From Shorpys, comes a picture of Point Royal, VA c 1864. This is from Grant's Wilderness Campaign in the Civil War. The Civil War comes right at the end of the early American period you are studying.
Take a moment to look at the boats. The sort of tubby ones on the right are canal boats. These moved freight, tobacco, etc. from the interior of Virginia and other states around the fall line, and they brought manufactured goods back. The more streamedlined boats to the left and at the end of the pontoon bridge are steamships. Note they have the smoke stacks. The one at the left of the picture is a back wheeler, from which we get the term, "to back wheel." The one at the end of the bridge is a side wheeler. Ships like these pied the smooth sections of river and those sections below the fall line. The main reason Richmond is where it is and became the state capital is it was a river port, that is, a deep water port on the James River. It is where the commerce from the interior of Virgina met the commerce from the rest of the world. It provided canals around the falls, making moving freight and people much, much easier than by land. Note also, the only mechanical means of power in the 19th century wer either the water wheel or the steam engine. Most movement of people and freight until well after the Civil War was via either foot, horse, or--most often and if one could afford it--boat. The rivers were the equivalent of the interstates today, that is, the way people and stuff moves between cities and regions. Also remember, it took much more time than today to move between locations. The trip from Richmond to Lynchburg by canal took a day and half. One slept on the boat.
Steve
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