19. The Union’s Lowest Point
During the American Civil War, the autumn of 1862 might have been the lowest point for the federal government and for the Union’s cause. The year had started promisingly enough with a campaign that sought to capture Richmond. Things went well at first in what came to be known as the Peninsula Campaign, but a series of mistakes turned it into a fiasco. Then the Confederates under General Robert E. Lee dealt the federals a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Second Bull Run, and early in September, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia invaded Maryland.
Things were looking bleak, with Britain and France about to recognize the Confederates’ independence, when the Union caught an unexpected break. On September 13th, as the Army of the Potomac hurried to catch up with Lee, Union Army Corporal Barton Mitchell arrived at a campsite recently vacated by the enemy. There, he found an envelope with three cigars wrapped in some paper. The papers turned out to be Special Orders No. 191, in which Lee had spelled out his army’s movements.