The Enslaved Families of the McLean Household

Quick Facts

The events of April 9, 1865 made Appomattox Court House and Wilmer McLean, owner of the home where Generals Grant and Lee met to discuss Lee’s surrender, well known. Yet, the names of the enslaved men and women who swept that doorstep, tidied the parlor before the Generals were shown in, minded the house, the children and the affairs of the McLean family are mostly unknown.

Two enslaved families lived in the structures behind the McLean House:

Bettie Love Stewart was born enslaved at Bloom’s Grove in Prince William County Virginia about 1832. Bettie and her three children were enslaved by the McLeans. Her husband, Henry Stewart, a formerly enslaved man whom she married after gaining her freedom, was born a slave in Lunenburg County, VA around 1835.

From historical records, it appears that Betsy had at least 5 children (including two after being freed), all were born in Prince William County, VA:

• Lucy- born 1852
• Henry Eugene- born 1858 or 1859
• John Alexander- born July 15, 1856
• William- born 1866
• Fannie- born 1869

Another enslaved woman in the McLean home was named Mary Ann. Mary Ann had at least 3 children, all born in Prince William County:

• A daughter- born October 5, 1853 whose name is not yet known to us,
• Maria- born about October 30, 1856,
• Rachael- born 1858.

Emancipation  

After four war years of war, the Federal victory at Appomattox Court House made emancipation a reality for all enslaved people in this region, include half of Appomattox County’s population. Henry and Bettie moved into Lynchburg where Henry worked as a brakeman on the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio railroad. Henry died in a tragic accident on the railroad in 1874. From Appomattox, their children went on to live in Lynchburg, New York, and Boston.

Little is known regarding Mary Ann and her children following their emancipation.