"If we hit Taneytown, he's going to have to make a fight of it. The report is that Hood is in front of us. We hit him hard enough, whatever is in that town will have to turn to fight us. And yes, whatever is on the far side of the bridge will hit us as well. We might tie up three, perhaps four divisions of theirs in the process."
"A tall order," Warren whispered.
Sykes looked around at the division and brigade commanders who had come in to receive their orders and were standing silent some of them obviously nervous with the way the conversation was going.
"Gentlemen, this campaign might very well decide the fate of the Union," and as he spoke he pointed toward the smoke over Westminster, which was beginning to expand and spread out
"Lee has Westminster. The Army of the Potomac has been flanked, and we are cut off from our line of communication and supplies. Meade will be forced to attack, maybe as early as this afternoon, most definitely by morning tomorrow."
No one spoke.
"I want a concentrated attack on Taneytown, straight into the town. That will draw the rear of Lee's army back to us. It has to. Two, maybe three of his divisions will be tied up by us. It will tie them up for most of the day, and we might even bleed some of them out. It could very well delay Lee and give General Meade his chance."
He hesitated for a moment. "The fate of the Union rests here now. I am prepared to risk losing this corps if by doing so we give Meade a chance and thus save the Union."
The men around him nodded gravely.
"There'll be no glory in this, gentlemen. It will be a bloody stand-up fight. Crawford will be on the left, Ayres with my old division of regulars, you're in the center, and Barnes on the right Get your staffs moving to lay out the deployment and try to keep it concealed as much as possible from the Rebs."
He pulled out his pocket watch and snapped it open. 'It's a little after seven. It will take at least two hours more for the rest of the corps and our artillery to come up. An hour beyond that to deploy, so we go in no later than ten. The massed batteries will fire two salvos; that will be the signal to begin.
"Advance on a two-brigade front one brigade in reserve for each division, and aim straight for the town. Once in, fully expect to be overlapped on the flanks as Lee pushes in what he has. That's what your reserve brigades are for. Once we get into Taneytown, we dig in and hold on, and make 'em pay for it"
A couple of men grinned.
"If anyone can do it, we can," Romeyn Ayres, who was in command now of Sykes's old division of regulars, announced proudly.
"Get back to your commands."
The men saluted and started to mount up, leaving Sykes and Warren alone for the moment
"You don't like it do you?" Sykes asked.
"It's that bridge to the west Suppose they still have another division over there, maybe even two. Your right will be wide open, and they'll turn your line."
"Send a brigade down there and they'll get flanked same as Buford. And I can't afford a division. I want my command concentrated for this attack. I don't have enough to do two things at once. It's a risk we have to take for the Union."
"So your plan is to just draw them in on you and slug it out"
"Something like that"
Warren shook his head and smiled. "Mind if I stick around."
Sykes forced a smile in return. "Thank you. I'll need you, the corps will need you, before the day is done."
6:45 AM, JULY 3,1863
Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock reined in, glaring coldly at the cavalry lieutenant who had cut in front of him, and then skidded his horse to a stop.
"Damn it sir, I'm asking you to stop!" the lieutenant cried.
"Out of my way, lieutenant"
"Sir, I am responsible for you. That's the job of the cavalry company assigned to your headquarters. At least let me scout down to that mill below before you proceed."
"There is no time for that now."
"Sir, if you get yourself killed, then I guess I'm going to have to get killed, too. Because if I don't, my captain will most assuredly kill me if I come back without you."
The young lieutenant tried to meet Hancock's wrathful gaze, but couldn't hold it. He started to blush and lowered his eyes.
"Please, sir," the lieutenant asked, and there was a bit of a quaking to his voice. "We're six miles, maybe more, away from the head of your corps. It's just you, me, ten of my men, and your aides out here alone."
Hancock spared a quick glance back over his shoulder. The rest of the men, not as well mounted, were just rounding the bend of the road at a full gallop.
Hancock nodded, and the lieutenant sighed with relief.
"Hear that?" Hancock asked, turning slightly.
The lieutenant nodded. It was artillery… distant, maybe two miles, maybe four or five. Hard to tell.
The valley below was lush, covered in a heavy mist; the treetops on the opposite slope a half mile away were poking up out of the fog, illuminated by the long, slanting light of the morning sun. The air was rich with the heady scent of a summer meadow at dawn, a mixture of wildflowers, grass, warm water.
It was quiet, peaceful, except for that distant thunder.
The staff finally caught up, reining in, the lieutenant shouting for his troopers to head down to the mill, its roof a sharp, dark line standing out in the morning mists.
The men set off at a trot, the lieutenant in the lead.
Hancock smiled. The boy had guts to stand up to him like that And he was right Get cut off by some Reb cavalry out here, my corps still miles away. Goddamn stupid way to get oneself killed or captured.
If I'm going to die in this, let it be with my men, out in front leading a charge, damn it! And as he looked out across the valley below, he wondered for a moment Might this be the ground where we finally decide it?
This had to be Union Mills and Pipe Creek. Warren had described it to him just before he left. High ground on both sides. Mill on the east side of the road with a good bridge beside it Stream dammed to the east; ground marshy to the west. Hills nearly bare except for occasional woodlots, the wood having all been harvested off long ago for lumber to be cut by the mill and as charcoal for the smithy. Farmhouse about a half mile to the west down by the creek!
He looked carefully, and in the mists could just see it, a coil of smoke rising from the chimney.
Good fields of fire, Henry had said. Damn, this had to be it
"Sir, we're getting the all clear."
Hancock looked up. A shadowy figure was up on the opposite slope, just above the slowly undulating wisps of fog coiling up from the damp bottomland, waving his hat back and forth.
Hancock spurred his mount and started down the road, which curved across the face of the slope and then leveled out They clattered over the bridge, mill on their left All was still. No one was working this morning.
The road pitched up sharply, and Hancock eased back on his horse, letting it slow to a trot. No sense in winding him out now.
The lieutenant and his men were at the crest of the hill, reined in, one of the men pointing. Hancock came up to their side.
Thick columns of smoke filled the sky to the southwest The thumping was louder. Half a dozen civilians were out, standing by the side of the road, and-Winfield rode up to them. "Is that Westminster?" he asked.