Port Walthall was a town located on the north bank of the

Appomattox River The Appomattox River is a tributary of the James River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 in central and eastern Virginia in the United ...

in Chesterfield County,

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, a few miles upriver from its confluence with the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

City Point City Point of CityPoint may refer to: United Kingdom * CityPoint, an office tower in London, England United States *City Point (New Haven), a neighborhood in New Haven, Connecticut * City Point, a section of the South Boston area in Boston, Massac ...

Etymology

Port Walthall was part of 1600 acres patented by William Walthall, Merchant, 26 July 1656, land "Lying and being in the county of Henrico, on the north side of Appomatuck River." William Walthall's ancestors were members of the

Mercers Company The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. It is the first of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. Although of even older origin, the c ...

in London who held stock in the Virginia Company and descended from Thomas Walthall, born circa 1450, Nantwich, Cheshire, and Margaret, daughter of Sir William Stanley of Hooten.

History

The James River boats, on a summer arrangement in 1837, connected round trip from Petersburg or Richmond to Norfolk. From Norfolk the Steamer COLUMBIA connected to District of Columbia and the steamboat KENTUCKY connected to Spear's wharf, Baltimore. The Town of Port Walthall was established in 1840.

Clover Hill Pits

Port Walthall was on a Spur of the

Richmond and Petersburg Railroad The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad moved passengers and goods between Richmond and Petersburg from 1838 to 1898. It survived the American Civil War and eventually merged into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1900. History The Richmond and Pe ...

from 1846 to the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

. The spur was built to get coal from the

Clover Hill Pits The Clover Hill Pits are a number of coal shafts and mines that operated in the Southside area of Richmond, Virginia from 1837 until around 1883. History In 1837, coal was found after a heavy rain at Clover Hill Plantation, in Chesterfield Count ...

to Port Walthall to be shipped north by coastal ships. As part of the competition for commerce between Richmond and Petersburg, Wirt and

Moncure Robinson Moncure Robinson (February 2, 1802 – November 10, 1891) was an American civil engineer, railroad planner and builder and a railroad and steamboat owner,

, presidents of the

and one other Railroad, built the branch line from the R&P to Port Walthall. They also financed a Steamship Company owned by the R&P. The company was forbidden to make purchase of other companies, to prevent other steamship companies from fearing a large monopoly and refusing to facilitate connections north or engaging in competition. The railroad presidents merely wanted to compete with Petersburg and did not mind making these concessions. A Newspaper Editor in Petersburg was not happy with this development. The proposed charter of the steamship company was debated by the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

and was granted.

Port Walthall Steamship Company

The Port Walthall Steamship Company was formed in 1846 by the

. The company was chartered to book passengers through Old Point Comfort in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

but no further. The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad provided repairs for and managed a joint schedule for point to point transportation through to Norfolk. Later the

Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. The track is now the RF&P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system; the original corporation is no longer a railroad compan ...

also bought into the company. The tracks underwent some maintenance in 1849 and the governor remarked that the train had never had an accident or had ever been late and missed the steamship in three years. The steamship ''Augusta'' was retrofitted in 1853 with

lifeboats Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen A ...

, lifebuoys and force pumps as required by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

for safety. Passengers could leave Richmond or Petersburg by train three days a week at 6:00 A.M. and transfer to the

Steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

headed for Norfolk. They could return from Norfolk three days a week leaving at 6:00 A.M and ride the train back from Port Walthall to Richmond or Petersburg. The fare was $2 for White adults, $1.50 for

enslaved Africans The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

and $1 for children if they went the whole way to Norfolk or New Point Comfort. Fares were less if they stopped along the river. Meals were fifty cents for white people and 25 cents for slaves. Coal was loaded at Port Walthall and shipped to places like Baltimore and Philadelphia by other shippers.

Civil War

The

Battle of Port Walthall Junction The Battle of Port Walthall Junction was fought May 6–7, 1864, between Union and Confederate forces during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign of the American Civil War. Although initially successful, the Confederates were eventually defeated, allow ...

was fought on May 6–7, 1864, between

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

and

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

forces during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. The point where the Port Walthall tracks joined the

was known as Port Walthall Junction. The Confederates were eventually defeated, allowing Union forces to cut the railroad, one of Richmond's vital supply lines. Confederate soldiers later melted down the railroad tracks leading to the port to manufacture cannon.

Reconstruction

After the Civil War,

Thomas M. Logan Thomas Muldrup Logan (November 3, 1840 – August 11, 1914) was an American soldier and businessman. He served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War, and afterward was greatly involved in railroad development in the Southern ...

, who twenty years later modernized railroads of Virginia, became president of the Port Walthall Spur of the

. The railroad branch to Port Walthall was never restored, and Port Walthall came into disuse. An 1891 map of the

shows a carriage road going to the town from the stop on the main line. An 1893 Richmond and Petersburg Railroad company prospectus does not show the spur to Port Walthall in the miles of track section. However, as late as 1872, vessels larger than 200 tonnes could dock at Port Walthall, six miles down the Appomattox River from Petersburg on the north bank.

Small Pox Quarantine 1906

The school in the town of Port Walthall was temporarily closed due to a smallpox outbreak in 1906.

Today

In modern times, the name was memorialized as the Walthall exit of

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

, now known as Exit 58. The Walthall name was abandoned in the early 1990s when Virginia adopted distance based numbers for exits.

References

{{reflist Geography of Chesterfield County, Virginia Virginia in the American Civil War Steamships of the United States