Historic Magee Farmhouse as it looks today.

The very historic Magee Farmhouse, a place which like the McLean House in Appomattox, Va., had a brief shining moment in history, was opened to the public with a ribbon cutting ceremony on July 17. State Representatives Spencer Collier (Dist. 105), Rusty Glover (Dist. 102) and Mobile County Sheriff Jack Tillman were among the dignitaries on hand.

The Magee Farmhouse was built in 1848 by Jacob Magee, a Mobile banker and businessman.

It was purchased in 1898 by Alfred Henry Sturtevant from Jacksonville, Ill. and has been in the Sturtevant family ever since. Magee Farmhouse is one and three-tenths miles north of the intersection of highways 45 and 185 in the Kushla community.

Although its age is historically significant, the Magee Farmhouse was the setting for a stellar historical event; for within its parlor Confederate General Richard Taylor met with Union General E.R.S. Canby to work out the details for General Taylor’s surrender of the last Confederate Army east of the Mississippi River. On, April 9, General Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Va. to U.S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, V. CSA General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered his Army of Tennessee forces to General William T. Sherman at Bennett House near Durham Station, N.C. on April 26. And on May 4, 1865, after working out details at Magee Farmhouse, General Richard Taylor surrendered his army to General E.R.S. Canby. The actual surrender site is south of Citronelle.

Period Encampment on grounds of Magee Farmhouse

The McLean House was taken down to be rebuilt at the 1893 World’s Fair but a funding problem prevented it and the house lay at a railroad station deteriorating and falling prey to vandals until only about 10 percent of the original structure was left and what is now at McLean, Va., is a reproduction. Bennett House burned in 1911.

This leaves the State of Alabama as home to the only original structure which saw the surrender agreement of a major Confederate Army. Having been occupied by members of the Sturtevant family until it passed into the hands of a private foundation earlier this year, Magee Farmhouse is in mint condition. In the historic parlor are the actual chairs occupied by Taylor and Canby. The historic parlor furnishings, dining room furnishings and two upstairs bedrooms are all native to the home.

What was the schoolroom is now a museum. The sign outside proclaims: "The Second Appotomox."

This is truly a historic place and one that should bring many tourist dollars into our state. Tours are conducted on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

General Richard Taylor who shared the fortunes of the Confederacy, later recalled, having "sat by its cradle and followed its hearse." Richard Taylor was the son of President Zachary Taylor and the brother-in-law of President Jefferson Davis.