Powhite Creek (Hanover County)

Powhite Creek is a stream in Hanover County, Virginia.[1][2] It is a small left-hand branch of the Chickahominy River.[3] The latitude and longitude coordinates of Powhite Creek are 37.5595898 (North), -77.2991446 (West) and the approximate elevation is 59 feet above sea level.[4]

Historical significance

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Powhite Creek is mentioned in the 1749 will of William Massie, a Justice of the Peace and a vestryman in New Kent County, who gave his wife the plantation and 300 acres of Powhite Creek in Hanover County.[5]

Before the Battle of Gaines' Mill 1862, Robert E. Lee made the incorrect assumption that the Union V Corps under Fitz John Porter would defend the line of Powhite Creek, somewhat to the west of V Corps' actual location.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Powhite Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  2. ^ "Powhite Creek in Hanover County VA." Virginia Gazetteer. Retrieved Aug. 6, 2021.
  3. ^ Gannet, Henry (1904). Gazetter of Virginia. Washington: United States Geological Survey, p. 121.
  4. ^ "Powhite Creek Topo Map in Hanover County VA." Topozone. Retrieved Aug. 6, 2021.
  5. ^ Harris, Malcolm Hart (1977). Old New Kent [Virginia]. Clearfield, vol. 1, p. 221.
  6. ^ Sears, Stephen W. (1992). To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign. New York: Ticknor and Fields, pp. 217–19.

37°33′35″N 77°17′58″W / 37.55971°N 77.29931°W / 37.55971; -77.29931