Middleburg
Meade's Pipe Creek Plan
On June 29, 1863, Union Gen. George G. Meade ordered the Army of the Potomac to Pipe Creek to counter any move toward Washington or Baltimore by Gen. Robert E Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and to engage it in battle. Meade was uncertain of Lee's strength or location.
The Federal left flank rested here at Middleburg, the center at Union Mills and the right at Manchester. From Westminster, located six miles south of Pipe Creek, roads fanned out to every important point along Meade's line: through Uniontown to Middleburg; through Frizzellburg and Taneytown; through Union Mills and then forking, with one leading to Littlestown and Gettysburg and the other to Hanover; and to Manchester. Although Meade had studied the area on maps, on the ground he had only examined the western portion from Taneytown to Middleburg. On July 1, Gen. Henry J. Hunt, Meade's chief of artillery, reconnoitered the entire line, the only general officer to do so. He was very favorably impressed with the possibilities as an "offensive-defensive" position. Events that day at Gettysburg, however, would preclude its ever being used.
Marker is on Middleburg Road (State Highway 77), on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
