PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE SAILORS CREEK SEMINAR

October 21, 2000

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The jumping-off point of the tour. Ranger Born explains, as participants gather closer, that Gen. Ewell left orders for Gen. Gordon to hold the crossroads where we were standing at all costs on April 6, 1865. Gordon was to hold the Union army in abeyance while the Confederate supply wagons took a route parallel to that of the Confederate army.

This monument on the battlefield stands as a memorial to both the Union and Confederate men who fought there on April 6, 1865. The Union lost 1,150 men. The Confederacy lost 7,700 men.

Chief Ranger Dave Born with a map of Sailors Creek

The first group nearing the Hillsman House" (The Hillsman House was used by Gen. Pickett and his staff as their headquarters during the early afternoon of April 6, 1865.)

Once inside the Hillsman House, Ranger Born recounts how Mrs. Hillsman was busy making ash cakes in the basement fire place and handing them out through windows to the Confederate soldiers until the Union Sixth Corps arrived.

Participants of all ages were captivated by Ranger Born's description of the events inside the Hillsman house after the Battles of Sailors Creek. Mrs. Hillsman and her two young children were locked in the basement while Union surgeons worked upstairs. The blood stains are still on the floor.

From this position, the Hillsman house can be seen directly above the letter "e" in the word "line." General Ewell was defending this position against Wright's Sixth Corps after a fierce Union artillery bombardment. It is here that Kershaw's and (Custis) Lee's lines broke, forcing a massive Confederate retreat toward Rice, Virginia where Generals Lee and Longstreet waited for the rest of the army.

The Lockett farm was the site of final skirmishing at the Battles of Sailors Creek. The large frame farmhouse is a short distance from Double Bridges. It was here that General Gordon's men were battered by Union forces. The Lockett house is occupied today and bears scars from April 6, 1865 in the form of bullet holes.

Bullet holes in the side of the Lockett farmhouse

Pickett Society President, Pat Wood, presenting "JEB Stuart's Journal" to Ranger Born, an avid Cavalry enthusiast

Participants enjoy a break to visit and ask questions

The first page of signatures of men in Gen. Pickett's Division who signed as parolees April 9, 1865. About 800 of General Pickett's men surrendered with him at Appomattox.