The Battle of Sailor's Creek April 6, 1865 (Lecture)

What I want to talk about though this afternoon is something is completely separate from Gettysburg it's a particular event that occurred in Virginia April 6 1865 as one Confederate veteran put it was Black Thursday it was the darkest day of the army April 6th 1865 looking back on the war veterans referred to it as that black Thursday there are three engagements of the Battle of Sailors Creek the Army of Northern Virginia suffered a devastating blow including the loss of seven thousand seven hundred officers and men as prisoners among them nine southern generals including Joseph Kershaw Richard Ewell and Eppa Hunton all who had direct connections here to the Battle of Gettysburg the loss was also personal for Lee because his son George Washington Custis Lee became a prisoner there at sailors Creek 1865 but what makes this battle significant let me go back a little bit to what I've talked about for the past couple years the folks have attended my lectures I hate to use that term lecture of my programs you know I focused on the evolution of the army Northern Virginia and how it's changed through the years from his formation in 1861 through the Overland campaign in 1864 and how its evolved now we're talking about 1865 and technically the Army is in its waning days 150 years ago if you could have a time machine go back to the trenches at Petersburg and Richmond and see the army you know it was completely different than it was just a handful of years before it was built on reputation of fighting solid leadership devotion to duty devotion to home but now it's completely changed Robert Lee who took over that army and if anything was the symbol of that army was watching it slowly melt away the year before in the Overland campaign in the valley campaign in 1864 he lost almost 45,000 personnel officers and men those are men who could not be replaced his army was down to a strength of barely 40,000 men the only things to planning it were troops that were around the Richmond Petersburg defenses Danville Virginia Southeast Virginia those the only supplements he had to add to that army the army changed quite a bit and no matter what Lee did there's not a lot you can do when you've got an army stationed in cold wet trenches as slowly starving to death the desertion rate in February of 1864 had jumped five times when it was in the fall of 64 we often hear about how bad desertion was in the Union Army Lee was suffering the loss of almost 800 men per week in February of 1864 and 65 it's not because the men's will to fight was lost they were starving as one Virginia soldier later complained well those are all the Carolinians who are leaving being a North Carolinian I don't know if that's really true but I'm also sympathetic to the Carolinians because what would you do if you got a letter from your wife in Columbia South Carolina who said your kids were starving and the Yankees were right on the doorstep and they were devastating the landscape you knew what was going on after the march through Georgia Sherman's army Georgia's now come up through the Carolinas to Columbia South Carolina now into North Carolina you knew what's going on and you knew your family is suffering while you are far away a lot of these men thought family first and I can't blame them one bit for picking up their weapons and leaving the trenches at Petersburg and the armor of Virginia forever with the same hand to Lee was also losing hundreds of men per day to illness and sickness because of the lack of food the lack of rations the lack of medical care these men who would now find this long defensive battle you can talk about glory and devotion to duty and being strong almost of all you want to but it comes down to a basic logistics if you can't feed your army and supply them properly and give them proper winter clothing there slowly but surely we're going to melt away and history always tells us that no matter what war no matter what army by 1865 the army has changed quite a bit from what's its predecessor and these are the numbers here with the commander's Longstreet's first Corps is the largest about 22,000 officers and Men because they've not really heavily gauged after the Overland campaign mostly live the fighting and siege work around Petersburg area gordon's second chord this is Jules old cord axes old poor that fought here at Gettysburg at Culp's Hill participate in the valley campaign they lost almost half their strength last but not least is the old third Corps under ap Hill it's also down to strength they've been active around the Petersburg siege area they've lost at least 12 I'm sorry I take that back three to 4,000 officers and men just in the siege work around Petersburg and they are also under strength but they are the ones who really the furthest stretched and the western defenses the Petersburg defenses Lee also has a supplement his army Anderson's Corps about 4,500 officers and men these are soldiers that have been operating in Southeast Virginia outside the defenses of Petersburg until pulled back in the defenses of Petersburg demand those defenses around Richmond there's also the Calvary division under wait Hampton of reserve artillery under William Nestle lilium Nelson Pendleton and in the Richmond and Danville defenses this is a conglomerate organization of heavy artillery units primarily Virginia units that man the defenses of Richmond along the James River around drew Reese bluff conglomeration of Georgia Virginia even some North Carolina eNOS thrown in there all heavy artillerymen last but not least a small strange unit which will come up later the naval brigade on the Commodore John Tucker the naval brigade is composed of Confederate sailors and Confederate Marines about 250 Confederate Marines when you're a sailor and you don't have a boat the serve on what you do you wind up in the defenses of Richmond Manning big guns around Juiz Bluff and like that so that's the small naval brigade and these sailors are not really happy about being off ships but they're stuck behind big guns earthwork defenses and now they're operating as infantry but also supplanting these units are a younger group of men the junior and seniors are in the older men junior and senior reserves of Virginia the junior reserves fifteen to eighteen years old and they are first experienced in combat and the defense's around Ruiz Bluff in the cold and the rain and the wet and the short rations under heavy artillery fire continually throughout the winter months First Sergeant John Goss the 1st battalion Virginia junior reserves was one of those soldiers who was at drew his bluff this is his first experience in combat and will not be his last because he loved his comrades will wind up at the Battle of sailors Creek the army now has changed quite a bit it's not the same tight group of volunteers it was in 1862 1863 is now full of conscripts about 40 to 45 percent of Lee's force I mean who were drafted as well as a handful of substitutes still facing him in the Richmond Petersburg defenses are not just one army but two armies the Army Potomac under George Gordon Meade and the army of the James under General Edward OC org huge massive armies 194,000 officers and men combined Lee is outnumbered almost three to one grant will use both of these armies to encompass the defenses of Petersburg and Richmond but also use these to test defenses what there was an action on the north side of the James River there's also action the south side was actually the north side of the Appomattox River was also an action on the south side so grant will test both he's got enough men and manpower and equipment to do so Lee cannot match that at all is Lee's army is melting away 150 years ago this month grant is building up his army for the spring campaign and part of that build-up will be with return of the army of the Shenandoah this is the Union Army that served in the shunda a valley in the fall of 1864 and what's important about that it's not so much the infantry that was part of that the 6th army corps Lin Army the Potomac but it's the Calvary Corps that was developed in the army the Shenandoah and the primary I guess the most symbol like personnel that apart from Phil Sheridan is a man named George Armstrong Custer does everybody know who Custer is I was heard that name before I'll have to tell you think about that but by the winter of 1865 this is the seat of war this is the difficulty that Lee has to face that's a huge line over 40 miles stretch of Defense's between Petersburg and Richmond that Lee is trying to defend with a force of about 55,000 officers and men outnumbered literally three to one by April 1st Lee realizes that the actions that are taking place west of Petersburg are going to doom his line eventually the last railroad line into the richard petersburg defense as the south side railroad is going to fall he sends a group under George Edward Pickett out to defend the last approaches to the south side railroad which results in the Battle of five forks April 1st 1865 the result is naturally a Confederate disaster the south side railroad Falls Lee knows he can no longer hold on this defensive line and orders withdrawal to the west what Lee wants to do at this point in April is to join forces with Joseph Johnson and the army that Tennessee is congregating around Raleigh North Carolina about 90 miles south of Petersburg he's going to withdraw all these troops move across the border into North Carolina and join forces there in one massive army that's the idea this is a great map of courtesy the Civil War trust of the Appomattox Campaign and it shows basically the difficulty that Lee is going to have in trying to get away from these two cities on secondary roads there are really no good roads west of Richmond or Petersburg they're going to take you south into North Carolina they're going to use part of the south side railroad if they could get to it and what Lee decides to do he'll withdraw his army August wagon trains concentrate here at a million courthouse concentrate there that's where he will feed his army supply them the march south encompassing or encumbering the March now our wagons loads and loads of wagons he'll have almost five weygand trains of ordnance supplies medical supplies whatever they can get out of the city military records Confederate records from the War Department Confederate money you name it is now going to encumber his columns as they move out they march they begin the march over night of April 3rd and concentrate by the 4th at Amelia courthouse now from there Lee is going to have to waste an entire day waiting for the ration train to show up it's a fatal flaw fatal error because this gives time for grant to move the army the James and the Army of the Potomac both west in pursuit of Lee but south and cut him off from the route to North Carolina if you look close at this map you can see where the courthouse is the direct route that lead one to take is down through this little place called Brookville right there and down the south side railroad between it and Amelia is a small place called Jeter's Ville the fifth Corps gets there first fifth Corps army the Potomac rise it used Ville first blocks Lee's route Lee has no other alternative but now to go further west to try to drive towards farmville which is next objective and Rice's Depot would you see right over here and see that OOP this farm bill vices station right there that's little concentrate is army again feed them and then turn south but naturally there's always somebody throws a monkey wrench into the works and the armed Potomac is close behind the hot pursuit primarily the second Corps of the Aaronic Potomac under a a Humphreys is going to follow the Confederate rearguard all the way from a million ways to the Battle of sailors Creek and some of the Calvary in front of the prophets division offers Corps rather from the Army Potomac primarily George crooks command Brigade or division rather will catch up with Confederate rearguard and what they call the Battle of pain ville Payne Vil really is not much of a battle at all is the Confederate rearguard with part of the wagon train will be captured there overrun the rearguard of about three or four hundred men surrender right away after a couple shots fired is completely overwhelmed but what they find in the Confederate train there is really important they capture at least a quarter of Lee's ordnance artillery shells musket balls everything they need to keep supplying an army for its fighting capability fall at Payne Ville along with that they also capture a lot of civilian wagons and carriages as one soldier wrote that the road from a Munich courthouse to Payne Ville was lined with carriages full of personal items the aristocracy the wealthy of Richmond they're all fleeing and they're taking everything they can with them they found furniture paintings mirrors everything you can think of all these personal items stacking these wagons and carriages clogging up the road it bogs Lee's men down because of all these civilians now mixing in the column and as a John Haley of the 17th Maine remember does they over ran one train that the wagons and the riders were just run down the Calvary would chase up to them throwing them off the horses or throw them off the wagons and some of these men would fight these Teamsters would put up a fight the guards would jump and hide behind some defensive point and peppers with pistols I think these fools risk their lives for goods it was they had not one cent of interest everything those wagons belong to the aristocracy our men made a lively search for small articles and in many cases were repaid with gold wealth and riches purse the aristocracy of Virginia and Richmond want to go back to this map again again none of the concentration between Amelia and farmville this is the difficulty at least going to have in that the Arth Potomac and the army of the James are blocking his road south it's a race West and Lee will not have time to stop and feed his army some of these men will not receive rations for five days they're starving and as the column marches on very rapidly constantly pursued men start to wander off looking for food I just start to think I've had enough I'm going home so Lee is now losing men upwards at one point one estimated at least a hundred hour between the march from Amelia courthouse a little place called Deaton's Ville which I'll show you in just a minute Dinah's Ville is located right here which marked April 5th this is where Lee reaches and he realizes if the roads blocked south now we have to concentrate all of his army all of his wagons everything is on one road and one Road only and that's the road to Deaton fill that will go through this place called Holt's corner and across Saylor's Creek pursuing them I mentioned earlier the army the Shenandoah the Calvary force this little pistol standing there Philip Sheridan I don't know how to describe him there's a number of words that can be used describe him they're not very complimentary this little Irishman was probably one of the foremost generals of the American Civil War because he could inspire men and he could make men and commands do the impossible and he knew during the beginning this campaign right from the very beginning at five forks to the end if you press Lee in his army that they will surrender he's going to get him into a corner and the term drive them sir drive them that was his constant order to everybody about where to go next what to do drive them you drive them he will use that term there in the banks of sealers Creek he orders the six Army Corps in the final attack there at that battle but significantly around him to are some of his Calvary commanders that will contribute greatly to this final campaign see sitting right there is Wesley Merritt is commanding the large division but really the core of the armed the Shenandoah nexium is Thomas Devon commander Brigade here at Gettysburg and of course George Armstrong Custer this Calvary force is like no other and the good fares have nothing to match it after Lee leaves Amelia Courthouse and concentrates the Deaton's fill on the orange light April 6 rather begins the March westward and this is a great map to show you how the armies will concentrate here at sailors Creek to get to Rice's Depot and Farmville and eventual supplies he needs and at least some place to rally his army Lee will have passed through sailors Creek but yes he's restricted one Road and that's the road here at past-due Deaton's ville past holt corner across sailors creek eventually rises Depot now countering or shadowing him to the south is the sixth Army Corps and part of the Army's Shenandoah which is this gray line here eventually lead up to the battle sailors Creek Sheridan is with that column to the north is the second Army Corps under a a Humphreys it was in hot pursuit of the Confederate rear column and the rearguard is John Gurdon those poor guys get the choice I mean what a terrible place to be when you're closely pursued John Gurdon and his second Corps are covering the rear of the Army of Northern Virginia in this retreat for three days straight and he's under constant combat for three days they'll put up defensive lines which were easily flanked and overrun and throughout April 6 until about 5 o'clock the evening Gordon will make seven or eight distinctive stands between Deaton's Ville and the final battle he faces at lockets farm Sanders Creek is divided really not into just one battle called the battle stealers Creek it's actually three battles Marshalls crossroads which is primarily a Calvary battle with a wagon train Hillsman farm which is right in the center of the battlefield that's the main part of the sailors Creek battle and in Locke it's farm or what they also call double bridges which the north we're going to take these one at a time at least show you basically how this battle developed and it really kind of begins right here at Holt's corner James Longstreet and his Corps and part of a wagon train are leading the column that day Longstreet basically is able to get through Holt's corner on the road from Deaton's fill to Rice's Depot untouched he doesn't have a problem right behind him is you'll score these are the Richmond defenses troops part with the naval brigade the Marines everybody else is tied in there as well as our H Anderson's two divisions of pickets and Bushrod Johnston's those are all infantry wealthy about 4000 officers and men but between sandwich all of them also the wagons as you'll gets the whole corner though he's confronted by Calvary a large Calvary division under George crook will stop him there by just deploying against him and probing and threatening his wagon train you'll is forced to stop he orders RH Anderson's division to form battle line and sent out skirmishes to drive these Calvary and back it's a fatal delay it will take about two to three hours in that two to three hours Jules Colin will be separated from Longstreet which continues to march on to Rice's depot unaware of what's going on behind them for some reason that area of Virginia the battle at sailors Creek could not be heard at Rice's Depot which is barely four miles away barely for month they could not hear the firing the guns going off and I don't know if it was the weather or the conditions the landscape but even the little skirmish that you'll was having holds corner could not be heard by Longstreet's column as it pulled away and eventually there was a three-mile separation between Ewell and Longstreet and the Union truth or to take advantage of this who George Armstrong Custer Custer's men along this route here down to a little place called prides Church which is right there it's that prides Church Custer's Scouts report to him that there's a wagon train directly ahead at a crossroads we call Marshalls crossroads undefended Custer at that point then encounter Sheridan who's at the head of the 6th Corps Sheridan says you take your column up there you attack that wagon train block the road I'm going to take the 6th Corps north we're going to come in behind them and trap them there on that at that crossroads Sharon leaves the infantry on this long roundabout route up behind eventually behind mules core and will go into their rear so now they're caught in a pincer movement there's nowhere for Yul Anderson to go except fight out there on the banks of sailors Creed this is the beginning of the end @ sailors Creek the begin the end of the army or the Virginia George crook is the man who has to hold up he does believe I think was so responsible for this action here at sailors at sealers Creek and he fights the holding action at Holt's crossroads Holt's crossroads by the way has not changed 150 years it's still just a very simple country crossroads today there's a closed-down store that was there and I remember many years ago during battle commemorations reenactments we had hundreds of re-enactors walking by in a very hot day the little family that ran that store that was the day they made it was like Black Friday for them they sold more stuff on that one single day in April of whatever the year the commemoration was because the reenact was commemorations going on at the battlefield but that's where crook who was part of the Army Potomac snot probably this army Shenandoah is part of the arm Potomac well encounter eul's column and make this fatal delay now you will make a terrible decision at this point he will order the wagon train following him to cut off to the right to follow another road called the Jamestown Road I want to go back this real quick the Jamestown Road is right here eventually crossed sailors Creek at lockets farm Gordon who is fighting this rearguard action throughout the day is hard pressed by the time he gets to holds corner Yul is gone Yulin Anderson are gone he doesn't know where they've gone but he sees the wagon train now going off to the right towards lockets farm to the north Gordon will follow that wagon train towards lockets farm Yul and Anderson continue down to sailors Creek basically lounge around the creek beside to rest for a little bit crook fights his action with drawers not going to Marshall crossroads this is where the battle really truly begins RH Anderson and has been crossed sailors Creek and they're resting there in the banks the Creek in the shade because there was exhausted men and just worn out they've been watching all day very little sleep no food at all when suddenly up ahead the wagon trains attacked by Custer and his column the Calvary man easy roll into the Train the drivers the the people who are there the laborers who are Manning the trains basically abandoned them they just cut the traces the horses the mules and ride off leaving the trains there when that word gets back that the Train is being attacked it's Anderson's division who rushes ahead Pickett's division is the first one there the infantry arrives just in time to drive the cowman back Custer is frustrated by this because he thinks the Calvary men are better much more superior to these infantry now so custody was very frustrated he falls back he tries another attack primarily from the southern end towards the crossroads which is right there named marshal crossroads for the marshal family whose home is right here on the right hand side Pickett's division arrives they throw up temporary breastworks they can't get the wagon train moving why the horses the mules are all gone the drivers cut traces ran off of the teams there's nowhere for the wagons to go custer tries again he's thrown back easily by this infantry group up there now and right behind him is bushwa Johnston's division which will extend the line further along Rice's Depot Road Johnston's men will also throw up a temporary line of works and might buy earthworks I'm talking about just throwing down fences some logs maybe throw up a little bit of dirt there's not really much there to stand behind as far as defense is a concern they form along that road Custer will try again and again again to retake that wagon train and we take Marshalls crossroads it's a great on-site sketch of Custer that was made by Alfred our wad who was accompanying Custer's column that day and by the time is about four o'clock in the afternoon thirty Custer's tried three times to get that crossroads he finally has all of his troops up and he's joined by crooks command over the left-hand-side crook will send in two of his brigades dismounted and one Brigade mounted and at the word the entire column moves forward and across and towards the crossroads the Confederate infantry answers with a volley Custer rise to the front waving his hat to his men shouts come on come on the Calvary war is ahead the soldier of the first Maine Calvary remembered it was electric running through the lines sabers flashing even it was a very dark day the sabers are flashing or everyone's heads and in the ranks the first main by the way where a number of men whose horse is it broken down several days before they picked up mules they pulled off farms these mules got caught up in the excitement and with their brain and the tails flying the ears flapping these mules actually ran ahead of some of the horses as they charged the Confederate works which their tails and leaped right amongst the Confederates it's a great depiction of the charge of second West Virginia at sailors Creek by Keith Rocca great artist and it shows some of the excitement in this final Calvary charge into the Confederate line they're recapturing the wagon train which now was alight some of the Confederates who are there and actually started to take things out of the wagons helped them sell they found rations rations they've not been given for four days now there's food to these wagons what's it doing their wife wasn't giving it to us these guys are occupied taking things out of the wagons some of the wagons are set on fire by artillery shells coming in and it's nothing but chaos and confusion Pickett and Johnson and Anderson all three lose complete control of their troops there and as the Calvary roars in Custer has been smashed through them everybody scatters everybody runs for their lives amongst them Johnson Anderson and Pickett all three will escape the battle that day where they'll lose almost 3,000 men from those two divisions and they'll also lose 300 wagons here at the crossroads now marshal cross was important what it does is it stop Yul's command you'll is like behind Anderson while Anderson's fighting at the crossroads mules along the banks of sailors Creek they can hear the firing up ahead but you'll has it's men just relaxing along the banks they're not really doing very much until they start hearing gunshots and bullets start landing over amongst them from the fight at Marshall's crossroad there's barely a mile or so ahead you will order his men start to dig in because behind him arrives to six army corps the second part of the fight we call Hillsman farm this is you'll versus the six Army Corps in Horatio right it's not just right though to be identified here because again I go back to Phil Sheridan as a leader of men Sheridan during the Shenandoah Valley campaign was significant in every battle he fought in at the battle especially of Cedar Creek that battle that day where his army was surprised on the banks of Cedar Creek and he was several miles north at Winchester Sheridan made this famous ride and along the way just waving his hat and yelling to his men he turned the disaster into a victory that's a type of power Phil Sheridan had with men and at the sailors Creek here is no different this is the Hillman farmhouse which is the last surviving original building on the battlefield it overlooks this part of the 6th Corps fight and the Union artillery about 20 guns the artillery brigade of the 6th Corps put their guns here to shell sailors Creek or the compared positions just opposite them maybe about a quarter mile away but Sheridan stood here by the Hillsman house and as the 6th Corps arrived the feeling was electric there's one officer wrote the men saw Sheridan standing on his horse waving his hat to the men and it was like electric everyone cheered and roared their approval that phil was here phil was here and as long as they were as far as they were concerned it fills Sheridan's on the field it was a sure victory but every man of those ranks every man those ranks a 6-quart or veteran men knew that the end of the Army of Northern Virginia was close no one wanted to be the last victim the last actually in the last battle as they form their battle line undercover this artillery the Confederates opposite of them on the other side of the creek waited the general map to show you the action there at the Hillsman farm the union is coming in on the Deaton's Phil Rice's Depot Road which is right here by the Hillsman house and this is where the artillery will set up the Confederates are opposite on the other side of the creek and opposite them natural B the two divisions actually four brigades from the six Army Corps will form battle line on this Ridge advance down through Saylor's Creek and eventually attack the Confederates over here this map these maps by the way come from an early study by Chris Caulkins who is the site supervisor at sails Creek State Battlefield and probably one of the foremost authorities on the Appomattox campaign as well as the Battle of sailors Creek Robert Stiles who is the major he's in command of a battalion of Virginia heavy artillery units now turne infantry he has men arrested just across theaters Creek over there some woods right here just taking it easy taking a break they don't know all the fight is going on Marshalls cross roads but he remembered we descended into a moist green little valley crossed a small stream called sailors Creek and halted the men were lying down and resting at the edge of a pine wood that crowned the elevation with a dissol tree fire going on ahead of us and bullets began to drop in but no one seemed to notice I was walking a hand-to-hand or man-to-man trying to cheer the boys when I heard this sudden commotion I ran over to see what was going on and going there I found the Flagstaff dry battalion had been cut in half splintered by a bullet I caught up to the bin hey we're going to make a record this is the first time these men have actually been out of Defense's in four years of war they're actually out in the field fighting face-to-face with Union troops they're going to make a record these have some Styles things and in some ways they are going to make a record here but the very next moment I heard an outcry someone yelled their brooken is killed I saw one of the men writhing on the ground he seemed to be partially paralyzed below the waist I said he was shot to the neck I saw no blood anywhere on him he had his roll of blankets on and sure enough a ball had gone through them through his jacket and into his flannel shirt but there the bullet was sticking in the back of his neck have it barely broken the skin talk about luck I pulled the bullet from the small wound and said oh here you are you know a dead man after all take that souvenir home and give it to your sweetheart that'll fix you all right and this Bella Brooke and his name was Acme Buckland took the bullet in his hand Rach they're minute since Thank You major I think I will be okay he's going to survive the battle he thinks book and unfortunately will be killed later on in this action styles as men then start to receive artillery fire from across the creek and this is where situation turns completely deadly at one point Stiles remembered a 20-pound parrot shell struck immediately in my front nearly severing a man in Twain and hurling him bodily over my head his arms hanging down his hands almost slapping me in the face as they passed that one awful moment I distinctly recognized the young man who's just leaving before had gazed in my face so intently asking whether he would be safe or not that's war that's what happens when you see a fellow in your command who you know very well suddenly cut in half and thrown over you this is very serious business here on the banks of sailors Creek the sixth Corps formed battle and undercover the artillery they advance through the creek the creek itself is pretty swollen because all the rain has gone on the past couple of days prior to this and even throughout the day of April 6 is rain the whole entire day so the creek is swollen in some cases they have to hold the boxes and rifles up over their heads one man will go in up to his chest sailors treat today the banks are maybe about 2 or 3 feet on each side but there's also a lot of swamp and lowland around it and they had to wade through all that swamp to get there a number 6 Corps veterans always remarked seals Creek was more like a swamp than a small creek to cross and once they got across the creek the Confederate skirmishes opened up on them I mean we're dropping in the water here and there but the scattering fire really did not pause make us pause in our advance up the hill because we knew what was up ahead up at the top of the hill Yul's men had dug their temporary line gwc lee on the north side of the road you'll and Kershaw on the south side and this is basically what they saw coming up that hill this photograph was taken in 1979 at one of the last good reenactments at Saylor's creek and was taken there right on the original battlefield these Confederate reenactors are in the original trench line that eul's men dug April 6 1865 and down below those Union troops is the banks of sailors Creek Robert Stiles and his men because our tell me now these are the men they're going to make a record as a confess as the Union troops are marching up that hill he knows is a funny thing because everything is still as the grave but I see Union troops waving white handkerchiefs at us and as no word spoken but they evidently asking for us to surrender several other men and Lee's command also noticed this some of the Union troops are waving white handkerchiefs and calling for the Confederates lay down your arms and surrender it's not worth another day of blood it's not worth it they're answered with a staggering volley as they approach the top of the hillside get close to eul's men the Confederates open up in one solid volley it strikes a number of the Union troops the front line they go down they immediately begin to return fire unfortunately in the center of Edwards brigade which is right in the center of the 6th Corps line the veterans 2nd Rhode Island command breaks and gives way and even in the aftermath of the war when the veterans of the 2nd Rhode Island looked back on their record nor could explain really why what happened that day well there was something about being staggered by this sudden volley that makes them break and fall back into the banks of the swamp at Saylor's Creek and with them goes part of the 49th Pennsylvania also the other connecting part of that brigade it's right in front of Stiles's battalion styles men are not discipline infantry and what happens when they see these Union troops retreating the chase after them they go right after them firing as they go shooting it becomes this wild melee it's right the center of the line and now it looks like maybe the Confederates are gonna be able to hold back maybe the Confederates are going to be able to hold these Union troops back and win the day here at sailors Creek things change very dramatically as they approach the second Rhode Islanders along the banks of sailors Creek these men are veterans they're stopped by the creek there's nowhere to go but to fight I turn around begin to fire and the styles as men and it just becomes an undisciplined mob the right part of Stiles's battalion gets around the one lone regiment that's left behind the 37th Massachusetts is about 300 officers and men it gets behind them and attacks them from the rear and as the captain of the 37th reported that before we knew it the yank the Confederate troops had flanked us we're on our rear just as I can right now we turned around simultaneously and began to fire into them if it not been for our holding had not been for us having the Spencer rifles we had we probably would have been overwhelmed the 37th Massachusetts is armed with the 7 shot repeating Spencer rifle who are it's here at tom Roberts program last weekend he showed you the cart the Spencer carbine the Spencer rifle even though it hadn't been produced in 1865 they stopped production of it had been issued to a number of regiments in the 6th Corps the three 7th Massachusetts was one of those regiments fortunate to have them and every veteran who was there that day said it made a difference they were isolated they were cut off have not been for those rifles being able to load and fire so fast as they did they would have been overwhelmed I don't think anyone in Stiles's command realized what they're up against as the 37th says we did not give them one inch of ground and a Stiles wrote later on we're attack simultaneously front and rear quicker than I can tell it that battle too generated to butchery and confused melee of personal of brutal conflicts men rolling on the ground like wild beasts the bayonet was freely used men were clubbed struck in the head fists were used anything that was handy to kill and maim in the middle of this Bailey Stiles saw a tragic event he cautioned his men not to wear Union overcoats they've been issued Union overcoats while they're in the defenses of Richmond and for some reason I know where the codes came from probably captured picked up somewhere these men still wore them during the campaign he told them to get in the battle take those coats off unfortunately middle of this ballet he sees one of his soldiers still wearing an overcoat I cautioned them against wearing them especially in battle had not been able to enforce the order almost at my side I witnessed a young fellow of one of my companies Jam the muzzle of his musket against the back of the head of his most intimate friend clad in Yankee overcoat and blow his brains out I tried to strike the musket barrel up but alas my sword had broken in the clash I could not reach him in time as Captain Hopkins of 37th Massachusetts talked about this Bay lay down there we had barely time to face about the charges in a desperate hand-to-hand fight with swords pistols and bayonets ensued had we not been armed with a Spencer rifle we should not have been able to maintain our position in the aftermath of this fight between the three 7th Massachusetts the Stiles's battalion there are 390 officers and men they'll be captured eventually surrendered to the 37th Massachusetts they're able to drive Stiles has been back into less of the ravine that runs right there by the Deaton's Ville Road and the aftermath Hopkins will go down to that ravine and count 80 bodies stack one upon another there in the road all the destructive value or destruction really caused by the Spencer rifles they had that day styles of men this little counter-attack is the only thing bright spot if you want to call it a bright spot that day of the battle Stiles has been thrown back eventually the entire Confederate line will collapse under the Union pressure they cannot stand against that Union pressure over on the left side Hamlin's Brigade gets a round Kershaw's left flank rolls them right up and men start to surrender in droves they're exhausted they're tired it's easier just to throw down the musket and give up at this point because there's nowhere to go right behind them at that very critical point rides Custer's Cal vermin the same ones who came in at Marshalls crossroads are now come in behind the Confederate infantry and ordering them surrender they're picking up officers picking up swords picking up battle flags over 50 battle flags will be captured here at sailors Creek that day from the Confederate the curiosity about this whole thing is right in the middle of this with the sailors and the Confederate States Marines a Commodore Tucker was able to pull his little marine Brigade back from the line as things started to collapse they found shelter in this thicket of pine woods General Joseph Kieffer commander brigade of the 6th Corps on the left right part of the line road ahead is true for now gathering up prisoners you wrote ahead he saw this group gather in the pine woods and it's getting dark this is all about 6:00 6:30 you can tell who they re rides into them and realizes oh my gosh she's our Confederates so what's he do they can't identify him either he just says boys March this way move out and he starts to lead the column mount Tucker not knowing who this man is says come on boys come with me so the whole circle aye aye sir they're all falling them out and once they get onto the open out of the thicket one of the business shouts hey that's a Yankee lodging need to yell I'm sorry that's a Yankee and they start to shoot at him well Tucker is not really sure if it's a federal or not he put stops the man from shooting and Captain John Simms was charged the cs marine battalion also tells his men don't shoot don't shoot don't shoot we don't know if that's a good or we get out of here we don't know we don't know and it isn't a moment later Keefe returns the flag of truce to Tucker and says you were surrounded everyone around you is given up there's no way for you to go and Tucker looks at Sims with to confer with jeredy they turn over their swords there's a last organized group they're on Hillsman farm to surrender what's unique about this two is the prisoners are all being gathered together obviously the Confederate Navy Seaman stand aside because their uniforms very different for everybody else and the story goes is one federal columns coming by a federal officer looks at me and says what uniform is that the band says what's Confederacy Navy and he says my heavens have you gunboats all the way up here too now let's go to lock its farm this is the last episode this little tragic event here sailors Creek is it occurring at the Northside lockets farm or double bridges it's called that because there are two bridges that cross over Appomattox over the uh excuse me the sealers Creek at this point sailors Creek splits just below the Lockett house the Lockett house still stands there today privately owned and still bear scars to the battle they're bullet holes all through it and the family owned it a very nice they're very congenial and they're really willing to preserve that house exactly the way it looked at the time the battle or at least as close to as they can and fortunately have to go as a marker to the paddle of sailors Creek right in the front yard but this house stands in a slight Ridge and overlooks sailors Creek and the crossing they're what they call double bridges there were two small wooden bridges that crossed over the creek at this point and suddenly out of nowhere in about 430 rises huge wagon train a Confederate ordnance supplies personal baggage and they're rolling down over these bridges these bridges are not built please V heavy wagon to wagon is that the army uses they're built for little carriages little farm wagons and sure enough about 25 wagons or so get across what happens the bridges collapse and now the wagon train is stuck the double bridges I talked about it right here below the Lockett farm house which is right there still staying today and the road splits just above Lockett at this point where Gordon's men are being pressed all along this roads the Jamestown Road Gordon's going to be pressed back by the Union second Corps in a Humphreys he gets to a point here where part of the wagon train will split off and go into the small Road which doesn't exist anymore the trace is still there but the small Road that goes to the north side across the sailors croak right sailors Creek right here a place called Parkinson's mill fortunately that bridge there is a little bit stronger than the two bridges that double and it does stand up at least for the first hundred wagons to get across before it collapses and now Gordon is stuck he's caught between a rock and a hard place the wagon trains are jammed up all along Sid or sailors Creek and he is stuck between them and the Army Potomac coming in right behind him called McCarthy was a member of the Richmond howitzers they're marked about they'd gotten their guns down to the creek and just across and we're setting up when he looked up ahead and out of the trees at the top of this Ridge he could see a union color guards come forward out of the trees there's a color barrier with two or three guards they trained one of the guns on the color guard fired around the color guard went down color barrier the two men fall down flat thought we did away with them suddenly out of the trees come every Yankee in the world coming down towards them charging cursing shooting it was nothing but chaos there was nowhere for them to go McCarthy needs men fired one two more rounds tried to limber up and could not get away two or three guns were lost in the melee that followed General Pierce came as a second brigade through division of the Second Army Corps his Brigade followed a route that came right by the Lockett farm here where they first opened fire driving Gordon's main bank debt bins back towards double bridges as they got above double bridges it's a slight plane down at the bottom which is pretty swampy he sent two regiments to 57th PA and I believe it was the 17th Maine both those regiments charged down into double bridges and into the wagon trains and it was chaos in the trains itself the drivers were kind of limber sluice trying to get away get the horses and the Mules away horses and mules were dropping on each other so one of the wagons caught on fire and the flames are shooting up in the air ordnance is going off out of this wagon they're shooting each other through the wagons itself they're double bridges and other wagon appiah other wagons following them are panicked the drivers drive their wagons down to this plane trying to get across sailors Creeper there's nowhere to cross they get bogged down in the mire and men are it's chaos perfect chaos as one Confederate soldier remembered we fired our first volley and our Colonel look I said boys look out for yourselves and that was that Gordon lost complete control the align collapsed three hundred and some wagons were lost at lockets farm as well and what's really important about this is that was the last part of lee's ordnance that ammunition supplies were lost there curiously - lost there was Joan Longstreet's personal baggage train the officers and the other men Union of course - lied themselves by trying on Confederate officers uniforms that night and praying around with Confederate swords and all these other things Mahone's up when Mahone's personal baggage train was also captured there as well as Gordon's train and what they found and some of the wagons were barrels and barrels of brand new Confederate notes brand new Confederate notes wild up some of the Confederate prisoners that night as these Union troops came along hanging them their pay was worthless as one soldier wrote there was some card games that night without land use outlandish bids several thousands of dollars the Confederate notes were passed back and forth and fires were started with it so that was I guess some joy for some of these men at least all the stuff they found those wagon trains and unfortunately they did find - was again rations has not been issued to those men during those past couple days why didn't hand those men out who were starving something not eaten for days why not hand those rations out two men who were starving instead of trying to save them it's still a question that can't be answered today where is Lee Lee has ridden at the head with Longstreet column they're poaching Rice's Depot and he's at the back of the column with Lee Mahone's division riding with Jill Mahone it's only how the blue Crone Charles Venable longstaff rides up and says General Lee there's a battle it's sailors Creek we hear the fighting back here behind us and you'll lead a surprise this is war where is Anderson I had not heard from him I've not heard from you land I heard from anybody where are they and then he becomes concern because he in the distance he can barely hear the rum of the musketry in the cannon going off he asked Jill Mahone attorneys division round to march back to sailors Creek I'm going to find out what's going on back there as they march back towards sailors Creek he comes to a crossing of big sailors Creek the battle sailors Creek is actually a long little sailors Creek big sailors Creek is about another two miles to the west and this bridge crossing there this overlook that Leo ride up and the look at what he sees in front of him totally devastates the man you can only imagine as I talked about earlier the army Northern Virginia is symbolized by robert e lee it's not just his army his command basically the army itself is his son and Lee looks down he sees this massive plane of refugees running toward him panic-stricken most the men without arms or weapons me them having from their accouterments their equipments away he can only stand there and shock and he says to himself my god has the army dissolved beside of Joe Mahone says no general there are men who are willing to do their duty he points to the men of his division right behind him Lee gets himself together strains himself up says yes we need all good true men right now Thank You general would you please help me keep these people back give me time Mahone forms a battle line and watch that Lee writes down there into the refugees these men running back grabs a battle flag to rally them and they just flocked to him almost like kids to Santa Claus why is that because they're strengthened Lee they've lost faith they've lost strength they've lost everything except for their army commander what he symbolized to them no matter what he's going to make it right and Lee himself rallies his men that says something about the greatness of this man that only he do this at Gettysburg and counts other battlefields but again here in the final waning days when his army is falling to pieces it Lily dissolved he's willing to ride amongst the lowest of the low to rally these men to put their strength back to get their courage back their bravery back say we need you good and true right now and that's why they idolize this man that's why they idolize robert e lee the lee realizes the sailors creek is a devastating blow from which he'll never recover out of that battle irreparable losses the numbers right there you can read them I'll have to read them to you 7700 estimated prisoners there were so many prisoners they lost count at least 6,000 from eul's and art Anderson's commands and at least an additional 1,700 from Gordon's command there were also an additional 800 or so that were killed men just disappear they never did find them some of these were the drivers the laborers that accompanied the army engineers and like that but the losses there could not be replaced it's Lily a quarter of Lee's army is lost at sailors Creek in this one day battle it begins about five o'clock by 6:30 it's all over amongst losses excuse me amongst the losses are nine generals one of them George Washington Custis Lee Lee's son commanding a division there he has captured actually by a private there's two people that claim capture of him one was a corporal in the 121st New York Harris Hawthorne and Yellen was a private David White of Company III 7th Massachusetts who also claimed to be the one to capture of General Lee Lieutenant WC morale of the 37th Massachusetts that approached Lee accepted his sword and surrender the other notable person who was killed there was this man Stapleton Crutchfield he may not be familiar to a lot of you but in the beginning part of the war he was the artillery miss artillerists of our tourists it goes he was still well Jackson's chief of artillery and was in charge of artillery all the way into the Battle of Chancellorsville we so severely wounded that cost to the leg he was confined at that point to the defenses of Richmond and Stapleton Crutchfield was one of those officers who was in charge of all his heavy artillery units out of the defenses of giri's Bluff and defenses of Richmond he was killed that afternoon under the counter attack led by Stiles's battalion a Union artillery shell passed through he and his horse and within a handful of minutes he bled to death and passed away there he's probably the most notable Confederate though killed there on the banks of sailors Creek there are other casualties as well I talked about Lee was rallying those men there at the banks the big sailors Creek he noticed he had to notice couple officers their staffs right by and I even bothered to try to help two of them were Bushrod Johnson and George Edward Pickett these two men had their divisions and Marshalls crossroads both of them divisions were destroyed there and both them ran away with their staffs untouched and not bother to try to rally them in they just raced back as fast as they could go it had really hurt Lee personally you know there his general officers we're not even bothered to rally the troops a job that he was doing the job that they should be doing among them two was our H Anderson Anderson was able to escape with two members of his staff passed back at least tried to rally some of his men but what Lee realized that night was there's not enough left to even command what you call a division somebody that rank there barely 300 men left in pushrod Johnson's division and I think about 400 in Pickett's division that's all they were able to get away from the battle for the sailors Creek that nightly cut orders that relieved Anderson Johnson and Pickett from command Johnson and Anderson left the army Pickett either chose to disregard the orders or never got the orders we don't know we wound up at Appomattox Courthouse we're supposed the famous utterance was made by Lee I don't think that man was seen longer with the army these men are just as much casualties of sales Creek as those who were killed captured died there on the banks of sailors Creed amongst the aiming guests there that night those nine Jones I talked about one was Colonel Frank huger huger was in charge of Longstreet's artillery and at the Battle of Marshall crossroads just as the conversed Union Calvary charge comes up he's trying to gaze artillery set up the counter override him he's captured he is a classmate of George Armstrong Custer and Custer meets him that night I invited over to his headquarters there's a tent set up Hugo will stay that night in Custer's tent be fed cared for they talk about old times at West Point just like it was yesterday customer also entertained several other officers and men at ease headquarters at night including Colonel F a huntin rigger general general epic Onan huntin was suffering from I think was the effects of malaria during this campaign he was so sick he could hardly ride his horse and he was brought into Custer's headquarters Custer ordered his personal surgeon to look after general hunting and hunting later wrote if it had not been for Custer's kindness he did not think he could have survived the night and I think what it was was the personal surgeon brought up a nice bottle of French brandy I wish Hutton literally took grams of and felt much better in the morning Custer also invited several other generals to his tent that night and that's where they stay that night he fed them basically gave them bedding they bedded down for that in Custer's tent jo Ewell was also captured there spent the night at general writes ten general rights commanders of the six Army Corps and you'll and his staff surrendered in mass say with the Marshall House and what's unfortunate is is you'll being in the I character he was he was a good general one point but a guide to the point he just didn't really know what to do with himself and the staff was staying there as the flags of truce has gone out and negotiating of the surrender and you'll just says to himself tomatoes are good I have to get some clothes for his final words as a commander in Northern Virginia the next morning John Kershaw from South Carolina has been given a blanket in Custer's tent he arises early to see the Union column of Calvary is already mounting on the road and he notes that across the road from them near Marshalls crossroads all the prisoners now have been heard together and there's something about the battle sailors Creek that's very unique we go through this hour of brutality between five six five and six thirty the night before but that night Union troops of the 6th Corps in the Cal vermin who pursued these men dogged them for days on end did everything they could to feed these Confederate prisoners men empty their haversacks shared what they could with their Confederate counterparts Campbell Brown was on jeonyoul staff remembered a big Dutchman they did not like the Germans they thought the Germans of the brutalist of all the Union soldiers this big Dutchman came up and empty his haversack every last little morsel to all the men around him and said he would go get more and come back and he did came back and gave more whatever he could find and he ate the big Dutchman ain't nothing that night but at least the Confederate counterparts did man named up WL Timberlake who was in Crutchfield's battalion remembered that during the height of the fight his gun jam he finally threw it down and things are falling apart he jumped in this Creek to try to get a drink of water but the water was bloody so he didn't drink it as he jumped out he surprised Union Calvary man the cowman reined in his horse and cursed at him the damn you almost cut your eyes rolled over you then he rode on later another Union Calvin came up Timberlake thought well this is it I'm going to be run through the Calvin said are you hungry Johnny he says well that's a strange question to ask of Johnny he says well come over here you got a knife Codman turned his horse around here he had a small ham hanging off his saddle said cut you a slice I'm in a hurry to relate could have sliced his ham off the cabin game a couple pieces of hardtack said take care of Johnny and rode on as Timberlake said if had not been for that Yankee cabin god bless him I never to survive the die the next morning is Custer and his men are gathering on the road Kershaw notices that all these Calvin ride up with his captured Confederate flags was always a post of honour and Custer's column that everyone who captured battle fight right behind the general and his staff right behind them was the band of course she could have watched with a band Custer did nothing without his band the day before at Marshalls crossroads the band played amongst the the roar of the cannon the roar that could the snap of the Calvary carbines the band played to inspire people to go into battle and now the band rode up and was going to basically play the songs as they marched again in pursuit of lead eventually to Appomattox Courthouse cap James Stevenson the first New York cavalry marked about this moment as Custer took the road he ordered the band to strike up Bonnie Dundee on approaching the prisoners he spied the group of officers and raised his hat bowing politely as he galloped past the action was repeated by his staff and the rebels seemed electrified by the unlooked-for civility general Kershaw turned the others exclaimed by god that man as the embodiment of chivalry and the next moment the rebel yell was heard our boys returned the compliment with three rousing cheers and the band struck up the Bonnie Blue Flag which made the prisoners wild with the light remarkable that the day after such a brutal battle these men treat each other not as former enemies as Americans Salus creek is a unique battle for a number of instances number reasons there are many things that come out of that battler number of relics that are on display down at the sailors Creek battle for Museum on the battlefield itself is number of relics have turned up here and there if you were at Tom Holbrook's program last weekend you heard about this canteen the belong to sergeant John Cook Company D 95th Pennsylvania this is an exact reproduction of sergeant cooks jacket which is now housed at the Museum at Fredericksburg Spotsylvania National Military Park and I have to admit that there's always been a soft spot in my in my heart for this regiment why I don't know I'm from North Carolina they're from Philadelphia vall places I don't even II girls fan but there's something about this regiment was unique because it's one of the last Zouave regiments that survived the war and this was their last ballot sailors Creek John Cook had been through all four years of the war as a sergeant he'd been wounded four times the fourth time came there in the banks against Kershaw's men fighting against Mississippians Parkdale whole brigade at sitter's Creek wounded severely by a bullet to the leg he can't walk he's taken by ambulance eventually to Burke Ville Junction and Edberg field junk she lays on a platform beside his Mississippi captain named Smith and together the two for the next couple of days will share water out of this canteen years later when Cooke is an old man he realizes there's something important about this he has to tell a story so he ties a small tag to the not there in this in the sling because this knot was tied when Joan Sharon called for the final charge it's a was Creed and with it this other tag that probably his daughter his son typed up the story the cantina in 1862 at South Mountain how he gave water to a dying Confederate out of the out of that canteen and then at Saylor's Creek he's carrying this canteen he's wounded he winds up at Burke Ville Junction on the platform beside him is Captain Miss Smith Mississippi and for the next three days they will share the water from his canteen and his cook later writes they hear eventually of the sir gender of the army Northern Virginia and he writes on the tag Captain Smith blue I threw a bloody arm around me I threw my arm around him and we hugged and there were no words there was no shouting just the tears of rejoicing that the war was over you can give me Lee's uniform you can give me Grant's sword you can give me to comes as coat Sherman's coat to me the most important relic of the war is that one right there because it tells such a great story of war and comradeship a time of war when the greatest relics has ever survived the American Civil War we're fortunate to have it here in our museum there's other stories to tell about sailors Creek I know I'm really going way over time here when it kind of kind of short medals of Honor there are a number of metal of honors awarded for actions at sailors Creek and one of them goes right this man Thomas Custer's George Armstrong Custer's brother it's the second medal of honor he will win and he does it in quite a demanding manner during the final charge on Marshalls crossroads Custer at the head of the 6th Michigan Calvary rise into the infantry of Pickett's division he sees a color bearer he rides ahead drags into the color bear grabbed for a flag when someone with a pistol shoes Custer right in the face hitting the right side custody reels back in his saddle but sits up is able to grab the color grab this flag wrest it from the flood the hands of the color bearer and takes it back as a souvenir and on the way back he approaches his brothers his Armstrong the damn rebels shot me but I got my flag he also got his second Medal of Honor which he's wearing their on the uniform the illustration the right shows some of the flags that group them the flags that were captured sailors Creek meaning that Baikal vermin who some of the infringement always claimed well they just came and picked him up we capture him threw him down the counterman came help themselves and all of them eventually got the middle of honor for that one of the best stories that comes out of this battle is this one about this little man over here to the right Samuel Eddie cover Edie 37th Massachusetts I was telling you earlier about the fight with Stiles battalion the fight against the 37th Massachusetts at one point the 37th is able to throw these Confederates back into this ravine the smoke and the dust is filling the air lights being lost the firings finally dies down and as the captain of the 37th wrote something the firing picked up again and we able to had to throw them back and basically suppress them with our Spencer rifles during that law out of the smoke a Confederate colonel followed by another Confederate soldier approached the 37th Massachusetts they cease firing the adjutant James Bradley saw this Confederate officer approached and went up to him thinking is going to surrender the officer extended his sword when he saw there were only about 250 soldiers there weren't more than that he suddenly drew the sword back pulled his pistol shot Bradley and shoulder Bradley real dragged at the sword we added the officer and the two tumbled down the bank into the ravine amongst the other Confederates where the officer stood up fired again shooting Bradley right through the leg Bradley is now disabled the officer cocked a pistol again stood over him the pistol right to the man's head is if to kill him Samuel ad saw this he raised from the ranks and just the nick of time killed the colonel at point-blank range saving Bradley's life in doing so his other soldier behind the Confederate colonel wearing evidently a union overcoat rammed bready eddie writes the breasts with a bayonet by the point all the way through threw him back in the ravine pinned into the ground the bayonet went all the way through him he's standing over Eddie holding the rifle and grabs for the Spencer trying to wrest it out of Eddie's hands Eddie is a 42 year old man from Chesterfield Massachusetts was a blacksmith before the war his hands are like iron he will not let that Spencer go and as he wrestles over the Spencer evenly the bayonets run through him he's able to kick in another shell pull the gun around and shoot his assailant who falls over him Eddie gets up pulls the bayonet out of his chest throws the man off of him walks them on the halfback to field headquarters and for that he gets the Medal of Honor it's a remarkable story and whether stories that you don't really hear about until a couple years ago Chris Hawkins actually discovered it wrote quite a bit about it in these Appomattox histories but it's just it's such an immortal story of bravery to try to save his officer and then to go through what he did with a bayonet all the way through him doing one of his lungs just off the spine guy was like iron and he lived to a ripe old age he finally died in 1903 I believe died 1909 the age of 86 received the Medal of Honor 1897 the illustration there was one I did years ago don't pay much attention to it trying to illustrate what happened this remarkable story is just one of the many stories of bravery because they're stories of bravery but they're also stories of compassion there at sailors Creek and why is this battle important it's important because it is basically the end of the army of the Virginia never again will Lee be able to feel the type of troops he had here at during the at max campaign it all begins right there at sailors Creek fortunately today the battlefield a large part of it has been preserved they have about 400 acres there and thought eight years ago it became a state park they built a very nice visitor center which is there today full of relics at walking trails in the battlefield they talk about importance of the battle it's well preserved a lot of people don't go there because it's a very rural part of Virginia but trust me folks if you get a chance to hear during 150th anniversary stop by and visit sailors Creek and remember these people I've just told you about Phil Sheridan Richard Yul Kershaw Custer all these men it all comes together here's sailors Creek but I go back to the feelings of Confederate Veterans to the ones who called it the blackest day of the army as one soldier put it captain Fred Cole stood in all my service in the army of the Virginia I never ran until sailors Creek if anybody has any questions about the battle or anything else please feel free to ask me here's a couple of books I recommend about reading about the bow sailors Creek and about the Appomattox Campaign there's a number of others out there these are the ones I would concentrate on they're fairly easily to get a hold of and they're all pretty detailed thanks for coming this afternoon I've gone too long thanks for coming folks enjoy the Super Bowl tonight have a safe trip home thank you you you

Channel: GettysburgNPS

Views: 193,315

Rating: 4.7269626 out of 5

Keywords: Battle Of Sailor's Creek, Battle Of Gettysburg (Military Conflict), American Civil War (Military Conflict), gettysburg, Robert E. Lee (Military Commander), Ulysses S. Grant (US President)

Id: 3cmkTjAwRuk

Length: 73min 37sec (4417 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 04 2015