Jackson on the Move

About 10 a.m. on May 2, 1863, Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's flanking column approached a then-cleared ridge on the Furnace Road. Union infantrymen perched in trees at Hazel Grove, three-quarters of a mile to the northwest, spotted the Confederates, and Federal artillery opened fire, compelling Jackson's troops to hurry past the exposed spot. Jackson ordered his artillery and wagon trains to take a safer road farther south. The harassing Union fire did little to disrupt the column. For six hours a continuous stream of soldiers moved by on a much narrower road, packed four abreast and moving steadily at a slow tramp. The passage alerted the Federals to Jackson's movement but not to his destination, and they would soon respond more substantially at Catharine Furnace, a half-mile to the west. Lieutenant Frederick Colston, a Confederate staff officer, recalled that the men had been in winter quarters and had accumulated much to carry, but the day was warm, so many jerked off their knapsacks or bundles, hastily selected a few precious things, abandoned their cherished possessions, and ran on to resume their places. By this point, Jackson's men had covered only two of the twelve miles they would march that day, and when the head of the column reached here, the rear of the column had not yet started to march.

Lake Wilderness, Virginia · United States