Dutch Gap

Dutch Gap. . 1611 Sir Thomas Dale and his men, using a tactic developed in the Dutch Low Country, dug a ditch and erected a fence across the neck of the peninsula for the defense of Henricus., 1864 Federal forces under General Benjamin Butler began construction of a canal on the ditch site. This canal would cut off approximately six miles of river travel and protect Federal gunboats from the fire of Confederate land batteries. Federal soldiers labored 144 days under constant fire., 1865 The only remaining barrier to the completion of the canal was a large bulkhead. On January 1, the troops ignited the gun powder buried within it. The bulkhead exploded but the earth came back to rest in the newly dug canal. The project was abandoned., 1871 The U.S. Government completed the dredging of the gap, and opened the canal. The steamship was the first commercial vessel to use the canal., 1930 The Army Corps of Engineers extended the canal to the Virginia Power plant. This created Hatcher’s Island and eliminated another large loop in the river.