Chowan River

Chowan River basins

The Chowan River is a blackwater river that arises from the confluence of springing in the state of Virginia Blackwater River and the Nottoway River near the border of the states of Virginia and North Carolina in the United States of America. The river is about 80 kilometers long, up to its confluence with the Albemarle Sound on the Atlantic coast in the east of North Carolina, its catchment area covers approximately 12,432 square miles in North Carolina and Virginia.

The Chowan River flows mainly through a swampy terrain and wide to its outflow into the Albemarle Sound through over 3.2 kilometers. Although the flow of the Tide currents subject to the fluctuations in the water level are usually less than 30 centimeters between high and low tide. The boundary between the river and the sound is marked by the Edentonhousebrücke where U.S. Route 17 crosses the river. Major tributaries are among others the Bonds Creek, the Meherrin River, which Wiccacon River and Bennett 's Creek, which connects the Chowan River to the Merchant's Millpond State Park. The river offers excellent fishing grounds for catfish and perch.

History

Prior to the settlement of European immigrants Native Americans from the North Carolina Algonquian people living on the Chowan River. The root of the Weapameoc populated the area east of the river, the Chowanoke on the west side. They lived from fishing and farming.

The river was during the Civil War crucial. As part of the Union Army decided the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, destroying a vital railway line and supply line of the Confederates, the Union ships bombarded the small Confederate positions outside Harrellsville and Cofield. When the Union ships reached the site of Winton, the Confederates had already been warned on the spot. The Confederate battalion set an ambush near the pier and sent a slave to the incoming ships to tell this to, the Confederates had fled in panic before the expected attack of the Union. The ambush was nonetheless discovered as one of the Union soldiers saw the sun reflected on one of the muskets of the hidden Confederate. The Union ships took off, regrouped and returned only minutes later back to Winton to completely destroy. These Union troops landed on the Meherrin River in Murfreesboro and then marched westward to the railroad at Weldon destroy.