Existing comment:
Jackson's Flank March:
Shortly after 8am, May 2, "Stonewall" Jackson's corps marched past Catharine Furnace, bound for the Union army's right flank. When the Federals spotted Jackson's column, they assumed the Confederates were retreating and sent a division in pursuit. A sharp rear-guard action here cost Jackson most of the 23rd Georgia Infantry, but the Union efforts did little to disrupt his march.
The road Jackson used was smaller than a normal road today and progress was slow. By midafternoon, his column was strung out for nearly ten miles; it took nearly six hours for it to pass a given point. When the head of Jackson's column reached the Orange Plank Road around 3pm, the rear of the column was still near Catharine Furnace.
As his column passed this point [near Catharine Furnace], Jackson detached his leading regiment, Colonel Emory Best's 23rd Georgia, to guard this intersection. Best's men deployed in the woods one-half mile to your right, while the rest of Jackson's column continued on its way.
About noon, green-clad Union sharpshooters attacked the Georgians and drove them back. The Confederates made a brief stand here among the furnace buildings before falling back to the shelter of an unfinished railroad, one-half mile to your left. There, more than 250 of the Georgians surrendered. |