The Canal and the Civil War
At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, the James River and the Kanawha Canal extended to Buchanon, nearly 200 miles west of Richmond. As Virginia’s railroads fell prey to Union armies, the canal became an increasingly important artery in the Confederacy’s transportation network. Despite its significance, Union armies made little effort to sever the canal in the first years of the war. It was not seriously threatened until March 1864, when Ulric Dalgren’s raiders briefly reached the James River. Three months later a Confederate force at Lynchburg defeated Federals under Gen. David Hunter, saving the waterway from serious injury. In March 1865, Union calvary under Gen. Philip Sheridan delivered the most serious blow by damaging enormous stretches of the canal west of Richmond.
Marker can be reached from Tredegar Street 0.1 miles west of South 5th Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
