page_title: Dutch Gap Canal
section_title: Civil War History
hierarchical_section_title: Dutch Gap Canal / Civil War History
caption_attribution_description: English: This is an image of one of the artillery pieces used to bombard the Dutch Gap Canal during it's construction in 1864
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: 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. One purpose of the canal was to allow ships to bypass the loop of the James river around Farrar's Island,  which was controlled by Confederate batteries.  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 that had a half mile field of fire on the James River that lay on the east side of Farrar's Island.  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.
  Due to the geography of the area, the canal was dug just south of the narrowest point of Dutch Gap,  and was about 175 yards long when completed.  The construction was often performed under fire, as batteries from both sides engaged in daily duels. 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.  In January 1865, the cut across the isthmus was complete,  but the explosion used to remove the bulkhead to open the canal threw much of the bulkhead's earth back into the canal. Dredging had to continue to the end of the war and the canal remained unusable for armed ships.
caption: Confederate Columbiad overlooking Farrar's Island
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