Shared by Jim Godburn, Education Support Specialist, as Guest Blogger.

In the crush of our everyday activities, we sometimes fail to remember those who have fought and died over the course of this Nation’s history, sacrificing their lives for causes that they held dear to their hearts. 

With each and every soldier who gives their lives, there is the story of a person; the story of a life cut short, of a family interrupted. Their life stories are not that much different from our own, for they come from among us. 

On Saturday, May 28, 2016, Sailor’s Creek Battlefield Historical State Park will honor those who sacrificed their lives in defense of their beliefs.

This painting by Sidney E. King depicting the Battles of Sailor's Creek hangs solemnly in the park's Visitor Center

Memorial Day Observance at Sailor’s Creek Battlefield

During the Memorial Day Observance at Sailor’s Creek Battlefield on May 28, 2016, Major General Kenneth Bowra will speak in the Visitor Center museum area on the sacrifices of soldiers both here at Sailor’s Creek and during our Nation’s history. Following the General’s comments, our attendees will join our staff as we lay a wreath at the monument site in front of the Visitor Center. There will then be a short reading. Following the presentation and laying of the wreath, there will be a musket salute and playing of Taps. Our event will conclude with a brief reception on our patio featuring a light lunch and period banjo music.

Some quiet thoughts on Memorial Day

Browsing through our research library recently, I happened upon an interesting account (in the ‘History of the Paineville Area of Amelia County by A.R. Hudgins) of a young Amelia County lad named Billy Chappell who was from Painesville, located just a short distance from Sailor’s Creek. 

Illustration of a cavalry raid in Painesville, Virginia in 1864

Painesville was a small market town and road junction in mid-19th century Amelia County, complete with a few homes, nearby mills, a general store, stables, blacksmith and mechanic’s shops. The area around Painesville was comprised of farms that produced food crops and tobacco. There was nothing about the place that would have drawn the attention of either army.  In fact, save for a small cavalry raid near Painesville on May, 17, 1864, the War had left this area of Virginia untouched for four years.

It seems that young Billy, really just a boy, was too young to join the Army. For four years, he watched as the older men of his area of Amelia County gathered at Painesville and left their homes and farms to fight. All the while, Billy lived the life of a rural youngster in wartime, Southside Virginia; playing, doing his chores and lessons, perhaps lying awake at night as he imagined the adventures of soldier life. Billy’s patriotism and ardor to be a soldier was perhaps stoked by stories of the War found in newspapers, letters and in the words spoken by returning soldiers.

Reenactors at a recent event at Sailor's Creek Battlefield

In the spring of 1865, young Billy wouldn’t be put off any longer. Some of his older kin had served in the 14th Virginia infantry regiment, who fought in the battles of Malvern Hill, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg and Pickett’s Charge on the third day of Gettysburg. When Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia passed through Painesville on the 5th of April, 1865, young Billy fell in with the ranks of retreating men, was issued a rifle musket and a cartridge box full of ammunition and marched off to, perhaps, seek his own bit of glory.  His time to become a soldier had arrived.

A day later, the 6th of April, on a muddy hillside overlooking the cold and rain swept banks of Little Sailor’s Creek, Billy Chappell lay dead, killed in that evening’s desperate fighting. Was he killed in the artillery barrage? Did he take a Federal minie ball or was he killed in the savage melee of hand to hand fighting as Federal soldiers overran his position? No one knows the exact circumstances of his death but, like hundreds of other fathers and sons, brothers and uncles on that hillside, he breathed his last on that cold, wet evening. 

The enormity of Billy’s sacrifice and that of the other soldiers fallen here brings a tear to the eye, a lump to the throat; such a savage fight and senseless loss so close to the end of a war that was, for all intents and purposes, already over. We talk, write and study a great deal about remembrance and the legacy of the War  This boy would never grow old, never marry, never live to see children or grandchildren, never be at his parent’s side as they grew old.

A young park visitor examines the exhibits at the park's museum in Visitor Center

As we gather on Saturday, May 28, 2016 at this quiet museum dedicated to the memory of lives lost or forever changed by the events that transpired here on this hallowed ground, the echoes remain deafening. We’ll honor Billy and all of the rest of men who gave their lives here. May they rest peacefully in the knowledge that their sacrifices have not been forgotten by our Nation’s citizens or those of us who honor them on this holiday.

Click here for directions to Sailor's Creek Battlefield State Park, and here for more information about this Virginia State Park.