Manchester

Manchester. Meade's Pipe Creek Plan. , After Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s stunning victory at Chancellorsville in May 1863, he led the Army of Northern Virginia west to the Shenandoah Valley, then north through central Maryland and across the Mason-Dixon Line into Pennsylvania. Union Gen. George G. Meade, who replaced Gen. Joseph Hooker on June 28, led the Army of the Potomac in pursuit. The armies collided at Gettysburg on July 1, starting a battle that neither general planned to fight there. Three days later, the defeated Confederates retreated, crossing the Potomac River into Virginia on July 14., Near the end of June 1863, the landscape for miles around you was covered with tents and glowed with campfires as 15,000 exhausted soldiers paused in their march north. Uncertain of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s objectives or the strength of his army, Union Gen. George G. Meade ordered his Army of the Potomac to nearby Pipe Creek to counter any move that Lee might make toward Washington or Baltimore. The Union army’s right flank rested here at Manchester, with its center located at Union Mills and its left flank at Middleburg, almost twenty miles away., Gen. John Sedgwick’s VI Corps, the largest in the Federal army, arrived in Manchester on June 30 after a long march from New Windsor through Westminster under the blazing sun. Manchester’s kind residents brought bread, cakes, pies and milk to the overheated and footsore soldiers, some of whom lacked shoes., The next day the men rested, cleaned their weapons, and drew sixty rounds of ammunition each. Later that evening, orders came and the weary VI Corps retraced its steps towards Westminster, turning north on Littlestown Turnpike towards Gettysburg. Trudging on throughout the night and all day under the scorching sun they covered 34 miles, arriving at Gettysburg “with loud cheers” about 5 P.M. on July 2, just in time to reinforce the Union lines.,

“As drops of perspiration rolled down the sunburnt cheek of the burdened soldier, we thought no man or women could hesitate to use every effort to end this unholy war by the prompt crushing out of all traitors and their abettors; but alas!... God forbid that it should continue so long.”, Sgt. Lucien A. Vorhees, 15th New Jersey Infantry, Hunterdon Republican, July 10, 1863

, (captions) , Shoes belonging to Sgt. Gilbert J. Bentley, 37th Massachusetts Infantry, VI Corps -Courtesy U.S. Army Center of Military History, Position of the Union Army of the Potomac June 29, 1863 (midday) , New Union commander Gen. George G. Meade orders his army north with two objectives: Engage the Comfederate army under the best possible conditions while protecting Washington, D.C. , Learning that the Union army was close and getting closer, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee orders his army to consolidate somewhere near the Maryland-Pennslylvania border.