Powhite Creek (Hanover County) Explained

Powhite Creek is a stream in Hanover County, Virginia.^[1] It is a small left-hand branch of the Chickahominy River.^[2] 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.^[3]

Historical significance

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

References

37.5597°N -77.2993°W

Notes and References

1. https://virginia.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,1,fid,1472759,n,powhite%20creek.cfm "Powhite Creek in Hanover County VA." Virginia Gazetteer.
2. Gannet, Henry (1904). Gazetter of Virginia. Washington: United States Geological Survey, p. 121.
3. https://www.topozone.com/virginia/hanover-va/stream/powhite-creek/ "Powhite Creek Topo Map in Hanover County VA." Topozone.
4. Harris, Malcolm Hart (1977). Old New Kent [Virginia]. Clearfield, vol. 1, p. 221.
5. Sears, Stephen W. (1992). To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign. New York: Ticknor and Fields, pp. 217–19.