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The Chickahominy is an 〔U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. (The National Map ), accessed April 1, 2011〕 river in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Virginia. The river which serves as the eastern border of Charles City County rises about northwest of Richmond and flows southeast and south to the James River. The river was named after the Chickahominy Indian tribe who lived near the river when it was claimed by English colonists in 1607 and whose descendants live in Charles City, VA today. During the American Civil War (1861–65), the upper reaches became a major obstacle to Union General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, a failed attempt in 1862 to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond. Docile, narrow, and relatively easily crossed during dry weather, after periods of rain, it grows across a flood plain with swamps as much as a mile across. The Chickahominy was in flood stage and divided the Union Army during crucial periods, despite continuous efforts to build and maintain bridges by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Other battles were fought nearby again in 1864. In modern times, the lower Chickahominy River has become a major source of drinking water for the lower portion of the Virginia Peninsula and a popular recreational area for boating and sport fishing, featuring Walker's Dam and Chickahominy Lake. It serves as a border for the Chickahominy Wildlife Management Area. ==Geologic definition== The Chickahominy River is a Coastal Plain tributary to the James River with headwaters northwest of Richmond. For its first the Chickahominy flows over igneous and metamorphic bedrock of the Piedmont, but soon becomes a Coastal Plain stream near Mechanicsville. The low-gradient Chickahominy sluggishly flows through broad swampy lowlands for from Henrico County to eastern New Kent County. southeast of Providence Forge the Chickahominy River becomes an estuary and makes a turn towards to the south. When sea level was higher during warmer (non-glacial) periods in the Pleistocene the Chickahominy was a much broader river. The ancient riverbanks and meander loops are still recognizable. As sea level rose after the last glacial interval (during the last 20,000 years) the Chickahominy has also risen causing old flood plains and valleys to be backfilled as marshes. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chickahominy River」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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