Chickahominy River Research Articles

The Powhatan Landscape: An Archaeological History of the Algonquian Chesapeake

The Powhatan Landscape: An Archaeological History of the Algonquian Chesapeake

Empirical Evaluation of Oxytetracycline and F1 Genetics to Differentiate Stocked from Wild Largemouth Bass

AbstractEvaluation and monitoring of stocking effectiveness is essential to make informed fisheries management decisions. Chemical marking, such as oxytetracycline (OTC), is often used for differentiating stocked from wild fish but has inherent error in mark longevity and otolith evaluation. Genetic analysis of recaptures provides a viable alternative. In this study, fingerlings (~50 mm TL) of F1 intergrade Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides (Florida Largemouth Bass M. salmoides floridanus × Northern Largemouth Bass M. salmoides salmoides) were marked with OTC via immersion and stocked into the Chickahominy River, Virginia, from 2005 to 2007 and more recently from 2015 to 2017, totaling 595,000 fish. We collected Largemouth Bass in 2015 and 2017 during long‐term monitoring on the tidal portion of the Chickahominy River in Virginia. Fish were retained for aging, OTC evaluation, and genetic analysis. Although precision (i.e., agreement) was high (95%) when comparing the two methods, by establishing a baseline number of known recaptures (N = 19 samples verified by genetics), we determined that detection probability (accuracy) was 63%. Differentiating stocked from wild fish with genetics provides advantages over OTC immersion for stocking evaluations, including potential cost and labor savings. Future studies should routinely incorporate an evaluation of tagging detection rate to accurately adjust percent contribution estimates.

Feeding Ecology and Distribution of an Invasive Apex Predator: Flathead Catfish in Subestuaries of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia

AbstractNative to the central United States, Flathead CatfishPylodictus olivarishave invaded Atlantic coast rivers from Florida to Pennsylvania. They are now invasive in several subestuaries of the Chesapeake Bay, yet contemporary accounts of their distribution do not exist. Due to their piscivorous nature, Flathead Catfish could have deleterious impacts on native ichthyofauna, yet their feeding ecology has not been well described in these systems. We used a large‐scale, stratified random sampling effort to describe the current distribution and feeding ecology of Flathead Catfish in Virginia tidal rivers. Low‐frequency electrofishing was conducted at more than 1,500 sites in the James, Pamunkey, Mattaponi, and Rappahannock rivers in eastern Virginia, resulting in 766 Flathead Catfish being captured in the James, Pamunkey, and Mattaponi rivers. Flathead Catfish are abundant in the tidal James River from Richmond, Virginia, to the confluence of the Chickahominy River. A relatively new but established population was also observed in the Pamunkey River, where the highest observed densities of Flathead Catfish occurred near Williams Landing (37°36′21.49″N, 77°5′33.42″W) in New Kent County, Virginia. Stomachs collected from 731 Flathead Catfish revealed that they are piscivores that feed heavily on Gizzard ShadDorosoma cepedianum, White PerchMorone americana, and variousAlosaspecies. Analysis of trophic level, diet breadth, and feeding strategy demonstrated that Flathead Catfish are piscine specialists that occupy trophic positions indicative of an apex predator. Our results show that Flathead Catfish could have substantial per capita impacts on at‐risk native species including American ShadAlosa sapidissima, Blueback HerringA. aestivalis, and AlewifeA. pseudoharengusas they make seasonal migrations in and out of these river systems. Moreover, future range expansion of Flathead Catfish into the Rappahannock River is plausible, as established populations now exist in adjacent tributaries.

McClellan's Epidemic: Disease and Discord at Harrison's Landing, July–August 1862

McClellan's EpidemicDisease and Discord at Harrison's Landing, July–August 1862 Zachery A. Fry (bio) As he sat down to write a letter on July 20, 1862, Brig. Gen. David B. Birney had recently survived the hardest week of his Civil War experience to date. After lingering in the Chickahominy swamps and fighting to a standstill in the Seven Days' battles, the Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan retired to a new position nestled in the humid marshes and meadows along the James River southeast of Richmond. There, the battered and traumatized army faced a new threat—rampant diseases that exacted an unprecedented toll on the troops. Birney summarized the army's plight when he wrote to a friend, "Malaria has decimated our troops. We have lost more by fatigue [and] exposure … than we would have in twenty battles."1 The last six weeks of George B. McClellan's 1862 Peninsula campaign deprived his army of as many effective soldiers as Ulysses S. Grant's six-week bloodletting from the Wilderness to Petersburg in 1864. The difference between the Overland campaign and the 1862 campaign lay in the nature of those casualties: Grant's persistence against the Army of Northern Virginia cost nearly 55,000 combat losses, while most of McClellan's number came from diseases contracted during occupation of the Chickahominy River and, especially, Harrison's Landing on the James River. Records indicate the Army of the Potomac exhibited 42,911 cases of various illnesses in July 1862, while the month of August, half of which witnessed the army still languishing on the James River, totaled 20,836 cases. Furthermore, most of these losses came on top of an official total of 15,855 combat casualties from the Seven Days' battles proper. [End Page 7] To be sure, remarkably few of McClellan's soldiers actually died from the summer outbreaks, but the lack of a stark mortality statistic should not cloud the fact that diseases like diarrhea and malaria lingered with the affected soldiers for weeks and even months. Kathryn Shively Meier's groundbreaking study of the environment and soldier identity in 1862 Virginia has established that many soldiers recognized the threats of such disease outbreaks. Official army medical systems failed widely enough that soldiers adopted self-care methods for health maintenance, Meier insists. But even these efforts of individual soldiers could not keep up with the scale of the Harrison's Landing health crisis, where diseases incubated in the Chickahominy swamps hatched to render the summer of 1862 a landmark medical catastrophe in American military history.2 This article bridges the two topics of Civil War disease and army politics by arguing that the summer of 1862 shaped the partisan dynamic inside the Army of the Potomac for the rest of the war. It begins with evidence that the six weeks on the James River from July 2 to August 15, 1862, were an unprecedented medical disaster for the United States Army. Coming on the heels of the Seven Days' battles, this experience with disease drained the army. Harrison's Landing, therefore, energized the emergence of a partisan divide in the army because soldiers expressed such intense and public disgust with their situation, their leadership, and the progress of the conflict. On the Peninsula, these volunteers dealt with the physical and psychological aftermath of a massive and costly campaign for the [End Page 8] first time. While the army languished, its naïve rage militaire of 1861 evaporated, and officers and men wondered aloud what their sacrifices had achieved. Who was to blame for the failure to take Richmond and end the war? Survivors of the Seven Days looked at the crowded hospital tents of an army entrenching just miles from the Confederate capital and came to believe they were the victims of mismanagement somewhere at the top.3 Historians have filled insightful volumes discussing how the Seven Days battles upset the war's balance and turned the Confederate war effort in a different direction under Robert E. Lee.4 Likewise, McClellan's biographers have dissected his famous "Harrison's Landing Letter" to President Lincoln, which offered policy advice on emancipation and...

Assessment of salinity intrusion in the James and Chickahominy Rivers as a result of simulated sea-level rise in Chesapeake Bay, East Coast, USA

Global sea level is rising, and the relative rate in the Chesapeake Bay region of the East Coast of the United States is greater than the worldwide rate. Sea-level rise can cause saline water to migrate upstream in estuaries and rivers, threatening freshwater habitat and drinking-water supplies. The effects of future sea-level rise on two tributaries of Chesapeake Bay, the James and Chickahominy (CHK) Rivers, were evaluated in order to quantify the salinity change with respect to the magnitude of sea-level rise. Such changes are critical to: 1) local floral and faunal habitats that have limited tolerance ranges to salinity; and 2) a drinking-water supply for the City of Newport News, Virginia. By using the three-dimensional Hydrodynamic-Eutrophication Model (HEM-3D), sea-level rise scenarios of 30, 50, and 100 cm, based on the U.S. Climate Change Science Program for the mid-Atlantic region for the 21st century, were evaluated. The model results indicate that salinity increases in the entire river as sea level rises and that the salinity increase in a dry year is greater than that in a typical year. In the James River, the salinity increase in the middle-to-upper river (from 25 to 50 km upstream of the mouth) is larger than that in the lower and upper parts of the river. The maximum mean salinity increase would be 2 and 4 ppt for a sea-level rise of 50 and 100 cm, respectively. The upstream movement of the 10 ppt isohaline is much larger than the 5 and 20 ppt isohalines. The volume of water with salinity between 10 and 20 ppt would increase greatly if sea level rises 100 cm. In the CHK River, with a sea-level rise of 100 cm, the mean salinity at the drinking-water intake 34 km upstream of the mouth would be about 3 ppt in a typical year and greater than 5 ppt in a dry year, both far in excess of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's secondary standard for total dissolved solids for drinking water. At the drinking-water intake, the number of days of salinity greater than 0.1 ppt increases with increasing sea-level rise; during a dry year, 0.1 ppt would be exceeded for more than 100 days with as small a rise as 30 cm.

Feminine Designs, Legal Estates: Elizabeth Allen and the Renovations to Bacon’s Castle

VIRGINIA B PRICE C..t:.~t.lt!.. L NOTt.S f> LL " H . ..... - ~o ll..§1\·~g:f~:~f{f~::j~o~~v~N ~l~~t.?~f::~:!~.:~~~~~~t.=~"'· 1 , W.T U~>" U O.' ("NOO , ~. . , '::1...l.> t:l 0\• 1730) ~ ;-\rthur (d. 1743) m. Stith (by 1763) 24 ARRIS I VOLUME TWEN TY 2009 m. E~zabeth Bray (u. 177-t) m. Hannah I ' I. I James ( E TWEI\ - y 2009 documents- the property transfer, the agreement with Smith, and the school trust-shed light on what she valued. From these public documents, we can make inferences as to her private choices about where and ho'v she lived. In 1725, James Bray died, leaving property to his children under the terms of a will. Elizabeth Allen and her brother Thomas Bray then renegotiated aspects of this inheritance from their father. Elizabeth Allen retained rights to a plantation on the Chickahominy River and sold her life rights to another for £500. The siblings entered into a bond for t\vice that amount to formalize their arrangement. 16 vVithin two years, Arthur Allen III died without a will, leaving Elizabeth widowed w-ith two children,James and Catherine. 17 This unfortunate event was significant because it changed Elizabeth Allen's legal status. Colonial Virginia law provided that a married vvoman could not own property or dispose of it without her husband's consent. Nor could a woman enter into a binding contract. A man also controlled all of his wife's personal property after marriage. A husband managed his wife's real property and controlled rents and profits. :Mitigating the legal inequities to the wife were her dov.ver rights in property O\vned with her husband during marriage and her rights to inheritance from her family. Dower rights offered protection to w·idows, who received one-third life rights to real property and, after 1705, a right to stay in the manor house; in Virginia, dower also included personal property . Regarding inheritance, an heiress controlled her family's land as she would her dower, and it could not be sold without her permission. If a couple had no children, on the wife's death, her land reverted to her family. 18 In Elizabeth Allen's case, her husband Arthur Allen would have been the "tenant by courtesy" of the Bray plantation-lifetime manager of her estates on behalf of their children, James and Catherine. 19 vVhen Arthur Allen died, the court appointed her as the administrator of his estate. This meant that Elizabeth Allen now controlled her ovvn inheritance from James Bray~ her dower rights in the marital property, and, as fiduciary, her late husband's estate, which would have passed by law to the couple's minor children. It appears that Elizabeth Allen used the independence temporarily afforded her in widowhood to influence hO\v she and her children would live, particularly as she prepared to marry again. As administrator of Arthur Allen's estate, she segregated her brother's money from that of her husband. She invoked the terms of her father 's will to pass the plantation bequeathed her in 1725 to her daughter in 1740.20 The impetus was Catherine's marriage to Benjamin Cocke. The matrilineal aspect of the bequest suggests that it vvas more than a dowry.1 1 Perhaps it was Elizabeth Allen's attempt to augment her daug·hter's inheritance with a promise of property, something Catherine could identify vvith her own family , rather than that of the Cockes. vVas it a response to her feelings about living among Arthur Allen's extended family for so many years? Or did she simply want her daughter to have land, as well as the personal property like slaves and household goods typically assigned to female children? Nonetheless, it afforded a measure of economic independence for Catherine, something that came late in Elizabeth's own marriage to Arthur. By 1730, Elizabeth Allen was remarried to Arthur Smith IV of Isle of \Vight County.22 They had one son, who drowned in 1743.23 Her sonJames Allen died not long afterwards.24 In all likelihood, her daughter Catherine was dead in 1749 when the...

CARBON, NITROGEN, AND PHOSPHORUS ACCUMULATION IN FLOODPLAINS OF ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN RIVERS, USA

Net nutrient accumulation rates were measured in riverine floodplains of the Atlantic Coastal Plain in Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, USA. The floodplains were located in watersheds with different land use and included two sites on the Chickahominy River (urban), one site on the Mattaponi River (forested), and five sites on the Pocomoke River (agricultural). The Pocomoke River floodplains lie along reaches with natural hydrogeomorphology and on reaches with restricted flooding due to channelization and levees. A network of feldspar clay marker horizons was placed on the sediment surface of each floodplain site 3–6 years prior to sampling. Sediment cores were collected from the material deposited over the feldspar clay pads. This overlying sediment was separated from the clay layer and then dried, weighed, and analyzed for its total carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) content.Mean C accumulation rates ranged from 61 to 212 g·m−2·yr−1, N accumulation rates ranged from 3.5 to 13.4 g·m−2·yr−1, and P accumulation rates ranged from 0.2 to 4.1 g·m−2·yr−1 among the eight floodplains. Patterns of intersite variation in mineral sediment and P accumulation rates were similar to each other, as was variation in organic sediment and C and N accumulation rates. The greatest sediment and C, N, and P accumulation rates were observed on Chickahominy River floodplains downstream from the growing metropolitan area of Richmond, Virginia. Nutrient accumulation rates were lowest on Pocomoke River floodplains that have been hydraulically disconnected from the main channel by channelization and levees. Sediment P concentrations and P accumulation rates were much greater on the hydraulically connected floodplain immediately downstream of the limit of channelization and dense chicken agriculture of the upper Pocomoke River watershed. These findings indicate that (1) watershed land use has a large effect on sediment and nutrient retention in floodplains, and (2) limiting the hydraulic connectivity between river channels and floodplains minimizes material retention by floodplains in fluvial hydroscapes.

Demonstration of Use of High-Performance Lightweight Concrete in Bridge Superstructure in Virginia

The general objective of this research was the construction and evaluation of a bridge using high-performance lightweight concrete (HPLWC). The resulting bridge over the Chickahominy River near Richmond, Va., consists of 15 prestressed American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Type IV girders made of HPLWC with a density of 1,920 kg∕ m3 and a minimum required 28-day compressive strength of 55 MPa . The bridge also has a lightweight concrete (LWC) deck with a density of 1,850 kg∕ m3 and a minimum required 28-day compressive strength of 30 MPa . This research study is chiefly concerned with investigating the effects of using lightweight concrete in prestressed girders on transfer length, development length, flexural strength, girder live-load distribution factor, and dynamic load allowance. Transfer length was determined to be 432 mm , or 33 db , for several girders at the time of prestress transfer. The development length was determined to be between 1,830 and 2,440 mm , w...

Human- and beaver-induced wetland changes in the Chickahominy River watershed from 1953 to 1994

Historically, anthropogenic activities have contributed to the direct loss of wetland area, mostly due to agriculture and urban land uses. Urbanization also indirectly impacts wetlands at a landscape scale through altered wetland hydrology and change in the spatial configuration of wetlands in a watershed. In addition, beaver (Castor canadensis) create and modify wetlands in a landscape. Because of recent increases in urbanization and rising beaver populations, a raster-based geographic information system (GIS) was used to analyze the combined effects of humans and beavers on wetland area and types in the Chickahominy River watershed from 1953 to 1994. Results of the study revealed that 29% of the land changed during the 41-year study period, and wetland conversion constituted 7% of the total change. The major reason for wetland loss was the construction of two large water-supply reservoirs in the watershed, and most of the remaining wetland loss was due to urbanization. Wetland functions vary depending on wetland type, and the results of this study showed that 90% of the change in wetlands from 1953 to 1994 was a result of shifting between wetland types. Beaver-modified wetlands increased 274%, and beaver activity was responsible for 23% of the wetland change.

Powhatan Indian Women: The People Captain John Smith Barely Saw

Most of the eyewitness accounts about Powhatan Indians concern the men's world. This essay attempts to compensate for the imbalance by adding the evidence available from ethnographic analogy from other Woodland Indian cultures, reconstructive ethnobotany in the Chesapeake region, and living history as practiced at the Jamestown Settlement Museum's Indian Village. The women emerge as tough, energetic, sociable people who scheduled their work carefully and did much of it independently from the men. The essay describes women's activities on a typical day in early May 1607 in a real village that has been excavated archaeologically at the mouth of the Chickahominy River.

Seasonality, abundance, and microhabitat distribution of meiofauna from a Chickahominy River, Virginia tidal freshwater marsh

Meiofauna were sampled from intertidal pool and vegetative hummock microhabitats at a tidal freshwater marsh on the Chickahominy River, Virginia. Nematodes, ostracods, tardigrades, oligochaetes (Naididae), copepods (Harpacticoida and Cyclopoida), and the sabellid polychaete Manayunkia spp. were numerically dominant in monthly collections. Total meiofaunal densities ranged from 169 individuals 10 cm−2 (low marsh pools, April) to 13832 individuals 10 cm−2 (low marsh hummocks, September). Highest densities of total meiofauna were observed in August–September, coincident with recruitment of oligochaetes and Manyunkia spp. to low marsh hummocks. Nematodes were generally abundant in all seasons and represented 37% of total meiofauna collected. Nematode densities were significantly greater on hummocks (p=0.0001). Ostracods were significantly more abundant in pools, Greatest densities of ostracods were observed in May. Tardigrades were abundant November through March, and September. Significantly greater abundance of tardigrades was observed on hummocks. Harpacticoid copepods were abundant from December through April and cyclopoids were abundant from May through September (low marsh only).

Sinks for trace metals, nutrients, and sediments in wetlands of the Chickahominy River near Richmond, Virginia

The Chickahominy River drains 790 km2 in southeastern Virginia, including approximately 155 km2 of dense commercial, industrial, and urban development in the upper basin near Richmond, Virginia. Previous studies have shown that total stream concentrations of trace metals and nutrients increased during storms, suggesting resuspension of contaminated sediments and (or) stormwater influxes of pollutants. The possible role of wetlands in maintaining water quality is of concern because the river furnishes about 46 percent of the water supply for the City of Newport News. Particle sizes of sediments and their corresponding total concentrations of carbon, nitrogen, copper, nickel, lead, and zinc were determined to assess their distribution within wetlands adjacent to the river. Except for Zn, concentrations of all measured constituents in the <63-μm-particle fraction were lower downstream of Richmond, suggesting that most contaminants are retained in the upper basin. Zinc concentrations increased along downstream reaches, peaking at 510 mg kg−1 approximately 8 km below the confluence of Upham Brook with the Chickahominy River. Lead concentrations up to 192 mg kg−1 were measured in sediments along Upham Brook near Richmond. Concentrations of Zn and Cu were highest in streambed sediments and lowest in elevated forested wetlands. The results suggest that the developing regions of the basin have a significant effect on sediment chemistry within the basin and that wetlands play a role in retaining these sediment-borne contaminants in upper reaches of the basin. Studies are underway to asses the stablity, of these sediments and the capacity of these contaminated wetlands to continue to assimilate them.

Sediment and trace element trapping in a forested wetland, Chickahominy River, Virginia

The Chickahominy River, arising near Richmond, Virginia, flows southeast toward Newport News, which impounds the river for much of its water supply. Much of the bottomland between the two cities is flooded for extended periods annually. Sediment-deposition rates estimated from tree rings were used in conjunction with multi-element analyses of sediments and of selected growth rings from oak trees to estimate amounts of trapped sediment and trace elements. Mean rates of deposition at eight study sites range from 0.7 to 5.7 mm/yr and are related to stream gradient, stream power, percent wetland, hydroperiod, and land use. Deposition rates are highest downstream from the confluence of upper basin tributaries near Richmond, where stream power is low and there is a high percentage of emergent/shrub-scrub wetlands; rates decrease, along downstream reaches toward the Chickahominy reservoir. Tree-ring data suggest that mean sedimentation rates were greater during the last 50 years than during the previous 3-year period, possibly because of urban expansion in the upper basin. Sites nearest the urban area have the highest rates of sedimentation and the highest concentrations of most trace elements in sediments. Trace elements concentrated in sediment include zinc, lead, chromium, copper, nickel, tin, and cadmium. Concentrations in tree rings of zinc, copper, nickel, and lead were generally proportional to those in sediment at a site, and some inter-site correlations were also observed. Unusually high concentrations of zinc were detected in some tree rings, including some that formed before 1950. Concentrations of zinc and lead in the most recently formed rings of those trees suggest that sediment concentrations of those elements may have declined relative to earlier periods. The trapping of substantial amounts of sediment and trace elements by these forested wetlands demonstrates their importance in the maintenance of water-quality.

Kepone Concentration in Juvenile Anadromous Fishes

Young-of-the-year alewife, American shad, blueback herring, and striped bass were analyzed for Kepone contamination. Samples were collected from the Potomac, Rappahannock, Pamunkey, Mattaponi, Chickahominy, and James rivers during the period 1977–79. Concentrations of Kepone ≥0.3 ppm occurred in all four species collected in the James River nursery zone between km 65 and 120, and in the lower Chickahominy River. Concentrations of Kepone <0.3, ppm were also present in samples from the Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers. Four possible explanations, for the occurrence of Kepone in these samples from the upper York River system (Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers) were, evaluated. Kepone was not detectable in samples from the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers.

Place Names on the Virginia Peninsula

T HE VIRGINIA PENINSULA1 is a long, narrow neck of land running down into Chesapeake Bay in a direction somewhat south of east. It is held tightly between the broad James and York rivers as they flow into the bay, and it varies in width from about ten to about twenty miles. The Peninsula is considered by Virginians to join the main part of the state at some indefinite point about forty or fifty miles from its lower tip-perhaps a little below West Point on the York and perhaps a little above the mouth of Chickahominy River on the James. Thus, it covers an area of roughly five hundred square miles. The Peninsula is deeply laced and cut by inlets and creeks, and it is heavily fringed with marshlands that are affected by the tides. Although these waters and lowlands are no barriers to modern highway and bridge builders, they were definite barriers to earlier residents of the Peninsula. Not only was the Peninsula effectively cut off from neighboring land areas, but sections of the Peninsula itself were separated from each other until only recently. The place names of the Peninsula lend themselves naturally to consideration in an article of the length of this one; for the area is small, and its place names may be treated rather thoroughly in brief compass. The territory is so bounded geographically that there is no necessity for setting up artificial limits in order to restrict the subject. In addition, in the place names of the Peninsula there are evident certain characteristics peculiar to the locale, even though, at the same time, one may also see trends in naming which are common throughout the United States.2

Phlyctochytrium Aureliae Parasitized by Rhizophydium Chytriophagum

(1945). Phlyctochytrium Aureliae Parasitized by Rhizophydium Chytriophagum. Mycologia: Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 109-119.

Some Fern Finds in Virginia

BOTRYCHIUM OBLIQUUM var. TENUIFOLIUM.-In August, 1924, several visits were made to Lanexa, New Kent County, Virginia (between Richmond and Williamsburg), for the purpose of verifying the existence there of Habenaria repens, reported by the late Professor Grimes. This orchid was not found, and there is a possibility that an abnormal plant of H. clavellata or H. lacera was mistaken for it; but the discovery of other interesting plants made the trips worth while. In the swamp along the Chickahominy River 0.7 kilometer south-southwest of the railroad station a small colony of a peculiar Grapefernl was noted. It differs from typical Botrychium obliquum, which also grows there, in its sterile segment having only 9 to 12 divisions, with more or less cuneate bases, and in the fertile segment being once-pinnate, or at most twice-pinnate at the base, and very slender-stemmed. Another distinction consists in the length of the common stalk of the two segments, which in B. obliquum is rarely more than 2 centimeters long, but here is 4 to 5 cm., or about one fourth the total