Battle of Sailor ' s Creek The Battle of Sailor ' s Creek ( also known as Sayler ' s Creek , Hillsman Farm , or Lockett Farm ) was fought on April 6 , 1865 , near Farmville , Virginia , as part of the Appomattox Campaign , in the final days of the American Civil War . It was the last major engagement between the armies of Gen . Robert E . Lee and Lt . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant before the capitulation of Lee ' s Confederate army at Appomattox Court House three days later . Background . After Lt . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant broke the Confederate defenses at the Siege of Petersburg , Gen . Robert E . Lee ' s Army of Northern Virginia evacuated Petersburg and Richmond on the night of April 2 – 3 and began a retreat in hopes of linking up with Gen . Joseph E . Johnston ' s army in North Carolina . As the Union Army pursued , and engaged the Confederates in the Battle of Namozine Church ( April 3 ) and the Battle of Amelia Springs ( April 5 ) , Lee discovered that his route to Danville was blocked by fast - moving Union cavalry under Maj . Gen . Philip Sheridan . His only remaining option was to move west on a long march , without food , to Lynchburg . But the Confederate Commissary General promised Lee that he would send 80 , 000 rations to Farmville , 25 miles ( 40 km ) to the west . Battle . On April 6 at Sailor ' s Creek , nearly one fourth of the retreating Confederate army was cut off by Sheridan ' s cavalry and elements of the II and VI Corps . Two Confederate divisions , led by Maj . Gens . Custis Lee and Joseph B . Kershaw , under the command of Lt . Gen . Richard S . Ewell , fought the VI Corps along the creek . VI Corps attacked after an artillery bombardment . The Confederates counter attacked but were driven back at last . Union artillery under Maj . Andrew Cowan deployed at the Hillsman Farm played a key role in their repulse . Soon after , the Union cavalry cut through the right of the Confederate lines . Most Confederates surrendered , including generals Ewell , Kershaw , Custis Lee , Seth M . Barton , James P . Simms , Meriwether Lewis Clark , Sr . , Dudley M . Du Bose , Eppa Hunton , and Montgomery D . Corse . Col . Stapleton Crutchfield was killed leading a detachment of artillery personnel who had participated in the defenses of Richmond . Also present at this battle was Confederate Commander John Randolph Tucker and his naval squadron ( 300 – 400 strong ) , and so sailors were fighting at Sayler ' s Creek . Farther away , II Corps pushed back Maj . Gen . John Brown Gordon , who had mistakenly been on a different road . Aftermath . Upon seeing the survivors streaming along the road , Lee exclaimed in front of Maj . Gen . William Mahone , " My God , has the army dissolved ? " to which he replied , " No , General , here are troops ready to do their duty . " Touched by the faithful duty of his men , Lee told Mahone , " Yes , there are still some true men left . . . Will you please keep those people back ? " Naming the battle . 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 Sayler ' s Creek Battlefield was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985 .