The answer to the Mattaponi canal question may lie
In 1738, all of the main bridges on the Mattaponi were washed away in a great flood.
The bridges included Guinney's (Guinea Station), Downer's (Woodford), Doguetown (Milford), and Burk's bridges.
The canal was probably built for irrigation and flood-control purposes. Guns were floated in by canal boat only during the retreat of Confederate forces toward Richmond during the 1862 peninsula campaign, where Gen. McClellan brought heavy siege guns up the York River, then up Wormly Creek by canal boat.
There were no guns floated to Guinea Station.
Richard Moter
Caroline