In today’s episode, we’ll be talking about one of the most fascinating aspects of the American Civil War.

More audacious historical boasts than Wilmer McLean's claim that the American Civil War "began in my front yard and finished in my parlor" are uncommon. One that is genuinely accurate, like McLean's, is even rarer. How did McLean, a simple 47-year-old Virginia businessman whose homes would serve as the beginning and ending points to a nation's arduous four-year struggle, become the Civil War's central figure? Let's find out!