Sometimes luck changes history. In Sept., 1862, coming off a big victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Gen. Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia invaded the North for the first time. He hoped to win a victory that would convince England and France to recognize and support the Confederacy. He would face a general whose number he had – George McClellan. Odds pointed to a Confederate victory. And then someone lost some orders. Lee had laid out his plans in Order #191. The document outlined the objectives of his various units and where they were to go. It was his game plan. The orders were delivered by couriers to the different generals. The Union army was playing catch-up. Literally chasing Lee’s army, passing through abandoned campsites. At one of those campsites, a Corporal Barton Mitchell changed the course of American History. He found some cigars with a paper wrapped around them and did not throw away the paper. He passed it up the chain of command into McClellan’s hands. It was Lee’s Order #191. McClellan was delighted with the intelligence coup and famously proclaimed: “Here is a paper with which, if I cannot whip Bobby Lee, I will be willing to go home.” Unfortunately, a leopard can’t change its spots and the slow, cautious McClellan did not fully take advantage of the gift. He did manage to blunt the invasion at the Battle of Antietam, but a good general would have won a decisive victory. But at least it was a win and when Lee withdrew to Virginia, England and France decided the Confederacy was not a good bet. Lincoln, who had been waiting for any sort of victory, issued the Emancipation Proclamation making the abolition of slavery a Northern war goal. Oh, and Lincoln fired McClellan and sent him home. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Order_191
Battle of Antietam – Library of Congress
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