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84-463: 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,

168-496: A chaplain , by then having had nearly 20 years experience as a pastor. By 1862, he was assigned to the forces that occupied North Carolina. In April 1863, the general appointed him as the "Superintendent of Negro Affairs for the District of North Carolina". He was to arrange for food, shelter, adequate clothing and medical care for the many blacks in the area, who had come to Union lines for freedom and refuge. James believed that

252-625: A field of fire over almost all of the five-mile loop of the James that encircled Farrar's Island. To bypass the loop around Farrar's Island, General Butler began excavating a canal across the peninsula's neck which became known as the Dutch Gap Canal . Work began in August 1864 and by January 1865 the canal completely cut the neck. However, the explosion that removed the bulkhead at the canal's north end to open it up threw so much debris into

336-751: A magistrate in the Crown Colony of Virginia . The Farrar family owned the peninsula until 1737 when a descendant sold it to Thomas Randolph . During the last year of the American Civil War , Farrar's Island played a minor role in the Bermuda Hundred campaign . The James River along the peninsula anchored the left flank of Union General Benjamin Butler's defensive line. The area around Farrar's Island had river defenses by both Union and Confederate forces, each seeking to deny its enemy

420-482: A core of activities during this time. Missionaries held Sunday schools each week, often taught by the same teachers who led reading and writing classes during the week. Monthly Sabbath school concerts featured students' singing hymns and reciting passages from the Bible. Sunday evening worship services were "well attended" by the freedmen. Education was viewed as the key to "prepare the freedpeople for citizenship". Under

504-545: 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

588-506: A healthy location to secure the navigable portion of the upstream James River and to provide a place of retreat in case of an attack by the Spanish. Intending the new settlement to become the colony's principal seat, Dale rapidly made Henricus a well-built, strongly-fortified settlement. The new fortifications included a ditch with a palisade behind that ran across the peninsula's neck. Historian Robert Hunt Land suggests that at this time

672-497: A journey from Fort Monroe to Richmond in May 1865. 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. After 1871, improvements to the canal, such as deepening and widening, began under

756-477: A lumber industry would help the Roanoke colony grow and become economically self-sufficient. He had a sawmill built on the island, so that lumber could be processed and sold to the government. Other natural resources could be sold elsewhere. He hoped to show that "free labor and technology was always superior to the slave system." The sawmill had a seventy-horsepower engine, powerful for that time and venue. The mill

840-605: A mercenary for the Dutch Republic prior to his employment with the Virginia Company. 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 . 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

924-575: A pitch pine tree, then cut it in logs eight feet long, then with the ax and wedge, split into boards about 3 ⁄ 4 inches in thickness, the grain being perfectly straight, but makes a very uneven surface. The wind blows through the crevices. James advocated a "New Social Order in the South," to replace slavery with free institutions. The freedpeople had a variety of skills: many were artisans, who made baskets, shoes, barrels, shingles, and boats, which could be traded or sold. James intended to market both

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1008-500: A potential model for other freedmen communities. Freedmen built churches and set up the first free school for black children here; and they were soon joined by Northern missionary teachers who came to the South to help the effort. There was a core group of about six teachers, but a total of 27 teachers served at the island. As the war went on, conditions became more difficult at the crowded colony, whose residents suffered infectious diseases . In 1865 President Andrew Johnson ordered

1092-466: A river could also be known as an island . At its most narrow point, the neck was less than 200 yards wide and its elevation above the James River varied from 3 feet to about 49 feet. In the original patent that gave the land to William Farrar, the peninsula was called an island ; though in the will of his namesake son, the land was called a neck . By the time of the American Civil War , the peninsula had acquired its common name of Farrar's Island. At

1176-589: A self-sustaining colony on the island and manage other contraband camps in the state, such as one earlier established at his base of New Bern , called the Trent River contraband camp . James was to settle the people, give them farming tools, and teach them to prepare for a free community. Based at New Bern, James took a special interest in the Roanoke Freedmen's Colony. He believed it could be an important model for resettlement of other freedmen after

1260-542: A site for the study of paleobotany In 2013, the fossil of a previously unknown flowering plant , Potomacapnos apeleutheron 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. The ancient flowering plant was named, Potomacapnos apeleutheron , in honor of

1344-638: A soldier's allowance of clothing." According to an article by the National Park Service , "of nearly 4,000 North Carolina enlistees, over 150 men were recruited from the Roanoke Island community alone." The Union Army allowed families of black soldiers to live at Roanoke Island as a place of refuge. Those men who were not recruited by the army served as woodcutters, teamsters, longshoremen, carpenters, blacksmiths, and workers in other trades. Many freedwomen worked as cooks and laundresses at

1428-466: Is no evidence for it. They believe the colonists died by starvation and Powhatan Indian attack. By the mid-1600s, English settlers colonized the island and established a permanent settlement. They gradually tried to develop plantations , using imported African slaves as labor, but the soil was rather poor. The island produced some commodity crops. When North Carolina seceded from the Union in 1861,

1512-661: 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

1596-647: The Battle of Proctor's Creek , the Army of the James retreated to a line on the Bermuda Hundred Peninsula stretching from a bluff on the south bank of the James river overlooking Farrar's Island (which was called Trent's Reach), to the mouth of the Appomattox River . The Confederates then entrenched their forces on the Howlett Line , which was approximately parallel to the Union defenses. These fortified lines were held with only minor changes until after

1680-620: The Department of North Carolina , in 1863 Foster appointed Horace James , a Congregational chaplain, as the "Superintendent of Negro Affairs in the North Carolina District", to supervise the contraband camps and administer to freedmen. James was based at New Bern , where he managed the Trent River contraband camp. James believed the Roanoke Island Colony was an important experiment in black freedom and

1764-482: The Dutch Gap Conservation Area and is the location of Henricus Historical Park . Farrar's Island has once more become a peninsula as a section of the old river on the north side of the island has been filled in over time. However, this peninsula now lies on the east bank of the James River. Freedmen%27s Colony of Roanoke Island The Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island , also known as

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1848-610: The Emancipation Proclamation , all slaves in Union-occupied territories were freed. The island colony started as one of what were 100 contraband camps by the war's end, but it became something more. The African Americans lived as freedmen and civilians. They were joined by former slaves from the mainland, seeking refuge and freedom with the Union forces. They were paid for their work and sought education, along with their children. As commanding officer of

1932-456: 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. Due to their protest, the freedmen did eventually get paid; however, their compensation as civilian laborers

2016-664: 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

2100-471: The Virginia Company of London in 1611 by Sir Thomas Dale , and it was also known as "Dale's Dutch Gap". 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. It is claimed to have been named the "Dutch Gap" because Dale is thought to have learned the fortification technique when he served as

2184-522: 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. 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. However, Butler underestimated

2268-508: The Confederacy made plans to fortify Roanoke Island to protect the bay and inland waterways. By that winter, the army had built three forts, although they were relatively weak and too small for the number of occupying troops. On February 8, 1862, the Union general Ambrose E. Burnside easily captured Roanoke Island from Confederate general Henry A. Wise (former governor of the state of Virginia (1856–1860)). The Union maintained control of

2352-587: The Confederates from digging the canal. Even during the Civil War, the positive economic impact of the canal on water transportation to Richmond was foreseen. However, immediately after the war, the canal was so undeveloped that it was called a "One Horse Ditch" by one traveler. Even so, the commercial potential of the Dutch Gap Canal was demonstrated when the steamer Clyde passed through it on

2436-565: The Cypress Chapel School. Although the facilities and supplies were limited in each case, the freedmen's eagerness to learn kept each classroom filled "to its utmost capacity". As the number of freedmen grew to 3900, the colony had difficulty in providing housing. Sanitation suffered on the island as there were no systems to handle it. Infectious diseases began to spread in the crowded conditions. When severe diseases such as smallpox , cholera , and dysentery arose, no one at

2520-452: The Dutch Gap Canal even as it was being bombarded by Confederate artillery. 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. Lee also informed Grant that captured African-American soldiers were no longer working on the fortifications; in turn, Grant ordered Butler to release

2604-482: The Dutch Gap Canal, was 22 feet deep; since 1940, it had obtained its current depth of 25 feet. Currently, the canal's commercial traffic consists of primarily of container barges and feeder ships transporting goods between Hampton Roads and Richmond . 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

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2688-791: The James River near an extension of the canal, the Dutch Gap Cutoff, that created Hatcher Island out of another, wider bend. Farrar%27s Island Farrar's Island is a peninsula now on the west side of the James River in Chesterfield County , Virginia . The county operates the Dutch Gap Conservation Area and Boat Landing and as well as a living history museum, the Henricus Historical Park. Originally, Farrar's Island

2772-424: The James River on the west bank of the isthmus created what was called the "Seven Mile Loop" that formed Farrar's Island before returning to the east bank. However, the distance between the east and west banks at this point was less than 200 yards wide. and the elevation ranged from 3 feet to 39 feet above the level of the river. The name "Dutch Gap" has been historically associated with the founding of Henricus by

2856-454: The James River, owned Farrar's Island, which was sometimes referred to as Cox's Island In May 1864, Union General Benjamin Butler initiated the Bermuda Hundred campaign by landing the Army of the James at Bermuda Hundred and occupied the east side of the James River between Bermuda Hundred and Farrar's Island. After Butler gave up on his maneuver towards Richmond following his defeat at

2940-512: 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. 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

3024-450: The Union boom between Farrar's Island and Trent's Reach. Immediately after the Civil War, Dutch Gap Canal remained unusable because Henry Cox, who still owned Farrar's Island, had filled in the northern end of the canal with a causeway to access the island. However, in 1870 a flood washed away the causeway and opened the canal to development. Improvements to the canal were not made until after 1871, and ongoing deepening and widening under

3108-536: The Union camp. Hawkins provided for payment for the labor of freedwomen and older boys, and allotting supplies to families: Each woman and each boy aged twelve to sixteen were to be paid four dollars a month plus one ration; in addition, each woman was to receive money equal to a soldier's allowance of clothing, while each boy aged twelve to sixteen would receive a soldier's allowance of clothing. Each child under twelve would receive one ration and remain with his or her parents. The Army allocated small plots of land to

3192-461: The Union forces during the war be returned." The lands used for the contraband camps were returned to their former Confederate owners, and all the camps were dismantled. At the Roanoke Island Colony, the freedmen were told they had no rights to the plots they had cultivated for years. The US Army helped most freedmen return to the mainland, at their choice. Some returned to former plantations and became sharecroppers , tenant farmers or laborers. After

3276-459: The Union, especially in construction, such as rebuilding the forts and adding to docks. The Army paid them for their work. In 1862 General John G. Foster became commander of the Department of North Carolina. After the Emancipation Proclamation , he appointed Horace James, a Congregational chaplain, as "Superintendent of Negro Affairs for the North Carolina District." James was to develop

3360-511: The area and its waterways well. They completed dangerous and crucial missions for the Union cause. Freedmen recruited from Roanoke Island formed the "first company of the North Carolina Colored Volunteers". Major General Rush Hawkins , who succeeded Foster in 1863 at the command on the island, ordered the freedmen who enlisted in the army or worked for the military be paid "ten dollars a month plus one ration and

3444-403: 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. The greater part of the construction of the Dutch Gap Canal was done by United States Colored Troops (USCT), many of whom were freedmen . Up to 40% of the personnel in the Army of the James were in USCT units, which

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3528-540: The canal that armed vessels could not use it, so dredging continued until April 1865, when the war ended. Completion of the canal made Farrar's Island a true island, though the canal was too shallow for navigation. Also in January 1865, the James River around Farrar's Island became the site of one of the Civil War's last major naval battles, the Battle of Trent's Reach . In this battle, a Confederate flotilla of three ironclads and eight other warships failed to cross through

3612-644: The city of Medford. After studying at common schools, James attended Yale College , graduating in 1840. He went on to study theology, graduating from seminary school in 1843. He first served as the pastor at a church in Wrentham, Massachusetts , beginning in November 1843. He married Helen Leavitt of Walpole, New Hampshire . After the American Civil War started, James joined the Union Army as

3696-477: The colony, as in society in general, was informal. Missionaries with little to no medical training administered medicine to the sick on the island. Gradually they learned the adequate dosages and which medicines applied to certain diseases. There were no antibiotics or vaccines , so medicine consisted of folk remedies, bloodletting and surgery. The freedwomen were knowledgeable of herbal remedies, which were often more effective than what trained doctors could offer at

3780-534: The end of the Siege of Petersburg in April 1865. During this time, Farrar's Island became the front line in the struggle to control James River maritime traffic. In June 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered the Union navy under Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee to sink five ships, which were then used to create an obstructive boom across the James River stretching between Farrar's Island and Trent's Reach. The barrier

3864-531: The freedmen who dug the canal: Potomacapnos defines the area where the fossil was found apeleutheron is the Greek for freedmen. 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 . An electricity-generating facility owned by Dominion Energy is located nearby on the south shore of

3948-712: The guidance of the Army Corps of Engineers continued at least through the decade's end. Richard Friend, who inherited the property from Cox in 1888, filed suit against the United States Government to recover his claimed losses due to the improvement of the canal, but lost his case. In 1918, during World War I , Farrar's Island became part of the Dutch Gap artillery range. The 80th Division's artillery regiments, who were stationed in Fort Lee , used

4032-406: The households of the colony, and encouraged the freedmen to produce crops for food supplements . Under James' direction, they created fisheries as well, to make the island more self-sufficient. The creation of a sawmill and marketing of artisan goods helped the economy of the island. Many adults worked for the Union Army and were given wages and rations as payment for their services. The Commander on

4116-570: The island for gunnery training before heading to France and fighting in the Meuse-Argonne offensive . Between 1920 and 1940, approximately 300 acres of Farrar Island became a tidal lagoon surrounded by wetland when the Richmond Sand and Gravel Company mined the area, creating a large pit that was subsequently connected to the old James River channel for barges to load the sand and gravel. In 1983, another 103 acres of Farrar's Island

4200-467: The island increased from 250 in the first few months, to more than 1,000 by the end of 1862. They formed a community, organizing the first free school for black children in North Carolina, and churches. The majority converted old Confederate barracks into their new homes, which became known as "Camp Foster" after one of the generals who had defeated the Confederates. Able-bodied freedmen worked for

4284-421: The island through the end of the war. As slaves learned of the Union victory, they migrated to the island for freedom with Union forces and protection from the Confederacy. They quickly began to form refugee camps. General Burnside declared the refugees "contraband" of war, in a policy initiated by General Benjamin Butler at Fort Monroe in 1861, and granted the slaves freedom. The number of freedmen living on

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4368-677: The island's isolation. The Army pressed the refugees for more labor as the war dragged on. In one case in late 1864, military officers forced some freedmen who had been working for the Quartermaster's Department on Roanoke Island to leave and work on construction of the Dutch Gap Canal to divert the James River in Virginia. The commanding officers, such as Colonel Rush Hawkins, had ordered subordinates to treat freedmen "with respect," but tensions arose. Bad harvest seasons caused

4452-411: The island, Col. Rush Hawkins, also helped preserve the slave families who came to the island for refuge. Ownership of land, practice of a trade, and the ability to live with their families gave the freedmen a "taste of citizenship, family life, and hope". Reverend Horace James was an evangelical Congregational minister from Worcester, Massachusetts . He was born to Galen James, a deacon, and his wife in

4536-780: The island. In October 1863, Elizabeth James arrived from the AMA. She was a cousin of the Reverend James, and had experience as a teacher and as the principal of a school in Milford. In February 1864, she founded the Lincoln School in Camp Foster. She noted the students had "an intense desire to learn." Ella Roper opened the Whipple School, which had a roster of 200 students. In March 1864 Samuel Nickerson started

4620-469: The meander loop around Farrar's Island. Construction of the canal put Farrar's Island on the west side of the James River, and it evolved into its present form as a tidal lagoon surrounded by woods and wetlands. In the colonial era, Farrar's Island was technically a peninsula (a neck of land). However, in 17th century Virginia when the land was acquired by the Farrar family, a neck of land mainly surrounded by

4704-409: The natural resources and the freedmen's crops, such as cotton, corn, turpentine, resin, tar, timber, fish, oysters, wood, reeds, and grapes, to make the colony self-sufficient. While thinking freedmen should have the rights of citizens, he also held that "there was a natural stratification of society" and African Americans were near the bottom. Much of the aid, education, and social work on the island

4788-403: The oversight of the Army Corps of Engineers , and continued at least through to the end of the 1870s. 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. In the twentieth century, the canal was further improved. By 1916, the channel of the James, including

4872-473: The peninsula's neck became the site of the earliest English settlements in Virginia, Henricus , founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611, but basically abandoned by 1622. Farrar's Island acquired its name after 1637 when William Farrar obtained ownership as part of the headright due him for importing indentured servants to the colony. Farrar was a lawyer who also served on the Virginia governor's council and as

4956-546: The peninsula's neck got the name "Dale's Dutch Gap", since Dale had served as a long-time soldier of fortune with the United Provinces of the Netherlands . However, the settlement did not thrive. By the time Dale returned to England in 1616, Henricus was already dilapidated, consisting of few houses and the ruins of a never-completed church. Though Henricus was incorporated into the City of Henrico , what

5040-542: The residents to suffer from lack of food. They had already found that the soil was too poor to support the needed level of cultivation for the population. Rations were reduced in the late stages of the war, which made the inhabitants more desperate. According to Elizabeth James, a teacher, the freedmen would "steal fearfully" from each other. She said, "they are hungry" so "they steal anything they can lay their hands on anywhere." When President Johnson issued his "Amnesty Proclamation" in 1865, he ordered all "property seized by

5124-517: The return of all property under his "Amnesty Proclamation", and the lands cultivated and occupied by contraband camps were returned to owners. The freedmen were not given rights to their holdings in the Colony, and most left the island. Its soil had proved too poor to support many subsistence farmers. In later 1865, the US Army directed the dismantling of the three forts on the island. By 1867, the colony

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5208-562: The river's fall line . However, Arrohateck village was apparently deserted by the time the English began settling in the area. The first English settlement on Farrar's Island was Henricus , which Sir Thomas Dale , the deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony established in 1611. The settlement was located on the neck of the peninsula, near the former village of Arrohateck. The Virginia Company of London had ordered Dale to find

5292-446: The supervision of the Union military, the freedmen built schools, churches, and about 600 cabins. The schools were simple log cabins. Both children and adults were eager to learn to read and write, as most of the slaves had not had any formal education in these skills. Missionaries, mostly unmarried women teachers from New England, were the prime teachers. There was a core group of about seven teachers, but altogether 27 teachers served at

5376-420: 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. This additional need often led to inequities in the treatment of men USCT units, who were frequently assigned more fatigue duties than white soldiers. The need to acquire labor for the canal created other inequities, including the treatment of African-American laborers from

5460-587: The time of English-Native American contact period starting around 1607, the area around Farrar's Island was associated with the Arrohattoc , a tribe within the Powhatan Confederacy . The tribe's village of Arrohateck is depicted in John Smith and William Holes's map of 1607 Virginia as located approximately on the east side of the James River approximately 5 leagues (15 miles) south of

5544-434: The time understood how they were transmitted, and there were no treatments. The missionaries could do little more than the freedmen. The colony began the "downward slide from which [it] was unable to recover." The increase in the number of freedmen strained their relationship with the Union military. As more freedmen entered the Union Army, their families became more dependent on the government and military for aid because of

5628-650: The time. Other organizations, such as the National Freedman's Relief Association and the New England Freedmen's Aid Society of Boston, also sent representatives and aid to the colony. In contrast to the AMA, however, the National Freedman's Relief Association was not evangelical. It promoted abolition of slavery and encouraged the freedmen to "develop self-discipline, self-reliance, and self-support." Religious practices formed

5712-515: The transport of 40 persons from England to the Virginia Colony. Farrar descendants continued to own Farrar's Island until it was sold to Thomas Randolph in 1727. In May 1771, twelve days of heavy rain in the mountains west of Richmond caused a deluge known as "The Great Fresh of 1771", which inundated the settlements and plantations along James River. (a possibly similar flood hit upriver Lovingston, Virginia in modern times) Because it

5796-445: The use of the James River. The James River around Farrar's Island was also the site of one of the last major naval engagements of the war, the Battle of Trent's Reach . During the war, Farrar's Island became a true island when General Butler's troops built the Dutch Gap Canal , across the neck of the peninsula. In the 1870s, the Dutch Gap Canal was expanded and become the main channel of the James River, which allowed shipping to bypass

5880-419: The war, numerous freedmen moved from rural areas to towns and cities to evade white supervision and gain more opportunities as craftsmen. In late 1865, the Army dismantled the forts on the island, which further disrupted the colony. By 1867, the colony was abandoned, although some freedmen continued to live on the island. The 1870 census recorded 300 blacks in 60 households. The Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony

5964-646: The war. President Lincoln 's Emancipation Proclamation had freed slaves in Confederate areas occupied by Union troops. Many of them moved to Union camps for protection. The Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony was a safe haven for slaves seeking refuge with the Union Army during the Civil War. Most freedmen on Roanoke Island assisted the Union Army: others joined the army as soldiers when the United States Colored Troops were founded, and some men worked as spies, scouts and guides, since they knew

6048-419: Was abandoned, but about 300 freedmen still lived there independently in 1870. Some of their descendants live there today. Long used for fishing camps by varying cultures of indigenous peoples , Roanoke Island was first colonized by an English explorer in 1584. Sir Walter Raleigh tried to settle people there, to found a colony on what is now American soil. Raleigh sent 100 men to Roanoke Island. The settlement

6132-413: 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

6216-405: Was almost entirely surrounded by the James, Farrar's Island was particularly hard hit. All the property of the then owner, Thomas Mann Randolph was carried off by the flood, and the land's economic value was also severely reduced as 80 acres of arable topsoil washed away, leaving a pavement of stones. By the time of the Civil War, Henry Cox of Farmer's Rest , who had substantial landholdings on

6300-407: 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 (120 metres) wide. At that time, Farrar's Island was slightly less than 700 acres (280 hectares) and lay about 15 miles (24 km) south of the James River fall line at Richmond, Virginia . Due to its strategic location on the river,

6384-424: Was important for educating hundreds of freedmen in literacy, paying adults and older children for their work, helping them to establish churches and community, and helping preserve their families at a time of war. Numerous transcribed letters by Horace James and the missionary teachers, as well as some of the freedmen, may be viewed at the website, "Documents" , Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony. They express vividly

6468-532: Was left of it was abandoned after the Powhatan attack of 1622 , as the settlement was not listed as one of the fortified strongholds that the Virginia Company ordered survivors to move to. In 1637, Farrar's Island became the property of William Farrar Jr. , the namesake son of prominent councillor, William Farrar . Before he died, the elder William Farrar acquired a 2000-acre patent from Governor John Harvey based on headrights Farrar Sr. received for financing

6552-518: Was located at Pork Point near Union headquarters. A soldier stationed on the island described it in 1864 as "a first class affair, like most anything belonging to the Government." James intended to arrange for the freedmen to get some of the lumber, so they could build sturdier cabins than their traditional split-pine one-room structures: Each house contains but one room, no rooms above. The boards used for building are made as follows. They cut down

6636-568: Was planned and carried out by representatives of the American Missionary Association , also known as AMA. The AMA worked to evangelize slaves and convert them to Christianity (if they were not already so). They sent missionaries to Roanoke Island to aid the colony through education, medicine, food, and religious services. They also preached the Gospel to the freedmen. Education classes were started. The state of medicine in

6720-553: Was small and less regular than men doing similar work in the USCT units 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. In response,

6804-421: Was the highest percent of any command military in the Civil War. At least seven USCT infantry regiments were engaged in military, excavation and fatigue duties specifically related to action at Dutch Gap. In general, the Union army often treated the men of USCT units as second-class citizens relegating them primarily to fatigue duty, and this was also a concern during the building of the Dutch Gap Canal. However,

6888-404: Was to prevent Confederate warships from going downstream and attacking Grant's headquarters and depot during the Petersburg Campaign, which were located at City Point . The Confederates prevented Union warships from moving north by posting artillery batteries on the Howlett Line , as well as additional batteries on the east side of the James River north of Farrar's Island. These batteries provided

6972-472: Was transformed into an ash pond for the nearby Dominion Chesterfield Power Station located on the Dutch Gap Cutoff on the James River. Facing environmental criticism in 2016, Dominion planned to move toxic coal ash from the pond on Farrar's Island to a lined landfill at the Chester Power Station. Completion of the transfer is expected in 15 to 20 years. Today, Farrar's Island is part of

7056-486: Was unsuccessful and abandoned within a year. In 1587, another 110 colonists were planted on the island. Captain John White, named governor by Raleigh, returned to England in August that year for more supplies. Delayed by warfare, when he returned three years later, he found the island utterly abandoned. A popular regional myth tells that the colonists were absorbed by an Algonquian-speaking tribe, but historians say there

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