Dutch Gap

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The new main channel though the James River. The 50,000 cubic yards of ground that was hand shoveled out of the trench was the idea of General Benjamin Butler. By 1864, Union gunboats heading up the James River towards Richmond found their attempts thwarted by the heavy guns along the river batteries in this area, namely from Fort Brady and Battery Dantzler. Butler decided that he could bypass the Confederate guns by digging a channel though here. When digging commenced in August of 1864, the laborers would occasionally have to dodge shells being fired from Fort Brady. A portion of the old Henricus town were lost due to this project. The work was finished in April 1865, the same month General Lee surrendered at Appomattox.