bloody brawl between the two largely untested armies. The outcome of which turned into a disastrous defeat for the North after the Union Army of the Potomac was routed by The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and forced into a hastily demoralizing panic of a retreat. ..........P.G.T. Beauregard, Major General in command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. (That’s Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard) The General that had opened the war in Charleston Harbor earlier in the year by shelling the Union Army’s Fort Sumter and it’s commander, Major Robert Anderson into surrendering. Interestingly enough, Anderson had been Beauregard’s Artillery Professor at West Point, being impressed enough by the Frenchman’s skill and ability to ask Beauregard to stay on as his assistant after graduation. ..........Major General P.G.T. Beauregard would pick the big farmhouse of resident, and sugar merchant to the Confederate Army Wilmer McLean as his headquarters for the duration of the battle raging across the property. At one point drawing artillery fire from Union forces that sent a cannon ball crashing through the family kitchen, killing a servant.  ~ McLean’s first house in Manassas from “Various Contributions on the Battles and Leaders of The Civil War.” pg. 231, first published 1887 ..........After the terrible chaos of the battle, the badly beaten, demoralized, hastily fleeing Union troops would frantically collide with Washington’s Aristocracy as they too realized the defeat and attempted to flee themselves. Turning an ugly defeat into an even uglier retreat all the way back to a panicked Washington. Where word of the disastrous defeat spread like a panic through the streets of the capital. ..........The Confederacy would go on to use the victory to prove that they were now a indeed a Nation to be reckoned with. Poor Wilmer McLean however had had enough. Wilmer would sell the entire farm and move his family 5 miles South, deeper into The Confederacy, to a safer location away from the war, that also put him closer to the sugar commodities that he dealt in. The name of the town that Wilmer McLean choose to move his family to was a quiet little town named Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia.  ~ McLean house at Appomattox Courthouse. Photographed in 1865 by Timothy O’Sullivan. ..........Four long, bloody years and more than 600,000 deaths later, the ragged starving, exhausted, and badly depleted remains of the Army of Northern Virginia, now led by Robert E. Lee, with little choice left after being cut off by Union Calvary keeps him from joining forces with General Joe Johnston’s Army of Tennessee for one last big combined offensive by The Confederacy. ..........Instead, General Lee would seek a quiet place to do the unthinkable, surrender the remains of one of the greatest armies in history to a man that he’d only ever met but once before and then only briefly, years earlier, Major General in command of all Union Armies, Ulysses S. Grant. ..........General Lee would send his aide into the local crossroads town of Appomattox Courthouse in search of a suitable residence for the surrender. Lee’s aide would eventually decide on the big stately farmhouse of a prominent local grocer and sugar merchant named Wilmer McLean. The rest, as they say is History. Lee would go on to surrender his army as well as his command to Grant favorable conditions, including 150,000 rations for his starving army right there in Wilmer McLean’s front room. ..........Afterwards Wilmer McLean would stand by helpless as Union Officers handed him as they stripped the room of its furnishings as mementos of the momentous occasion. One thing they would never be able to take from Wilmer McLean was the right of being the only man who could rightfully say that “The American Civil War started in my front yard and ended in my front parlor.” ..........And there you have it,.......My Angels, My Devils,......My Beloved Flock,.....In my Around the World way of telling it!.......I hope that you’ve Enjoyed this afternoons Psycho Babble Ramble on Historical Observations and Such,.......That’s (Thankfully I Know!) all that we’ve got time for today,.......Fear Not though, for I walk amongst You,........But if for some reason you can’t find Me in the crowd,.......You know where I’ll be,.........Right here, where you left me,......... Sinfully Yours, backpocket President: The Sinners Club -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- THE MEEK CAN HAVE THE EARTH, I’L BE DONE WITH IT BY THEN -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- -|- |
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Thanks for the history lesson. Very interesting 'twas too.
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History Lesson by Devil...wow...i love that...lemme sit down on your lap, while you teach me something...mmMMm
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That was very interesting. I hate war pretty much and try to ignore the intricacies. I only know of one distant relative of mine that might have had something to do with the Civil War. He was an abolitionist on the Union Side. He became quite famous later on...Most people have one of those very distant relatives who was a President. Independently Romantic Sounds Better Than Lonely
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Happy Saturday you sexy many great history you have shared with all of us, and I hope your day continues to be a good one. I am glad I missed all the bs that happened here over this past week.. Seduce the mind and see what a wonderful adventure the body will take you on.. 
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