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Special Orders 191 comes into play during the 1862 Maryland Campaign
and this is when the Confederates are coming off their victory at Second Manassas
and they come into Maryland.
They cross the Potomac and make their way towards Fredrick
The Confederates will camp here on the Best farm.
This is the first invasion of the North.
This is the first time the Confederate army
crosses the Potomac River
comes into Maryland with every intention of
going into Pennsylvania.
While Lee is at Fredrick
he discovers that there is a Union force- a Union garrison-
holding steadfast at Harpers Ferry
and that's no good.
because that force at Harpers Ferry
has the potential to interrupt General Lee's line of supply.
And he also has grand plans here in the North
trying to cut Washington, D.C. off- communication, transportation-
sort of suffocate it from the North, hoping to end the war.
To accomplish this removal of the enemy in Lee's rear
he issues Special Orders 191
at Fredrick on September 9th, 1862.
He issues Special Orders 191 to his commanders
basically giving them orders of what he wants them to do
for the next three days
All Special Orders 191 is is a mission
to move against Harpers Ferry
eliminate the Federal threat at Harpers Ferry
and then bring the army back together again.
That's what it is.
And so General will split his army
into four columns
He will send three of those four columns to Harpers Ferry
to seize the three mountains
the three heights that surround the Ferry
hopefully box or trap the Yankees
in the hole between those mountains
get rid of them
either force them to surrender
or fight them to death
and then bring the army back together again
where Lee would be either at Boonsboro or at Hagerstown
And while Special Orders 191 is underway
General Lee will be looking north
because he has assigned
the job of getting Harpers Ferry accomplished
that mission- to his best, most aggressive officer
Stonewall Jackson
Now the reason that D.H. Hill
did not realize he was supposed to receive the orders
is because when the orders were written
he is under the command of General Jackson.
He had the order that was sent from Jackson
and had no idea that there was another one that was coming.
Union forces encamped along the Monocacy River
will discover Special Orders 191
Now, we don't know who lost it
We don't know who dropped it
All we do know is that the orders would be found
by two men from Indiana
who would find these orders on the ground
apparently wrapped around a few cigars
it would go up the line
from one Federal officer to the next
until it finally arrived in the hands of George McClellan.
in fact, he would send a message to the President
and I quote:
"I have all the plans of the rebels
and I will catch them in their own trap."
So in essence, Special Orders 191 will really catapult
George McClellan into the offensive.
Jackson's orders arrived safely.
Lee's orders, on the other hand, become the lost orders.
The big question is
What exactly is the significance of the order?
How significant is it to the Campaign.
Some people think it's the watershed event
it's the turning point in the Civil War
and some people think that
it certainly helped a little bit
but it really wasn't that big of a deal.
Following Special Orders 191
George McClellan launches attacks
resulting in the Battle of South Mountain
and then the Battle of Antietam
This is not where Lee wanted to pitch battle.
This was not part of his plan.
He was forced to make a stand there.
If the orders had not been found
if Harpers Ferry had fallen when they expected
all of those elements would have changed
It could have been the Battle of Chambersburg
or the Battle of Harrisburg.
As a result of the Battle
Lee will leave Maryland,
the invasion will end,
and, most important perhaps,
five days following Antietam
the President will issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
changing the nature of the war forever
making it now not just a war to preserve the Union
but now also a war to eradicate slavery