38°17′19″N 77°38′54″W / 38.28861°N 77.64833°W Catharine Furnace was a 19th century iron smelting operation in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Furnace remnants are located on National Park Service land as part of the Chancellorsville Battlefield. Established in 1837, the operation was shut down in the 1840's but then restarted at the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861 to support the Confederacy. Pig iron smelted here was sent by wagon and rail to foundries such as the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia for manufacture of iron-based wartime products.
History edit
During the Battle of Chancellorsville in early May of 1863, the people and the landscape of Catharine Furnace would play a prominent role in the outcome of the battle. On the evening of 01 May 1863 Robert E. Lee commanding the Army of Northern Virginia and Stonewall Jackson his Second Corps commander met to discuss options following the first day of battle. Lee expressed his intent to strike the federal right. Based on information provided by Cavalry Corps commander J.E.B. Stuart Jackson proposed a bold maneuver to attack the federal right flank with his entire command. Seeking more detailed information as to the options for route of march, Stuart asked Jackson's chaplain, the Reverend Beverly Tucker Lacy whose family owned property in the area to share his knowledge of the road network with General Lee.[1] Based on that information, General Lee gave orders to put Jackson's Corps in motion early the following morning. The plan was to march west to Catharine Furnace, then turn south and then west along a "blind road" then west to Brock Road and finally north to the right flank of the Army of the Potomac on the Orange Plank Turnpike. Waking very early in the morning on 02 May, Stonewall Jackson conducted a final map reconnaissance with Rev. Lacy and became concerned that the route of march would pass too close to federal pickets. When asked if there were any other suitable roads, Rev, Lacy was unsure, but told Jackson that Charles C. Wellford the proprietor of Catharine Furnace would likely know. Jackson sent Rev. Lacy and Jedediah Hotchkiss the Second Corps cartographer to wake Wellford to seek his counsel. Wellford informed them that he had just opened a new road southwest of Brock Road for use in hauling cordwood and iron-ore to the furnace. Wellford offered his son as a guide, and the operation was put in motion.[2] By midday on 02 May, most of Jackson's Corps had marched through the Catharine Furnace complex, and a fierce rear-guard action was fought on the grounds as federal troops of U.S. III Corps under command of Daniel Sickles attacked the rear of the column, but were effectively delayed by the 23rd Georgia Regiment commanded by Colonel Emory F. Best.[3] Jackson's Second Corps was able to successfully use the road network identified by Rev. Lacy and Charles Wellford to execute a bold maneuver that defeated the Army of the Potomac and is studied to this day as one of the greatest examples of decisive maneuver in American military history.