The Battles of Sailor's Creek are known by various different names and spellings

Historians disagree on what to call the fighting that took place on April 6, 1865, as they do with many other Civil War battles. First of all, Little Sailor's Creek, one of Sailor's Creek's tributaries, was the creek that the two armies fought for. Second, each of the three geographical sectors of the battlefield—the Lockett Farm, the Hillsman Farm, and Marshall's Crossroads—can be viewed as a separate conflict.

However, spelling is the problem that Civil War veterans are most aware of. Although the stream that gives the fight its name is identified on the earliest maps of the region as "Sailor's Creek," by the 19th century other variations of that name (Sailer's, Saylor's, and Sayler's) had spread, and even appeared on some maps from the time of war. As a result, the conflict has been referred to as the Battle of Sayler's Creek by a number of well-known historians who used what they thought to be the original name for the stream. However, the stream and the fighting that took place over it on April 6, 1865, are now officially referred to as "Sailor's Creek" by the National Park Service and the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission. The Battles of Sailor's Creek are known by various different names and spellings for that reason.