Visible here are the ruins of the Catherine Furnace which the Confederates had used until 1864 to aid in the manufacture of much needed weaponry. The previous evening, General's Lee and Jackson had decided upon a daring plan, a gamble that Jackson could get around the Union flank without the Federals attacking and crushing the much smaller Southern force which remained in their front. On May 2, 1863, Lieutenant General Jackson's Corps began their flank march marching past what at the time was a functioning iron works. The butternuts would twice turn south away from the Union army feigning retreat in order to deceive Federal scouts. Jackson ordered the 23rd Georgia to "guard the flank of the column in motion against a surprise, and call, if necessary, upon any officer whose command was passing for reinforcements." Despite an attack by Union Brigadier General David Birney, the column proceeded on their march past this furnace, led by the son of Charles Wellford, the furnace's owner, in lines four men wide and nearly ten miles long. Their objective was the unsuspecting Union Eleventh Corp, the far right of the Union army. Union Cavalry led by General George Armstrong Custer destroyed the furnace in 1864.

Please click here to visit a page within this site concerning the Hopewell Iron Furnace and how these furnaces functioned.