When the Civil War began, a regiment of the regular Calvary marched through Taneytown on their way to Washington. These men had a garrison in the Carlisle, Pennsylvania barracks, and they called themselves the ‘Texas Rangers’ and were ordered to Washington, D.C. for duty. At the time, there was a flagpole in the square near the public well. When the citizens heard of the approach of the regiment, they ran the flag up the pole and, taking another flag, headed by Mr. Tobias Rudisil, who carried it on horseback; they went down and met the regiment at Sandy Lane (Harney Road). The troops saluted, the citizens cheered, and the officer in command expressed his great pleasure at receiving such a loyal welcome in Maryland, where they had expected rebels.

In 1862, when the 5thVirginia Cavalry was making its raid into Carroll County, it passed through Taneytown, but no damage was done. A Union soldier noted in his journal that, "One day a report came that a company of Confederate Cavalry was encamped at Trevanian Mills; Captain Guthrie and another person were appointed to reconnoiter, and in the meantime, teams were in readiness to take away some of the prominent citizens. In a short time, the captain and his comrade were seen coming back at full speed, and many were certain the Rebels were at their heels, but it proved to be a false alarm, and the excitement quieted down for the time."

In the summer months of June and July 1863, the full impact of the Civil War met the ears of the people of Taneytown. One can well imagine the assortment of excitement, fear, and anticipation the people must have had when they heard rumors, which flowed freely in the time of war, that both Northern and Southern armies were concentration for a battle, somewhere on Northern soil, possibly even in their own fertile country of Carroll County.

Early on the morning of June 29, 1863, Meade began arranging his troops for the battle and moved his headquarters from Frederick to Taneytown. "As news spread through Taneytown of the coming of General Meade and his staff, many prominent citizens, having with them the Reverend Levi T. Williams of Trinity Lutheran Church, came to greet the General and determine his intentions for the battleground. As the welcoming party and the officers approached Taneytown, songs and cheers of children and townsfolk further greeted them." General Meade and Reverend Williams became relatively well acquainted with their ride to town. General Meade decided to make his headquarters in the Lutheran Church parsonage library on Emmittsburg Street; he also established a field headquarters on the Littlestown Road about one mile out of town on the farm of Benjamin Shunk.

Another contingent of soldiers soon arrived on June 30, 1863; Third Corps commanded by General Daniel E. Sickles. When they came, they passed through the town and camped on the farms of Jacob Null, John Thomson, and Benjamin Shunk. General Sickles took position on the porch of the Old Stone Tavern and reviewed his troops.

Meade, confident that his plan was working as he had hoped, called in his trusted and capable friend Winfield Scott Hancock. Hancock had given his men a good rest, all of June 30, at Uniontown, and on July 1, reached Taneytown at 11:00 a.m. Hancock’s Second Corps passed through town and went into camp on Dr. Swope’s farm (Harney Road and Emmittsburg Road). Hancock looked around Taneytown with interest and told Major St. Clair A. Mulholland, who was on the way to headquarters with him, that his grandfather, as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, had gone to this same village to pick up prisoners at Burgoyne’s surrender and conducted them up to George Washington.

In Taneytown, tired, hungry troops were arriving to report to headquarters, among them being the 72nd Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry and Lieutenant Colonel Freeman, 1st Volunteer Brigade and the Reserve Artillery, which camped near headquarters on the night of July 1.

According to many accounts, the women and young girls of Taneytown were asked to bake pies, bread, and cakes to feed the troops and were told to charge the men for what they took since the men had just been paid. The woman was also instructed not to overcharge them since they would soon have to go into battle. One person alone, the wife of Reverend Levi Williams, used up a whole barrel of flour in her baking. The soldiers lying in the streets and porches waited patiently as the goods were delivered to them.

Four of Taneytown’s citizens were pressed into services as guides and taken to the camp in Thomson’s meadow (Littlestown Rd). "They were Messrs. John W. Jones, James Kridler, John Bishop, and Thomas D. Thomson. At ten 0’clock on the night of July 1, 1863, the order came for them to lead the troops to within two miles of Gettysburg at sunrise. Messrs. Jones and Kridler led General Sickles Third Corps, and Messrs. Bishop and Thomson led Second Corps to the Gettysburg area. The guides were allowed to come home on the night of July 2, 1863, since they lost their horses while they were in the front of Meade’s headquarters in Gettysburg when a cannonball smashed into the gable end of the house and scared them off.

As troops began to deploy towards Gettysburg, at Meade's headquarters established at Shunk's Farm, newspaper correspondents arrived. "Whitelaw Reid, the reporter for the Cincinnati Gazette, had been in Frederick on the morning of July 1, 1863, when he learned that Meade had moved his headquarters to Taneytown, he expected that Meade had detected a concentration of the enemy to the northwest and therefore a battle was imminent. L. L. Crounse, the reporter for the New York Times, had taken the wrong road while out scouting for a story and came upon the Confederate columns advancing through Cashtown Gap upon Gettysburg, thinking that this information was vital to the Union forces he at once rode to see General Reynolds.

Reynolds had been killed on July 1 at Gettysburg. With the story of Reynolds's death and of the Confederates advancing into Gettysburg, Crounse headed for Taneytown." As the story of General Reynolds death spread through Taneytown, there was sorrow in the hearts of all the soldiers, even the "hardened" ones. Correspondents seated on tavern porches, possibly the porch of the Old Stone Tavern, or the Adam Good Tavern or even Sauble's Inn, began to prepare dispatches to be sent by special messenger the Frederick telegraph office to be sent to the prospective newspapers.

"Meade at once went into action, by ordering General Hancock to turn his command over to General Gibbon and proceed at once to Gettysburg to take control of the forces there and inform Meade of the situation. Hancock left Taneytown in an ambulance to study a map of the area in which he was about to fight. Upon nearing Gettysburg, he ordered his swiftest horse brought up and proceeded on to Gettysburg on horseback. Hancock's first message to General Meade was carried about 4:00 p.m. July 1, by Major William G. Mitchell, his aide-de-camp, who arrived in Taneytown about 6:00 p.m.

"At that time, Meade gave up the idea for the Pipe Creek campaign and decided to fight at Gettysburg. A signal station was set up in the bell tower of the Trinity Lutheran Church, and messages were sent to the tower of the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg and later the Culp's Hill station. This process took from 7 to 11 minutes; signalmen were stationed on the high points between Taneytown and Gettysburg to relay the message." All was in confusion and fear in Taneytown, and the surrounding countryside as the men and wagons of the Union army left the area. One can imagine the streets and fields' condition after thousands of men, wagons, and animals tramp over them for days. "The 9th Massachusetts of McGilvery's Reserve Artillery Brigade suffered the loss of a cannoneer and a team of horses in an explosion of a caisson on the rough and rocky road to Gettysburg." On July 1, at 10:00 p.m., General Meade moved his headquarters to Gettysburg, and Taneytown was left to recover its quiet and solitary nature. All that remained was the sound of the guns booming out death on the fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

On April 15, 1865, Taneytown would again be united during this decade, with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. While many mourned his death, many did not. As Martha Hodes recounts in her book "Mourning Lincoln," some Northerners who thought Lincoln too dictatorial and some Radical Republicans who thought him too lenient toward the Confederacy welcomed news of his assassination. After a meeting of Radical Republicans hours after the shooting, Indiana Congressman George Julian recorded in his diary that the "universal feeling among radical men here is that his death is a godsend." Michigan Senator Zachariah Chandler wrote to his wife that God had permitted Lincoln to live only "as long as he was useful and then substituted a better man (Johnson) to finish the work." However, in Taneytown, as in other loyal Union communities, the churches, particularly the Lutheran Church, were draped in mourning for President Lincoln. It is also noted that special services were held in his memory.

One hundred years later, Taneytown's citizens remembered General Meade and the Union Army soldiers who encamped on the nearby farms with the dedication of a commemorative plaque. The plaque was placed near the area where General Meade established his headquarters on the Benjamin Shunk Farm. The program was arranged by the Federation of Republican Woman and was chaired by Mrs. Virginia Sanders. The dedication was opened with an invocation by Rev. Howard Miller of Trinity Lutheran Church. The plaque was donated by the Director of the Maryland Historical Society. Neal Powell, a Taneytown City Council member hosted the dedication, and Taneytown Mayor Raymond Perry accepted the plaque on behalf of the City of Taneytown.

Robert and Richard Reindollar did the unveiling of the plaques. Robert and Richard are the great grandsons of Rev. Levi T. Williams. Rev. Williams met Meade and invited him to the parsonage upon Meade's arrival in town.

The plaque can still be seen today and is located on the Francis Scott Key Highway (Maryland Route 194) one mile north of Taneytown Pike (Route 140).

David Buie is a Taneytown Resident who has a passion for
Carroll County and its place in history.

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