The Union Advance to Gettysburg

The Union Advance to Gettysburg. Woodsboro Civil War Heritage. , On the evening of the 28th of June, 1863, the Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac commanded by Major General Daniel Sickles rested on the road between Walkersville and Woodsboro. To the south on the same road near Ceresville was camped the Twelfth Union Corp under the command of Major General Henry Slocum., At four o'clock on the morning of the 29th of June these Federal Corps were put in motion to the north toward Taneytown. Joining the advancing column ahead of the Twelfth Corp was the Union Artillery Reserve under the command of Brigadier General Robert O. Tyler. At 8:00 am the headquarters train of the newly promoted commander of the Army of the Potomac Major General George G. Meade and his staff joined the northbound column. From early in the morning of the 29th of June, and continuing through the day, one third of the Union army marched through Woodsboro on route to Gettysburg., As thousands of soldiers and hundreds of horses, mules, wagons, cannons and ambulances passed by, the residents of the town greeted the soldiers with words of encouragement, fresh food and water. Three days later on July 1st the citizens of Woodsboro could hear the thunderous cannonade twenty eight miles away that opened the hostilities of the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg.