Jackson's Flank March

Shortly after 8 a.m. on May 2, "Stonewall" Jackson's corps marched past Catharine Furnace toward the Union Army's right flank. After Federal troops spotted the column and mistook it for a retreat, they sent a division in pursuit, but a sharp rearguard action cost Jackson most of the 23rd Georgia Infantry while doing little to disrupt the march. Moving along a much narrower road than exists today, the column advanced slowly, and by midafternoon it stretched for nearly ten miles, taking nearly six hours to pass a given point. When the head of the column reached the Orange Plank Road around 3 p.m., the rear was still near Catharine Furnace. As the column passed, Jackson detached Colonel Emory Best's 23rd Georgia to guard the intersection. Best's men deployed in the woods one-half mile away, but about noon green-clad Union sharpshooters attacked and drove them back. The Confederates made a brief stand among the furnace buildings before retreating to the shelter of an unfinished railroad one-half mile away, where more than 250 of the Georgians surrendered.

Lake Wilderness, Virginia · United States