African-American Union soldiers at Dutch Gap, 1864.

Dutch Gap is located on the James River in Chesterfield County, Virginia near the site of the lost 17th century city of Henricus. The James River in the US state of Virginia is a long River, including its Jackson River source Chesterfield County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Lost counties cities and towns of Virginia are those which formerly existed in the English Colony of Virginia, or the Commonwealth of Virginia after it became a state The "Citie of Henricus ", also known as Henricopolis or Henrico Town, was a city founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative

In 1611, Sir Thomas Dale, according to a method he had learned while campaigning in Holland, cut across a neck of land a ditch which became known as "Dale's Dutch Gap. Sir Thomas Dale (d August 19, 1619) was a British naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616 Holland is a region in the western part of the Netherlands. A maritime and economic power in the 17th century Holland today consists of the Dutch provinces of " This was an attempt to shorten the distance upriver which resulted from the broad meandering stretches of the James River between Drewry's Bluff, where the river turns east into the coastal plain and the confluence of the Appomattox River with the James below Bermuda Hundred. Drewry's Bluff is located in northeastern Chesterfield County Virginia in the United States. A coastal plain is an area of flat low-lying land adjacent to a seacoast and separated from the interior by other features The Appomattox River is a tributary of the James River, approximately 137 miles (220 km in central and eastern Virginia in the United States, named for Bermuda Hundred was the first Incorporated town in the English colony of Virginia.

During the American Civil War, Union troops tried to build a canal at Dutch Gap late in 1864 to cut off a large curl of the James threatened by Confederate forts such as Battery Dantzler. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South The effort failed during the war, but the canal was completed later and is now the main James River channel.

The Dutch Gap Conservation Area, which includes the archaeological site of Henricus, and an electricity-generating facility of Dominion Virginia Power Company coexist as neighbors on the south shore of the James River at Dutch Gap. Henricus Historical Park is located above Dutch Gap in Chesterfield County (subdivided from Henrico County in 1749). Henrico (hɛnˈraɪkoʊ is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States.