Gettysburg

responsible.' He casually let his hand drift down to his holster.

The civilian laughed, though it was forced and a bit nervous.

'There're Yankees wandering all over here, most of them cowards and running away. The roads east and south of here are supposed to be packed with them. I can't promise you, sir, but if we do meet Yankees, toss me that revolver, and you'll see me make a fight of it as well.'

Pete smiled slightly. 'Fine then. Now let's move.'

Pete looked back at McLaws and motioned him over.

'Next time, General,' Pete said softly, so that no one, and especially the civilian, could hear, 'when I say I want something taken by dawn, I expect it to be taken by dawn and not two hours later. Do we understand each other?'

McLaws nodded nervously and saluted.

'Now get in there and take that town. Once you do, send another brigade up the road toward Union Mills. I'll most likely be there.'

With staff and the small cavalry escort, they now numbered several dozen, and as the cavalcade started off Pete looked back. The Second Brigade, which had been forming up, was sweeping up the slope, battle flags held high, heading straight toward Westminster. McLaws, sword drawn, was out front, urging them on.

6:40 AM, JULY 3,1863

NEAR HARNEY ON THE GETTYSBURG-TANEYTOWN ROAD

Gen. George Sykes, new commander of the Fifth Corps, who had taken over the corps after Meade's elevation, surveyed the map spread out on the table before him. Raising his field glasses, he again tried to examine the ground ahead that was cloaked in morning mist

He looked over at Warren and shook his head. 'I can't see a damn thing.'

General Crawford, the divisional commander who had led the probing assault at dawn, nodded his head in agreement

'We came up out of the low ground just ahead and got hit on front and flanks. They're out there, sir. A division at the very least.'

Sykes looked back down at the map. He was an old professional, a graduate of the class of 1842 from, the Point a veteran of Mexico, and most recently in command of the division of regular army troops that was part of Fifth Corps. On the road behind him that same division was now filing in from Gettysburg after a hard, six-hour march through the night

He studied the map sketched out by Warren, and then fixed his gaze on a cavalry captain, one of the survivors of Buford's command who had fallen back into the lines of Fifth Corps after yesterday's bitter defeat at the bridge.

'The ground around that bridge,' Sykes asked, and as he spoke he pointed to its position on the map. 'Defendable, if we seize it?'

'Yes, sir. If we had been fresh, backed by artillery, and with sufficient ammunition, we could have held it all day.'

Sykes looked back at Warren. 'What do you think?'

'We can't do both,' Warren replied, shaking his head.

'I agree,' Sykes said. 'Our orders are to take back Taneytown. But that was given last night, and Meade is now at least twelve miles away. If I thought the bridge was more practical, I'd go for it'

The cavalry captain stirred, clearing his throat nervously. Sykes looked up at him. 'Go on, Captain.'

'Sir, the ground around Taneytown, it's wide open, almost a flat plateau. In fact the town is down in a bit of a valley.'

'Meaning it would be hard to defend except in a stand-up fight'

'Sir, once you take it, then what? Yesterday that road was packed with Rebs clear back beyond Emmitsburg. It most likely still is. Take the bridge, and you plug 'em up that way.'

'In other words, go for the bridge rather than the town,' Sykes replied.

'I'm just a captain, sir,' the cavalryman said cautiously.

Sykes smiled. 'Appreciate the comment captain. The question is, what is our mission here?'

'Take Taneytown.'

'No, it's to cut Lee's column off from Westminster or at the very least delay it'

He looked up and pointed to the distant cloud of smoke that was visible above the early morning haze.

'It's obvious the head of their column has seized Westminster,' Sykes continued. 'The fires are most likely our supplies burning, gentlemen. We all know Meade. He commanded this corps before I did. He's going to focus everything he has on taking that town back.'

As he spoke he traced a line on the map from Gettysburg to Littlestown and from there on to Union Mills. His finger paused over Union Mills.

'That's the ground you surveyed, isn't it, Warren.'

'Yes, sir.'

'From what you've told me, it's an ideal position to cover Westminster, but it's ground that starts east of Taneytown and then arches northeast to Union Mills.'

Warren nodded.

'That's why we move on Taneytown rather than the bridge. We are now Meade's flank and not an independent command,' Sykes announced.

He was silent for a moment, looking back down at the map again as if meditating. All around him were quiet, the only sound the steady tramp of the column marching along the road beside them, and from ahead the final sputtering of fire as the last of Crawford's men fell back across the creek after their dawn repulse.

'His whole army might already have passed,' Sykes said, 'but I doubt that Lee's goal is Westminster. If we swing to the southwest and cut the bridge, we'll be advancing at a right angle to where we should be going, which is straight at Taneytown. If I were Lee, I'd let me do it The troops beyond the bridge, if there are any, engage and hold us while the rest of his army continues eastward. We'll cut off only part of the tail. I want to cut him right down the middle, and that means Taneytown. That's what will really help Meade in this situation.

'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.