The Battle of Sailor's Creek, also known as the Battle of Sayler's Creek, was fought on April 6, 1865, near Farmville, Virginia, as part of the Appomattox Campaign, near the end of the American Civil War. It was the last major engagement between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, and the Army of the Potomac, under the overall direction of Union General-in-Chief Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant.
After abandoning Petersburg, the exhausted and starving Confederates headed west, hoping to re-supply at Danville or Lynchburg, before joining General Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina. But the stronger Union army kept pace with them, exploiting the rough terrain full of creeks and high bluffs, where the Confederates' long wagon trains were highly vulnerable. The two small bridges over Sailor's Creek and Little Sailor's Creek caused a bottleneck that further delayed the Confederates' attempt to escape. After some desperate hand-to-hand fighting, about a quarter of the remaining effective soldiers of the Confederate force were lost, including several generals. Witnessing the surrender from a nearby bluff, Lee made his famous despairing remark to Major General William Mahone, "My God, has the army dissolved?", to which Mahone replied, "No, General, here are troops ready to do their duty."
The current official name for the tributary of the Appomattox River is Sayler's Creek, as established in 1959 by the United States Board on Geographic Names; this spelling is used on topographic maps issued by the U.S. Geological Survey. Many prominent Civil War historians (James M. McPherson, Shelby Foote, Bruce Catton, Douglas Southall Freeman, etc.) have used this spelling. Chris M. Calkins of the National Park Service used this spelling in his 1980 work, Thirty-Six Hours Before Appomattox, and also in the nomination he wrote to preserve the battlefield in the National Register of Historic Places inventory. However, Calkins noted in his 1997 work, The Appomattox Campaign, that at the time of the Civil War and previously, maps used the spelling Sailors. These include the 1752 Joshua Fry–Peter Jefferson map of Virginia and the 1867 Michler survey maps of 1867 (included in the Official Records Atlas). He therefore judges that the correct name for the Civil War battle should be Sailor's Creek. The American Battlefield Protection Program (National Park Service Civil War Sites Advisory Commission), the Civil War Trust, and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation use the spelling "Sailor's Creek". The battle is also known variously as Little Sailor's Creek, Harper's Farm, Marshall's Cross Roads, Hillsman Farm, Double Bridges, or Lockett's Farm.
The Appomattox Campaign before the Battle of Sailor's Creek showed the increasingly desperate circumstances of the Rebel forces leading into the battle. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's Union Army (Army of the Potomac, Army of the James, Army of the Shenandoah) broke the Confederate Army defenses of Petersburg, Virginia at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1 and the Third Battle of Petersburg on April 2. A Union division under the command of Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles also broke up the last defense of the South Side Railroad on the afternoon of April 2, cutting off that railroad as a supply line or route of retreat for the Confederates. General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia evacuated Petersburg and the Confederate capital of Richmond on the night of April 2–3 and began a retreat in hopes of linking up with General Joseph E. Johnston's army confronting the Union army group commanded by General William Tecumseh Sherman in North Carolina.
Most of Lee's army marched west on roads north of the Appomattox River. On April 3, south of the Appomattox River, Union Army cavalry under Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) William Wells' brigade of Brigadier General (Brevet Major General) George Armstrong Custer's division pursued and engaged units of the fleeing Confederate cavalry rear guard under Brigadier General William Paul Roberts at Namozine Creek and Brigadier General Rufus Barringer of W.H.F. Lee's division and the overall command of Major General Fitzhugh Lee at the Battle of Namozine Church. Barringer's Confederate cavalry had bought enough time for Major General Bushrod Johnson's infantry division to pass nearby Namozine Church. When Johnson approached Namozine Church with his infantry division, Custer's men were forced to retire, allowing the Confederate forces to proceed across Deep Creek, an Appomattox River tributary. After dark, however, Wells's brigade continued to attack Fitzhugh Lee's force along Deep Creek but were finally held off by Bushrod Johnson's infantry at Sweathouse Creek. Brigadier General Barringer and many of his men were captured when Major General Philip Sheridan's scouts who were wearing gray uniforms led Barringer and his remaining men into a trap. The number of Confederate killed and wounded are unknown except that Bushrod Johnson reported 15 wounded. 350 Confederates were captured. The Union lost 95 killed and wounded at Namozine Creek, Namozine Church and Sweathouse Creek on April 3.
March toward Amelia Court House
Most of the Confederate Army had marched about 21 miles (34 km) west on April 3. In order to meet at the rendezvous point of Amelia Court House that had been designated by General Lee, all of the Confederate commands except those of Lieutenant General Richard H. Anderson and Major General Fitzhugh Lee would have to cross the Appomattox River, which turns sharply to the north not far west of the Confederate camps on the night of April 3. On April 4, most of the Confederate army moving over to the south side of the Appomattox River had to use a single muddy road or take widely circuitous routes due to flooding and bridges being out on other roads, slowing progress toward the rendezvous point of Amelia Court House.
By the evening of April 3, most of Lieutenant General James Longstreet's troops had crossed to the west side of the Appomattox River over Goode's Bridge while Major General John B. Gordon's corps was east of the bridge. Amelia Court House was 8.5 miles (13.7 km) to the west. Ewell's force could not cross the river at the Genito Bridge as planned because a necessary pontoon bridge expected to be there had not arrived. After marching south, Ewell's men crossed the river on a Richmond and Danville Railroad bridge over which they had placed planks. They camped on April 4 about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the bridge. Gordon's corps was at Scott's Shop 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Amelia Court House, waiting for Ewell's column to catch up. Mahone's men marched to Goode's Bridge but did not go into Amelia Court House until he was told that the force from Richmond had arrived.
On the line of march west toward the Confederate Army's rendezvous point of Amelia Court House on Bevill's Bridge Road, Lieutenant General Anderson had the remaining men of Major Generals George Pickett and Bushrod Johnson's divisions build earthworks and form a line of battle at Tabernacle Church Road to protect the forces in retreat from attack from the pursuing Union forces to their south.
On April 4, Custer's cavalry division rode west toward Jetersville, Virginia on the Richmond and Danville Railroad, 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Amelia Court House and 10 miles (16 km) of Burkeville Junction, Virginia. Brigadier General (Brevet Major General) Wesley Merritt with Brigadier General Thomas Devin's cavalry division crossed Deep Creek at Brown's Bridge and headed straight past Tabernacle Church to Beaver Pond Creek where late in the day, a Michigan regiment from the division sent Anderson's skirmishers back to their field works. Coming up toward the works, Devin's entire division, mostly dismounted, skirmished with portions of Major Generals Henry Heth's, Bushrod Johnson's and George Pickett's infantry. About 10:00 p.m., Devin was ordered to pull back to Jetersville and he led his men to that point after burning a nearby mill.