Open fires are prohibited throughout the park from midnight to 4 p.m. through April 30 per the 4 p.m. Burning Law. This includes wood and charcoal. Gas is permissible. Campground fires are allowed during the restricted time if a camp host is on duty and signage to that effect is posted in the campground. Failure to observe the 4 p.m. Burning Law can result in a fine. Contact the Park Office for additional information.

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Shared by Lee Wilcox, Chief Ranger, Sailor's Creek Battlefield, as Guest Blogger.

First Day Hikes are right around the corner, and if you need a little history to get you moving, Sailor's Creek has just the trail for you.

The newly built Wheaton Trail follows the historic route of General Frank Wheaton's First Division from the Hillsman House to Sailor's Creek and loops back for a winding scenic view of the battlefield. The guided Wheaton Trail hike starts at 10 a.m., but you can get out and enjoy the park all day long. Read on to learn more about the history of the route and come on out to Sailor's Creek to experience it for yourself.

During the early evening hours of April 6, 1865, General Frank Wheaton’s First Division of the Union VI Corps (Army of the Potomac) quickly formed into lines of battle, making up the left flank of the Federal assault on General Richard Ewell’s Confederates who were defending the high ground on the southern ridge of the Sailor’s Creek valley.

Portrait by Sidney King depicting the First Division’s Assault during the Battles of Sailor’s Creek for the Centennial Anniversary of the Civil War.

 Portrait by Sidney King depicting the First Division’s Assault during the Battles of Sailor’s Creek for the Centennial Anniversary of the Civil War.

For nearly a week leading up to this moment, conditions could not have been worse for soldiers on both sides of the conflict sweeping westward across Southside Virginia.  For the first days of April, typically a time of mildly cool and warm temperatures transitioning into spring in this part of the state, winter stubbornly refused to give up its hold on the landscape.  Since vacating the trenches of Richmond and Petersburg on April 2, both armies on the march were soaked to the bone by relentless, heavy rain; incessantly cold temperatures hovering just above freezing; thick, low, overcast cloud cover, and the occasional dusting of snow during the night made for extremely miserable conditions.  Roads were mud bogs rutted with rain filled wagon tracks caught in the freeze-thaw cycle, low lying fields were saturated with standing water, and creeks and streams swelled to or flood over their banks. 

General Frank Wheaton, Commander, First Division, VI Corps, Army of the Potomac.
General Frank Wheaton, Commander, First Division, VI Corps, Army of the Potomac

Such were the fortunes facing General Wheaton’s battle-hardened veterans as they waited for the artillery barrage from Union batteries lined up between them and the Hillsman farmhouse behind them to go silent.  With their lines extending from the road’s edge on the right all the way to the left for several hundred yards, they soon realized the severity of the task laid before them.  Having received the command to advance, the lowlands soon turned into marsh and muck.  Little Sailor’s Creek lay just ahead and should have been a simple obstacle to traverse, but this small tributary of the Appomattox River was deceiving in its appearance and name.  After centuries of existence, the waterway had cut deep into the land leaving high banks on either side.  Also, due to the heavy rains, the creek itself had breached these banks and were flooding the marshland with swift moving muddy water and debris.  As the soldiers braced themselves for a cold soaking of their boots and brogans, they were rudely met with shock and disorder.  One by one, each man sunk like a stone up to their chests, desperately raising their muskets and cartridge boxes high over their heads, while simultaneously trying to reach safety on the opposite bank, grabbing on to anything that would afford an anchor, foothold or means of escape from the current.       

The Hillsman Farmhouse at Sailor's Creek Battlefield, in Virginia

The Hillsman Farmhouse at Sailor's Creek Battlefield

Once across, and having collected themselves, Wheaton’s Division reformed their lines and looked ahead to their objective.  Another marsh lay before them, beyond that a sloping hillside afforded little cover with knee-high sagebrush and scrub pine.  Waiting patiently along the top of the opposing ridge, Confederate soldiers under the command of General Joseph Kershaw, protecting General’s Ewell’s right flank, lowered their muskets and took aim at the oncoming wave of Union blue.

For directions to Sailor's Creek Battlefield State Park click here, or for more information to help plan your visit to the park here.

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If you have read the article and have a question, please email nancy.heltman@dcr.virginia.gov.

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