Chickahominy

Chickahominy (Algonquian, “river of the coarse-pounded corn”), river in central Virginia, about 145 km (about 90 mi) long. It rises northwest of Richmond and flows in a generally southeastern direction, parallel for a number of kilometers to the James River, with which it merges near Williamsburg. In the American Civil War, during the Peninsular campaign of 1862 to capture Richmond, several battles were fought on or near the banks of the Chickahominy, as was the Battle of Cold Harbor in 1864.