The Pipe Creek Line |
Introduction
In a study of the events culminating in the battle of Gettysburg, General Meade's Pipe Creek Line is seldom given more than a footnote. Little if any consideration is given to the question of how the Army of the Potomac came to be placed as it was, in so perfect a location as to be able to advance troops to Gettysburg, and provide for them a strong fallback position, while at the same time protecting Baltimore and Washington. The answer to this question is the Pipe Creek Line.
Upon assuming command of the Army of the Potomac Gen. George G. Meade would begin to move his army north and east from Frederick to some position from which he could operate against the invading Confederate Army. The position he would find became known as the Pipe Creek Line. The purpose of this article is to take a look at Gen. Meade's Pipe Creek Line and try to answer several questions about it :Where was it located?
I. Setting the Stage
Why was that specific location so important?
How would the Army of the Potomac be positioned along the line?
Why was it so important, even for the critical few hours that it actually existed?During the month of June 1863, flushed with enthusiasm after their recent victory at Chancellorsville, Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was on the move north, behind the cover of South Mountain. Passing through Maryland into Pennsylvania Gen. Lee would, for the second time, move the focus of war in the east into northern territory. According to Gen. Lee's plan this move would accomplish several objectives; it would give war torn Virginia a much needed respite, and would allow the Army of Northern Virginia to provision itself from his enemy's resources. The invasion into Pennsylvania might also cause the Federal government to shift troops from the west possibly loosening the grip of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's siege on Vicksburg. But probably foremost in Gen. Lee's mind was his confidence in the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia, this confidence was equally matched by the soldiers own confidence in Lee. Gen. Lee steadfastly believed that if he could find and prepare ground which was to his advantage, the Army of Northern Virginia in the pitched battle would defeat the Union Army on its own soil. This, Lee reasoned might possibly have caused the war-weary north to sue for peace. It might also have been the military stroke needed to demonstrate to Great Britain and France, the strength of the Southern will for independence. This Lee hoped might gain their recognition, and perhaps their support. With these as possible fruits of a successful campaign, and with morale at it's highest, in early June Gen. Lee moved his newly reorganized army northward. During the last few days in June, this movement had resulted in the Army of Northern Virginia being strung out across 50 miles of south central Pennsylvania from south of Chambersburg to York, and briefly to the banks of the Susquehanna River.
Gen. Lee's overall plan was simple; the strategy was offensive, but his tactics and the battle, would be defensive. He would locate terrain favorable to his army, then by threatening eastward toward Harrisburg and Philadelphia, or southward toward Baltimore and Washington, draw the Army of the Potomac out to give him battle on ground he had selected and prepared. Union frontal assaults against prepared confederate entrenchments, and confederate control of the high ground had brought about a Union debacle at Fredericksburg. Gen. Lee hoped to be able to bring about a repeat of this signal Union defeat somewhere on northern soil.
To counter the Confederate move, Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker marched the Army of the Potomac north from the vicinity of Falmouth, Va. on the Rappahannock River to the vicinity of Frederick Maryland. Although Gen. Lee was aware of the movement of the Union Army he was not aware that by late June it had crossed the Potomac River. This deft move by Gen. Hooker put the Union Army of the Potomac much farther north than Gen. Lee thought it to be. During this time Confederate cavalry commander Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart was separated from the Confederate army on his mission to scout the Army of the Potomac and report back to Gen. Lee on it's strength and whereabouts. Due to Stuart's separation, and inability to communicate with his commander during the critical last two weeks of June, Lee was unaware of the nearness of his adversary. So on June 28, with the Union Army in the vicinity of Frederick, and the Confederate Army spread out from south of Chambersburg to the Susquehanna River, the stage was set for the battle of Gettysburg.
In the early hours of June 28, two events; one in the Union Camp and one in the Confederate, would set this stage in motion. The first event came at about 3:00 a.m. when Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade, then in command of the Union V Corps, headquartered near Frederick, was awakened by Col. James Hardee. Col. Hardee delivered to Meade an order relieving Gen. Hooker and placing him in command of the Union Army. Along with the order placing him in command was a letter from General-In-Chief Henry W. Halleck informing him of the dual role of the Army:Your army is free to act as you may deem proper under the circumstances as they arise. You will, however, keep in view the important fact that the Army of the Potomac is the covering army of Washington as well as the army of operation against the invading forces of the rebels. You will, therefore, maneuver and fight in such a manner as to cover the capital and also Baltimore, as far as circumstances will admit....."L.
The second event came later in the morning when a spy for Gen. Longstreet, known as Harrison, brought word that the Union Army was not in Virginia, but was in fact only about thirty five miles south, in Frederick Md. We can only imagine what must have raced through Gen. Lee's mind upon receipt of this information. For such important information to have come from a spy rather than from his trusted cavalry commander, must have caused Gen. Lee much anguish in these critical hours. It was possibly to the great good fortune of the Confederate army that Gen. Meade was probably not yet fully aware of the extended, therefore vulnerable, distribution of the Confederate forces. The possibility of a plunge northward in force by the Union army to cut the Confederate army in two remains one of the great what ifs of the Civil War.
II. Gen. Meade's Battle Plan - The Pipe Creek Line Gen. Meade went
immediately to meet with Gen. Hooker to obtain intelligence, however scant, on the
whereabouts of the Army of Northern Virginia, and that same day, June 28, saw the Union
Army marching northeastward from Frederick. In order to hasten their passage, the soldiers
in blue used every road that would take them in a northeasterly direction, the direction
they had to go in order to interpose themselves between the Army of Northern Virginia and
Washington. This movement resulted in five of the seven Union Army Corps being in Carroll
County, Md. on the eve of the battle of Gettysburg. Although the Union Corps commanders
did not know it at the time, they were heading in the general direction of a twenty mile
long row of hills along the south side of Big Pipe Creek. This would later be known as the
Pipe Creek Line. So great was the emergency of these moments that Gen. Meade was still in
the process of formulating his plans for the Pipe Creek Line even as he directed movements
of the various corps toward their intended positions along it. Events that followed on
June 29 and 30 resulted in the issuance by Gen. Meade on July 1 of the order known as the Pipe Creek Circular (also called the Pipe Creek Order). The
purpose of the Circular was to inform his corps commanders that the Pipe Creek Line would
be the Union Army's line of defense and operations for the impending engagement, and that
the Army of the Potomac was to concentrate there.
Once in position, six of the seven Union Corps
would be placed on the heights just south of Big Pipe Creek. Here, they had the advantages
of both high ground and good roads, giving Meade the ability to maneuver and to fight
either offensively or defensively. Here also, they would be squarely across the three
major routes of approach from south central Pennsylvania to Baltimore and Washington.
Thus, the Pipe Creek Line fulfilled both parts of General Halleck's dual orders; it
provided a strong base for operations "......against the invading forces of the
rebels........", and it covered the approaches to Baltimore and Washington.
The Pipe Creek
Line was named after a stream called Big Pipe Creek which flows generally east to west
across the north central portion of Carroll County Maryland. Just east of Taneytown
(pronounced Tawnytown) the creek turns southward then again westward forming a wide arc
approximately 3 miles south of Taneytown . Along the south side of Big Pipe Creek is a row
of hills which range in height from just under 100' to over 200' above the creek. It was
along these hills that Union Army would be placed, this was the Pipe Creek Line. From its
easternmost end in Manchester to the westernmost end just north of Middleburg, the Pipe
Creek Line was approximately 20 miles long. The easternmost half of the Pipe Creek Line
lies approximately three and a half miles south of, and roughly parallel to, the Mason-
Dixon Line (about 16 miles south of Gettysburg on the Littlestown Pike).
From the area where the Confederate army was
known to be, there were three possible routes of approach to Washington and Baltimore. The
first, and easternmost of the three The Hanover Pike (now Md. Rte. 30) runs directly
between Hanover, Pa. and Baltimore, Md. and passes through Manchester, Md. The range of
hills which comprise the Pipe Creek Line runs directly through Manchester. Manchester
therefore became the easternmost end of the Pipe Creek Line. Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick's
15,000 man VI Corps was the largest single corps in the Army of the Potomac, and under the
Pipe Creek plan the VI Corps would anchor the Union Army's right flank in Manchester, and
would block the Hanover Pike route of approach to Baltimore. The VI Corps marched from the
vicinity of New Windsor on June 29, and on June 30 it reached Manchester.
The second possible route of approach for Gen.
Lee was the Littlestown Pike (presently Md. Rte. 97 and Pa. Rte. 94). This was, and is,
the road from Gettysburg to Baltimore, passing through Littlestown Pa., Union Mills Md.,
Westminster, and Reisterstown. This road passed through the heart of the Pipe Creek Line.
Under the Pipe Creek Plan, Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum would command two corps; his own XII
Corps and the V Corps then under command of Gen . George Sykes, totaling over 21,000
soldiers. Where the Littlestown Pike crossed the hills just south of Union Mills was a key
position in the Pipe Creek Line because the Littlestown Pike was most direct route from
Gettysburg to Baltimore. Once in position, Gen. Slocum would connect his right to the left
of Gen. Sedgwick's IV Corps in Manchester, and would extend his left along the Pipe Creek
Line westerly toward Taneytown. On June 30, Gen Barnes' Division of Gen. Sykes' V Corps
had reached Union Mills, and Gen. Slocum's XII Corps was only several miles farther north
at Littlestown, Pa.
The third and westernmost of the three possible
approach routes was the Taneytown Pike. The Pike runs from Taneytown directly to
Westminster where it joins the Littlestown Pike then continues on toward Baltimore. To
defend this route would be the strongest concentration of Union forces. Maj. Gen. John
Reynolds would be in command of what Gen. Meade called the left wing. This would consist
of three corps; his own I Corps, the III Corps under command of Gen. Daniel Sickles, and
the XI Corps under command of Gen. O. O. Howard, totaling over 32,000 soldiers. Gen.
Reynolds' headquarters would be located where the Taneytown Pike crossed the Pipe Creek
ridge, about three miles south of Taneytown. On June 30 the I and XI Corps were in the
vicinity of Emmitsburg (about 8 miles west of Taneytown) and the III Corps had passed
through Taneytown and reached Bridgeport (about 4 miles west of Taneytown).
Under the Pipe Creek plan Gen. Hancock's II
Corps would be held in reserve in the vicinity of Uniontown. Gen. Meade's headquarters,
which on June 29 was located in Taneytown, would be moved to Frizzellburg which is located
near the midpoint of the Pipe Creek Line. This was an ideal headquarters location as good
roads connected Frizzellburg with the front line, Taneytown, and Westminster via direct
routes. The artillery reserve would also be at Frizzellburg.
Topographically, the Pipe Creek Line is a
natural tangle of ravines and ridges, particularly the eastern half of the line. These in
themselves provided a strong natural defense rendering much of the line unsuitable for the
full-scale offensive necessary to break the line and defeat the Union Army. The topography
changes however in the vicinity of Taneytown. The landscape becomes broader, and the hills
are not as steep making the terrain more favorable to large scale military operations. In
addition there are several possible routes of approach from the Gettysburg / Chambersburg
area toward Taneytown, these would have allowed the Confederate Army to concentrate there
from several directions. These facts were not overlooked by Gen. Meade in his planning of
the Pipe Creek Line. It was because of them that he had planned for his strongest
concentration of force, three corps under Gen. John Reynolds to be positioned here.
Considering the gentler nature of topography and the existing road network in the vicinity
of Taneytown, it becomes easy to see how if Gen. Meade had had his way, the battle of
Gettysburg might well have been the battle of Taneytown.
The Pipe Creek Line also had in its favor
several tactical advantages. Its heights offered not only a formidable natural barrier,
they also provided vantage points for lookout posts and signal stations. There was also a
good road network immediately behind, and roughly parallel to the Pipe Creek Line. These
would have allowed for rapid movement of troops and communications to various points along
the line. These roads parallel to the line were intersected at fairly regular intervals by
other roads, all of which provided direct links to Westminster. The City of Westminster
lies about eight miles to the rear of the line and had a good road network and a direct
railroad connection to Baltimore. This provided Gen. Meade with a nearby supply depot as
well as a staging area for the prompt movement of troops, supplies, and materiel. Another
important and sometimes overlooked advantage of the Pipe Creek Line would have been the
ability of Union troops to follow up a victory in the impending battle. From the Pipe
Creek Line around Taneytown, a defeated Confederate Army would likely have had to use the
same circuitous route to get back to Virginia, as when it came north. The Union Army
however could have moved directly west across the Catoctin Mountain (using what is today
Md. Route 77) intercepting the Confederate Army in the vicinity of Hagerstown. To be able
to effectively block the primary route of retreat would likely have forced a second major
battle. A battle in which the Union Army would again have the advantage of good roads and
favorable terrain.
With his plan
thus complete, by June 30 five of the seven Union Army corps were in Carroll County and
were already operating in the vicinity, and generally to the north of, their designated
positions. On the following day, July 1, Gen. Meade would officially issue the Pipe Creek
Circular giving all of the details to his subordinate commanders who would bring the Pipe
Creek Line to life. But it was not to be.
Confederate Gen. Heth advancing east toward
Gettysburg met Union Gen. Buford's cavalry. The general engagement which both Gen. Heth
and Gen. Buford had been cautioned not to bring on, was already under way. From the very
first the Battle of Gettysburg took on a life of its own, and the speed of events there
especially on July 1, would outpace the ability of either commanding general to control
them.
Gen. Meade was fully aware of the military
value of the Pipe Creek Line, and of his orders to protect Baltimore and Washington. So he
was doubtless aware that to abandon the Pipe Creek plan and move General Sedgwick's VI
Corps northwest toward Gettysburg was to uncover the easternmost approach route to
Baltimore. This, he was understandably hesitant to do. In fact, he would not do it until
every possibility of using the Pipe Creek Line as the primary position of operations
against the Confederates was gone, and then only with the recommendation of no one less
than Gen. W. S. Hancock. By the afternoon of July 1 the Confederates were gaining the
upper hand in Gettysburg and were pushing the Yankees through the town and up the slopes
of Cemetery Ridge. Here, on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Ridge was ground that the Union army
could defend, and Gen. Hancock sent to Gen. Meade his analysis of the advantages of those
positions in Gettysburg. Gen. Hancock returned personally to meet with Gen. Meade at
Meade's headquarters in Taneytown to again discuss moving the entire army to Gettysburg.
But Gen. Meade had already ordered that movement. At approximately 6:00 p.m. on July 1 he
issued orders for the abandonment of the Pipe Creek Line and issued new orders for a
general advance on Gettysburg.
It was true
irony that within hours of issuing the Pipe Creek Order on 1 July, events already
unfolding at Gettysburg would compel Gen. Meade to countermand it by ordering a general
advance toward Gettysburg. Because the issuance of the Pipe Creek Circular, and Meade's
subsequent order countermanding it, were issued so closely together, and were
contradictory, Gen. Meade was later criticized for being indecisive during those critical
hours. It is easy to understand how the contradictory orders might indicate indecisiveness
on Meade's part, but they were in fact just the opposite, they represented quick and
decisive reaction to the events under way in Gettysburg.
Since the Pipe Creek Line was not specifically
planned for offensive operations, charges would later be made against Gen. Meade,
primarily by Gen. Daniel Sickles for what he contended was Meade's planning of the Pipe
Creek Line as a fallback position (rather than as a base for offensive operations).
Sickles would charge that Meade had actually designed the Pipe Creek Line in anticipation
of a Union defeat, and blamed him for the apparent conflict between the Pipe Creek Order
and the subsequent order to advance to Gettysburg, and for his failure to follow up the
victory at Gettysburg by pursuing, and possibly destroying, the Army of Northern Virginia.
Examination of those charges is beyond the purpose of this article, but any credible plan
for military operations must provide for a fallback position. Therefore, criticism of
Meade for providing such a position is unjustified.
The Pipe Creek Line itself and the Pipe Creek
Order both provided Gen. Meade the option to assume the offensive. Even though the line
was never fully developed as he envisioned, it was in fact the offensive which he later
took based on the recommendation of his corps commanders. In an ironic twist to the
charges later leveled at Gen. Meade, if the Pipe Creek Line would have been needed as a
fallback position, Gen. Meade might possibly have been hailed as a genius for the
development of his Pipe Creek plan. It is also interesting to note that on the key common
element in their plans, finding favorable ground, Gen. Meade had found his, and developed
a plan for its use not only before Gen. Lee had, but before the armies had actually even
located each other
In reviewing maps and documents of the Union
troop movements through Carroll County on the days preceding the battle of Gettysburg
there are several interesting things to bear in mind. The name is used for three different
towns which are relatively close to each other; Uniontown, Union Bridge, and Union Mills.
These names existed for those places prior to the Civil War and are still the names of the
towns. Also, there are three Pipe Creeks; Big Pipe Creek, Little Pipe Creek, and Double
Pipe Creek. Little Pipe Creek joins Big Pipe Creek (near the town of Detour) and from this
confluence to the Monocacy River, the stream is called Double Pipe Creek. Since these
names are so similar, and the places so close together, it is quite possible that some
maps and documentation might refer to specific places, yet actually mean someplace else.
Considering the similarity in names, the confusion which people new to the area might
have, and the circumstances they were under at the time, it is easy to understand how
mistakes in location could be made.
It is well to consider that this position, so
perfectly suited to its purpose, could not only be identified but a plan developed for the
distribution of an entire army along the line, and the placement of several corps begun,
all in the space of less than three days! The turn of events at Gettysburg on 1 July would
compel Gen. Meade to abandon the line. Due to that, the efforts made by Gen. Meade, his
engineers, and subordinate commanders to bring the Pipe Creek Line to life in so short a
time are often unnoticed. But it is undeniable that the Pipe Creek Line plan played a
significant part in the battle of Gettysburg, though it actually lived only from the time
the Pipe Creek order was issued on 1 July, until the time it was countermanded, perhaps
only several hours later. It was the movement of troops toward their intended positions
along the Line during those last few days of June, which gave Gen. Meade the ability,
albeit with some hesitation, to shift his entire army north toward Gettysburg at the
critical moment.
A different perspective on this might be that the Pipe Creek Line did
in fact fulfill its primary purpose by providing the staging area for the Army of the
Potomac before Gettysburg.
Touring the Pipe Creek Line today is an enjoyable experience even though there are no monuments to mark its location. The tangled nature of the topography has rendered large portions of the area unsuitable for major development, so a lot of what is seen today is much the same as then. Many of the original road traces still remain, some of which are still unpaved. The Pipe Creek Line crosses the Littlestown Pike just south of Union Mills where part of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry camped on the 29 June, and Union Gen. Sykes V Corps camped the very next night. The mill itself is still operational, and the Union Mills Homestead has a colorful history as well as a beautiful natural setting. Continuing west to Taneytown and beyond, you enter an area known for the reddish color of its earth. The ancestral home of Francis Scott Key is named "Terra Rubra" (Red Earth) and is located only a few miles west of the end of the Pipe Creek Line.
Author's note
The information in
this article regarding location and topography of the Pipe Creek Line is based on the
writer's personal knowledge of the area. The military information was compiled largely in
bits and pieces from a variety of texts none, save one, of which seemed to give proper
recognition to Gen. Meade and his staff for their outstanding work regarding the Pipe
Creek Line. That one is Frederic Shriver Klein's book Just South of Gettysburg. It
was Dr. Klein's book which prompted my closer look at the Pipe Creek Line, and
subsequently, this article. Just South of Gettysburg details many interesting local
stories, and provides a close look at those critical three days for the Union Army prior
to the battle of Gettysburg.
Also recommended is Western Maryland -
Springboard Of The Union Army To Gettysburg by Warren D. Wenger. This is a paperback
which provides excellent maps and descriptions of Union troop movements through western
Maryland before the battle of Gettysburg.
Both books are available at the Carroll County
Historical Society, 210 East Main Street, Westminster Md. 21157. Telephone 410-848-6494.
Copyright : R. Church, 1997
First edition: Aug. 1997
Second edition: Apr. 1999