May 2. 2.30 A.M.
"About daylight on May 2," says Major Hotchkiss, "General Jackson
awakened me, and requested that I would at once go down to Catherine
Furnace, which is quite near, and where a Colonel Welford lived, and
ascertain if there was any road by which we could secretly pass round
Chancellorsville to the vicinity of Old Wilderness Tavern. I had a
map, which our engineers had prepared from actual surveys, of the
surrounding country, showing all the public roads, but with few
details of the intermediate topography. Reaching Mr. Welford's, I
aroused him from his bed, and soon learned that he himself had
recently opened a road through the woods in that direction for the
purpose of hauling cord-wood and iron ore to his furnace. This I
located on the map, and having asked Mr. Welford if he would act as a
guide if it became necessary to march over that road, I returned to
head-quarters.
3.30 A.M.
"When I reached those I found Generals Lee and Jackson in conference,
each seated on a cracker box, from a pile which had been left there
by the Federals the day before. In response to General Jackson's
request for my report, I put another cracker box between the two
generals, on which I spread the map, showed them the road I had
ascertained, and indicated, so far as I knew it, the position of the
Federal army.
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