General Longstreet built breastworks here to protect the rear of Lee’s army at Appomattox Court House. On the morning of April 9, General Lee arrived hoping to meet General Grant. After learning that he was approaching from another route, Lee rode back to the village.
At this point Lee’s army would change its line of march: Gordon’s corps now took the lead while General James Longstreet’s corps became the rear guard. They would continue to be pursued by Union army corps under the direction of Generals Humphreys and Wright.
Generals Grant and Meade used this location for their headquarters during the night. Grant stayed in the house, and it was here where he received Lee’s second letter suggesting a peace meeting. He left the next morning and rode on to Appomattox Court House.
The Confederate army marched through this tobacco town, followed by the Union army. Lee hoped to issue rations to his men here before turning south but was forced to flee across the Appomattox River. Grant sent his first dispatch to Lee concerning surrender from here.
From here you can see the 1914 steel railroad bridge that spans the Appomattox River above the brick piers of the antebellum High Bridge, which carried the South Side Railroad. The old wooden bridge and the wagon bridge, just to the east of it, were the scene of two desperate engagements in April 1865. The […]
Confederate troops entrenched here to protect the road from Burkeville Junction and skirmished with Union troops advancing from that direction.
In this ground, the Confederate column and wagon train became bogged down while crossing Sailor’s Creek. The Union forces in pursuit then assailed the Southerners and captured a large number of prisoners and wagons before darkness put an end to the fighting.
Here, around the home of James S. Lockett, desperate fighting occurred near sundown on April 6, 1865, when the Union corps commanded by Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys almost overwhelmed Gen. John B. Gordon’s Confederate corps. The house, just across the road, still bears the scars of battle.
Union forces assembled along this ridge while Confederate troops prepared on the opposite slope. Federal forces crossed Little Sailor’s Creek for a fierce battle which compelled many Southerners to surrender. The house served as a hospital for both armies.
At this road junction, part of Lee’s army turned north while the main portion continued ahead to the crossing of Little Sailor’s Creek.
