McLean was again relegated to a staff position and later transferred to North Carolina, where he served again in the XXIII Corps during Sherman's Carolina Campaign. The corps took Fort Fisher, and intended to meet the rest of Sherman's army in central North Carolina, but they got as far as Goldsboro before the Battle of Bentonville in March. Seeing the end of the war coming, McLean resigned his commission April 20, 1865, six days before the surrender of General Joseph Johnston at Bennett Place in Durham, North Carolina. During the whole war General McLean was off duty for the space of thirty days, having had leave of absence once for twenty, and again for ten days.