Dutch Gap Canal | |
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Coordinates: 37°22′38″N77°21′31″W / 37.377230°N 77.358698°W Coordinates: 37°22′38″N77°21′31″W / 37.377230°N 77.358698°W | |
Location | Chesterfield County, Virginia |
Dutch Gap Canal is located on the James River in Chesterfield County, Virginia just north of the lost 17th-century town of Henricus. The canal's construction was initiated by Union forces during the American Civil War to bypass a meander loop of the river around a peninsula known as Farrar's Island that was controlled by Confederate artillery. The canal was completed after the war and is now the main channel of the James River in this area. Today, the area south of the canal is the location of the Dutch Gap Conservation Area and Henricus Historical Park.
The Dutch Gap Canal was named for its location at Dutch Gap, which was formerly a neck of land that joined Farrar's Island to the mainland. The James River around Farrar's Island, from Drewry's Bluff to the confluence of the Appomattox River below Bermuda Hundred, originally had a number of meandering loops. The Dutch Gap was the isthmus between the narrowest of these loops. Here, the James River on the west bank of the isthmus created what was called the "Seven Mile Loop" [note 1] that formed Farrar's Island before returning to the east bank. [2] However, the distance between the east and west banks at this point was less than 200 yards wide. [3] and the elevation ranged from 3 feet to 39 feet above the level of the river. [1]
The name "Dutch Gap" has been historically associated with the founding of Henricus by the Virginia Company of London in 1611 by Sir Thomas Dale, and it was also known as "Dale's Dutch Gap". [4] The name is attributed to a palisaded fosse that Dale is thought to have built across the neck to protect the town from attack on the north side of the river. [5] It is claimed to have been named the "Dutch Gap" because Dale is thought to have learned the fortification technique when he served as a mercenary for the Dutch Republic prior to his employment with the Virginia Company. [6] [note 2] Between 1619 and 1624, Dutch Gap was part of the City of Henrico. In 1637, it became part of a patent claimed as an inheritance by the son of councillor and commissioner, William Farrar. [9] As a result of this patent, the land enclosed by the loop of the James just below Dutch Gap eventually got its name, Farrar's Island.
During the American Civil War in late August, 1864, General Benjamin Butler, commander of the Union Army of the James, ordered the construction of a canal at Dutch Gap. [10] One purpose of the canal was to allow ships to bypass the loop of the James river around Farrar's Island, [11] which was controlled by Confederate batteries. [12] Of particular threat was Battery Dantzler at the northern end of the Howlett Line where Confederate forces had installed two seven-inch Brooke rifles, two ten-inch Columbiad guns, and two siege mortars [13] that had a half mile field of fire on the James River that lay on the east side of Farrar's Island. [11] Another purpose was to continue military activity as part of the larger Petersburg Campaign to ensure that Confederate manpower resources remained strained in Eastern Virginia and unable to redeploy to other sectors. [14]
Due to the geography of the area, the canal was dug just south of the narrowest point of Dutch Gap, [3] and was about 175 yards long when completed. [1] The construction was often performed under fire, as batteries from both sides engaged in daily duels. [15] At times, the Confederate artillery was effective in slowing down the rate of construction with indirect fire, as when it sank the Union dredge being used to deepen the canal. [16] In January 1865, the cut across the isthmus was complete, [10] but the explosion used to remove the bulkhead to open the canal threw much of the bulkhead's earth back into the canal. [17] Dredging had to continue to the end of the war and the canal remained unusable for armed ships. [16]
The greater part of the construction of the Dutch Gap Canal was done by United States Colored Troops (USCT), [1] many of whom were freedmen. [18] Up to 40% of the personnel in the Army of the James were in USCT units, which was the highest percent of any command military in the Civil War. [19] At least seven USCT infantry regiments were engaged in military, excavation and fatigue duties specifically related to action at Dutch Gap. [20] : 390 In general, the Union army often treated the men of USCT units as second-class citizens relegating them primarily to fatigue duty, [19] and this was also a concern during the building of the Dutch Gap Canal. [20] : 393 However, the Army of the James was noteworthy in striving to ensure that soldiers in USCT units were treated similarly to other soldiers in the army. [19] Initially, General Butler recruited both African-American and white soldiers for excavation duty for the canal, which required 7 and a half hours of hard labor daily; but all volunteers were compensated by pay that nearly doubled their salary and a daily ration of whiskey or its cash equivalent. [21]
However, Butler underestimated the time and resources needed to complete the canal, and he had abandoned the volunteer system as well as seek addition labor from other sources. [11] This additional need often led to inequities in the treatment of men USCT units, who were frequently assigned more fatigue duties than white soldiers. [20] The need to acquire labor for the canal created other inequities, including the treatment of African-American laborers from the Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island. Initially, these men had been freed by Union forces, but then they unwillingly taken from North Carolina and impressed into service excavating the canal. They wrote a letter protesting their impressment, as well as a failure to receive promised pay. [22] Due to their protest, the freedmen did eventually get paid; however, their compensation as civilian laborers was small and less regular than men doing similar work in the USCT units [23]
The Dutch Gap Canal also became a focal point for negotiating the treatment of black soldiers captured by the Confederates during the Petersburg Campaign. In 1863, A joint resolution by the Confederate Congress declared captured black soldiers agents of servile insurrection who were subject to execution or enslavement. [24] [note 3] In response, the Lincoln administration ordered that an equal number of Confederate soldiers be put to death for each black soldier executed and that for every black soldier enslaved, a Confederate soldier forced into menial labor. [25] In October 1864, When Benjamin Butler found out that captured black Union soldiers were being enslaved to build Confederate emplacements that were under Union artillery bombardment, he ordered Confederate prisoners to be forced to work on the Dutch Gap Canal even as it was being bombarded by Confederate artillery. [8] : 607–608 In response to Butler's action, General Robert E. Lee informed General Ulysses S. Grant a week later that captured African-American soldiers who were not originally freedmen would be treated as regular prisoners of war. [26] Lee also informed Grant that captured African-American soldiers were no longer working on the fortifications; in turn, Grant ordered Butler to release the Confederates from digging the canal. [27]
Even during the Civil War, the positive economic impact of the canal on water transportation to Richmond was foreseen. [28] However, immediately after the war, the canal was so undeveloped that it was called a "One Horse Ditch" by one traveler. [29] Even so, the commercial potential of the Dutch Gap Canal was demonstrated when the steamer Clyde passed through it on a journey from Fort Monroe to Richmond in May 1865. [30] Nevertheless, the canal remained undeveloped for the next five years because the owner of Farrar's Island filled in the canal's northern end to create a causeway; however, a flood in 1870 washed out the causeway, allowing the canal to be further developed and converted into the main channel of the James River. [31] After 1871, improvements to the canal, such as deepening and widening, began under the oversight of the Army Corps of Engineers, [32] and continued at least through to the end of the 1870s. [33] The challenges with improving the canal and the rest of the James River to accommodate larger ships may have played a role in hindering Richmond's post-Civil War development as an inland port. [34]
In the twentieth century, the canal has continued to be improved. By 1916, the channel of the James, including the Dutch Gap Canal, was 22 feet deep; since 1940, it had obtained its current depth of 25 feet. [35] Currently, the canal's commercial traffic consists of primarily of container barges and feeder ships transporting goods between Hampton Roads and Richmond. [36]
The excavation of the Dutch Gap Canal exposed an accessible area of Potomac Formation, which contains many fossils dating to the Cretaceous period has made it a site for the study of paleobotany [37] In 2013, the fossil of a previously unknown flowering plant , Potomacapnos apeleutheron [38] from the Early Cretaceous age was discovered. This fossil may be one of the earliest eudicots found in North America, as the geological deposits it was embedded in were about 120 million years old. [39] The ancient flowering plant was named, Potomacapnos apeleutheron, in honor of the freedmen who dug the canal: Potomacapnos defines the area where the fossil was found apeleutheron is the Greek for freedmen. [40]
Farrar's Island, which is just south of the Dutch Gap Canal, is now the site of the Dutch Gap Conservation Area and Boat Landing and the Henricus Historical Park. [42] An electricity-generating facility owned by Dominion Energy is located nearby on the south shore of the James River near an extension of the canal, the Dutch Gap Cutoff, that created Hatcher Island out of another, wider bend.
The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg, it was not a classic military siege, in which a city is usually surrounded and all supply lines are cut off, nor was it strictly limited to actions against Petersburg. The campaign consisted of nine months of trench warfare in which Union forces commanded by Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assaulted Petersburg unsuccessfully and then constructed trench lines that eventually extended over 30 miles (48 km) from the eastern outskirts of Richmond, Virginia, to around the eastern and southern outskirts of Petersburg. Petersburg was crucial to the supply of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army and the Confederate capital of Richmond. Numerous raids were conducted and battles fought in attempts to cut off the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad. Many of these battles caused the lengthening of the trench lines.
The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited during the American Civil War, and by the end of the war in 1865, the 175 USCT regiments constituted about one-tenth of the manpower of the Union Army. About 20% of USCT soldiers died, a rate about 35% higher than that of white Union troops. Many USCT soldiers fought with distinction, with 16 receiving the Medal of Honor and numerous others receiving other honors.
Drewry's Bluff is located in northeastern Chesterfield County, Virginia in the United States. It was the site of Confederate Fort Darling during the American Civil War. It was named for a local landowner, Confederate Captain Augustus H. Drewry, who owned the property.
The First Battle of Fort Fisher was a naval siege in the American Civil War, when the Union tried to capture the fort guarding Wilmington, North Carolina, the South's last major Atlantic port. Led by Major General Benjamin Butler, it lasted from December 23–27, 1864.
The Army of the James was a Union Army that was composed of units from the Department of Virginia and North Carolina and served along the James River during the final operations of the American Civil War in Virginia.
The "Citie of Henricus"—also known as Henricopolis, Henrico Town or Henrico—was a settlement in Virginia founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. It was named for Henry, Prince of Wales (1594–1612), the eldest son of King James I.
Henry Horatio Wells, a Michigan lawyer and Union Army officer in the American Civil War, succeeded Francis Harrison Pierpont as the appointed provisional governor of Virginia from 1868 to 1869 during Reconstruction. A Radical Republican labelled a carpetbagger, Wells was defeated for election in 1869 by Gilbert C. Walker, who also became his appointed successor. Wells then served as U.S. Attorney for Virginia and later for the District of Columbia.
Contraband was a term commonly used in the US military during the American Civil War to describe a new status for certain escaped slaves or those who affiliated with Union forces. In August 1861, the Union Army and the US Congress determined that the US would no longer return escaped slaves who went to Union lines, but they would be classified as "contraband of war," or captured enemy property. They used many as laborers to support Union efforts and soon began to pay wages.
Richmond, Virginia served as the capital of the Confederate States of America for almost the whole of the American Civil War. Notwithstanding its political status, it was a vital source of weapons and supplies for the war effort, as well as the terminus of five railroads, and as such would have been defended by the Confederate States Army at all costs.
The City of Henrico is one of the oldest counties in the United States. It was one of four incorporations established in the colony of Virginia by its proprietor, the Virginia Company. The City of Henrico, which included the settlement of Henricus, was the furthest incorporation upstream on the James River. In 1634, Henrico was reorganized under royal authority as the shire of Henrico, one of eight shires in the Crown Colony of Virginia, Later, it became known as Henrico County, Virginia.
The 38th United States Colored Infantry Regiment was an African American unit of the Union Army during the American Civil War. A part of the United States Colored Troops, the regiment saw action in Virginia during the war and later served on the Texas frontier.
The 5th United States Colored Infantry Regiment was an African American regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War. A part of the United States Colored Troops, the regiment saw action in Virginia as part of the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign and in North Carolina, where it participated in the attacks on Fort Fisher and Wilmington and the Carolinas Campaign.
The 9th Connecticut Infantry Regiment was a volunteer infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was established in September 1861 as an Irish regiment, composed mainly of soldiers born in Ireland or first generation Irish Americans. The regiment saw action in number major battles, particularly in the Western Theater.
The Grand Contraband Camp was located in Elizabeth City County, Virginia, on the Virginia Peninsula near Fort Monroe, during and immediately after the American Civil War. The area was a refuge for escaped slaves who the Union forces refused to return to their former Confederate masters, by defining them as "contraband of war". The Grand Contraband Camp was the first self-contained black community in the United States and occupied the area of the downtown section of the present-day independent city of Hampton, Virginia.
A large contingent of African Americans served in the American Civil War. The 186,097 black men who joined the Union Army included 7,122 officers and 178,975 enlisted soldiers. Approximately 20,000 black sailors served in the Union Navy and formed a large percentage of many ships' crews. Later in the war, many regiments were recruited and organized as the United States Colored Troops, which reinforced the Northern forces substantially during the conflict's last two years. Both Northern Free Negro and Southern runaway slaves joined the fight. Throughout the course of the war, black soldiers served in forty major battles and hundreds of more minor skirmishes; sixteen African Americans received the Medal of Honor.
Walter Thorn was a Union Army officer in the American Civil War. On December 8, 1898, he received the Medal of Honor for his action while serving as a Second Lieutenant in the 116th United States Colored Troops, a unit made up of white officers and African-American soldiers.
The Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island, also known as the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony, or "Freedman's Colony", was founded in 1863 during the Civil War after Union Major General John G. Foster, Commander of the 18th Army Corps, captured the Confederate fortifications on Roanoke Island off North Carolina in 1862. He classified the slaves living there as "contraband", following the precedent of General Benjamin Butler at Fort Monroe in 1861, and did not return them to Confederate slaveholders. In 1863, by the Emancipation Proclamation, all slaves in Union-occupied territories were freed.
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Farrar's Island is a peninsula on the west side of the James River in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It is the site of the Dutch Gap Conservation Area and Boat Landing and the Henricus Historical Park. Originally, Farrar's Island was formed by a meander loop in the James River and lay on the east side of the James River. At its smallest point, the neck of the peninsula was less than 400 feet wide. At that time, Farrar's Island was slightly less than 700 acres and lay about 15 miles (24 km) south of the James River fall line at Richmond, Virginia.
The Military Division of the James was an administrative division or formation of the United States Army which existed for ten weeks at the end of the American Civil War. This military division controlled military operations between April 19, 1865 and June 27, 1865 in parts of Virginia and North Carolina under control of two main Union armies, the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James.