Powhite Creek is a

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

in Hanover County, Virginia. It is a small left-hand branch of the

Chickahominy River The Chickahominy is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe 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 bo ...

. 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.

Historical significance

Powhite Creek is mentioned in the 1749 will of William Massie, a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and a vestryman in

New Kent County New Kent County is a county in the eastern part the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 22,945. Its county seat is New Kent. New Kent County is included in the Greater Richmond Region. History Ne ...

, who gave his wife the plantation and 300 acres of Powhite Creek in Hanover County. Before the Battle of Gaines' Mill 1862,

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

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.Sears, Stephen W. (1992). ''To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign.'' New York: Ticknor and Fields, pp. 217–19.

References

{{coord, 37.55971, -77.29931, format=dms, type:river_region:US-VA, display=title Rivers of Hanover County, Virginia