On June 29, 1863, Union Gen. George G. Meade ordered the Army of the Potomac to Pipe Creek to counter any move by Gen. Robert E Lee's Army of Northern Virginia toward Washington or Baltimore and to engage it in battle, though Meade was uncertain of Lee's strength or location. The Federal left flank rested at Middleburg, with the center at Union Mills and the right at Manchester. From Westminster, six miles south of Pipe Creek, roads fanned out to every important point along Meade's line, including routes through Uniontown to Middleburg, through Frizzellburg and Taneytown, through Union Mills to roads leading to Littlestown and Gettysburg and to Hanover, and to Manchester. Although Meade had studied the area on maps, on the ground he had examined only the western portion from Taneytown to Middleburg. On July 1, Gen. Henry J. Hunt, Meade's chief of artillery, reconnoitered the entire line and was the only general officer to do so. He was very favorably impressed with its possibilities as an "offensive-defensive" position, but events that day at Gettysburg prevented it from ever being used.