Existing comment:
Rearguard Action
The Battle of Fredericksburg
On May 2, 1863, as the tail end of Stonewall Jackson's flanking column neared the Wellford place, Union infantry launched an attack. They struck Jackson's rearguard (the 23rd Georgia) a half-mile to the north, at Catharine Furnace. From there, they fought a running battle to the Wellford farm. Confederate artillery unlimbered in the yard of the Wellford house to help repel a Union assault.
Outnumbered, the Georgians fell back to the protection of a railroad embankment, still visible inside the woods ahead of you. But Union sharpshooters outflanked the Georgians' position and captured most of the regiment. The Federals pushed no farther, though, and Jackson's march continued. By 5 p.m. his column lay poised opposite the Union army's unprotected right flank, about three miles northwest of you. Jackson stood on the verge of his greatest success.
Colonel Emory F. Best, 23rd Georgia. Best would be court-martialed for abandoning his regiment before it surrendered.
Union leaders spotted Jackson's column, assumed he was retreating and attacked. The 23rd Georgia tried to stop them. The fight ended only when the Georgians surrendered in the unfinished railroad, about 200 yards in front of you. |