9/8: Black Thursday of the Confederacy
Students of the Civil War know April 9, 1865. On that date—Palm Sunday—at Appomattox Court House, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate States Army of the Northern Virginia. The Civil War was for all intents over.
Fewer know the crucial events of just three days before. April 6, known as “Black Thursday” among Confederates, saw four separate engagements fought along or around Sailor’s Creek, Virginia. Three Confederate corps, including CSA marines and orphaned naval forces, engaged two U.S. infantry corps plus powerful Union cavalry forces. In a desperate struggle that involved over 40,000 soldiers, Lee lost about a fifth of his army—somewhere between 8-10 thousand—many of them captured. In addition to the killed and wounded, the Federals claimed some 8,000 prisoners that day, including eleven generals (plus a naval commodore), among them Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell and Robert E. Lee’s eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee. That Thursday, Lee lost thousands of men who might soon have helped him punch through the U.S. lines that on Sunday blocked his westward escape route from Appomattox Court House. Instead, Lee was forced to surrender.
How did that earlier disaster happen? And why is it so little-known today?
Joshua Lindamood will reveal the answers in his September 8 presentation to the Roanoke Civil War Round Table entitled “The Battle of Sailor’s Creek.”
Mr. Lindamood is particularly qualified to address this subject. A founding member & President of the Appomattox-Petersburg Preservation Society, Inc., our speaker has devoted much of his life to saving local historical sites as hallowed ground. Joshua is a Park Ranger at Sailor’s Creek Battlefield Historical State Park. His research has shed new light on the Battles of Sailor’s Creek and has connected the historic Overton-Hillsman House as the birthplace for the renowned American educator and early Civil Rights leader Dr. Robert Russa Moton.
Date, Time & Location: Tuesday, September 8, 2026 (7:00 pm), Chapel of the Residents’ Center at Friendship North, 397 Hershberger Road, Roanoke, VA, 24012.
Reminder: Immediately preceding Mr. Lindamood’s talk, the Round Table will be honored by the national Civil War Round Table Congress, whose representative will present the group with the Congress’ prestigious Dr. John A. Bamberl Phoenix Award for 2026.
In addition, on August 8 yet another national group, Emerging Civil War (https://emergingcivilwar.com/mission-statement/) presented the Roanoke CWRT with a “Roundtable Role Model” Certificate of Award during ECW’s annual Symposium held in Spotsylvania. That Certificate will be on display at the September 8 meeting.
